Handling Dissonance: A Musical Theological Aesthetic of Unity: 239 (Princeton Theological Monograph)

Music can answer questions that often confound more discursive modes of thought. Music takes concepts that are all too familiar reframes these concepts and returns them to us with incisive clarity and renewed vision. Unity is one of these all too familiar concepts thrown around by politicians journalists and pastors as if we all know what it means. By turning to music especially musical space the relational structure of unity becomes less abstract and more tangible within our philosophy. Arnold Schoenberg as an inherently musical thinker is our guide in this study of unity. His reworking of musical structure dissonance and metaphysics transformed the tonal language and aesthetic landscape of twentieth-century music. His philosophy of compositional unity helps us to deconstruct and reconceive how unity can be understood and worked with both aesthetically and theologically. This project also critiques Schoenbergs often monadic musical metaphysic by turning to Colin Guntons conviction that the particularity and unity at the heart of Gods triune being should guide all of our theological endeavors. Throughout music accompanies our thinking demonstrating not only how theology can benefit the philosophy of music but also how the philosophy of music can enrich and augment theological discourse.