"Dunstan’s excellently researched book builds on recent Barthian scholarship to argue that Barth’s ‘analogy of faith’ implies a theological ‘analogy of beauty’. Placing Barth’s thought in its evolving contexts, this work challenges older interpretations and establishes Barth’s promise for a Protestant theological aesthetics." - Richard Viladesau, Fordham University
"Andrew Dunstan has written an in-depth examination of Karl Barth’s contribution to theological aesthetics. Clear and carefully considered, it is an authoritative and important study on the most eminent Reformed theologian of the twentieth century." - Gesa Thiessen, Trinity College Dublin
"According to Karl Barth, theology is the most beautiful among all sciences. The reason for this is that, beside God’s truth and justice, His pulchritude is the embodiment of God’s reality. In the very readable book of Andrew Dunstan this is showed and reflected excellently." - Eberhard Busch, University of Göttingen
"This book brilliantly challenges conventional accounts of Barth on beauty. Dunstan shows that Barth holds to an analogical theology of beauty far more substantial than is often thought. Crucial both for Barth studies and aesthetics more widely, this is a tour de force deserving a wide readership." - Jeremy Begbie, Duke University
"In this illuminating work, Andrew Dunstan offers a fresh understanding and appreciation of theological aesthetics in the work of Karl Barth. In a lucid study that overturns much conventional wisdom, the author compellingly traces the development in Barth’s work of an analogy of beauty, and profiles its potential value for contemporary reflection." - Paul Nimmo, University of Aberdeen
"The author offers a truly groundbreaking account of Barth’s theology of beauty, showing how an analogy of beauty is grounded in an analogy of glory; persuasively written and thoroughly documented, this indispensable book triumphantly overturns all previous doubts about Barth’s aesthetics." - Paul Fiddes, University of Oxford
Preface
Introduction
Part I: Analogia Gloriae
1 Barth’s Concept of Analogy (1919–1968)
2 Barth’s Concept of Natural Revelation (1919–1968)
3 Barth’s Analogia Gloriae (1940)
Part II: Analogia Pulchritudinis
4 Antecedents: Barth’s Rudimentary Analogy of Theological, Ecclesial and Worldly Beauty (1919–1940)
5 Climax: Barth’s Comprehensive Analogy of Theological, Ecclesial and Worldly Beauty in Church Dogmatics §31.3 (1940)
6 Final Confirmation: Barth’s Continuing Analogy of Theological, Ecclesial and Worldly Beauty (1940–1968)
Part III: Significance
7 Implications for Contemporary Theological Aesthetics
Conclusion
References
Index
Andrew Dunstan (DPhil, University of Oxford) is Lecturer in Systematic Theology at Malyon Theological College, the Australian College of Theology.