David Bentley Hart (fl. c. 2000) is an Eastern Orthodox philosopher, writer, and cultural commentator. He has taught at the University of Virginia, the University of St. Thomas , Duke Divinity School, and Loyola College in Maryland. He was most recently a visiting professor at Providence College, having also previously held the Robert J. Randall Chair in Christian Culture there.
Hart's work exhibits a knowledge of the Western philosophical tradition, from classical antiquity to postmodernity, as well as a knowledge of world literature, art, history, and culture. His own theology and philosophy are deeply informed by the writings of the Church Fathers, and are engaged in many of the central themes of continental philosophy, classical and modern. Rowan Williams, John Milbank, Geoffrey Wainwright, Robert Jenson, Janet Martin Soskice, Reinhard Hütter, and others have praised his work. Many of the large themes of his work in philosophical theology are summarized in his essay "The Offering of Names" (see bibliography below). The fullest exposition of his theological vision, however, is his The Beauty of the Infinite (which, to this point, can be called his magnum opus).
In recent years, Hart has also written extensively on evil and suffering. Many of these texts are haunted by an obvious horror at the suffering of children, and at times there are hints of what one might call ascetic with some reproaches to Gnosticism.
As a patristics scholar, he is especially concerned with the Greek tradition, with a particular emphasis on Gregory of Nyssa and Maximus the Confessor. His writings on such figures are distinctive in that they are not cast in the mold of typical patristics scholarship; Hart is quite willing, for instance, to use Maximus as a "corrective" to Heidegger's "history of Being." The emphasis is very much on ideas and "deep readings," which seek to wrest from ancient texts insights that might fruitfully be brought into living contact with contemporary questions.
His work is controversial in some respects, and he has his critics, particularly among Protestant thinkers in the Reformed tradition. His defense of the classical doctrine of divine apatheia, of the analogia entis, and other aspects of Christian tradition are all worked out within the web of his own thought, and elicit extensive debate. Recent issues of The Scottish Journal of Theology and New Blackfriars have devoted special space to his work.
As a cultural critic, he appears "conservative" in many respects, but his politics are difficult to define. On a number of occasions he has called himself an "anarchist monarchist." He is as suspicious of classical liberal capitalism as of centralized state socialism, and so his criticisms of modern culture are largely free from any conspicuous partisan allegiances.
Hart's writings are known for their theology and intellectual passion.
Hart is a relative of early-20th century baseball player Jack Bentley
Atheist Delusions: The Christian Revolution and Its Fashionable Enemies. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2009.
In the Aftermath: Provocations and Laments. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans: 2008.
The Story of Christianity: An Illustrated History of 2000 Years of the Christian Faith. London: Quercus: 2007.
The Doors of the Sea. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans: 2005.
The Beauty of the Infinite : The Aesthetics of Christian Truth. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans: 2003.
Articles
Response to critiques of The Beauty of the Infinite by Francesca Murphy and John A. McGuckin, Scottish Journal of Theology 60 (February 2007): 95-101.
"Daniel Dennett Hunts the Snark", First Things 169 (January 2007).
Contribution to Theology as Knowledge: A Symposium, First Things 163 (May 2006): 21-27.
"The Lively God of Robert Jenson", First Things 156 (October 2005): 28-34.
"The Anti-Theology of the Body", The New Atlantis 9 (Summer 2005): 65-73.
"The Soul of a Controversy", The Wall Street Journal (April 1, 2005).
"Tsunami and Theodicy", First Things 151 (March 2005): 6-9.
"The Laughter of the Philosophers", First Things 149 (January 2005): 31-38. A review loosely structured around The Humor of Kierkegaard by Thomas C. Oden, containing a long excursus on Johann Georg Hamann.
"God or Nothingness" in I Am the Lord Your God: Christian Reflections on the Ten Commandments Carl E. Braaten and Christopher Seitz, eds. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2005: 55-76.
"The Offering of Names: Metaphysics, Nihilism, and Analogy" in Reason and the Reasons of Faith. Reinhard Hütter and Paul J. Griffiths, eds. London: T. & T. Clark, 2005: 55-76.
"Tremors of Doubt", The Wall Street Journal (December 31, 2004). This article was the seed for the book The Doors of the Sea.
"Ecumenical Councils of War", Touchstone (November 2004).
"The Pornography Culture", The New Atlantis 6 (Summer 2004): 82-89.
"Freedom and Decency", First Things 144 (June/July 2004): 35-41.
"An Orthodox Easter", The Wall Street Journal (April 9, 2004) (in "Houses of Worship").
"Religion in America: Ancient & Modern", The New Criterion (March 2004).
"A Most Partial Historian", First Things 138 (December 2003): 34-41. A review of Religion and Public Doctrine in Modern England Volume III: Accommodations by Maurice Cowling.
"Christ and Nothing", First Things 136 (October 2003): 47-57.
"The Bright Morning of the Soul: John of the Cross on Theosis", Pro Ecclesia (Summer 2003): 324-45.
"Thine Own of Thine Own: the Orthodox Understanding of Eucharistic Sacrifice" in Rediscovering the Eucharist: Ecumenical Considerations Roch A. Kereszty, ed. (Paulist Press, 2003): 142-169.
"A Gift Exceeding Every Debt: An Eastern Orthodox Appreciation of Anselm's Cur Deus Homo", Pro Ecclesia 7.3: 333-348.
"The Mirror of the Infinite: Gregory of Nyssa on the Vestigia Trinitatis", Modern Theology 18.4 (October 2002): 542-56
"No Shadow of Turning: On Divine Impassibility", Pro Ecclesia (Spring 2002): 184-206.
Contribution to The Future of the Papacy: A Symposium, First Things 111 (March 2001): 28-36.
"The 'Whole Humanity': Gregory of Nyssa's Critique of Slavery in Light of His Eschatology", Scottish Journal of Theology 54.1 (2001): 51-69.
"Analogy" in Elsevier Concise Encyclopaedia of Religion and Language (Elsevier Press, 2001).
"The Writing of the Kingdom: Thirty-Seven Aphorisms towards an Eschatology of the Text", Modern Theology (Spring 2000): 181-202.
"Matter, Monism, and Narrative: An Essay on the Metaphysics of Paradise Lost" Milton Quarterly (Winter 1996): 16-27.
Book reviews
"Inside the mind of the Archbishop of Canterbury", The Times Literary Supplement (March 2008). A review of Rowan Williams's "Wrestling with Angels," edited by Mike Higton.
"Con Man", The New Criterion (September 2006): 124. A review of "The Theocons: Secular America under Siege" by Damon Linker.
"Beyond Disbelief", The New Criterion (June 2005): 78-81. A review of "The Twilight of Atheism" by Alister McGrath.
"Roland Redivivus", First Things 150 (February 2005): 44-48. A review of Orlando Innamorato by Matteo Maria Boiardo, translated by Charles Stanley Ross.
"The Laughter of the Philosophers", First Things 149 (January 2005): 31-38. A review loosely structured around The Humor of Kierkegaard by Thomas C. Oden, containing a long excursus on Johann Georg Hamann.
"When the Going was Bad", First Things 143 (May 2004): 50-53. A review of Waugh Abroad: Collected Travel Writing by Evelyn Waugh.
"Sheer Extravagant Violence", First Things 139 (January 2004): 64-69. A review of Taras Bulba by Nicolai Gogol, translated by Peter Constantine.
"A Most Partial Historian", First Things 138 (December 2003): 34-41. A review of Religion and Public Doctrine in Modern England Volume III: Accommodations by Maurice Cowling.
Review of Gianni Vattimo's Belief, The Journal of Religion 82.1 (Jan. 2002): 132–133.
"Israel and the Nations", First Things 105 (August/September 2000): 51-54. A review of Church and Israel After Christendom: The Politics of Election by Scott Bader—Saye.
"Review Essay: On Catherine Pickstock's After Writing", Pro Ecclesia (Summer 2000): 367-372.
"Beyond Reductionism", First Things 87 (November 1998): 55-57. A review of Religious Mystery and Rational Reflection by Louis Dupre.
