Beauty
Subtitle: a theological engagement with Gregory of Nyssa
By: Natalie Carnes
Publisher: Cascade Books
Published: 2014
Place of publication: Eugene, Oregon
Language: eng
Number of pages: 271
ISBN-13: 9781625645845
Copyright date: 2014
Subjects: Christianity and the arts; Aesthetics; Christianity
Description: Beauty engages fourth-century bishop Gregory of Nyssa to address beauty's place in theology and the broader world. With the recent resurgence of attention to beauty among theologians, questions still remain about what exactly beauty is, how it is perceived, and whether we should celebrate its return. If beauty fell out of favor because it was seen to distract from the weightier concerns of poverty and suffering--because it can even be a tool of oppression--why should we laud it now? Gregory's writings offer surprisingly rich and relevant reflections that can move contemporary conversations beyond current impasses and critiques of beauty. Drawing Gregory into conversation with such disparate voices as novelist J. M. Coetzee and art theorist Kaja Silverman, Beauty displays the importance of beauty to theology and theology to beauty in a discussion that bridges ancient and modern, practical and theoretical, secular and religious.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (pages 253-263) and index.