(OK, so some of you may say that my brother keeps questionable company sometimes. But, that's who gives the Michael Ramsey Prize- Fr. Hart)
London, May 27 (ENInews)--Dr. Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, today awarded the 2011 Michael Ramsey prize to "Atheist Delusions," by David Bentley Hart. The book, said Dr. Williams in a news release, "takes no prisoners in its response to fashionable criticisms of Christianity."
...In the book, Hart outlines how Christianity transformed the ancient world in ways we may have forgotten: bringing liberation from fatalism, conferring great dignity on human beings, subverting the cruelest aspects of pagan society, and elevating charity above all virtues. He then argues that what we term the "Age of Reason" was in fact the beginning of the eclipse of reason's authority as a cultural value. Hart closes the book in the present, delineating the ominous consequences of the decline of Christendom in a culture that is built upon its moral and spiritual values.
In a news release, Dr. Williams described David Bentley Hart as "a theologian of exceptional quality, but also a brilliant stylist. This book takes no prisoners in its response to fashionable criticisms of Christianity. But what makes it more than just another contribution to controversy is the way he shows how the most treasured principles and values of compassionate humanism are rooted in the detail of Christian doctrine."
Born in 1965 in Maryland, Hart has degrees from the University of Maryland, the University of Cambridge, and the University of Virginia. He was most recently a professor at Providence College in Rhode Island. He specializes in philosophical theology, religious studies, Asian religions, patristics, and aesthetics. He is also a writer on cultural issues, with an emphasis upon aesthetics.
Hart will receive am award of 10,000 pounds. The Michael Ramsey Prize is intended for theological writing in which freshness and originality change the theological landscape and reinforce the Church’s institutional life.
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Needless to say, I have always recommended this book to our readers, and would recommend it even if it were not my brother's work. Everyone interested in the subject should read it.
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Needless to say, I have always recommended this book to our readers, and would recommend it even if it were not my brother's work. Everyone interested in the subject should read it.
3 comments:
In the words of the younger generation, "Way cool!"
Congrats to your brother.
J
This book has been on my Amazon wish list since you first recommended it. I know four people who have read it now, and they all thoroughly enjoyed the work and highly recommened it. (Even those who struggled with The Beauty of the Infinite, which is all but one.)
Please extend my congratulations to your brother, Fr. Hart, on the achievement of this prestigious honor.
This book is on my shelf but not read through it yet. What I *HAVE* read is riveting and thoroughly enjoyable. It's like somebody's stepping on your feet and walloping you with a flurry of punches. All excellent stuff, mind you, but it's brutal.
Congrats, to your Brother, Fr. Hart. Well deserved prize for a recipient of more graces and talents most of us will never have the privilege of approaching.
Steven Augustine
ACC Layman
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