The T & T Clark Blog

Professorial Inaugural Lecture by Dom Henry Wansbrough: Liverpool Hope 7th March

Dom Henry Wansbrough

Liverpool Hope University have announced the Professorial inaugural lecture of Dom Henry Wansbrough, who has been appointed Alexander Jones Professor of Biblical Studies. It is taking place on Wednesday 7th March at 5.30pm and the title of the lecture is 'Was Jesus a Pharisee?'

Fr Henry is the former Master of St. Benet's Hall in Oxford, was for many years the only English member of the Pontifical Biblical Commission, and is the General Editor of the New Jerusalem Bible. He is a Benedictine monk of Ampleforth Abbey.

He is also one of T&T Clark's most valued authors. His bestselling book 'The Use and Abuse of the Bible' was published to great acclaim in 2010 - reprinting twice within its first year - and his new book 'The Sunday Word' has just come out under the Burns and Oates imprint. This book provides short commentaries on the Sunday Readings (and major feasts/solemnities) together with questions for personal reflection, and an introduction on the shape of the Lectionary. It will be a must for Lectio Divina and scripture study groups in both Roman Catholic and Anglican traditions.

Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor says in his foreword to the book; 'In these commentaries the background and chape of every passage is opened up and shared with us. This is a great achievement by Henry Wansbrough and we should all be grateful to him'

and Prof Richard Burridge, Dean of KCL, says; 'Beautifully written and drawing upon a lifetime of Biblical scholarship, Dom Henry Wansbrough's explanations of the Bible readings Sunday by Sunday are as informative as they are a delight!'

We congratulate Fr Henry on his Professorial appointment, and hope that the inaugural lecture will be a tremendous success.

Karl Barth's Church Dogmatics: An Introduction and Reader

I have just received an advance copy of R. Michael Allen’s new book – Karl Barth’s Church Dogmatics: An Introduction and Reader.

As always, we have received very interesting endorsements:

‘Embarking on the study of Barth’s Church Dogmatics is no easy matter; this careful selection, with its perceptive introduction and commentaries, is an excellent guide to exploring one of the monumental texts of modern theology.’ – John Webster, University of Aberdeen, UK

‘This volume is a welcome resource for both teachers and students of Karl Barth's theology. Michael Allen's well-chosen excerpts from the Church Dogmatics are lengthy enough to provide a feel for Barth's sprawling theological discourse and wide-ranging enough to provide an appreciation of the full scope of his dogmatic thought. The introduction and notes locate Barth's work within the context of classical and modern divinity and direct readers to the best English-language literature on the Basel theologian. Those who have heretofore feared the prospect of exploring Karl Barth's massive Church Dogmatics may now take courage thanks to Allen's able guidance.’ – Scott R. Swain, Reformed Theological Seminary, USA

‘This is a judiciously selected and carefully introduced series of key readings from the Church Dogmatics. Allen has done the newcomer to Barth a great service by preparing this collection of texts from what remains the most important work in theology of recent times. This volume is a fine resource both for inspiring readers to venture further into Barth's work for themselves and for encouraging students to engage appreciatively and critically with its content.’ – Paul T. Nimmo, The University of Edinburgh, UK

The book will be available in the UK in the middle of March and the readers based in the US can purchase a copy in May 2012.

New releases for the LHBOTS this month...

Brotherhood and Inheritance: A Canonical Reading of the Esau and Edom Traditions by Bradford A. Anderson was published in the UK yesterday. This study offers a canonical reading of the Esau and Edom traditions, examining the portrayal of Esau and Edom in Genesis, Deuteronomy, and the prophetic material. First, it is argued that the depiction of Esau and his descendants in Genesis and Deuteronomy is, on the whole, positive. Second, it is put forward that Edom is portrayed negatively by the prophets for violating their kin, and for disrespecting the divine apportioning of the lands. Finally, it is suggested that these traditions have resonance with one another based on recurring literary and theological motifs, heuristically framed as brotherhood and inheritance.

This month will also see the publication of Ecclesiastes and Scepticism. In this work, Stuart Weeks emphasises observation and empiricism as a key influence on human behaviour; the work excludes any consideration of tradition or revelation. Scholars often view the apparent scepticism of Ecclesiastes in terms of a reaction against the more confident assertions found in works like Proverbs, and the book does indeed seem to deny the possibility of humans shaping their future or changing their fate through informed action. What appears to concern the work’s protagonist, whose monologue occupies most of its length, is not any scepticism about God’s activity or consistency, but rather the problems that arise from a human inability to discern divine action or purpose.

Approaches to the 'Chosen Place' by Rannfrid I. Thelle comes out on the same day (23.02.12). Through a reading of key texts, this book provides a new, textually grounded, perspective of the “chosen place”, which has been held captive by scholarly assumptions when being viewed through the optic of the DH hypothesis. Deuteronomy’s command to restrict cultic practice to one “chosen place” has occupied a central position in scholars’ understandings of the book and their reconstruction of Israelite political and religious history. The debates about the date of Deuteronomy, its proposed connections to “Josiah’s reform”, and, most profoundly, the “Deuteronomistic History (DH) hypothesis” have dominated study of the idea of “chosen place”. These debates have, to a large extent, determined how we read Deuteronomy and the Former Prophets in general.

The Senses of Scripture by Yael Avrahami discusses the experience and understanding of the senses in the culture represented in the Hebrew Bible. The work reveals the essence of biblical epistemology - the ways in which ancient Israelites thought about and used their sensorium. The theoretical introduction demonstrates that scholars need to liberate themselves from the Western bias that holds a pentasensory paradigm and prioritises the sense of sight. The discussion of the biblical material demonstrates that biblical scholars should follow a similar path. Through examination of associative and contextual patters the author reaches a septasensory model, including sight, hearing, speech, kinaesthesia, touch, taste, and smell. It is further demonstrated that the senses, according to the HB, are a divinely created physical experience, which symbolised human ability to act in a sovereign manner in the world.

Out now: New Testament Theology in a Secular World

New Testament Theology in a Secular World: A Constructivist Work in Philosophical Epistemology and Christian Apologetics by Peter Lampe is out now!

New Testament Theology in a Secular World is an important and original new work in Christian apologetics. It is the first book to apply constructivist theory to Biblical Studies.

Biblical Studies scholar Peter Lampe tackles head on such questions as: What do we understand by “reality”? How does this relate to what Theology calls the “reality of God” or the “reality of resurrection”? How can we account for the concept of "revelation"? Lampe argues that in talking about “reality” theologians must make an effort to engage with the concept of “reality” as it is discussed in the fields of philosophical epistemology and sociology of knowledge. However, as Lampe shows, Theology has so far hardly or only reluctantly participated in this dialogue.

In Theologische Literaturzeitung, Dr Christian Strecker calls this work ‘Convincing, profound, innovative and, in its interdisciplinary character, courageous. The study casts new light on the New Testament as a foundation document of the Christian concept of reality.’

Jesus, Criteria and the Demise of Authenticity

 

It's great to see a post about our forthcoming volume, 'Jesus, Criteria and the Demise of Authenticity' over on Mark Goodacre's blog. We're really excited about this volume as it looks to be an utterly timely collection, which should generate a lot of debate and really take Historical Jesus studies forward.

The contributors are top notch (Goodacre, McKnight, Stuckenbruck, Schroter, Hooker etc), and though it's a scholarly volume I can see it being required reading on some courses, and certainly supplementary reading on many others.

As a New Year gift, and to whet your appetite, here is the foreword by Morna D. Hooker ( Download Foreword_Hooker), who kicked off the authenticity debate some years ago.

The book will be out later this year.

God, Humanity and the Cosmos – 3rd Edition

A few months ago I have posted three author’s blog posts – all three form the Biblical Studies list. I have received some advance copies of God, Humanity and the Cosmos – 3rd Edition and then I thought that it would be good if Christopher Southgate could write a blog for this collection of essays – and here it is!

I hope you’ll enjoy reading this post and do follow it till the end as I have also included three endorsements, which are simply great:

‘This textbook for students of science and religion came originally out of meetings of those UK scholars who had won awards in the Science and Religion Course Program funded by Templeton. It became clear that there was no one book that offered a clear, lively and student-friendly account of the debate. In 2005 the book was strengthened by the inclusion of a new historical chapter, and additional material on the theology of creation. For the 2011 edition, further strengthening includes new chapters on climate change and the new atheism, as well as extensive updating of the other material and the bibliography. As the co-ordinating editor I am really grateful to my co-authors for all their insights, and for their loyalty to the book - fifteen years on from its original genesis. I'm also grateful to the members of the UK Science and Religion Forum who spent a whole day last year bombarding the authors with suggestions! Evolutionary psychology, transhumanism, and the 'dappled world' of Nancy Cartwright all get more attention as a result of their suggestions. The book has become an industry standard in countries all over the world. Check out the new edition, and feed back what you think!’ Christopher Southgate.

Ethnography as Christian Theology and Ethics

I am trying to catch up with my blogging and to flag up all the new books we have published recently. This is not an easy task...

Ethnography as Christian Theology and Ethics, a collection of essays from the new and growing field of Christian Ethnography, is edited by Christian Scharen and Aana Marie Vigen. It is available to readers right now, on both sides of the Ocean. This book is divided into three parts titled: Prolegomena, Exemplars and Method; and its Foreword is written by Mary McClintock Fulkerson.

You are probably guessing now… yes, this volume has received five great endorsements from Emilie M. Townes, Ted A. Smith, Pete Ward, João Biehl and Traci West, which I am placing below:

'This engaging collection is a helpful foundation for exploring the use of ethnography in Christian ethics and theology. The authors provide thoughtful and probing challenges to how social scientists and theologians do our work-encouraging us to question and alter some of the basic assumptions of our work so that we do it with genuine rigor rather than with unexamined normative commitments or using the social sciences as lax sources for theological reflection. The challenge is genuine and I encourage us to read and learn from this fine collection.’ - Emilie M. Townes, Yale Divinity School, USA.

Two new volumes in the Ecclesiological Investigations series

Communion, Diversity, and Salvation by Brian Flanagan and Denomination, a collection of essays edited by Paul M. Collins and Barry Ensign-George, are published in June.

Brian Flanagan discusses the significance of the term ‘communion’ and its use in the work of Jean-Marie Tillard, OP. I have received three great endorsements for this volume from Bradford Hinze, Michael Attridge and Michael A. Fahey, SJ – and these are below:

‘A valuable introduction to the ecclesiological contribution of Jean-Marie Tillard. Brian Flanagan deftly situates major facets of Tillard’s life work in relation to contemporary debates about communion ecclesiology and theological method. His most important contribution is his assessment of Tillard’s achievement and his appeal to remedy his limitations by critically engaging social theories in the study of the concrete practices of the church.’ – Bradford Hinze, Fordham University, USA.

‘Paul and the Second Century’ another guest post

A month or so ago, I introduced to you two authors’ posts about new LNTS volumes. I have now received another post, which I hope you’ll find informative. This very interesting collection of essays is already published in the UK and will be ready for readers in the US at the beginning of July 2011. So, without further ado here it is:

The second century was a tumultuous time for the church who had to wrestle with deviations of belief influenced by hyper-Hellenism, spasmodic persecution by Roman authorities, criticism from pagan intellectuals, and occasional departures from an assumed moral framework by certain figures in the church. It was in the midst of such difficulties that a great many voices came forward to define the doctrines and guiding characteristics of what they considered “genuine” Christianity. The interest of Paul and the Second Century is to explore how great an impact Paul made on the minds engaged in this endeavor.

Therefore, “this volume represents cutting edge research that combines experts in Pauline studies with experts in Second Century Christianity to identify the formative influence that Paul had on Second Century Christian groups and writings."

New Releases from the LHBOTS series

God of Faithfulness (vol. 538)- A Festschrift dedicated to J. Gordon McConville on the occasion of his 60th birthday.

Pre-Exilic Israel, the Hebrew Bible, and Archaeology (vol. 549)- A methodological study on how to relate written evidence with non-inscriptional archaeological evidence, with special reference to pre-exilic Israel.

Days of Our Years (464) - This study is an investigation into the lexical meanings of Hebrew terms for the human life cycle in the Old Testament.