Leithart's masterful, commanding narrative takes several surprising turns, teasing out the revolutionary disruption of Christian ingratitude in social and political life--a refusal to bargain and grovel precisely because we are fundamentally grateful to the Creator and risen King.
~James K.A. Smith, Professor of Philosophy, Calvin College, and Editor, Comment magazine
From Homer to the present, poets, theologians, and thinkers have struggled to find a proper place for this all-important, yet potentially toxic virtue. In a masterpiece of exposition, Peter Leithart tells the story of their efforts. To read this book is to listen in on the debate of an entire civilization, across the ages, over the nature of its own cohesion.
~Peter Brown, Philip and Beulah Rollins Professor of History, Emeritus, Princeton University
This is no 'gratitude lite' approach with its blending of philosophical, theological, political, and social sciences perspectives. Leithart persuasively makes a case for why gratitude is intrinsically interesting.
~Robert Emmons, co-editor of The Psychology of Gratitude, and author of Thanks! and Gratitude Works!
Creative, Insightful, and Ambitious.
~Gary A. Anderson, University of Notre Dame, First Things
Clear and cogent, Gratitude provides an opportunity for faculty and students alike to rethink issues that are both intellectual and practical.
~Choice
One of the distinct pleasures of a new Leithart book is the opportunity it gives us to watch a smart, unpredictable mind sharing his reactions to the books he's worked through. This new work deepens that pleasure.
~Wesley Hill, Assistant Professor of Biblical Studies, Trinity School for Ministry, Christianity Today
Elegantly written, intellectually stimulating, and practically helpful
~Stephen Witmer, Themelios
...Leithart is exemplary in his performance of what a kind of Christian-theological account of history of ideas might look like.
~Johnny Walker, Freedom in Orthodoxy
Peter Leithart’s book addresses what he has perceived to be a significant gap in the literature, namely tracing how thinking in the West about gratitude has shifted since first attracting the interest of the Greek and Roman philosophers. His work demonstrates how the emergence of Christianity in particular caused a very sizeable rethink on the subject, a radical redefinition which has been widely influential, and yet not often in all its ramifications.
~Peter Donald, Scottish Bulletin of Evangelical Theology
