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This book treats the neglected area of Ancient Christian Aesthetic theory, from a variety of critical perspectives: historical theology, literary theory, musicology and philosophy. Considering authors from the Patristic period up to the Byzantine Middle Ages, it investigates a major area in which Early Christian theorists advanced on Late Platonic ideas concerning Beauty and its relation to the Absolute. These Academic Papers were first delivered at the International Conference of the Sophia Institute in New York City in 2011.

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John Anthony McGuckin is the Nielsen Professor of Early Christian and Byzantine Church History at Union Theological Seminary, and the Professor of Byzantine Christian Studies at Columbia University, in the City of New York. He has written extensively on Patristic theology and philosophy.He is an Archpriest of the Romanian Orthodox Church.

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