The T & T Clark Blog

Endorsements for "The Humanity of Christ"

We have received two brilliant endorsements for Paul Dafydd Jones' forthcoming book on the Humanity of Christ:

"Most important is the author's careful and well-schooled interpretation of Barth's larger work. Many, many Barth studies are one-sided - this is a natural consequence of such massive dogmatic volumes - but this one is not. The author balances one strand in Barth's Christology with another, notes one theme in the doctrine of election without losing sight of its pair, investigates the doctrine of sanctification in CDIV.2 without forgetting the justification in IV.1 or in IV.2. This is impressive, well-researched, detailed and serious work." (Professor Katherine Sonderegger, Virginia Theological Seminary, USA)

"There is a new generation of Barth scholars emerging who are not satisfied with depictions of the great man’s theology that soothe and bring comfort to those long accustomed to possessing their “orthodoxy”. What they find in Barth is a post-metaphysical theologian; one whose ontology is grounded in the concrete history of Jesus Christ, one who took the humanity of Christ as the basis for understanding the humanity of God. Paul Dafydd Jones is one of the leaders of this movement. The book he has written is provocative in the best sense. It forces the reader to make fundamental decisions not only about how Barth is to be read but also with respect to how theology is to be done. I think myself that the future of Barth studies belongs to them." (Professor Bruce McCormack, Princeton Theological Seminary)

'Lucid in its analysis of the complexities of Barth's Christological thinking, thorough in its command of the range of his thought, and penetrating in its judgements, this is one of the very best studies of Barth to appear in recent years, and one which promises to set the pace for future reflection on Barth's understanding of the person of Christ.' (Professor John Webster, University of Aberdeen, UK)

College Board To Kill AP Latin Lit Exam!

This morning while browsing the American Philological Association website, I was stunned and extremely discouraged to discover that the College Board has plans to stop offering the Advanced Placement Latin Literature Exam! It goes without saying that in our academic fields the role and understanding of the Latin language and Greco-Roman culture is an essential feature.

The APA links to articles from the Washington Post on April 4 and July 3 regarding the demise of the program. Evidently, the College Board has determined that the enrollment in the AP Latin Lit course is too low.

In response, the APA has written a letter to the College Board strongly opposing the decision and requests that the Board reconsider its actions. It links to a petition for people to sign online in support of the AP Latin Lit test.

As a classicist and a former Latin teacher, I felt it important to get the word out. Without opportunities for the younger generation of future classicists and biblical scholars, our fields will be sorely at a loss.

It begs the question, What Would Augustine Do?

Come See T&T Clark at Summer Conferences!

You'd probably like to know that during the next few weeks, our editors will be out and about at a few conferences in the US and UK.

At the moment, we're at the Society for Old Testament Study Summer Meeting being held at Wadham College, University of Oxford.

From July 29 - August 2, We'll also be attending the the 63rd General Meeting of Studiorum Novi Testamenti Societas in Lund, Sweden.

From August 2-5, we'll be attending the seventy-first international meeting of the Catholic Biblical Association of America at Fordham University in New York City.

After that, we'll be traveling to the University of Lisbon in Portugal for the European Association of Biblical Studies meeting to be held August 3rd to the 6th.

Hope to see you there! Be sure to let us know if you read our blog, too!

RSS Feed Working Again.

If anyone was noticing that our RSS feed was down, it's up now so you should have no problems.

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T&T Clark/Continuum Online Book Sale!

Hello, gentle reader. Do you like books? I know *I* do! Well, if you're like me you'll be pleased to learn that we here at T&T Clark/Continuum are currently having an online book sale at our website!

There are some pretty good deals on titles in:

US Prices
Biblical Studies
Theology
Religious Studies
General Religion
Other Continuum titles on sale

UK Prices
Biblical Studies
Theology
Religious Studies
General Religion
Other Continuum titles on sale

The prices are good until August 15 so you've still got some time to do some browsing.

Get them while you can!

Robert Oppenheimer's Top Ten Books in "Christian Century"

This past weekend, I finished the most amazing biography of J. Robert Oppenheimer, considered to be the father of the atomic age, entitled American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin and published by Vintage. The book won the Pulitzer Prize and is absolutely worth the read.

As I learned while reading (and I forget the exact page), it turns out that Christian Century, in the May 15, 1963 issue, asked him to pick his top ten books that "did most to shape your vocational attitude and your philosophy of life." Here is the list in no particular order:

Hamlet                                                  William Shakespeare
The Wasteland                                       T.S. Eliot                        
Bhagavad-Gita
Les Fleurs du Mal                                   Charles Baudelaire                
The Three Centuries (Satakatrayam)       Bhartrhari
The Divine Comedy                                Dante Alighieri
The Notebooks                                       Michael Faraday
L'Education sentimentale                        Gustave Flaubert
Theaetetus                                            Plato
collected works                                      G. F. Bernhard Riemann

I thought that this might be of interest to some of our readers. It is always important to consider the nexus of culture, religion, literature, and natural sciences. Oppenheimer was a man, as controversial as he was - and, perhaps, still is - seemed conscientious of such things.

I was able to find the full list of books from The Gita of J. Robert Oppenheimer, by James A. Hijiya, available for download in pdf form.

NB: As an avid reader of Christian Century, I would love to see the editors make such a "top ten" list an occasional feature in future issues...

Ontology and Providence in Creation

I am particularly excited to announce the publication of Mark Robson's Ontology and Providence in Creation: Taking Ex Nihilo Seriously, a new addition to our spirited new philosophy of religion list.

Robson's concern is to overturn the Leibnizean argument of creation - which can be traced back to Plato - that God's understanding encompassed a host of possible worlds, only one of which He actualised. Robson's contention is that this understanding of creation does not take seriously the idea of ex nihilo and that, rather than considering possible worlds, we should understand possibility as indeterminate. He then develops this argument and explores how it impacts on the problem of evil.

Those scholars who have read the manuscript prior to publication have greeted it with terrific enthusaism:

'Robson draws on a wide range of material in an illuminating way. Ambitious, constructive, confidently and clearly held together, this book displays real independence of thought.' Ann Loades CBE, Professor Emerita of Divinity, University of Durham, UK

'This is a bold book which offers a genuine and original contribution to both philosophical and theological debates. The ease, confidence and lucidity with which Robson discusses the philosophical and theological doctrines of a wide range of authors is very impressive.' Maria Rosa Antognazza, Reader in Philosophy of Religion, King's College London, UK

'Robson has made great progress on a central but neglected area of philosophy of religion. In a way, it is surprising that this kind of book has not been written before. Robson's work is essential reading for anyone interested in the philosophy of theism and creation.' Charles Taliaferro, Professor of Philosophy, St Olaf College, Minnesota, USA

'[Robson contends] that there are good philosophical reasons for believing that, prior to their actual existence, concepts and the possibilities inherent in them have no determinate meaning. So even God must respond to what actually emerges. It is an idea that could radically alter the way in which we think of God, creation and evil.' David Brown FBA, Professor of Theology, Aesthetics and Culture, University of St Andrews, UK

Ontology and Providence in Creation will be published on 1st August in the UK and 1st October in the US.

LHBOTS: God and Earthly Power (New in Paperback)

Today we received advance copies of the new paperback edition of God and Earthly Power: An Old Testament Political Theology. Professor McConville's book, which was published in hardback in 2006, explores the nature of human power in the light of belief in God.

The release of the paperback edition has already been greeted by a wonderful endorsement from Professor John Goldingay:

'Professor McConville here aims to "contribute to a discussion of how the Old Testament might be understood politically, both in its own terms and in relation to the modern world." It is a great contribution to that discussion, one that deserves to be read carefully by anyone interested in Old Testament theology or ethics, or in narrative interpretation.' - Professor John Goldingay, David Allan Hubbard Professor of Old Testament, Fuller Theological Seminary, California, USA.

Gordon McConville is Professor of Old Testament Theology in the University of Gloucestershire, UK. God and Earthly Power will be published at the end of this month in the UK and will be released in the US in September.

Knohl's Translation of "Gabriel's Revelation" Now Online and Downloadable.

Earlier today, Mark Goodacre posted a number of useful and varied news articles and blog posts related to the "Gabriel's Revelation" tablet, translated by Professor Israel Knohl, of Hebrew University.

We certainly think this is all VERY exciting and an important glimpse into the messianism of the time. We look forward to much fruitful discourse.

You can read the entire translation here at the Shalom Hartman Institute, as brought to our attention by Dr. Jim West.

If you prefer, you can also download the translation as a pdf document from the Institute's website.

NB: The entire contents of this translation are Copyright 2008 by Israel Knohl. All rights reserved. Fair use (brief quotations) is permitted. For extensive quotes, written permission is required. Contact Israel Knohl only for permission.

Interview with Steve Moyise

Following on from his recent review of Evoking Scripture, Nijay Gupta has now published an interview with the author, Professor Steve Moyise, on his blog. In the interview Steve talks about the genesis of the book as well as his continuing interest in the Old Testament in the New.