Review by Choice Review
A dominant Platonic narrative often shapes reflection on the religious life. Religious enlightenment, it is said, leaves believers feeling ill at ease in the world of the senses, longing for a more perfect, otherworldly existence rather than the embodied, sensate one of this world. What if, instead, faith might imbue the world with greater significance, not less? What if it might actually enrich the senses so that one encounters "traces of a transcendent order in the sensory appearances"? This is the intriguing thesis set forth by Wynn (Univ. of Leeds, UK), who makes his case through synthetic treatments of a diverse, interdisciplinary array of issues and thinkers. These include, among others, the phenomenology of emotion (William James) and place (continuing the author's own prior work); contemporary aesthetics (Scruton, Wolterstorff), epistemology (Alston), and value theory (Kohak, Murdoch); and Christian theology (including compelling readings of Matthew 25 and St. John of the Cross). Wynn's argument is promising but sometimes obscure; often, it is too meticulous and tentative. Nevertheless, Renewing the Senses merits the attention of advanced researchers. Summing Up: Recommended. Graduate students and researchers/faculty. S. D. Lake Trinity Christian College
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
