The T & T Clark Blog

W.A.T.E.R. Hosts Teleconference with T&T Clark Author Anne E. Patrick

Dr. Anne E. Patrick probes the meaning of vocation from the perpsective of contemporary Catholic women in Conscience and Calling. Intended as a follow-up to Liberating Conscience: Feminist Explorations in Catholic Moral Theology, this new book addresses recent concerns among the Catholic community, including tensions between the Vatican and progressive Catholics, the development of lay ministries, and the movement to ordain women.

W.A.T.E.R. (The Women's Alliance for Theology, Ethics and Ritual), an organization furthering feminist religious values, invited Dr. Patrick to host a teleconference on Conscience and Calling early this March. In her presentation, Dr. Patrick traces Catholic women's shift from passivity to activity within the church, cites disheartening reactions against this shift, and concludes the teleconference by answering questions from listeners.

Read the a transcript of the teleconference highlights here or download the full audio here.

Related articles

Anne Patrick Receives John Courtney Murray Award at CTSA

Launch of Prayer and Thought in Monastic Tradition: Essays in Honour of Sr Benedicta Ward SLG

Yesterday we launched 'Prayer and Thought in Monastic Tradition: Essays in Honour of Benedicta Ward SLG' at Harris Manchester College in Oxford. It was a wonderful evening, and a real first for me as for this book I have had a foot each side of the fence. One as publisher, and the other as volume editor. The evening went extremely well. We had a wonderful drinks reception, during which I gave a short speech, as did my co-editors Santha Bhattacharji and Rowan Williams. Rowan then presented the volume to Sister Benedicta, and she offered some gracious words of thanks.

Working on this volume has been a real privilege for me, not only as it has provided the opportunity to honour one of the leading medievalists of her generation, but also because it has given me an opportunity to really thank someone who has given me and countless others a great deal.

I am also extremely proud of the volume we have produced. As my colleague Santha says in the introduction the chapters are quietly revisionist, almost without exception. This hopefully will mean, as Sister Benedicta said herself yesterday, that there will be much for others to follow up as a result of this collection. Our contributors really are the cream of the crop, as you can see from the contents list and I am grateful to them all for their excellent work, and also for their good humour as I put them under rather Draconian deadlines... which they all met!

I would love to talk about the contents of the volume here, or post a sample chapter or two, but amongst our excellent contributions I cannot pick a favourite. So instead I post my own very short biographical piece on Sister Benedicta which I hope will give blog readers an insight into the volume and into Sister Benedicta's work -  Download Chapter 22 . [Please note that the file included here is an uncorrected proof]

Christian Faith and the Earth: Great New Title from the Theology List at T&T Clark

This week saw the publication of Christian Faith and the Earth, edited by Ernst M. Conradie, Sigurd Bergmann, Celia Deane-Drummond and Denis Edwards. This new work catches the zeitgeist of the ecological consciousness that has started to take hold across the globe.

Christianity has often been accused for being complicit in ecological destruction. In response, Christian ecotheology offers both a Christian critique of environmental destruction and an ecological critique of Christianity. It thus encourages an ecological reformation of the Christian tradition for the sake of the whole earth. Each of the essays explores one of the core Christian symbols, seeks to capture the current state of the debate in this regard, identifies emerging horizons for such an ecological reformation and invites conversation on the road ahead.

This volume includes essays on the trinity, Christology, pneumatology, creation, anthropology, natural suffering, providence, sin and salvation, the nature, governance, ministries and missions of the church, eschatological consummation, a Christian ethos, the role of liturgy, religious plurality andunderlying methodological problems. The broad span of the work draws together several other discourses in ecotheology on biblical hermeneutics, a retrieval of particular traditions, environmental ethics, animal studies, ecclesial praxis, Christian missions and religion and ecology.

Buy your copy here

My Door Is Always Open - new book by the Pope

My Door Is Always Open: A Conversation on Faith, Hope and the Church in a Time of Change is the new book published by Continuum, Bloomsbury, and the first book written by Pope Francis since he was elected Pope. To celebrate this monumental work, Publisher Robin Baird-Smith went, in person, to deliver a copy to the Pope in the Vatican.
We fully expect some terrific reviews and responses to this book co-written by the Pope, whose mass popularity seems to be soaring on a daily basis. It is available tomorrow, and you can buy your copy here:

http://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/my-door-is-always-open-9781472909763/

Robin Baird Smith offered the following reflection on the book:

"We have a Pope who is a radical evangelical, who understands that to be relevant we must speak of things eternal."

If this excites, intrigues or even perplexes you, do not hesitate to get your copy of what promises to be a truly extraordinary book.

Happy World Book Day!

Thursday 6th March 2014. A special day for books, for reading, for learning: all around the globe children are dressing up, reading aloud, receiving book tokens, celebrating their favorite stories. Well we couldn’t let them have all the fun! We’d like to know what your favorite Bloomsbury Academic book is – what’s top of your World Book Day wish list?

Tell us here and not only will ten of the entries be featured in a special academic wish list blog, but ten lucky (randomly selected) entrants will win a paperback of their choice!

Teresa of Avila at St Mary's University in Twickenham

Last night saw the launch of three books at St Mary's University in Twickenham, London, including Dr Peter Tyler's Teresa of Avila.

Peter has published with T&T Clark before, and although this time his work was not a T&T Clark creation, there is no doubt that this is a formidable work about spirituality, one which is important, interesting and highly topical.

An eloquent introduction to the evening was provided by Bloomsbury's Robin Baird-Smith who, despite stating that publishers and authors alike were full of the worst vices(!), expressed his joy and enthusiasm about working with Dr Peter Tyler on this work, which is his first book focusing exclusively on Teresa of Avila.

A lovely evening was had, in short, with the chance for one last glass of wine before the start of Lent.

 

The best new titles from T&T Clark

We are thrilled to announce that we published some excellent books in the month of February. The following all published on Thursday of last week, and you can buy them here: http://bit.ly/1fV5FzZ

Mockery and Secretism in the Social World of Mark's Gospel by Dietmar Neufeld.

In this monograph, Neufeld shows how the author of Mark situates his gospel in the rich social dynamic of mockery, honour and dishonour, and within a culture of visibility and debilitating shame. Neufeld maintains that in order for audiences to witness and evaluate Jesus’ activities, Mark deliberately thrust Jesus into the limelight of public exposure. In the glare of publicity he was tested, probed, challenged and jeered by sceptical listeners and yet found to be a wise teacher, powerful exorcist and healer, and immune to the worst of the accusations levelled at him.

 

Text, Context and the Johannine Community by David A. Lamb

Text, Context and the Johannine Community adopts a new approach to the social context of the Johannine writings by drawing on modern sociolinguistic theory. Sociolinguistics emphasizes language as a social phenomenon, which can be analysed with reference not only to its broad context of culture, but also, through the use of register analysis, to its narrower context of situation.

This study compares selected 'narrative asides' from the Gospel of John with a section from 1 John and with the two shorter Johannine Epistles. It concludes that register analysis of these texts does not support the idea of a close-knit sectarian group.

 

You Are My Son by Amy Peeler

The author of Hebrews calls God 'Father' only twice in his sermon. This fact could account for scholarship's lack of attention to the familial dynamics that run throughout the letter. Peeler argues, however, that by having God articulate his identity as Father through speaking Israel's Scriptures at the very beginning and near the end of his sermon, the author sets a familial framework around his entire exhortation. The recurrence of the theme coalesces into a powerful ontological reality for the audience: because God is the Father of Jesus Christ, they too are the sons of God.  Because of the familial relationship between God and Jesus, the audience of Hebrews - God's children - can remain in the house of God forever.

Theological Interpretation and Isaiah 53 by Charles E. Shepherd

This study brings together the hermeneutical approaches of three Old Testament scholars, specifically as they pertain to the interpretation of Isaiah 52.13-53.12 in the framework of Christian theology. Bernhard Duhm is presented as a history-of-Religion scholar who does not easily abide by popular understandings of that school. Brevard Childs moves outward from particular historical judgments regarding the nature of redaction and form criticism, attempting to arrive at a proximately theological reading of the poem. Alec Motyer’s evangelical commitments represent a large constituency of contemporary theological readership, and a popular understanding of Isaiah 53.
Following a summary and critical engagement of each interpreter on his own terms, the study brings the scholars together, analyzing the use of rhetoric behind the respective readings of Isaiah 53.

 

 

 

And from the Theology lists we have:

Dialectics of Creation by Martin G. Poulson

This book investigates the philosophical components of Christian faith in creation, by analyzing the distinction and the relation between creation and its Creator.The writings of Edward Schillebeeckx and David Burrell supply a terminology of distinction and relation that shapes the discourse, following in the footsteps of Aquinas. Poulsom elucidates the relational dialectic in the thought of Schillebeeckx as a way of thinking about the Creation and offers a helpful comparison with the thought of David Burrell. Relational dialectic is an organizing principle, not only of Schillebeeckx's account of creation, but of his philosophical theology more generally.

Reading the Liturgy by Juliette Day

This is a unique contribution to discussions within churches about the provision of suitable words for liturgical worship and to debates among scholars about liturgical hermeneutics, as well as offering a new methodological paradigm for liturgical studies to inspire students and researchers. By combining insights from literary and linguistic studies with those from historical and contemporary liturgical studies, Juliette Day investigates the nature of a text in relation to unscripted speech; how authors and worshippers make use of genre, narrative and other texts; how the textuality of the liturgy as well as its ritual context affect the sort of language used in worship and what implicit meanings are conveyed in the way liturgical texts are printed in books.