New Books in Intellectual History Kevin Hart, "Lands of Likeness: For a Poetics of Contemplation" (U Chicago Press, 2023)
Feb 7, 2026
Kevin Hart, Jo Rae Wright University Distinguished Professor at Duke Divinity School and poet-scholar of theology, phenomenology, and literature, discusses contemplation and poetic attention. He links Augustine, Husserl, Coleridge, and modern poets to a hermeneutic of slow, contemplative reading. Conversations range from phenomenology as prayerful reduction to poems as tiny temples that keep thinking alive.
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Gifford Lectures Invitation Story
- Hart recounts receiving the Gifford Lectures invitation early in the morning and then worrying about the topic because he didn't work primarily in natural theology.
- He chose contemplation and poetry as a way to address natural theology across secular and sacred domains.
Practice Slow Contemplative Reading
- Read poems contemplatively rather than linearly; attend to metaphorical likenesses the poem produces.
- Slow, attentive reading reveals openings to multiple secular or religious meanings.
Consideration Versus Contemplation
- Hart distinguishes consideratio (reflective attention to particular duties) from full contemplation that aspires to higher unity.
- He locates a modern "poetry of consideration" that focuses on discrete natural particulars rather than ascent to the transcendent.
