This is the first of a set of three volumes which provide a fresh appraisal of the most important thinkers of the nineteenth century in the West. Some essays centre on major figures of the period; others cover topics, trends and schools of thought between the French Revolution and the First World War. The contributors are among the leading scholars in their field in Europe and North America. They seek to engage their subjects not only in order to see what was said but also why it was said and explore what is of lasting value in it. Readers, therefore, will find the essays not only highly informative about their subject matter but also distinctively personal contributions to the task of re-evaluating the thought of the nineteenth century. Contributions are sufficently clear to be of use to students in religious studies and cognate disciplines but have enough depth and detail to appeal to scholars.

Now available in paperback, the successful three volumes of Nineteenth-Century Religious Thought in the West provide a fresh appraisal of the most important thinkers of that time. Some essays centre on major figures of the period; others cover topics, trends and schools of thought between the French Revolution and the First World War. The contributors are among the leading scholars in their field and analyse not only what was said but also why it was said, and explore what is of lasting value in it. Contributions are sufficiently clear to be of use to students in religious studies and cognate disciplines, but have enough depth and detail to appeal to scholars.

The successful three volumes of Nineteenth Century Religious Thought in the West provide a fresh appraisal of the most important thinkers of that time. Soames essays centre on major figures of the period; others cover topics, trends and schools of thought between the French Revolution and the First World War.

Many Christian theologians have associated beauty, both in nature and art, with the Holy Spirit. They include early Fathers like St Irenaeus and St Clement of Alexandria, as well as later writers like Calvin, Jonathan Edwards, Sergius Bulgakov and Hans Urs von Balthasar. This text investigates what they said and why. In doing so, it also serves as an introduction to the whole area of theological aesthetics. Besides exploring the connection between the Holy Spirit and beauty, it ranges more widely by considering topics such as divine glory, inspiration and the eschatological character of beauty. Its discussions bring together two areas of lively interest in contemporary Christianity: the theology of the Holy Spirit and theological aesthetics.

After discussing the "arts of redemption" and their rivals, and introducing soteriology, the theology of salvation, Patrick Sherry argues that the Christian "Drama of Redemption" has three Acts. The next five chapters discuss the three Acts, namely salvation history, our present human life, and the life to come. In each case, Sherry explains how art and literature can lead to an understanding of what is at stake here. His main concern is with the present life: hence three of those chapters deal with that phase of redemption, one of them specifically with "novels of redemption". The last substantial chapter of the book takes up the general issue of how art and literature contribute to religious understanding: Sherry argues that they may be primary expressions of religious belief, as well as "illustrations", and that as such they may criticise or complement theology, or in turn be open to criticism themselves from that quarter. Finally, he summarises the main theme and briefly discusses some of the particular problems of assessing the arts of redemption. The book uses art and literature as a means of religious and theological understanding. It is not a survey of the arts of redemption, though it uses a wide variety of examples, including ancient Greek drama, Flemish and Italian painting, religious music, and 19th -20th century novels. These examples are used as a tool for understanding what is one of the most difficult areas of theology.