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November 13, 2009

Alison Milbank in the latest Mars Hill Audio Journal


Out today in the latest issue of the Mars Hill Audio Journal (#99), Ken Myers interviews Alison Milbank, discussing her book Chesterton and Tolkien as Theologians: The Fantasy of the Real.

Alison Milbank, on how the fantasy writings of G. K. Chesterton and J. R. R. Tolkien are intended to reconnect readers with reality.

The latest issue of the Mars Hill Audio Journal may be found here (subscription or individual purchase required), and also contains interviews by Ken Myers with Marilyn Chandler McEntyre, Paul A. Rahe, James L. Nolan, Jr., Andrew J. Cherlin, and Dale Kuehne.


October 14, 2009

Michel Henry, Éditions de L'Âge d'Homme

Released this year is an edited volume by Jean Leclercq and Jean-Marie Brohm simply titled Michel Henry, Paris-Lausanne, Éditions de L'Âge d'Homme, 2009, 544 p.

In addition to works by Michel Henry (including some previously unpublished) and an interview with Anne Henry and Jean Leclercq, there are contributions from Jean-Louis Chrétien, Jean Leclercq, Jean-Luc Marion, Conor Cunningham (translated by Anne Henry), Nathalie Depraz, Michel Dupuis, Karl Hefty, Ruud Welten, Gabrielle Dufour-Kowalska, Jean Greisch, Rolf Kühn, Jean-François Lavigne, Éric Rhode, François Calori, Michel Fichant, Marc Herceg, Mario Lipsitz, Yukio Naka, Carole Talon-Hugon, Jérôme Thélot, Yorihiro Yamagata, Jean-Marie Brohm, Alain David, Christophe Dejour, Raúl Ballbé, Jean-Pierre Fabre, Éric Faÿ, Guy Flores, Emmanuel Galactéros, Miguel Garcia-Baro, Florinda Martins, Adriaan Peperzak, Pierre Piret, Giuliano Sansonetti, Karol Tarnowski, Antoine Vidalin, François-David Sebbah, and Roland Vaschalde.

A helpful article with more information on the contents of this volume may be found here on ACTU-PHILOSOPHIA.

September 29, 2009

Hauerwas and Hart in latest issue of Mars Hill Audio Journal


Out today in the latest issue of the Mars Hill Audio Journal (#98), Ken Myers has interviews with Stanley Hauerwas and David Bentley Hart. From the issue description:

Stanley Hauerwas, on the public witness of Fr. Richard John Neuhaus and on why Neuhaus abandoned his 1960s radicalism to become a leading 'theoconservative'.

David Bentley Hart, on the feeble and confused arguments of the recent crop of outspoken atheists and on how a misunderstanding of the nature of freedom is at the heart of their revulsion at religion.

The latest issue of the Mars Hill Audio Journal may be found here (subscription or individual purchase required), and also contains interviews by Ken Myers with Clarke Forsythe, Gilbert Meilaender, Jeanne Murray Walker, and Roger Lundin.

September 26, 2009

Book Releases

Off the presses this week: The Pope and Jesus of Nazareth: Christ, Scripture and the Church, a collection of essays from the conference of the same name held at the University of Nottingham in the summer of 2008. Published by SCM Press in conjunction with the Centre of Theology and Philosophy in the Veritas series, edited by Adrian Pabst and Angust Paddison.

Details:

The publication of the book Jesus of Nazareth on 16 April 2007 was an unprecedented event: never before had a reigning Pope published personal reflections on Jesus. Benedict XVI's book engages not just with New Testament scholarship but also with fundamental methodological questions related to historical criticism.

The Pope and Jesus of Nazareth provides essays by some of the leading scholars in Britain, continental Europe and the USA to highlight the insights and limits of the Pope's reflection on Jesus. Specifically, it engages with the book from critical, cross-disciplinary and different faith perspectives.

Contributors include: Richard Bell, Markus Bockmuehl, Peter Casarella, Roland Deines, Henri-Jérôme Gagey, Richard B. Hays, Fergus Kerr OP, Francisco Javier Martínez, John Milbank, R. W. L. Moberly, George Dennis O'Brien, Angus Paddison, Adele Reinhartz, Mona Siddiqui, and Olivier-Thomas Venard OP.

Endorsements previously mentioned here.


Additionally, out last month is a volume entitled Divine Transcendence and Immanence in the Work of Thomas Aquinas, a collection of studies presented at the Third Conference of the Thomas Instituut te Utrecht, 15-17 December 2005. Edited by Harm Goris, Herwi Rikhof, and Henk Schoot, this volume contains essays by CoTP members Rudi te Velde, Harm Goris, and Conor Cunningham. The full table of contents may be found here.

Collection description:

The terms 'transcendence' and 'immanence' are often used casually and as self-evident. The spatial imagery contained in their meaning determines the way they are understood and used: as opposites, like 'there' and 'here'. As a consequence, the two concepts are seen as mutually exclusive when applied to God's being and to his activity and presence in our world and in our history. This view on the relationship between God and world is characteristic not only of deism and pantheism, but also of theism.

However, in the view of Thomas Aquinas, such an opposition cannot adequately capture the central tenets of the Christian faith. This book explores Aquinas' thought on transcendence and immanence in his discussions of creation, analogy, the Trinity, grace and Christ, and offers interpretations in which God's transcendence and his immanence do not exclude but imply one another.

September 23, 2009

Radical Orthodoxy Reader

Released in April is the Radical Orthodoxy Reader, edited by John Milbank and Simon Oliver.

Book description:

The Radical Orthodoxy Reader presents a selection of key readings in the field of Radical Orthodoxy, the most influential theological movement in contemporary academic theology. Radical Orthodoxy draws on pre-Enlightenment theology and philosophy to engage critically with the assumption and priorities of secularism, modernity, postmodernity and associated theologies. In doing so it explores a wide and exciting range of issues: music, language, society, the body, the city, power, motion, space, time, personhood, sex and gender. As such it is both controversial and extremely stimulating; provoking much fruitful debate amongst contemporary theologians.

To assist those encountering Radical Orthodoxy for the first time, each section has an introductory commentary, related reading and helpful questions to encourage in-depth understanding and further study.

Table of Contents:

  • Part One: What is Radical Orthodoxy?
    • Introduction (Oliver)
    • 1. Radical Orthodoxy: a conversation (Shortt)
    • 2. 'Postmodern Critical Augustinianism': A Short Summa in Forty-two Responses to Unasked Questions (Milbank)
  • Part Two: Theology and Philosophy, Faith and Reason Introduction
    • 3. Truth and Vision (Milbank)
    • 4. Duns Scotus: His Historical and Contemporary Significance (Pickstock)
  • Part Three: Theology and the Secular Introduction
    • 5. Spacialisation: the middle of modernity (Pickstock)
    • 6. Political Theology and the New Science of Politics (Milbank)
  • Part Four: Christ and Gift Introduction
    • 7. Christ the Exception (Milbank)
    • 8. The Schizoid Christ (Ward)
  • Part Five: Church and Eucharist Introduction
    • 9. Thomas Aquinas and the Quest for the Eucharist (Pickstock)
    • 10. The Ontological Scandal (Ward)
  • Part Six: Politics and Theology Introduction
    • 11. "A fire strong enough to consume the house:" The Wars of Religion and the rise of the nation state (Cavanaugh)
    • 12. Materialism and Transcendence (Milbank)
    • Afterward: The Grandeur of Reason and the Perversity of Rationalism: Radical Orthodoxy's First Decade (Milbank)

September 17, 2009

Chris Simpson's new book out today

I've just received word from Chris Simpson that his new book has arrived today. It is entitled Religion, Metaphysics, and the Postmodern: William Desmond and John D. Caputo, published by Indiana University Press (Indiana Series in the Philosophy of Religion). The publisher's description:

William Desmond's original and creative work in metaphysics is attracting more and more attention from philosophers of religion. Putting Desmond in conversation with John D. Caputo, an important philosopher of religion from the Continental tradition, Christopher Ben Simpson casts new light on Desmond's complex, multifaceted, and nuanced thought. The comparative approach allows Simpson to get at the core of recent debates in the philosophy of religion. He develops a rich understanding of how ethics and religion are informed by metaphysics, and contrasts this approach to the decidedly anti-metaphysical stance in Continental philosophy. Religion, Metaphysics, and the Postmodern presents a systematic analysis of Desmond's thought as it advances work on Caputo's thinking and on the philosophy of religion.

Available from:

 

 

August 29, 2009

SCM Press sale on CoTP books

SCM Press is having a sale on CoTP-associated books, which lasts until 30 September 2009 :

August 28, 2009

The Pope and Jesus of Nazareth volume soon out in the Veritas series!

Due out at the end of September is the edited conference volume entitled The Pope and Jesus of Nazareth (eds. Adrian Pabst and Angus Paddison) based on the conference proceedings of the same name held at the University of Nottingham in the summer of 2008. Click here to pre-order from SCM Press.

Details:

The publication of the book Jesus of Nazareth on 16 April 2007 was an unprecedented event: never before had a reigning Pope published personal reflections on Jesus. Benedict XVI's book engages not just with New Testament scholarship but also with fundamental methodological questions related to historical criticism.

The Pope and Jesus of Nazareth provides essays by some of the leading scholars in Britain, continental Europe and the USA to highlight the insights and limits of the Pope's reflection on Jesus. Specifically, it engages with the book from critical, cross-disciplinary and different faith perspectives.

Contributors include: John Milbank, Henri-Jérôme Gagey, Francisco Javier Martínez, Fergus Kerr OP, Richard B. Hays, Markus Bockmuehl, Adele Reinhartz, Mona Siddiqui, Peter Casarella, R. W. L. Moberly, Olivier-Thomas Venard OP, Richard Bell, Angus Paddison, Roland Deines, and George Dennis O'Brien.

Endorsements:

"This book is an important response, sympathetic but not uncritical, to Pope Benedict's appeal to trust the evangelists' portrayal of Jesus. Whether or not Benedict's argument is successful, the problem he addresses - the modern divide between the Jesus of history and the Christ of faith - is a real one. Contributors to this volume rightly recognize this, and show how the debate can be taken forward." — Francis Watson, Chair of Biblical Interpretation, University of Durham

"Pope Benedict hoped that his book Jesus of Nazareth would provoke an intelligent debate about what it means to be disciples of Jesus today. This book's collection of articles, some of exceptional distinction, more than fulfils that hope. Many of them bring fresh light to bear on one of the most important questions which theology faces today, the relationship between modern biblical scholarship and faith in the Risen Lord. Wonderful!" — Timothy Radcliffe OP, Master of the Order of Preachers from 1992-2001

"This is an exciting collection of essays written by an outstanding group of international biblical scholars and systematic theologians. They creatively and resourcefully interact with Pope Benedict XVI's book, Jesus of Nazareth, allowing the reader to obtain greater insight into and appreciation of Pope Benedict's thought. Moreover, through their dialogue with Pope Benedict's work, these authors also make their own individual outstanding scholarly contributions to the study of Christ." — Thomas G. Weinandy, O.F.M., Cap., Executive Director for the Secretariat for Doctrine, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Washington, DC

"A rich and articulate inquiry into the Pope's thought and his reflections on Jesus. This book takes up Benedict XVI's invitation to overcome the unwarranted dualism between reason and Revelation, between the Jesus of History and the Christ of Faith, and to rediscover the essence of the Christian event - God made man - the inexhaustible spring of an adequate theological and exegetical method. Those essays on the Holy Father's hermeneutical perspective which are critical also help the deepening of knowledge." — H.E. Angelo Cardinal Scola, Patriarch of Venice

July 14, 2009

Alex Andrews in the Guardian

Alex Andrews, a PhD candidate at the University of Nottingham in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies, has published a piece in The Guardian entitled "Praying for a revolution in economics: Greenspan's crisis of faith exposes the scientific veneer of economics for what it is, revealing what amounts to a religion."

June 20, 2009

New Veritas Volumes

The Veritas series page has been updated to reflect the addition of three new works.

The first is for a volume just-released: J. P. Moreland's The Recalcitrant Imago Dei: Human Persons and the Failure of Naturalism.

[Order UK] [Order US]

Endorsements:

"J. P. Moreland's new book is a tour de force. In six clear, concise and tightly-argued chapters, he raises profound objections to the attempts of modern naturalistic philosophers to accommodate human consciousness, free will, rationality, selfhood and morality within a purely physical world-view. He thereby significantly enhances the intellectual appeal of a theistic alternative. All open-minded metaphysicians, philosophers of mind and philosophical theologians should read this book." — E. J. Lowe, Professor of Philosophy, Durham University

"J.P. Moreland's book is a masterpiece of clear, compelling, accessible arguments against naturalism, and a powerful defense of a Christian understanding of persons. This should be required reading for anyone interested in the philosophy of human nature and the debate between theism and naturalism today." — Charles Taliaferro, St Olaf Collage

"The Recalcitrant Imago Dei is a wonderful read. Chapter by chapter, Moreland systematically sets forth how naturalism denies what is so obvious about ourselves, which is that we are conscious, rational souls that have the power to make undetermined choices for purposes. The power of the book lies in the way that it makes clear how human beings become unrecognizable once naturalism has worked them over. Through page after page of careful argument, Moreland shows all of us how deeply unnatural the naturalist account of ourselves is." — Stewart Goetz, St Ursinus College

"Materialistic naturalism has, for some years, been the received wisdom in philosophy, as well as amongst much of the educated public. Many serious philosophical arguments have been brought against this ideology, but usually in a series of separate controversies. J.P. Moreland's great service is to bring all these objections together, whilst adding his own original contributions, in a very effective anti-naturalist polemic. He shows us that the materialist world picture cannot accommodate the most basic phenomena of human life: It has no place for consciousness, free will, rationality, the human subject or any kind of intrinsic value. Materialism does not disprove these human realities, it is simply incapable of accounting for them in any remotely plausible way. I would add to the list of its failures that naturalism lacks even a coherent account of the physical world itself. Moreland makes a very good case for saying that, as a serious world view, naturalism is a non-starter: more traditional, theistic philosophies fare much better in the face both of the phenomena and of argument." — Howard Robinson, University Professor in Philosophy, Central European University, Budapest

The next two are for this year's forthcoming edited conference volumes:

The Pope and Jesus of Nazareth, edited by Angus Paddison and Adrian Pabst; and The Grandeur of Reason: Religion, Tradition, and Universalism, edited by Peter M. Candler Jr. and Conor Cunningham. Further information on these volumes is forthcoming.

May 23, 2009

Interview with John Betz

In the latest issue (vol. 96) of the Mars Hill Audio Journal, there is an interview with John Betz, author of After Englightenment: The Post-Secular Vision of J. G. Hamann (Illuminations). Ken Myers talks with Betz about his recent book regarding the life and thought of J. G. Hamann.

Click here for the interview with John Betz (subscription required or issues can be purchased individually in cassette, CD, or MP3 download).

More information on After Enlightenment can be found here. [Google book preview.]

 

March 8, 2009

Future of Love Book Launch and Seminar

SCM Press and The Centre of Theology and Philosophy invite you to a

Book Launch and Seminar

Monday, 16 March 2009

4 pm - 7 pm

University of Nottingham Staff Club Lounge

The Future of Love: Essays in Political Theology

John Milbank, Professor in Religion, Politics and Ethics and Director of the Centre of Theology and Philosophy, will talk about his new book.

January 21, 2009

Reviews of Centre of Theology and Philosophy Staff and Book Series Publications

Fantasy that lights up the real world, a review of Alison Milbank's Chesterton and Tolkien as Theologians: The fantasy of the real, by Andrew Davison

The Catholic Fantastic of Chesterton and Tolkien, a review of Alison Milbank's Chesterton and Tolkien as Theologians: The fantasy of the real, by Ralph C. Wood

Money and Credit, Theologically Speaking, a review of Philip Goodchild's Theology of Money, by Clayton Crockett

The End and Return of Metaphysics, reviews of Transcendence and Phenomenology and Belief and Metaphysics, by Jason Wardley, School of Divinity, University of Edinburgh (PDF may be downloaded here)

Review of Transcendence and Phenomenology, by Daniel B. Gallagher, Sacred Heart Major Seminary

Primate who fought his corner, a review of Alan Ford's James Ussher: Theology, history and politics in early-modern Ireland and England, by Judith Maltby

Nicholas Keene (2008). James Ussher: Theology, history, and politics in early-modern Ireland and England. By Alan Ford. Pp. xi+315. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007. £55. 978 0 19 927444 4. The Journal of Ecclesiastical History, 59, pp 350-352, another review (link, requires subscription)

January 4, 2007

Between System And Poetics: William Desmond And Philosophy After Dialectic

by Thomas A. F. Kelly (Editor)

This is the first book-length examination of the work of an important contemporary thinker in the continental tradition, William Desmond. His thought is a new, post-modern way of articulating what he calls the 'between'. Rooted in Plato and Augustine, and advancing through a confrontation with Hegel and Nietzsche, Desmond rejects facile scepticism and wins through to a strikingly original and powerfully searching articulation of the human. The present volume contains essays on Desmond's work both by emerging scholars and by well-established thinkers. It also contains a specially written essay on the practices of philosophy by Desmond himself.

Between System and Poetics: William Desmond And Philosophy After Dialectic contains essays by Thomas A.F. Kelly, William Desmond, Garrett Barden, Jere O'Neill Surber, Cyril O'Regan, James L. Marsh, Catherine J.C. Pickstock, Renée Ryan, Jason J. Howard, Miles Smit, James McGuirk, Duston Moore, Richard Kearney, Ian Leask, John Milbank, Christopher Ben Simpson, John Hymers, and Peter Scheers.

Click here for the table of contents. Also, the introduction by Thomas A.F. Kelly in full can be found here.

December 4, 2006

A French translation of The Suspended Middle arrives!

John Milbank

The French translation of John Milbank's The Suspended Middle: Henri De Lubac And The Debate Concerning The Supernatural was launched two weeks ago in France, containing a preface by Olivier-Thomas Venard, o.p. who also translated the monograph.

Pictured on the left is John Milbank at the launch in Paris, France. Click here for more details.

October 24, 2006

New from Fordham University Press

Political Theologies: Public Religions in a Post-Secular World

Edited by Hent de Vries and Lawrence E. Sullivan

More info here.
image iron artwork

(Sculpture by Sara Cunningham-Bell)

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