The T & T Clark Blog

Margaret Barker on Youtube!

There is an interview with Margaret Barker available on Youtube. It was recorded by Dr Hamblin who met Old Testament scholar Margaret Barker at the Eagle and Child Pub in Oxford (the pub at which the Inklings used to meet). Margaret Barker talks about her background, her way into Biblical Studies and her Temple Theology. There is a bit of background noise, but I think this is worthwile, especially if you have not had the chance to meet Margaret Barker in person yet. Here is the link to the first part of the interview, from which you can easily click through to the other parts! Enjoy!

Ingolf Dalferth on "Wittgenstein and Theology" by Tim Labron

 

We have received an endorsement for Tim Labron's forthcoming book Wittgenstein and Theology: 

'Tim Labron has written a highly provocative book on Wittgenstein and Theology. He argues that Wittgenstein's philosophy moves away from the prevalent Western tradition of philosophy towards Jewish thought and finally Christian thought.

This is not a thesis about Wittgenstein¹s personal beliefs but rather about the character of his philosophy. Whereas Western philosophy and theology largely follow the Platonic and Cartesian paths, Wittgenstein doesn't nor does Chalcedon. But is this enough to construe an analogy between a Chalcedonian two natures Christology and the relation between logic and language in Wittgenstein's philosophy? This is only one of the many challenging points of this clearly written and well-argued study.

It will no doubt provoke discussion about the relationship of Wittgenstein's philosophy to theology, and it should.'

Ingolf U. Dalferth is Danforth Professor of Philosophy of Religion, Claremont Graduate University; Professor of Systematic theology, Symbolics, and Philosophy of Religion, Director of the Institute of Hermeneutics and Philosophy of Religion, University of Zürich, Switzerland.

 

Off to New England for ETS and SBL!

Well, today we're packing up and seeking Providence... Rhode Island for the 60th gathering of the Evangelical Theological Society. A three hour train ride from our Manhattan office and we'll be there setting up our booth with plenty of books all at conference discounts.

Please come by to peruse our latest offerings as well as to learn more about the revised Church Dogmatics series. Your friendly Biblical Studies Acquisitions Editor (that's me) will be there and is more than happy to discuss any book ideas and/or receive proposals for consideration. I'll have access to email so if you'd like to set up a meeting, feel free to make contact.

On Friday, we'll be making our way up to Boston for SBL where we will have a booth full of discounted books. Our biblical studies editors have been filling their schedules with meetings, but there are still plenty of slots open to come talk about your book ideas. You can email either of our editors to make last minute arrangements or you can just drop by to catch us there and reserve a time.

Also, remember you can track us on Twitter through the whole conference. You can schedule a meeting that way, ask a question, or just say hi.

See you soon!

[Authors Circle] Yamasaki on Watching a Biblical Narrative

Gary Yamasaki, Associate Professor of New Testament at Columbia Bible College, Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada, is the latest contributor to our Authors Circle. And we are very happy to have him as one of our authors! His book will be available for purchase at our conferences this weekend.

We encourage all our readers to comment and pose our Authors Circle writers questions regarding their work and posts!

Brain Surgery on a Biblical Narrator

You are proceeding through the Book of Acts, coming toward the end of chapter 15, and you see Paul approaching Barnabas with the idea of embarking on another journey. And you are settling in to watch this great team in action again, but suddenly, they are at each other’s throats. When the smoke clears, they’ve split as a team, and are going their separate ways.

What just happened? They disagreed on whether John Mark should be taken on this new journey, and neither was willing to budge. So, was Paul in the right in holding that John Mark’s earlier desertion rendered him unfit for this new journey, or was Barnabas in the right in his willingness to give John Mark a second chance? You glance over at the narrator, but he’s not telling.

This is a scenario faced countless times by biblical exegetes. A narrator relates a character engaged in some activity, but does not append a “He did what was evil in the eyes of the Lord” to make it clear to the audience that they are to disapprove of the character’s actions. Without the guidance of evaluative commentary such as this, how are exegetes to know what the narrator intends for the audience to take away from any given episode? How are exegetes to get into the mind of the narrator?

A new critical methodology equips the exegete to perform some brain surgery on a biblical narrator, opening up the narrator’s skull to get at his intentions in situations such as this. Watching a Biblical Narrative: Point of View in Biblical Exegesis sets the groundwork for Perspective Criticism, a methodology designed to discern a biblical narrator’s intentions through the analysis of linguistic constructions involved in the manipulation of point of view in a narrative.

Twitter With T&T Clark!

With ETS and SBL rapidly approaching, we thought it would be fun to keep everyone informed by way of twitter! So find us on twitter and we'll keep you up to date about our events, observations, and what's going on. You'll also be able to learn when the editors are at the booth if you haven't already emailed us to schedule a meeting.

Sign up to follow us here: http://twitter.com/tandtclark

Hopefully, the fail whale will not show up too often...

Contending for Justice by Walter J. Houston. Fully revised and updated new in paperback edition.

 

We are delighted to have just received advance copies of the new paperback edition of Contending for Justice from the printer. Look out for it at SBL!

Contending for Justice analyses texts on social justice in the Old Testament as the rhetoric of interested parties in specific social situations, and argues that despite their ideological character they may still assist in shaping a Christian theological approach to social and global injustice. 

This new paperback edition is fully revised and updated throughout with chapter two having been completely re-written to take account of more recent debates.

'A splendid contribution to a very major issue, a most interesting and thought-provoking study'
Richard Coggins, formerly Senior Lecturer in Old Testament Studies, King’s College London, UK

 

UK customers | US Customers

 

 

[Event] Hans Küng Speaking at NYC's Riverside Church on Thursday Night

Hans Küng, one of the great living theologians and one of our authors, will be giving a lecture at Riverside Church here in New York City this Thursday. The lecture is offered by Columbia University's Earth Institute and is part of their Distinguished Lectures Series.

You can Register Here, but seating is first come, first served.

Challenges to Islam, Christianity and Judaism in Today’s Global Crisis

Co-sponsored by the Center for the Study of Science and Religion Hans Küng, President, Global Ethic Foundation

Welcome by Reverend Brad Braxton, Senior Minister, The Riverside Church

Introduction by Jeffrey D. Sachs, Director, The Earth Institute at Columbia University

Discussion moderated by Robert Pollack, Director, Center for the Study of Science and Religion

Thursday, November 13, 2008
6:00 to 7:30 p.m.
The Riverside Church, South Hall, 490 Riverside Drive
http://www.theriversidechurchny.org/about/?directions

We hope to see you there!

Here are some of Kung's works published by Continuum:

Disputed Truth: Memoirs Volume 2

Hans Küng

Pub Date: 10 May 2008  

ISBN13: 9780826499103    

hardcover    576 Pages     $34.95

Great Christian Thinkers: Paul, Origen, Augustine, Aquinas, Luther, Schleiermacher, Barth

Hans Küng

Pub Date: 01 May 1994    

ISBN13: 9780826408488    

paperback     236 Pages     $34.95

New Continuum Philosophy Blog Up!

We are very pleased to announce that our sibling-in-arms, Continuum Philosophy, now has a blog up and running! It goes without saying that both theology and biblical studies have a rather deep (and often convoluted) relationship with philosophy. Now you can get your philosophy fix more easily.

Be sure to go visit for all the latest and upcoming titles in our philosophy catalog. Sarah Campbell, our Philosophy Editor, not only posts about her own books, but also interesting articles about philosophy and the going-ons in the field. There's even information about how to submit a proposal. Be sure to check her out!

If you check out our left hand column, you'll see a link to Continuum Philosophy so you can easily get there from here. Go visit and say hello!

Remembering Soren Kierkegaard Today

With the remembrance of Armistice Day, coincides the anniversary of Søren Aabye Kierkegaard's death on November 11, 1855.

Today, we feature our catalog of books about one of the most influential thinkers in theology and Continental philosophy. I am sure that many of our readers are indebted to him in some way, shape or form. Perhaps, it wouldn't be out of place to read a few passages of Fear and Trembling or The Concept of Anxiety in the course of the day...

Diary of a Seducer, translated by Gerd Gilhoff         $13.95/£10.99

From Either/Or, this famous work records Johannes’s discovery of a girl with the Shakespearean name Cordelia, whom he sets out to control. Intricately, meticulously, cunningly, the seduction proceeds. No detail is too small to escape Johannes. Less erotic than an intellectual depiction of seduction, Diary of a Seducer shows the casuist Kierkegaard in what he characterized as the aesthetic mode. A new introduction by Michael Dirda puts this influential novella into high relief.

Kierkegaard: A Guide For the Perplexed By Clare Carlisle       $19.95/£12.99

This work offers a cogent, comprehensive and authoritative account of Kierkegaard's philosophy, ideal for students and readers coming to his work for the first time and who want to reach a full and detailed understanding of this major thinker and writer. The book explores the relationship - particularly important in Kierkegaard's case - between his life and work. It covers the literary and philosophical challenges raised by Kierkegaard's 'direct' and 'indirect' forms of communication; considers Kierkegaard's important critique of Hegel; opens up his ideas on subjectivity and truth; and provides illuminating commentaries on both Fear and Trembling and Philosophical Fragments. Valuably, the guide shows how Kierkegaard's philosophical, religious, social, literary and personal concerns are integrated and unified in his works. It also assesses his influence on later philosophers, including Heidegger, Wittgenstein and Sartre.

Kierkegaard on Ethics and Religion: From Either/Or to Philosophical Fragments by W. Glenn Kirkconnell    $130/£65

Søren Kierkegaard is simultaneously one of the most obscure philosophers of the Western world and one of the most influential. His writings have influenced atheists and faithful alike. Yet there is still widespread disagreement on many of the most important aspects of his thought. Kierkegaard was deliberately obscure in his writings, forcing the reader to interpret and reflect as Socrates did with incessant questioning. But at the same time that Kierkegaard was producing his esoteric, pseudonymous philosophical writings, he was also producing simpler, direct religious writings. Kierkegaard always claimed that he was, despite appearances, a religious writer. This important book accepts that claim and tests it. By using Kierkegaard’s direct writings as he suggests, as the key to understanding the more obscure, indirect works, W. Glenn Kirkconnell aims to develop a coherent understanding of Kierkegaard’s authorship and his theories.

Kierkegaard's Analysis of Radical Evil by David A. Roberts   $156/£70

For thousands of years philosophers and theologians have grappled with the problem of evil. Traditionally, evil has been seen as a weakness of sorts: the evil person is either ignorant (does not know the wrong being done), or weak-willed (is incapable of doing the right thing). There has never been a better time to re-open this most difficult of questions, and to inquire whether any helpful resources exist within our intellectual legacy.

 

David Roberts has done just this. In taking up the problem of evil as it is uniquely found in the work of the Danish philosopher, Søren Kierkegaard, Roberts has uncovered a framework that at last allows the notion of radical evil to be properly articulated. His book traces the sources of Kierkegaard's conception from its background in the work of Kant and Schelling, and painstakingly details the matrix of issues that evolved into Kierkegaard's own solution. Kierkegaard's psychological understanding of evil is that it arises out of despair - a despair that can become so vehement and ferocious that it lashes out at existence itself. Starting from this recognition, and drawing on Kierkegaard's view of the self, Roberts shows how the despairing self can become strengthened and intensified through a conscious and free choice against the Good. This type of radical evil is neither ignorant nor weak.

Burgh Wins 2008 Klaus Wachsmann Prize for "Listening to the Artifacts"

We have just learned and are very pleased to announce that Dr. Theodore W. Burgh, author of Listening to the Artifacts: Music Culture in Ancient Palestine, has won the 2008 Klaus Wachsmann Prize for Advanced and Critical Essays in Organology from the Society of Ethnomusicology. This award recognizes a major publication that advances the field of organology through the presentation of new data and by using innovative methods in the study of musical instruments. Dr. Burgh is an Associate Professor at the University of North Carolina Wilmington, Wilmington, NC. You can also view more about the award by clicking here. Congratulations, Dr. Burgh!