The T & T Clark Blog

New titles from T&T Clark publishing today

Today's publication day, and here at T&T Clark we are excited. With a fantastic array of books across both lists, there's almost too much choice!

On the Theology list we have:

The Crisis of Confidence in the Catholic Church by Raymond G. Helmick, S.J.

‘Pope Francis is calling for a church that is honest about its failings, faithful to the liberating vision of Vatican II and filled with hope in the promise of the Spirit.   The pope could find no more eloquent and insightful champion than Fr. Raymond Helmick.  This remarkable book offers a wise balance between discerning church critique and practical proposals for a more healthy church.  Helmick brings tremendous erudition and pastoral sensitivity to his analysis of the Catholic church's post-conciliar "crisis of confidence."  Although unflinching in his critique, Helmick sustains the voice of someone who loves the church too much to give up on it.  And neither should we.’  

- Richard R. Gaillardetz, Boston College, USA

The Son of God Beyond the Flesh by Andrew M. McGinnis

‘Rooted in the sources, McGinnis manages to give us a fresh look at the extra-calvinisticum by making it less Calvinistic and more relevant.  So we find here a learned and yet clear historical overview of a fascinating topic in the history of Christian theology.  A highly welcome book.’  

- Herman Selderhuis, Theologische Universiteit Apeldoorn, Netherlands

And on the Biblical Studies list we have:

Harnessing Chaos by James G. Crossley

James Crossley investigates how the effect of the social upheavals of the 1960s and the economic shift from post-war Keynesian dominance to post-1970s neoliberal dominance brought about certain emphases and nuances in how the Bible is popularly understood, particularly in relation to dominant political ideas. This book reveals the decline of politically radical biblical interpretation in parliamentary politics and the victory of (a modified form of) Margaret Thatcher’s re-reading of the liberal Bible tradition, following the normalisation of (a modified form of) Thatcherism more generally.The result is a reflection on why politicians in English politics bother using the Bible at all.

Reception History, Tradition and Biblical Interpretation by Robert Evans

The nature and the practice of Wirkungsgeschichte and reception history are matters of debate and disagreement in contemporary Biblical Studies. Robert Evans addresses three crucial issues in the discussion: the relationship between reception history and historical-critical exegesis; the form of reception history itself, with a focus on the issue of which acts of reception are selected and valorized; and the role of tradition, pre-judgements and theology in relation to reception history.

'I Lifted My Eyes and Saw': Reading Dream and Vision Reports in the Hebrew Bible by Elizabeth R. Lena-Sofia Tiemeyer

This volume addresses the function and impact of vision and dream accounts in the Hebrew Bible. The contributors explore the exegetical, rhetorical, and structural aspects of the vision and dream accounts in the Hebrew Bible, focusing on prophetic vision reports.

Resisting Empire by Jason A. Whitlark

This book offers a fresh reading about the purpose for which Hebrews was written. Whitlark argues that Hebrews engages both the negative pressures (persecution) and positive attractions (honor/prosperity) of its audience’s Roman imperial context.

Bowing Before Christ - Nodding to the State?: Reading Paul Politically with Oliver O'Donovan and John Howard Yoder by Dorothea H. Bertschmann

Does the apostle Paul sponsor political conservatism? A growing number of scholars dispute this perception, arguing that Paul's political imagery and in particular the confession that "Jesus Christ is Lord" directly challenge the proud Roman emperor.This book critically engages these proposals, seeking to point out with greater precision the function of political imagery within the Pauline narrative. Dorothea H. Bertschmann starts by conversing with the works of John Howard Yoder and Oliver O'Donovan, two modern political ethicists and theologians.

 

All of these books can be bought from the T&T Clark/Bloomsbury site here.

SOTS Summer Meeting 2014 review

T&T Clark were happily present at the SOTS summer meeting earlier this week in sunny St Hilda's College in Oxford. The summer meeting of the Society of Old Testament Studies kicked off to a very strong start with Professor John J. Collins across from Yale delivering the opening lecture “Torah and Jewish Identity in the Second Temple Period.” Some thought-provoking questions were posed about the clarification of terms regarding how groups are used to form identity, and taking an instrumentalist approach (and the myriad issues with that term alone). The lecture itself was lively and entertainingly delivered.

Tuesday dawned with brilliant sunshine, and some very healthy interest in some of the new releases featured on the T&T Clark stand, not least The Ammonites by Craig Tyson, (pictured below) newly released into our LHBOTs series, and 'I Lifted My Eyes and Saw', a forthcoming LHBOTs release this month, about which will be written later. The two morning lectures were on the topic of rain which, in the brilliant sunshine, felt only mildly incongruous. Professor John Day's introductions to the speakers were appreciated by all, as he revealed that Dr Helen Jacobus used to write screen plays and even had a West End agent!

Unfortunately, this was where my report has to cease, as the return to London called. Suffice it to say it was a great conference, with interesting speakers and attendees, and a good showing of our books!

 

The Society for Old Testament Study Summer Meeting 2014

We will be having a stand at this years summer meeting of the Society for Old Testament Study, which starts next Monday 21st July in Oxford, UK.

A number of our authors will be speaking at the conference this year, including Hugh Williamson (Isaiah 1-5 (ICC), 2006), Lena-Sofia Tiemeyer (Zechariah and His Visions, November 2014) and Anthony Frendo (Pre-Exilic Israel, the Hebrew Bible, and Archaeology, 2011).

 Here's a selection of the titles you'll be able to buy at our stand at discounted prices:

From Creation to Babel by John Day

The History of the Jewish People in the Age of Jesus Christ by Emil Schurer

Jesus: Evidence and Arguement or Mythicist Myths? by Maurice Casey

The True Herod by Geza Vermes

We look forward to seeing you there.

Related articles

Schürer: A History of the Jewish People - competition results!

Geza Vermes: 1924 - 2013

The Society for Old Testament Study, Summer Meeting 2012

Maurice Casey has died

Society for Old Testament Study Summer Meeting

Author interview with Dr Judith Wolfe

Dr Judith Wolfe has recently been appointed as Lecturer in the Arts at St Andrews, UK. She has taught at the University of Oxford, UK, and is General Editor of the Journal of Inklings Studies. She was recently awarded a Teaching Excellence Award by the University of Oxford Humanities division.

T&T Clark published her book Heidegger and Theology, which is a useful guide to Heidegger's impact on theology, and vice versa the impact of theology on Heidegger's philosophy, for students and scholars.

It explains Heidegger's key ideas, describes their development and analyses the role of theology in his major writings, including his lectures during the National Socialist era. It also reviews the reception of Heidegger's thought both by theologians in his own day (particularly in Barth and his school as well as neo-Scholasticism) and more recently (particularly in French phenomenology), and concludes by offering directions for theology's possible future engagement with Heidegger's work.

Here follows our interview with Dr Judith Wolfe:

T&T: What particular areas or themes of Theology interest you and why?

JW: I’m particularly interested in the ways theology opens for thinking about what the world is like, and what it is to be human. ‘If we claim this or that about God, what does that mean for our understanding of a good life, or free will, or our relationship to nature?’ And conversely, ‘if we pay close attention to human experience, what can it teach us about the possibility of knowing God?’ Theology in this sense cannot be strictly separated from what philosophers or literary scholars do; rather, it’s a way of pursuing the same questions with the freedom and the scholarly tools to take seriously the role that the question of God plays in those pursuits.

T&T: How would you describe your book in one sentence?

JW: What it says on the package: it aims to give readers a thorough understanding, based on the latest research, of Heidegger’s relationship to theology – in his life, in his thought & writings, and in the theological reception of his work. 

T&T: When did you start researching for this book?

JW: I’ve been reading Heidegger and his theological friends and enemies for a long time, but began research for this book in earnest during a two-year visiting fellowship in Berlin from 2009 to 2011. The libraries of Humboldt University and the state collections, as well as the archives of Freiburg University, have wonderful resources which have never been used by English-speaking scholars, including Heidegger’s various correspondences and the Minutes of his faculty board meetings during the 1930’s and 40’s.

T&T: Which part of writing this book have you enjoyed most?

JW: One of the great things about working on Heidegger is that it involves both serious philosophical and theological questions and real biographical problems (such as the details of his ‘conversion’ from Roman Catholicism to Protestantism, or his relationship to Nazism). I love both detective work in archives and very abstract thought, so perhaps the most fun thing about writing this book was the chance to see what light they throw on each other. 

T&T: Any tips for people reading the book?

JW: Having a big glass of gin and tonic to hand?
Other than that, perhaps it’s worth saying that the book is written with a few different audiences in mind. Readers with a general interest in philosophy and theology can read it simply as a coherent story, without having to pay attention to the scholarly apparatus. Students hoping to use it as a gateway to the field of Heidegger (or Heidegger and theology) will find useful pointers and references to other research, esp. in the endnotes. Those who are already experts in the field may want to pay closer attention to new evidence and interpretations; these are often kept implicit in the main text, but made explicit in the endnotes.
It may also be worth saying that though Heidegger’s Black Notebooks – the intellectual diary he kept from 1931 onwards – were not yet published when the book was written, I have now read them and am pleased how much they confirm my theories in the chapter on Heidegger’s Nazi years. For those interested in the subject, I’ve published a separate discussion of the Notebooks in the June 2014 issue of Standpoint Magazine, which is available to read online.

T&T: Where will your research go from here?

JW: There are several things I’d like to pursue from here: a wider exploration of the role that eschatological structures play in the thought of modern philosophers; a constructive theological account of eschatology, incorporating the things learnt from and through Heidegger and other philosophers; and – as part of my new job as a lecturer in Theology & the Arts at St Andrews – a conceptual analysis of the ‘theological imagination’, or the roles that the imagination inalienably plays in theological thought.

 

T&T: Thank you Dr Judith Wolfe. You can buy your copy of Heidegger and Theology here

Christian Community in History Vol. 1-3 Now in Paperback

We are thrilled to announce that Roger Haight's critically acclaimed Christian Community in History Volumes 1, 2, and 3 are now available in paperback in the UK and will soon publish in the US this August. This trilogy on theology and the history of the Church is called a “crowning achievement” and a "major contribution to the study of the Church" by Paul Avis (The Council for Christian Unity of the Church of England. 

 

In the first volume, Roger Haight achieves what he calls an historical ecclesiology, or ecclesiology from below, which is concrete, realist, and historically conscious. Haight charts the history of the church's self-understandings from the origins of the church in the Jesus movement to the late Middle Ages.To learn more about Christian Community in History Volume 1: Historical Ecclesiology, visit our website here.

In Volume 2, Haight develops a comparative ecclesiology based on the history and diverse theologies of the worldwide Christian movement from the Reformation to the present. A reviewer in the Anglican Theological Review says this second volume is "worthy of celebration." To learn more about Christian Community in History Volume 2: Comparative Ecclesiology and other titles, visit our website here.

Volume 3 is an attempt to describe what the churches possess in common, or to retrieve ecclesiological constants from history reaching back to scriptural origins in order to construct and portray the common ecclesial existence shared by the churches. John J. Burkhard (New Theology Review) says, “The trilogy will long be the standard reference work in the field.” To learn more about Christian Community in History Volume 3: Ecclesial Existence and other titles, visit our website here.

Roger Haight, SJ, has a PhD from the University of Chicago (1973) and a STL from the Jesuit School of Theology in Chicago (1981). He has taught for over 30 years in Jesuit schools of theology in Chicago, Toronto, the Philippines, and Cambridge, Massachusetts. He has been a visiting professor in France, India, Peru, and Kenya. He is a past president of the Catholic Theological Society of America (1994/95). Jesus Symbol of God won 1st place in the Catholic Press Association's 2000 Book Award for theology. Dynamics of Theology won 2nd place in CPA's 1991 Book Award for Theology. He currently teaches at Union Theological Seminary in New York City.