There is an unsettling prodigality about the beautiful, something wanton about the way it lavishes itself upon even the most atrocious of settings, its anodyne sweetness often seeming to make the most intolerable of circumstances bearable: a village ravaged by pestilence may lie in the shadow of a magnificent mountain's ridge; the marmorean repose of a child lately dead of meningitis might present a strikingly piquant tableau; Cambodian killing fields were often lushly flowered; Nazi commandants occasionally fell asleep to the strains of Bach, performed by ensembles of Jewish inmates; and no doubt the death camps were routinely suffused by the delicate hues of a twilit sky. Beauty seems to promise a reconciliation beyond the contradictions of the moment, one that perhaps places time's tragedies within a broader perspective of harmony and meaning, a balance between light and darkness; beauty appears to absolve being of its violences.
David Bentley Hart, The Beauty of the Infinite, 16
2 comments:
Matt,
My name is Chris Trampel; your sister Amy is my sister-in-law (I'm married to Will's sister Mary). Amy mentioned recently that you are interested in graduate work in philosophy. While I don't work in the humanities myself, I came across something that might be helpful. The Emerging Scholars Network is just that - a network of Christian thinkers maintained by Intervarsity. They offer mentors to people looking to break into the Academy, including aspiring philosophers. I thought you might be interested.
Cheers,
Chris Trampel
Chris, I really appreciate that! I definitely will check this out.
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