The Light of Tabor
Toward a Monistic Christology
Published on 1. September 2025
Book
Hardback
152 pages
978-0-268-21041-0 (ISBN)
Description
In The Light of Tabor, award-winning theologian David Bentley Hart proposes an approach to the nature of Christ that is profoundly radical yet deeply classical.
For centuries, Christian theology has rested on a paradox. Beginning with the Council of Chalcedon in the fifth century, the major Christian traditions have held that Jesus Christ combines two distinct natures: he is fully God and, somehow, fully human. Yet this tenet has traditionally invited irresolvable metaphysical contradictions. David Bentley Hart delves deeply into the seemingly irresoluble tensions, providing the first theological attempt to show how the logic of the earliest churches' angelomorphic Christology is continuous with later Chalcedonian orthodoxy. Hart draws on theologians from every epoch of Christian thought, from Origen to Sergei Bulgakov, while making free use of concepts from other spiritual traditions, such as Vedanta.
The Light of Tabor proposes an approach to Christology that is thoroughly monistic, both as regards Being and as regards nature. Hart argues that the only coherent reading of the figure of Christ is one that fully embraces the essential unity of all things divine and natural through him, proposing an approach to Christology that affirms classical doctrine without retaining the dualistic presuppositions that have haunted theology since the age of the great councils.
For centuries, Christian theology has rested on a paradox. Beginning with the Council of Chalcedon in the fifth century, the major Christian traditions have held that Jesus Christ combines two distinct natures: he is fully God and, somehow, fully human. Yet this tenet has traditionally invited irresolvable metaphysical contradictions. David Bentley Hart delves deeply into the seemingly irresoluble tensions, providing the first theological attempt to show how the logic of the earliest churches' angelomorphic Christology is continuous with later Chalcedonian orthodoxy. Hart draws on theologians from every epoch of Christian thought, from Origen to Sergei Bulgakov, while making free use of concepts from other spiritual traditions, such as Vedanta.
The Light of Tabor proposes an approach to Christology that is thoroughly monistic, both as regards Being and as regards nature. Hart argues that the only coherent reading of the figure of Christ is one that fully embraces the essential unity of all things divine and natural through him, proposing an approach to Christology that affirms classical doctrine without retaining the dualistic presuppositions that have haunted theology since the age of the great councils.
Reviews / Votes
"This is quite an extraordinary book from David Bentley Hart, both for its theological content and also for its brevity, clarity, openness, and generosity. It makes sense of the deepest parts of the Christian theological tradition in ways which are both properly traditional and highly original." -John Behr, author of John the Theologian and His Paschal Gospel"The Light of Tabor is David Bentley Hart's theological testament, the summation of his life's work on the Bible, the cultures of antiquity, and the history of theology, all masterfully distilled into five compact and witty chapters." -Trent Pomplun, author of Jesuit on the Roof of the World
"This is everything we have come to expect from David Bentley Hart: never shallow, never dull, sometimes creatively contrarian, always profound and fresh. He offers a radically original reading of the scriptural and patristic sources for orthodox Christology, showing how much we miss as a result of misunderstanding or watering down the basic claim that Christ is 'all in all.'" -Rowan Williams, former archbishop of Canterbury and author of Discovering Christianity
"Nothing David Hart writes fails to get to the heart of the matter. The Light of Tabor is no exception. Hart beckons us anew to contemplate the mystery of Christ in all its familiar strangeness and strange familiarity. Beautifully written, characteristically capacious, productively polemical-a fitting diadem for a dazzling theological career." -Jordan Daniel Wood, author of The Whole Mystery of Christ
"After Hart we can happily throw away most of our theology books." -John Milbank, author of Theology and Social Theory
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Notre Dame IN
United States
Target group
College/higher education
Dimensions
Height: 235 mm
Width: 157 mm
Thickness: 13 mm
Weight
381 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-268-21041-0 (9780268210410)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
09/2025
University of Notre Dame Press
€21.49
Available for download
Person
David Bentley Hart is a religious studies scholar, philosopher, cultural commentator, and writer of fiction. He is the author and translator of twenty-three books, including the award-winning You Are Gods.
Content
Introduction
1. Nature and Genus
2. Descent and Ascent
3. Human and Divine
4. Person and Nature
5. That Thou Art
Appendix 1. Did Paul Have a Theology of Nature and Grace? A note on Romans 11:24
Appendix 2. Resurrection and Judgment in the New Testament
Appendix 3. The Spiritual, the "Psychical," and the Material
1. Nature and Genus
2. Descent and Ascent
3. Human and Divine
4. Person and Nature
5. That Thou Art
Appendix 1. Did Paul Have a Theology of Nature and Grace? A note on Romans 11:24
Appendix 2. Resurrection and Judgment in the New Testament
Appendix 3. The Spiritual, the "Psychical," and the Material