The T & T Clark Blog

The Roots we need to cultivate

This is a guest post by Rebecca Rozelle-Stone and Lucian Stone, the editors of our recent publication on Simone Weil: Relevance of the Radical.

The Roots We Need to Cultivate:
Reflections on The Relevance of the Radical: Simone Weil 100 Year Later

It is more than a little ironic to devote a book of essays to a person who would maintain that the truly great and profound insights and works of beauty we have received from the past are “essentially anonymous.” Simone Weil (1909-1943), the late French philosopher, mystic, and social activist, would no doubt eclipse her personhood on this occasion of her 100th year, were she still alive. It was not uncommon for her to write things like, “May I disappear in order that those things that I see may become perfect in their beauty from the very fact that they are no longer things that I see.”¹ However, she never shied from elaborating her thoughts on ethics, religion, politics, force, suffering, work, beauty, and a multitude of other critical issues, and although in our book we reflected on these themes while acknowledging their unity in her life and her writings, the thesis of the collection is the universality – and in that sense, the anonymity – of Weil’s insights.

Way down yonder in New Orleans: SBL

Just a quick note to say 'come and see us at SBL' we'll be a booth 300 and have some very exciting new books, electronic publications and new editions to show off.

If you'd like to speak to an editor then you'll need to hunt down either Katie Gallof (for JSOTS/LHBOTS) or me for everything else biblical studies related.

Hope to see you in New Orleans!

Préparer pour aller à Montréal!

No worries, I will switch over to English as my French is all too rusty...

We are already packing up to go to this year's AAR in Montréal and hope we will see as many of you there as possible!

As every year we will have a booth at Montreal too: You will find us in the exhibition hall at booth 507. Please do come and say hello!

All books on display are available at a discount and all orders to the US and Canada will ship for FREE!

There will also be a display of our new e-books!

Three of our editors will be available at the booth:

Thomas Kraft (Theology)
Kirsty Schaper (Religious Studies)
Haaris Naqvi (Philosophy of Religion)

Looking forward to seeing you at Montreal!

What can we learn from the Early Church I: Andrew Gregory

 

Constructing Modern Theological Thinking: What can we learn from the Early Church?

It is just over a century since H B Swete published a small book called Patristic Study (Longmans,1904), one of a number of volumes in a series entitled Handbooks for the Clergy. The aim of his little book, wrote Swete, was ‘to draw the attention of the younger clergy of the Church of England to the vast store of wisdom which has been bequeathed to them by the ancient Catholic Church.’

Reading the Fathers, Swete tells us, is not only stimulating but also of great practical value, for ‘the parish priest of the twentieth century will find in the greater writers of the Ancient Church much direct help for his daily work; sermons, catechises, pastoral intercourse, personal life will be enriched by converse with the pastors and teachers of other times.’ Indeed, he tells us, ‘There are few departments of theological research in which the Fathers can fail to render valuable help to those who know how to make yield up their treasure’, and he gives as examples biblical textual criticism, the history of the canon, the history of biblical interpretation, the progress of Christian thought and the study of liturgy.

‘Nor’, he continues, ‘is it only to students in the stricter sense that the Fathers can render service; they may be turned to practical account by the working parish priest. The preacher will find in their pages the grand models of ancient pulpit oratory; the pastor may look to them for guidance in problems which are common to all ages of the Church.’ Thus the benefits of patristic study to which Swete directs his readers are practical as well as academic, if such a distinction may be sustained: ‘If a knowledge of the Fathers may be of value to the clergy in forming an opinion on disputed points of ritual and Church order, it will help them even more surely on the side of pastoralia -- the practical conduct of the parish priest’s life and work. The majority of the Fathers were not only writers and preachers, but diligent and experienced guides of souls.’

What can we learn from the Early Church?

 

A few weeks ago we celebrated the launch of Piotr Ashwin-Siejkowski's book on the Apostles' Creed in Piotr's Parish in Richmond (London). Piotr has done a wonderful job in inviting other scholars and friends to give a short paper each on the importance of the Early Church for us doing theology today.

To be frank - I was amazed not only by the quality and wide range of the responses, but also by the large number of people from the Parish and beyond who came to take part in this inspiring afternoon! 

The speakers were:

Revd Dr Andrew Gregory, University College, Oxford

Dr Marcus G. Plested, Institute for Orthodox Christian Studies, Cambridge

Revd Dr Paul Collins, University of Chichester

Martin Warner, University of Warwick

Revd Dr Darrell Hannah, Ascot

 

We have asked the contributors to send us their papers to be published here on the blog. So watch out for a mini-series of posts on the relevance of the Early Church!

 

 

SBL

Just a quick shout-out to the blogosphere. I will be at SBL in New Orleans this year, so if any of you have book ideas you'd like to discuss do drop me a line to set up an appointment.

I'm particularly looking for ideas for coursebooks and introductory texts, but monographs are always good too!

Email me: dmattos 'at' continuumbooks.com

The relics of St Therese of Lisieux

Slightly off topic, but interesting I hope. I apologise for the lack of accents on 'Therese' throughout this post. I cannot work out how to do them.

As many of you will know the relics of St Therese of Lisieux are currently touring the country with rock-star-like reception wherever they go. I went to venerate them in Oxford, along with 5,999 other people.

The Oxford Oratory has been preparing for the visit for many months, and as I spend roughly half my weekends in Oxford I have sporadically been hearing about the visit at Mass on Sunday, rejoicing at how the visit of the relics has provided such a grace simply in the way it has drawn the community together (not that it was apart of course) in preparation and prayer, and in a very successful play about St T's life which was performed by the youth of the parish.

My encounter with the relics began on Wednesday amidst a downpour of rain. I arrived at 5.30pm in time for Vespers at 6pm hoping I might get into the church. No such luck. There was a queue stretching 50 yards down the road and the church was already full. Once the relics arrived (see picture right) they let  more people in - two nuns pushed in front of me in the rush, but I suppose they have a right to - and I eventually got in for Vespers. After Vespers people were able to venerate the relics, people had brought rose petals and rosaries, and whilst it was very crowded indeed the atmosphere was very prayerful.

It was wonderful to see such a great public witness of faith in our very secular times. I stayed on for the sung Mass in Latin, and Bishop Kenney gave a little story which amused me. He said that on the way the bus driver said to him 'where are you going?' and when told responded 'you'll never get in, it's packed'. Obviously he would - he was the bishop arriving to offer Mass. But the bus-driver's next line was apparently; 'but people don't queue up for religion'.  But of course here in England, in 2009, they do - it's somewhat rare to see it happening in a catholic church nowadays, but how wonderful that it still can. How wonderful that in such grim times St Therese's 'little way' is able to inspire, that her presence makes people take note. The general shock that this is happening is not restricted to Oxford bus-drivers - the media in general is in a bit of a tizzy about it. Even more wonderful was the fact that it was by no means a solely Roman occasion.

Obviously we publish many of St Therese's writings and books on St Therese, but in this post I'll forego the vulgarity of including a web-link. I do however urge you to read about St Therese, and about the tour of the relics - which are in Westminster Cathedral from the 12th - 15th October if you still want to venerate them. 

And to finish with the words of St. Therese herself:

"In spite of my littleness, I would like to enlighten souls as did the Prophets and the Doctors. I have the vocation of the Apostle. I would like to travel over the whole earth to preach Your Name and to plant Your glorious Cross on infidel soil. But O my Beloved, one mission alone would not be sufficient for me, I would want to preach the Gospel on all the five continents simultaneously and even to the most remote isles" St Therese, Story of a Soul, ch. 9

New Perspectives on the Nativity - Order Now for Christmas!

I am delighted to announce the publication of a new book on the infancy narratives.

So few books have been published in the last ten years on these most evocative of New Testament texts and this new volume goes a long way to fill this much needed gap.

The contributors include Warren Carter, John Kaltner, Ann Loades, Henry Wansbrough, Ian Boxall and Benedict Viviano - who address not only the state of play in New Testament studies since Raymond E. Brown's magisterial 'Birth of the Messiah' but also the virgin Mary in Islamic belief, and depictions of the nativity in modern poetry and film. This is a collection of truly diverse essays and in my opinion it is a book which every NT academic (and many non-specialists) will read voraciously and enjoy. I am delighted that we have been able to publish it.

Get buying it now from all the usual places or visit our website

Ezekiel: A Commentary - new in paperback, now available!

This commentary has classroom use written all over it, so putting Paul M. Joyce's Ezekiel: A Commentary into paperback was a no-brainer. At $49.95, this edition will certainly be more attainable to students, who are struggling to get through this most complex and controversial book of the prophets. Here's what some have already said:

"It is a rare commentator who combines judicious historical research with genuine literary sensitivity, and Paul Joyce has done just that in this fresh and deeply insightful theological interpretation of the book of Ezekiel. Rich in exegetical detail but never bogged down by it, Ezekiel: A Commentary gets to the heart of Ezekiel's message, never losing sight of the thorny and fundamental question for understanding the book, What is Ezekiel saying about God and God's relation to his people? How does this most difficult to understand prophet deal with the knotty questions of divine justice and power in the wake of the crisis of exile? Learned, informative and engagingly written, this commentary is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand the prophet and his by turns perplexing, bizarre, unsettling and oddly comforting message for a time of national catastrophe."

-- J. Cheryl Exum, Professor of Biblical Studies, University of Sheffield

"Paul Joyce's commentary on Ezekiel is warmly commended.  It is unique in the way that it concentrates on Ezekiel's theology, thereby bringing his thought to life."

-- Jacob Milgrom, Professor Emeritus of Biblical Studies University of California at Berkeley

 

"Offers fresh insight into the book of Ezekiel. Joyce never merely repeats another scholar's opinion but always offers his own well-informed perspective. This book is a valuable addition to the literature devoted to the book of Ezekiel and it can be highly recommended."

 

--Lena-Sofia Tiemeyer, Expository Times

"Dr Joyce has put all students of prophecy in his debt with a clear, concise and up-to-date commentary on the book of Ezekiel. This is a thoroughly commended survey of recent studies of the most complex and controversial of the prophetic books of the Old Testament. It explains the problems and recounts and evaluates the proposed solutions to them. From a world where temple-symbolism, ritual-enforced holiness and grotesque visions provided an unfamiliar religious setting, Ezekiel emerges as a figure who upheld human responsibility and awareness of the fundamentally spiritual nature of hope. The commentary should do much to set Ezekiel as a worthy companion alongside the congenial figures of Isaiah and Jeremiah. "

--Ronald E. Clements, Emeritus Professor of Old Testament Studies, King’s College, University of London

eLHBOTS going strong with Ebrary on board!

Since our official launch in March 2009, we now have partnered with Ebrary:

www.ebrary.com
sales@ebrary.com

Here's a rehash of the official press release:

We are delighted to announce the launch of over 380 titles from The Library of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Studies series as ebooks. This includes the re-release of over 200 titles which have not been available in their print editions for several years - giving institutions a chance both to fill gaps in their collections and to offer digital access to this scholarship for the first time. For a full list of titles, please click here.

- The series is the essential resource for any Hebrew Bible/Old Testament scholar

- Over 30 years of critical scholarship is now available in digital format - much of which has been unavailable in any format for some time.

- The ebooks are fully searchable, with linked tables of contents and footnotes, creating a powerful research and reference tool.

To celebrate this release we are partnering with MyiLibrary to offer discounts across the list of ebooks now available.

These include:
20% off the list price of 50 titles of your choice
30% off the list price of 100 titles of your choice
40% off the list price of 150 titles of your choice
50% off the list price when you purchase all 382 titles available.

These discounts will be offered by MyiLibrary through December 31, 2009. Please contact your MyiLibrary Sales Representative or sales@myilibrary.com to make a purchase. The full list of ebooks is also available from EBL, Dawsonera and NetLibrary.

Don’t forget –  We at Continuum are still here to help; if you’d like more information about ebooks themselves, or how to purchase them, please feel free to email: ebooks@continuumbooks.com.