The Iconic Imagination

By: Douglas Hedley

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Hardcover | 7 April 2016

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Hardcover
320 Pages

Dimensions(cm)
24.13 x 15.24 x 2.54

Hardcover

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Why is beauty consoling? Ancient and Medieval Western philosophy was primarily concerned with beauty in relation to truth and goodness. The theistic religions assume a link between beauty, goodness and truth, all of which are viewed as Divine attributes. This is one reason for the iconoclasm that all three Abrahamic religions share to a greater or lesser degree. Yet, creative fictions of great artistic beauty aspire to a certain truthfulness. A work of the imagination may deepen or purify our emotions such that we gain a clearer understanding of reality. Beauty is consoling because it resolves the contradictions of experience; art can be a conduit to a supreme transcendent unity.The Iconic Imagination is both a reflection on the redemptive potential of art, and an investigation of the traditions of occidental Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism and Islam in their confrontations with the particular power of art to represent the transcendent. Throughout, Hedley argues that the malaise of much contemporary reflection upon beauty is a consequence of the marginalisation of beauty's religious dimension.

Industry Reviews

"The Iconic Imagination is a textured text. Reminiscent of George Steiner, Hedley weaves history, philosophy, theology, literature, psychology, and more throughout each chapter ... [It] holistically images various features of human life, and affirms vital academic interdisciplinarity ... The Iconic Imagination merits reading, reflection, argument, and rereading." - Reading Religion

"[An] extraordinarily rich exploration of our image-making tendencies, understood as responses to a meaningful and value-laden world ... This is a book that constantly challenges us with reminders of possibilities for thinking beyond the narrow range of much recent philosophy and theology. Impressively learned but highly readable, it does not merely discuss the intellectual imagination, but stimulates it as well." - Religious Studies Review

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