New Books Network David Albertson, "The Geometry of Christian Contemplation: Measure Without Measure" (Oxford UP, 2025)
Jan 27, 2026
David Albertson, a scholar of medieval and early modern theology and mathematics and author of The Geometry of Christian Contemplation, explores a counter-tradition that sees God in the measurable world. He traces geometric language in thinkers from Dionysius to medieval icon debates. He contrasts inward mysticism with exterior, sacramental attention to points, lines, and shapes and connects these ideas to modern measurement and technology.
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Plotinus Shapes The Dominant Mystic Model
- David Albertson argues Plotinus shaped a dominant mystic model that privileges interior formlessness over the world.
- This Plotinian model compresses later Christian contemplation unless we recover alternative strands that emphasize exteriority.
Sabbatical Discovery Redirects The Project
- Albertson recounts his 2015 sabbatical where deep reading of Plotinus unexpectedly redirected his project.
- That interruption turned the book into a revisionist study centered on Greek sources.
Measure, Not Modern Binaries
- Albertson locates the book’s core idea in “measure” rather than geometry per se.
- He urges reading pre-17th-century texts without assuming our modern interiorized religion/world split.
