The T & T Clark Blog

New commentary on Job: Human Consciousness of God in the Book of Job

As a treat for the start of May, which fast approaches, I'm posting a widget to a wonderful new commentary on the book of Job which we have just published.

The commentary looks at the pyschological aspects of Job, but it also looks strongly at the rabbinic sources and works surrounding the text and this is what makes it unique. The book is by Jeffrey Boss (as a piece of trivia, Jeffrey's daughter is Sarah Jane Boss, editor of 'Mary: The Complete Resource' which is published by us in the UK and Europe, and by OUP NY in North America. You should all buy a copy of Sarah's book for a friend during the Marian month of May). Jeffrey has for many years been working on and refining his work on Job, whilst also working as a medical practitioner. His work represents a very new and refreshing approach to Job, with which I think all studying Job must engage. However, far be it from me - a mere publisher - to advise you on this point. Far better to have John Barton's word on it:

‘Jeffrey Boss’s work on Job shows how fruitful rabbinic sources can be when applied in a close reading of a biblical book. His work is scholarly and very learned, and advances a distinctive position that needs to be taken account of by all readers of Job. A new and distinctive voice in biblical studies.’

John Barton, FBA, Oriel & Laing Professor of the Interpretation of Holy Scripture, University of Oxford

Read more about the book, and another wonderful endorsement from Katharine Dell on our website and do pass on the information to anyone you know who might be interested.

Jesus, Gnosis and Dogma by Riemer Roukema

I am writing now about a book we have recently published by Riemer Roukema. It looks at Christology in the New Testament and the early Church Fathers, sort of de-bunking the wave of sceptical publications which assert that later orthodoxy was somehow incompatible with earlier 'orthodox' understandings of Christ and that in cases the 'Gnostics' had more of a handle on the historical Jesus. This is the official blurb from our website:

"In Jesus, Gnosis and Dogma Roukema investigates and assesses the various views of Jesus in early Christianity, basing his approach on a distinction between historical and theological statements about Jesus. Historical statements can be arrived at through a critical study of the earliest records, although Roukema recognizes that scholars differ widely here. Theological statements about Jesus are to do with what has been and is believed about him.

Roukema demonstrates that Gnostic traditions about Jesus mostly derive from the earlier traditions preserved in the New Testament writings and do not give a more accurate view of the historical Jesus. He shows that the view of Jesus as the divine Lord (Yahweh) and Son of God is inspired by an early Jewish pattern that was exploited by the very first Christians. In spite of some later dogmatic precisions, there is more continuity between the New Testament picture of Jesus and the Nicene creed than between the historical Jesus and the Jesus of early Gnosticism. Even the essence of the Trinitarian dogma appears to have Jewish roots."

The book is highly adoptable I think - see for yourself in the widget below. If you'd like a full inspection widget of the whole book then get in touch via the blog and I'll send one to you.

Reviving the T&T Clark back list

As you may have noticed, new forms of digital printing have made it much easier to keep old titles in print or indeed to re-print old books in very small print runs.

We have made good use of the new "Print-on-Demand" program for our own titles. This means that T&T Clark titles rarely go completely out of print these days. We even have revived whole book series this way, as recently the Feminist Companion to the Bible , edited by Athalya Brenner. 

 However, there is a huge backlist of old T&T Clark titles that went out of print long before there was an option to put them into "Print-on-Demand", or POD.

Although we are constantly reviewing our back list and put titles back in print that have been out of print for a while, we thought that there might be some of you out there waiting to see old T&T Clark books be made available again because you want to use them for courses, reading lists, or simply because you like them and think they are important.

So please let us know if there are any titles from T&T Clark's (and Continuum's) long publishing industry you would like to see in print again.

Online reviews in Systematic Theology

News have reached us about two online reviews:

The Centre for Barth Studies have put a review on of Paul Dafydd Jones' "The Humanity of Christ" by Darren O Sumner.

"The Humanity of Christ supplies the field of contemporary Barth scholarship with one of its most significant works of the twenty-first century so far through a thorough examination of a major locus in Barth’s theology. Originating as a doctoral dissertation at Harvard University and recently honored with the Templeton Award, Paul Dafydd Jones’ book examines Christology diachronically through the Church Dogmatics. As the title suggests, at issue for Jones – associate professor at the University of Virginia’s Department of Religious Studies – is Barth’s robust account of the humanity of Jesus Christ, in opposition to the common charge “that Barth’s strong affirmation of Christ’s divinity makes for an enfeebled account of Christ’s humanity” (3). Meticulously researched and organized, the work synthesizes much of the Dogmatics, offering summaries and insightful analysis of Barth’s theology."

You can read the full review here.

The other review is from Themelios for a volume in our T&T Studies in Systematic Theology: Reading the Decree by David Gibson.

"This is a fine book that deserves a wide reading from students of Calvin, Barth, and the Reformed tradition, as well as all those interested in the doctrines of Christ and election. Gibson shows familiarity with the works of Calvin (both commentaries and the Institutes) and Barth as well as the vast secondary literature; he also sees the limits in many scholarly tendencies (e.g., the tendency to see primarily philosophical grounds for both Calvin’s and Barth’s doctrine of election). Above all, he shows acuity in tracing the underappreciated influence of exegesis upon two master theologians. One can only hope that many will follow Gibson’s example in showing the way in which biblical exegesis has shaped dogmatic reasoning on various topics within the Christian tradition, and we might pray that many more will be inspired to imitate this biblical pursuit."

You can read the full review here.

Church Dogmatics Study Edition in individual volumes

We had quite a few enquiries about the publication of the individual volumes of our new Church Dogmatics Study Edition.

You will be pleased to hear that these will be available in paperback from July in the United States and from September in the UK, both in time for the new academic year.

The volumes will be identical with the ones in the box set published last year. They will all carry full translations of the Hebrew, Greek and Latin passages into English. Each volume will in addition also carry its own index of names, subjects and biblical references.

The price of the volumes will be GBP19,95 in the UK and $34,95 in the US.

  

Launch of 'The Use and Abuse of the Bible' by Henry Wansbrough OSB

 
  
We had a great launch for Henry Wansbrough's new book last night, generously hosted by the University of Notre Dame's London Centre.

The launch began with a panel discussion chaired by Felipe Fernandez-Armesto, with the panel comprised of the author, Nicholas King SJ, and Rupert Shortt.

The book is very wide-ranging and thus the discussion was too, so it is somewhat difficult to summarise. There was much discussion of what constitutes an ‘abuse’ or a ‘use’ and whether in a sense almost all readings of the bible can in some way abuse it. I.e. the bible speaks to all in their own time, and texts become applied and reapplied throughout history, sometimes with catastrophic results. Nick King mentioned South Africa, and apartheid as being evidence of this – saying that farmers would read the notion of ‘promised land’ into their own situations. This spun off from discussion of Fr Henry’s chapter on the use of the bible in the Israeli/Palestinian conflict.

Felipe Fernandez-Armesto remarked that in a sense the issue of Papal primacy could be considered an abuse of the bible because it was an application for the Church’s own purposes, which prompted discussion of the dual role of scripture, and living tradition informed by scripture. This obviously links in with the notion that scripture is often most valuable within the situation of a community.

Other topics discussed included the bible in art and music, issues of biblical translation – whether the translator is a user or an abuser or both (which Frs Nick and Henry are obviously both very well qualified to speak about), the reformation and Luther’s reading of the bible (he came off quite well given the identity of the panel members!)

Afterwards followed a nice drinks party.

Read more about the book here.

Christopher Morse 'The Difference Heaven Makes'

I am very pleased to announce that ‘The Difference Heaven Makes’ has been published recently and is now available to the readers in the US.

In this volume Christopher Morse focuses upon a rehearing of the Gospel news of heaven today and invites readers to exercise a “post-modern permission” to listen to this testimony without either the usual modernist earplugs or an uncritical post-modern “make believe.” Without attempting to retrace the history of images and interpretations of heaven, Morse seeks rather to draw upon this background to get to the heart of the issue of modern eschatological and apocalyptic discussion by proposing in the foreground a “thought experiment”. If we hear of heaven as that which is now at hand and coming to pass, in contrast to what Paul calls “the form of this world that is passing away,” how significant would the consequences be? Morse proceeds to conduct such a retrial of the news of heaven as presence, citizenship, kingdom, creation, and proximity by testing its present day credibility with respect to such topics as the theology of heaven, the reality of heaven, the ethics of heaven, and the hope of heaven.

We have received some very commendable endorsements for this volume, which are displayed below:

‘Refusing to believe that heaven refers primarily to the afterlife or is rendered meaningless by scientific knowledge, Christopher Morse considers the difference heaven makes for understanding the Gospel. As in his previous book, Not Every Spirit, Morse is a master at analyzing the internal logic of Christian belief and uncovering how our convictions inform Christian identity and responsible action. By reading this book scholars, preachers, and students will gain new insight into the difference heaven makes in their own theological reflections and practices.’ – Nancy J. Duff, Princeton Theological Seminary, USA.

Romans 1-8: Cranfield ICC

I thought it might interest people to know that we have just reprinted the paperback of Cranfield's Romans Commentary in the ICC (vol 1: Rm 1-8) with some corrections.

Cranfield's main concern with these corrections has been to re-translate polu kata panta tropon in Romans 3 as 'an advantage altogether great and important' instead of 'much in every respect'. In several of the pages he has made changes to discuss what is implied by this different reading, and there are a few other changes here and there. 

It has been wonderful to be able to have these changes made for Professor Cranfield, and I have enjoyed working on them with him. I feel it deserves mention that this is now the Sixteenth impression of the work, which was first published thirty-five years ago.

Obviously these are minor changes - and by no means represent a new edition. But I thought it might merit a blog post and be of interest for those of you particularly working on Romans.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer - A new biography by Ferdinand Schlingensiepen

Those of you who have been wondering what became of the previously announced biography of Dietrich Bonhoeffer have shown an amazing patience. I am very pleased to announce that the book is now out, at least in the UK. You can find a preview here.

Thanks also to David Marx, who has kindly published a review on his blog. He concludes:

"Ferdinand Schlingensiepen has written a profoundly wonderful book with grace and clarity. The sort of which, readers will want to refer to, over and over again. In so doing, one will be in a position to (subliminally) immerse oneself amid Bonhoeffer’s congregation. Humility."

I could not agree more!