The Music of the Spheres in the Western Imagination

""Keeping one foot firmly planted in his field of specialty (musicology), Kendall adroitly steps across boundaries to address the impact of 'the Music of the Spheres' on narrative (Dante, Tolkien, C. S. Lewis, Milton, Melville, Charlotte Brontё, and Steinbeck), poetry (Christian hymnody), and philosophy. A model of interdisciplinarity."" --Sam McBride, La Sierra University ""Long before the age of Hubble and Webb, our species was attuned--literally--to the cosmos, its movements and meanings, though mainly through the imagination and not the telescope. Music, mathematics, theology, and speculative philosophy have all played a crucial role in helping us to comprehend the universal order and our place in it. Kendall traces this intellectually ambitious history with admirable aplomb, presenting the reader with fascinating insights on nearly every page."" --Walter Aaron Clark, University of California, Riverside