The Beauty of the Trinity

A generous but decisive corrective to many previous accounts on the transcendentality of beauty during the later Middle Ages.---Mark D. Jordan, Harvard Divinity School Scholars have come to be used to the notion that academic writing has to be on the dull side, as though a flat style guaranteed the objectivity of scholarly discourse. But what if the point of theological writing were not merely to state the facts about the teachings of some (frequently obscure) author, but to employ a discussion of these teachings to draw the reader in--in to the beauty of the Christian faith? This goal would call for a different style. Its dynamism would signal thinking rather than settled thought. Its choice of words would steer clear of the well-worn phrases and cliches which stifle curiosity; sometimes the vocabulary might even surprise. It would be pleasantly fresh, an invitation to participate in an intellectual and spiritual journey. Such is Dr. Coyle's style in this book. ---Philipp W. Rosemann, from the Foreword This is an exemplary study. It is also an exquisite specimen of theological reflection. It does so very much to rescue Alexander of Hales's thought on beauty both from obscurity and from unimaginative scholarly treatments. And it convincingly shows how Alexander's vision can be appropriated creatively by modern theologians.---David Hart, author of Roland in Moonlight and You Are Gods