Christ and Nothing - David Bentley Hart (2003)

David Bentley Hart is an Eastern Orthodox theologian. The original version of this article was delivered as a lecture at a conference on the Ten Commandments held at St. Olaf’s College in Northfield, Minnesota, June 15-17, 2003. The papers from this conference will be published by Eerdmans.

[koffeeblack]

Hart at his best: concise and not compromising depth for breadth. Full of nuanced distinction, but not tedious.

[marymcreynolds]

I find Dr. Hart's words somehow comforting, a raft large enough to carry my soul to higher thought and hope. Thank you.

[davidtagauri]

This is profound. I love both the message and the writing style. The speaker is also fantastic. Thank you for posting this.

[colinpurssey]

A masterful dissertation and salutary counsel to re-evaluate our current cultural and ideological orientation .

[KingPhilipF]

He is right. The desert fathers recentered me in this whirlwind

[anahata]

I totally agree with that, although i'm uneasy about the language of condemnation. In the history of Christianity, especially its modern iterations, condemnation was generally done against the marginalized, not towards the powerful. The church doesn't only need to condemn, it needs first and foremost to condemn the things that should be.

[ALLHEART_]

Yo, you have a great channel. What AI service do you use to read these texts aloud? Speechify? If so, which AI voice did you select?

[MoiLiberty]

The Big homie Hart coming thru! That's what's up!

[wildhias]

thank you - listening to it was a pleasure - I wonder if DBH would still put it like that, so near to American Conservatism? - whoever read this - great voice - reminds me a bit of Christopher Lee -

[bob]

This sounds like the actor Christopher Lee...?

[billyoumans]

I don’t think there is a “post Christian” culture, because there never was a Christian culture, except perhaps before Constantine made Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire. There never was a Europe that worshipped any God but Power; Nietzsche’s slave revolt never took place. There were a few mystics and ascetics who actually abandoned the quest to consume the world, and tried to love their enemies; but the agenda of world conquest has even been woven into the gospels in additions never spoken by Christ like the Great Commission at the end of Mark. What European Christian state or leader has ever for a single second observed the ideals of the sermon on the mount over the imperative of conquest and exploitation? The notion that abortion represents a great self-centeredness completely ignores the truth that it is the poor who suffer when abortion is illegal, and to them, babies are born for whom there is no one to care and no life to be lived, and who will never be educated to anything near the level needed to understand the essays of David Bentley Hart. I love much of what he says, but here, really I can’t go with it. When was this Christian culture he bemoans the death of? When America had slaves? When Napoleon was invading Russia? When heretics were being burned? In the misery of the dark ages? Enough.