Redeeming Beauty

Redeeming Beauty explores the richness of orthodox Christian tradition, both Western and Eastern, in matters of 'sacral aesthetics' - a term used to denote the foundations, production and experience of religiously relevant beauty. Aidan Nichols investigates five principal themes: the foundation of beauty in the natural order through divine creative action; explicitly 'evangelical' beauty as a quality of biblical revelation and notably at its climax in Christ; the legitimacy of making and venerating artworks; qualities of the self in relation to objective presentation of the religiously beautiful; and the difficulties of practising a sacral aesthetic, whether as producer or consumer, in an epoch when the visual arts themselves have left behind not only Church but for the greater part the public as well. The thought of theologians such as Augustine, Aquinas, Balthasar, Ratzinger, Bulgakov, Maritain and others is explored.

Redeeming Beauty explores the richness of orthodox Christian tradition, both Western and Eastern, in matters of 'sacral aesthetics' - a term used to denote the foundations, production and experience of religiously relevant beauty. Aidan Nichols investigates five principal themes: the foundation of beauty in the natural order through divine creative action; explicitly 'evangelical' beauty as a quality of biblical revelation and notably at its climax in Christ; the legitimacy of making and venerating artworks; qualities of the self in relation to objective presentation of the religiously beautiful; and the difficulties of practising a sacral aesthetic, whether as producer or consumer, in an epoch when the visual arts themselves have left behind not only Church but for the greater part the public as well. The thought of theologians such as Augustine, Aquinas, Balthasar, Ratzinger, Bulgakov, Maritain and others are explored.

A fully developed biblical perspective of work and leisure finds the holistic balance missing from today in Puritan enjoyment of both as important to life.

This book offers a philosophical reflection on the nature of language by reading some exemplary works of literature. Drawing on the thought of philosophers--especially Plato, Kant, Hegel, Emerson, Benjamin, Adorno, Heidegger and Wittgenstein, the author argues that language is the bearer of a utopian or messianic promise of happiness, and that by redeeming the revelatory power of words, the two writers in this study are contributing to the redemption of the promise of happiness in a world of reconciled antagonisms and contradictions.

A renewed focus on the role of interpersonal relationships in the cultivation of religious sensibilities is emerging in the study of religion. Matthew Ryan Robinson addresses this question in his study of Friedrich Schleiermacher's notion of "free sociability". In Schleiermacher's ethics, the human person is formed in and consists of intimate, tightly interconnecting relationships with others. Schleiermacher describes this sociability as a natural tendency prompted by experiences of physical and existential limitation that lead one to look to others to complete one's experience. But this experience of incompleteness and orientation to "the completion of humanity" also constitute the fundamental structure of religion in Schleiermacher's theory of religion as orientation to "the universe and the relationship of humanity to it." Thus, Schleiermacher not only presents sociability as basic to human nature, but also as inherently religious - and, potentially, redemptive.

Probing study of how literature can redeem the revelatory, redemptive powers of language. In this probing look at Alfred Döblin’s 1929 novel Berlin Alexanderplatz and the stories of W. G. Sebald, Redeeming Words offers a philosophical meditation on the power of language in literature. David Kleinberg-Levin draws on the critical theory of Benjamin and Adorno; the idealism and romanticism of Kant, Hegel, Hölderlin, Novalis, and Schelling; and the nineteenth- and twentieth-century thought of Nietzsche, Heidegger, and Derrida. He shows how Döblin and Sebald—writers with radically different styles working in different historical moments—have in common a struggle against forces of negativity and an aim to bring about in response a certain redemption of language. Kleinberg-Levin considers the fast-paced, staccato, and hard-cut sentences of Döblin and the ghostly, languorous, and melancholy prose fiction of Sebald to articulate how both writers use language in an attempt to recover and convey this utopian promise of happiness for life in a time of mourning.

Coping with post-industrial brownfields is an issue throughout Europe and North America. A point of departure for their broad rediscovery in Germany was the refurbishment of an abandoned steelworks from 1990 on by Peter Latz which subsequently became Duisburg Nord Landscape Park. There, industrial relics were not demolished or converted but perceived as integral parts of the overall concept and then imbued with new meaning and use. Many additional projects with a similar approach were created in the past decades, among them Parc del Clòt in Barcelona, Parque do Tejo e Trancão in Lisbon or Michel Desvigne's Parc aux Angéliques in Bordeaux, currently under construction. This book does not only describe a systematic framework for the use of post-industrial ruins it also contextualizes them in design history. The author, professor for landscape design at Copenhagen University, covers a wide range of topics, linking 19th century Romanticism's preoccupation with ruins to industrial decline (exemplified by Detroit) and then on to the subsequent Renaissance of the transformed landscape and its refound beauty.

Have you, like the Beast, ever believed that your worst mistake could never be redeemed? The story of Beauty and the Beast is considered to be a timeless tale. However, what makes it so timeless goes far beyond the romance or the "happily ever after", but is the powerful theme of redemption at the heart of the story. That's why through this collection of 25 devotionals, you will: - See the Disney retellings of Beauty and the Beast through a biblical lens, brought together into one cohesive storyline* - Evaluate the consequences that your selfishness can have on other people - Discover how to find contentment in the middle of difficult circumstances - Observe how sacrificial love is more powerful than romantic love - Learn how the Beast's physical transformation is a powerful parable of one's spiritual transformation through Christ Including relevant Scriptures, discussion questions, and a study guide for a five-week group study, embarking on this devotional adventure will guarantee that you will never look at Beauty and the Beast the same way again. *This book is not authorized or endorsed by The Walt Disney Company