Download Ebook Martin Luther's Theology of Beauty: A Reappraisal, by Mark C. Mattes

Download Ebook Martin Luther's Theology of Beauty: A Reappraisal, by Mark C. Mattes

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Martin Luther's Theology of Beauty: A Reappraisal, by Mark C. Mattes

Download Ebook Martin Luther's Theology of Beauty: A Reappraisal, by Mark C. Mattes

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From the Inside Flap

"With a careful mining of the resources at hand in Martin Luther's explorations of the significance of visual imagery, God's ordering of his creation, and related concepts, and with insightful assessment of Luther's actual use of the graphic arts and music, Mattes's groundbreaking work addresses with depth and skill aesthetic theories that grow out of the nouvelle théologie of Henri de Lubac and others with challenges that will enrich and expand our perceptions and analyses of the nature of the beautiful according to God's creation and in the light of Christ's cross."--Robert Kolb, Concordia Seminary, Saint Louis"While scholars have paid attention to Luther's views of music, visual images, and rhetorical style, no one has claimed that these views amount to an overall theory of beauty or aesthetics. But Mattes boldly shows how music and images are related to Luther's ideas of human senses, goodness, and personal renewal. His solid historical results enable Mattes to enter into critical dialogue with John Milbank, Charles Taylor, and other contemporary thinkers. Martin Luther's Theology of Beauty will persuade both historians and theologians to revise their opinions regarding the Lutheran Reformation."--Risto Saarinen, University of Helsinki"Mattes's rigorous study of Martin Luther's theology of beauty liberates the Reformer from his own tradition, which has often limited, marginalized, or otherwise ignored its own robust aesthetic resources. Mattes's Luther thus emerges as an important resource for revealing the unique contributions that Lutheran thought can make to aesthetics as well as the study of art and culture."--Daniel A. Siedell, The King's College, New York City"What a great surprise, that one of the most important Lutheran theologians writing today would take up the subject of Luther and beauty. Aesthetics seems at first glance to be a foreign and contradictory undertaking for the great teacher of the cross. But Luther is all about beauty, if we'll only stoop low enough to see correctly. And the timing of this book could not be better, since theologically we are no longer in the age of the ethically good, or even the rationally true, but the aesthetically beautiful. Luther's is a voice that must be heard, or we all will go down the same rabbit holes again. Mattes is a master in clarifying what Luther brings to this very current affair, and he keeps us grounded in the beauty of the deeply incarnate Word that produces all the things that the world is sure are ugly but that God uses for his glory in a most surprising turn of events."--Steven Paulson, Luther Seminary

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From the Back Cover

"Mark Mattes has given us an intriguing and richly textured study of beauty in Luther's theology. In the crucified Christ, salvation is given to those who believe; thus, Christ is beautiful, and believers can celebrate this 'gospel beauty' through the ways God grants mercy in worship: preaching and the sacraments. Christ has absorbed the ugliness of sin, enabling believers to feel at home in the world and to celebrate creation's beauty. This splendid study will deepen understandings of Luther and open new appreciations for the fullness of Jesus Christ as 'the fulcrum through which life, and most specifically truth, goodness, and beauty, are to be understood.'"--Donald K. McKim, editor of The Cambridge Companion to Martin Luther and author of Moments with Martin Luther: 95 Daily Devotions"Beauty has historically been a neglected topic in much of traditional Protestant theology, a lacuna of increasing significance in an age that is more and more preoccupied with aesthetics. In this book Mattes retrieves Martin Luther as a source for aesthetic reflection and, in so doing, brings both Luther's thought and the Protestantism that stems from him into important dialogue with both earlier theologians and contemporary thinkers such as Charles Taylor and John Milbank. Martin Luther's Theology of Beauty is rich in historical theological insight and modern philosophical potential."--Carl R. Trueman, Westminster Theological Seminary, Pennsylvania"Claiming that Luther's work has not only 'existential' depth but also 'cosmic' and 'eschatological' breadth, Mattes brings to the fore the centrality of beauty in Luther's theology. Providing a careful and clear reading of Luther's work that situates it within its historical context and in relation to contemporary discussions, Mattes argues that, for Luther, God's proper work--mercy--is beautiful indeed. Timely and incisive, this book charts a distinctive path that opens up fresh appropriations of Luther's work in our time."--Lois Malcolm, Luther Seminary"Most students of theology would never guess that Martin Luther, famous for his denunciation of theologies of glory, had a richly developed aesthetic. This is the thesis made plausible by Mark Mattes, a distinguished Lutheran theologian. Clear and learned, this book draws connections that will surprise many."--Gerald McDermott, Beeson Divinity School; coauthor of The Theology of Jonathan Edwards

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Product details

Hardcover: 240 pages

Publisher: Baker Academic (August 22, 2017)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 0801098378

ISBN-13: 978-0801098376

Product Dimensions:

6.5 x 0.8 x 9.5 inches

Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)

Average Customer Review:

4.0 out of 5 stars

6 customer reviews

Amazon Best Sellers Rank:

#444,610 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

I have been looking forward to this book since I first heard about. Simply put, it is a "beautiful" book in every respect: well written, well researched, well organized. It allows insight into the theology of Martin Luther from a new angle, which, considering from how many angles Luther has been analyzed and researched is commendable! What I appreciate most about the book is how keenly it focuses on the Gospel of Christ and how that Gospel does have the power not merely to inform, but to enlighten, to change, etc. I have read and continue to read, closely, every book on Luther and his theology that I can get my hands on and have been doing so now for nearly thirty years. This book truly stands out as unique and I thank the author for his evident labor of love.

I try to read at least one book of Luther's theology each year. With this one, I did find it to be an interesting look at a side topic in Luther's theology. In music, art and philosophy, Luther did have an interest. This book is a dense, intellectual examination of what Luther brings to the table on the subject of beauty. However, when it comes to philosophers and modern theologians of beauty, I must admit I know little. For this lack of knowledge on my part, I found myself a little lost... like coming into a conversation of an interesting topic, but only able to follow some of the threads. I would recommend this book to specialists who already know at least one of the major threads: Luther's theology or else the topic of beauty expressed in philosophy and modern theology. Otherwise, to get the maximum from this work, be prepared to do study outside of this volume. It would make a good higher elective textbook for a seminary course.

Masterful knowledge of Luther's place in history and his way of thinking. Shows how aesthetic grows from theology.

We have all heard it said, beauty is only skin deep. However, the topic of beauty in the theology of Luther is far more than a superficial study as Mark C. Mattes shows in this book.Luther never wrote anything regarding the topic of beauty directly, but he had a lot to say about the matter in his exegetical writings, and what he had to say about beauty had a huge bearing on how he developed his discourse concerning topics that he is far more famous for such as justification and even sanctification. Dr. Mattes delves into the topic first examining Luther’s approach to philosophy and the various philosophical movements that influenced Luther as he shaped his own understanding of beauty in relation to God. He shows that Luther’s understanding of the distinction between Law and Gospel helped him move beyond these schools in what appears to be an eclectic approach to philosophy.Luther’s own view of beauty though would have its effect on how he understood justification, and he speaks of it in much the same way. For Luther, God creates beauty where he wants to find it. He does this with us ugly people marred by sin, by becoming ugly and sinful for us. “Love to the loveless shown that they might lovely be” as the song says. So that beauty is often hidden in the ugly. First and foremost, this is in reference to the cross and Christ’s crucifixion. But far from being merely esoteric in his discourse on beauty, relating it to such theological ideals as faith, and obedience to the will of God, Luther can also show how this impacts the aesthetical ideals of beauty we in the modern world are a bit more familiar with. He does this especially in his description of Adam and Eve before the fall in his lectures on Genesis. It’s all entwined together for Luther. Sin was not only a spiritual problem, but one that manifests itself physically also. So too, our justification will have more than spiritual ramifications in the resurrection when our sanctification, here on earth concerned with spiritual things, is made complete and manifests itself in glorious new bodies.When Mattes is finished detailing the development of beauty in the thought of early and late Luther he turns to other subjects such as how this impacted his approach to music and visual imaging in the contexts of worship and the secular world. Here we see his influence on men like Bach, Handel and Cranach.He then uses Luther’s understanding of beauty to critique Nouvelle Theologie as expressed by Hans Urs Von Balthasaar and David Bentley Hart, as well as Henri de Lubac, before dedicating a chapter illustrating what Luther’s theology of beauty might have to say to a contemporary public’s pursuit of beauty.

Mattes certainly does his best, but fails on several fronts. First of all, he does not seem to grasp either the nouvelle theologie or radical orthodoxy movements to which this book is largely written as a critique. He appears to dismiss (in a posturingly non-dismissive way) both movements as hopelessly nostalgic projects due to their secular anxiety. Needless to say, he oversimplifies. For example, he repeats the standard line that one of radical orthodoxy’s chief concerns is the loss of Aristotle’s fourth cause: teleology or finality—that which a thing is for. But had Mattes bothered reading, say, D.C. Schindler, he would have discovered that the actual issue is far more complicated and problematic. Modernity (and “post-modernity”) represent the loss of causality as such. The four causes are not like beads on a string, or like a set of building blocks of which you can remove one while leaving the others intact. As Aristotle himself says, formal, final and efficient causality are all not three severable causes (plural) but three co-extensive aspects of causality (singular). To lose one is to lose them all. Now, quite obviously, no one is claiming that the recovery of the classical Metaphysics of causality is going to convert the world to Christ. But I think it may very well function as a propaedeutic of sorts, seeing how a culture whose notion of causation is purely mechanistic, whose values are almost exclusively utilitarian, and whose aesthetic faculties have become so deadened by consumerism as to be perfectly willing to sacrifice beauty for sentimentality (what Flannery O’Connor once aptly described as the pornography of art), can use all the help it can get.Secondly (and I will stop here, though much more could be said), I find Mattes’ own replies to those he disagrees with to betray both ignorance and arrogance (the latter due largely to the former, no doubt). Like Derrida, he applies a pre-fabricated, painfully simplistic binary upon everything, and pretends as if his brief anterior engagement with secondary sources justifies him to say what he knew he was going to say all along. All those who do not subscribe to his own tribalistic form of “confessional Lutheran Theology” is (because they simply must be) a “theologian of glory”—and that either overtly or covertly. They still have not attained the gnosis of the “law-gospel distinction” (which is code for a tyrannically psychologized approach to theology which attempts to shield its hearers—and themselves—from all things metaphysical, that is, from any possible encounter with what is “real”—the very thought or desire of which is shunned as the work of pure, hell-bound, deicidal concupiscence).In short, the book’s hermeneutic is far too suspicious (which is just another way of saying, “afraid”).

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