Alban Books Offer for UK/European Readers

The following offer has been sent our way from Alban Books, the UK distributor of Eerdmans:

Alban Books is the exclusive UK/European distributor for Eerdmans Publishing Company in the USA. Preorder your copies of the two new titles in the Interventions series - Metaphysics: The Creation of Hierarchy by Adrian Pabst and Words of Christby Michel Henry  - at 20% discount, post free. Simply visit www.albanbooks.com, add the titles to your basket and then enter offer code IV0112 at the checkout.

This offer extends to any other title featured on our website.

Words of Christ can be found here and Metaphysics here.

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Posted: January 26th, 2012 Permalink Announcements

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2012 PORTSMOUTH INSTITUTE ON MODERN SCIENCE/ANCIENT FAITH

PORTSMOUTH ABBEY SCHOOL ANNOUNCES THE

2012 PORTSMOUTH INSTITUTE ON MODERN SCIENCE/ANCIENT FAITH

www.portsmouthinstitute.org

January 24, 2012
Portsmouth, RI

Dear Friends,

The Portsmouth Institute has announced an expanded list of speakers for its June 22-24 conference on Modern Science/Ancient Faith.

Speakers include Abbot James Wiseman, O.S.B. of Catholic University of America and St. Anselm’s Abbey, Washington, D.C., Dr. Kenneth Miller of Brown, Dr. William Dembski ’78 of the Discovery Institute, Rev. Nicanor Austriaco, O.P. of Providence College, Dr. John Haught of the Woodstock Theological Center at Georgetown University, Dr. Michael Ruse of Florida State University, Dr. Joseph Semmes ’67, and Rev. Dom Paschal Scotti, O.S.B. of Portsmouth Abbey. Dr. Blake Billings ’77, Tim Seeley ’77, Robert Sahms and Dom Francis Crowley, O.S.B. will convene a panel exploring the practical implication of teaching faith and science at a school such as Portsmouth.

In addition to scholarly presentations, the Institute will feature a dramatic production based on the life and work of scientist, Dom Stanley Jaki, O.S.B., by Kevin O’Brien, founder of Theater of the Word and a frequent EWTN contributor. There will also be musical presentations including The Chichester Psalms by Leonard Bernstein and Appalachian Spring by Aaron Copeland.

Highlights of previous conferences can be seen at www.portsmouthinstitute.org. Please pass this along to your colleagues, friends or students who may be interested in this fascinating subject.

 If you have any questions or need additional information, please do not hesitate to contact Cindy Waterman at cwaterman@portsmouthabbey.org or 401-643-1244.

Posted: January 24th, 2012 Permalink Events

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TELOS in Europe: The L’Aquila Conference

TELOS IN EUROPE: THE L’AQUILA CONFERENCE
The West: Its Legacy and Future
September 7–10, 2012
L’Aquila, Italy

DEADLINE FOR ABSTRACT SUBMISSIONS: MARCH 15, 2012
(see details below)

Conference Theme

Recent developments appear to end the “end of history” and foreshadow instead the end of the West. After 1989, many expected a gradual convergence toward Western models of liberal market democracy. But Western responses to 9/11 and the 2007–8 transatlantic “credit crunch” have exposed the limits of U.S. international primacy and accelerated the global shift of power from West to East and North to South—as evinced by the rise of China, India, and other emerging markets.

Politically and economically, that shift seems to portend the emergence of a post-American and perhaps even a post-Western world. Yet the United States is still the default superpower whose military might and economic energy ensure its pre-eminence for the foreseeable future. Likewise, Europe’s institutions, culture, and way of life remain attractive across the globe. Even the near meltdown of Wall Street and the mishandling of the sovereign debt crisis have so far not led to a decoupling of the rest from the West.

Historically, the transition from a unipolar to a multipolar world order appears to restore a more “natural” global balance that had prevailed before China’s isolationist withdrawal beginning with the Ming dynasty in 1433 and the West’s growing domination following the discovery of the New World in 1492. At the same time, contemporary global multipolarity seems to coincide with the crisis of the modern centralized state and the modern free market that were instituted by the West. That crisis might mark the end of the Westphalian settlement, which is coextensive with Western global hegemony. However, non-Western powers are wedded to Western principles (e.g., national sovereignty and territorial integrity) and to the international system of nation-states instituted by the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648.

In terms of present and future trends, there is some evidence to suggest that the dominant mode of globalization is synonymous with the demise of Western-style nation-states and the resurgence of non-Western empires—imperial spheres of influence and colonialist powers. Examples seem to abound: Turkey and Iran in the Middle East; Russia in the Caucasus and Central Asia; China in East Asia and Africa; India and Brazil in parts of the southern hemisphere. Or is globalization promoting a shift toward global cities and the institutions of civil society that are a distinct legacy of the West?

Philosophically, it is not clear whether the global shift in power confirms or refutes the utopia of linear, boundless progress that characterizes the dominant Western ideologies of liberalism and Marxism. What about cyclical conceptions of history that have been popular since the work of Jacob Burckhardt, Friedrich Nietzsche, Oswald Spengler, and Arnold Toynbee on the twilight and demise of the West? Perhaps the rise of China and other emerging markets in Asia is evidence in support of certain Hegelian or Marxist accounts such as world system analysis or cycles of hegemony. In what way do these ideas reflect Western “historicism,” which portrays the West’s peculiar and contingent history as universal, necessary, and even normative? Which Western and non-Western alternatives to historicism are available to us?

Theologically, ideas of the West are closely connected with the three Abrahamic faiths in general and the Christian fusion of Greco-Roman Antiquity and the biblical legacy in particular. Just as the Renaissance and the Enlightenment have their origins in medieval Christendom, so too late (or post-)modernity is inextricably intertwined with theological categories and the greater visibility of religion in public political life. That, coupled with the growing presence of Islam, raises questions about the distinctly Judeo-Christian identity of the West—including notions of the secular and the modern.

Call for Papers

In choosing the theme of the West, the Telos Institute launches its biannual colloquia in Europe. The first colloquium will take place September 7–10, 2012, in L’Aquila, Italy—the birthplace of Telos’s founding editor, Paul Piccone. Building on the success of the annual Telos conferences in New York City since 2006, these colloquia bring together scholars from the United States, Europe, and elsewhere to explore and analyze the ongoing political, socio-economic, cultural transformations across the globe.

The twin focus of the first colloquium is on the legacy of the West and its future. The conference organizers invite papers that address the complex dimension of one or both aspects, whether in terms of the West itself or the Western interactions with the rest of the world.

Possible topics include (but are not limited to):

• Jerusalem, Athens, and Rome: the origins and legacy of the West
• Hegel, Marx and Spengler: philosophies of history and the evolution of the West
• Universalism, relativism and Western culture
• The West and the rest: the United States and Europe in the emerging world (dis)order
• Culture shock? The legacy and future of the transatlantic alliance
• Faith in the West: U.S. exceptionalism and European secularism?
• The United States and Europe: divided by a common history?
• Russia and Turkey: the European non-West?

Speakers include (in alphabetic order)

• Russell Berman
• Alain de Benoist
• Alessandro Campi
• Michael Ledeen
• Tim Luke
• Giacomo Marramao
• John Milbank
• Adrian Pabst
• Marcia Pally
• David Pan
• Carla Pasquinelli
• Luciano Pellicani
• Carlo Ruzzo

Submissions: Abstracts of conference papers should be 200 to 250 words in length and should be sent to Adrian Pabst at laquila@telosinstitute.net with the words “L’Aquila Telos Conference” in the subject line. The deadline for abstracts is March 15, 2012.

Additional information about pre-registration, hotel accommodations, and other matters will be available soon. For more details, contact telos@telospress.com.

Visit the Telos Institute online at www.telosinstitute.net.

Keble Theology Workshop 7th February 2012

Dear Colleagues,

Please see the attached poster for the next Keble Theology Workshop, scheduled for Tuesday 7^th February. This will feature a discussion and debate on the subject, ‘Can the West Live With Islam?’ Our two high-profile speakers are Prof. Nigel Biggar, Oxford University’s Regius Professor of Moral and Pastoral Theology, and Dr Tim Winter, Cambridge University’s Sheikh Zayed Lecturer in Islamic Studies.

We hope once again that this will prove highly attractive to students interested in a wide range of theological disciplines – from Oxford and well beyond. All are welcome.

Our aim with these workshops remains to set out theology’s “shop window” in order especially to attract present and potential graduate students to the discipline, and to show that engagement with theology’s subject matter is both exciting and important for today’s world.

I would be grateful if you could circulate and/or display this to any of your students interested in exploring the possibility of doctoral work in an area of biblical or theological studies. 

While we are not in a position to subsidize transport or accommodation costs for the participants, we hope some students may be able to receive assistance from their home departments. Nevertheless, anyone deterred solely by the cost of attending should please feel free to contact me.  We may also be in a position to assist in suggesting affordable accommodation.

Early booking is advisable as space is limited. As before, all that is needed to register is a brief email to kebletheology@gmail.com for each person attending; that is enormously helpful to keep track of numbers.

With thanks and all good wishes,

Markus Bockmuehl

2012-02 Biggar-Winter (Islam) Keble workshop poster

SCM Winter Sale on Veritas Books

The fine folks over at SCM Press are having a Winter Sale (see here), including excellent deals on books in the Veritas series of books:

• Transcendence and Phenomenology, eds. Peter M Candler, Jr and Conor Cunningham. Was £40.00, now £15.00. [Link]
• Belief and Metaphysics, eds. Peter M Candler, Jr and Conor Cunningham. Was £35.00, now £15.00. [Link]
• Theology, Psychoanalysis, and Trauma, by Marcus Pound. Was £25.00, now £5.00. [Link]
• Tayloring Reformed Epistemology: Charles Taylor, Alvin Plantinga, and the de jure challenge to Christian Belief, by Deane-Peter Baker. Was £19.99, now £8.00. [Link]
• Christ, History, and Apocalyptic: The Politics of Christian Mission, by Nathan R. Kerr. Was £35.00, now £15.00. [Link]

Blackfriars Aquinas Seminar 2012 News

The Regent of Blackfriars Hall, Oxford very much regrets to inform you that we were today notified by Professor Jean-Luc Marion that, on medical grounds, he is unable to deliver the Aquinas Lecture in Oxford and Cambridge at the end of this month as planned.  We will be in contact with you again shortly with further news.

See the original schedule, originally posted here.

Review of Darwin’s Pious Idea in Quarterly Review of Biology

Michael Rose has written a review of Conor Cunningham’s Darwin’s Pious Idea: Why the Ultra-Darwinists and Creationists Both Get It Wrong in the most recent issue of The Quarterly Review of Biology:

“Cunningham is not shy about pulling the ontological pants of materialism down to its ankles. He supplies an unremitting attack on the scientific and philosophical views of Dawkins and his ilk. The level of scientific sophistication on display is remarkable for a theologian; his reading and his ruminations have been extensive, more than sufficient to provide a devastating critique of the narrative stories and metaphors of Dawkins not just with respect to religion, but also with respect to evolutionary biology itself.”

Michael Rose, ‘Gods and Darwinists,’ The Quarterly Review of Biology 86, no. 4 (December 2011): 323-328. [Link]

Publication Announcement: Veritas & Interventions

Diagonal Advance: Perfection in Christian Theology, by Anthony D. Baker is now out through SCM Press in the Veritas series. [Purchase UK | Purchase US]

Publication Description:

Diagonal Advance argues for a radical revision of Christian thinking about the purpose of human life. Perfection is neither a vertical drop from the divine, nor a horizontal progression through social and personal development. Rather, it is a diagonal advance into the divine perfections through the perfecting of material culture. This vision is, the author argues, in line with the account of human ends that emerges from the Greek and Hebrew background, in the New Testament and in the classical Christian era. When the late medieval and early modern writers of theology and literature begin to name the problem differently, the classical vision is distorted, so that human perfecting and the divine perfections have little to do with one another. Through a critical engagement with contemporary texts, concluding with a dramatic revision of the Prometheus mythology, the author argues for a renewed diagonalizing of Christian perfection.

Blurbs:

‘I am a Methodist which means I have never trusted the language of perfection. So I am in Anthony Baker’s debt for reclaiming the notion of perfection. This is a wonderful book that is not only sound scholarship but is morally profound.’ —Stanley Hauerwas

‘Perfection is a crucial theme in the New Testament which lurks in much patristic thinking and was first foregrounded by the Wesley brothers. Within their tradition, and yet transcending it, Tony Baker provides us with the most sophisticated theological treatment of this topic to date – ranging over the Bible, Philosophy, Literature and Cultural History with a distinctive elan. He shows in particular how the loss of the metaphysics of participation was equally a loss of a sense of our relationship with God as a progress in perfection which was as much vertical as it was horizontal. This book is as close to perfection as one could hope for.’ —Catherine Pickstock, University of Cambridge

‘Is this a book or a symphony? Both. Does it concern theology or human existence? Both. In four movements, this book traces the emergence and deformations of the concept of perfection. Is perfection the plenitude of finite existence? The never-satisfied desire for the infinite? The imitation of God? Divinisation? Movement in repose? Without an empty nostalgia, A. Baker offers a critical history of Christian representations of perfection. He shows how the oppositions between nature and supernature, between the Bible and Hellenism, have been surmounted, but also how they have given place to a still provisional synthesis. He covers diverse “styles”–of concepts, which are also forms of life. He even offers his own style, in opposing the “distortions” to a more sound concept of perfection. A book immense with regard to stakes, dense with regard to the current mobilised culture. A book of supple and full construction, which will reward both the patient and the impatient.’ —Olivier Boulnois, Directeur d’Etudes, Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes

And coming soon in the Interventions series through Eerdmans are the following two publications:

Metaphysics: The Creation of Hierarchy, by Adrian Pabst, with a foreword by John Milbank. [Pre-order UK | Pre-order US]

This comprehensive and detailed study of individuation reveals the theological nature of metaphysics. Adrian Pabst argues that ancient and modern conceptions of “being” — or individual substance — fail to account for the ontological relations that bind beings to each other and to God, their source. On the basis of a genealogical account of rival theories of creation and individuation from Plato to ‘postmodernism,’ Pabst proposes that the Christian Neo-Platonic fusion of biblical revelation with Greco-Roman philosophy fulfills and surpasses all other ontologies and conceptions of individuality.

“This book does nothing less than to set new standards in combining philosophical with political theology. Pabst’s argument about rationality has the potential to change debates in philosophy, politics, and religion.” (from the foreword)

Words of Christ, by Michel Henry, translated by Christina M. Gschwandtner, with a foreword by Jean-Yves Lacoste and an introduction by Karl Hefty. [Pre-Order UK | Pre-Order US]

In Words of Christ Michel Henry, an important French philosopher, asks how Christ can be both human and divine. Also, how can we as humans experience Christ’s humanity and divinity through his words? Are we able to recognize certain experiences or words as divine? How do divine words differ from human words? Henry approaches these questions from the angle of material phenomenology — the study of reality as we experience it. Startling possibilities — and further questions — emerge as Henry systematically explores these enigmas. For example, do divine phenomena possess their own kind of phenomenality, and do we have access to this other realm? Henry’s perspective on Christ’s words — here translated into English for the first time — is highly original and interdisciplinary in nature, in keeping with other volumes of the Interventions series. This was Henry’s last published work before his death in 2002.

Dept of Theology & Religious Studies Spring Seminar Programme

Department of Theology and Religious Studies

Seminar Programme 2011-12

SPRING SEMESTER

22 February 2012
Adam Lipszyc (Institute of Philosophy and Sociology, Polish Academy of Science)
The Time of the Poem: Poetry as Messianic Action in Paul Celan’s Meridian Speech
4pm Staff Club Room B7

14 & 15 February 2012         Firth Lectures
Terry Eagleton
Culture and the Death of God
5.30pm, Kings Meadow Studio

 29 February 2012
Philip Esler (Principal, St Mary’s University College, London)
Reading Old Testament Narrative With Its Ancient Audience: An Anthropological Approach
4pm Staff Club room B7

14 March 2012
Yvonne Sherwood (Professor of Bible, Religion and Culture, University of Glasgow)
TBC
4pm Staff Club room B7

21 March 2012
David Thomas (Professor of Christianity and Islam, University of Birmingham)
The Islamic Construction of Christianity: A Channel and Obstacle to Understanding
4pm Staff Club room B7

28 March 2012
Daniel H.Weiss (Polosky-Coexist Lecturer in Jewish Studies, University of Cambridge)
‘Where man calls, God opens an ear’: Franz Rosenzweig, divine attributes, and the anti-theoretical style of the Hebrew Bible
4pm Staff Club Room B7

Theology-enquiries@nottingham.ac.uk

Telephone  (0115) 9515897

Review of Darwin’s Pious Idea

“Dueling Dualisms”, a review of Darwin’s Pious Idea: Why the Ultra-Darwinists and Creationists Both Get It Wrong by John Rose in Commonweal. [Link]

Blackfriars Aquinas Seminar 2012 Schedule

The Blackfriars Aquinas Seminar

Hilary 2012

Thomas Aquinas and Contemporary Culture 

[Cancelled] Fri 27 Jan        Jean-Luc Marion (Universities of Paris and Chicago) “The Ontological Argument Again: Thomas Aquinas and Kant, Anselm and Descartes”

 Thurs 2 Feb     David Albert Jones (Anscombe Bioethics Centre, Oxford) “Aquinas as an Advocate of Abortion?  The Appeal to Thomas Aquinas in Contemporary Bioethical Debates on the Human Embryo”

 Thurs 9 Feb     Héctor Velázquez (Universidad Panamericana, Mexico)  “Teleology and Nature: The Relevance of Aquinas’ Position in a Self-Organised World”

 Thurs 16 Feb   Thomas Joseph White, OP (Dominican House of Studies, Washington,D.C.)  “Monotheistic Rationality and Divine Names: Why Aquinas’ Analogy Theory Transcends both Theoretical Agnosticism and Conceptual Anthropomorphism”

 Thurs 23 Feb   Conor Cunningham (University of Nottingham) “Modernity: The End of Culture and Nature in Light of Evolution”

 Fri 2 March    Rudi te Velde (Tilburg School of Theology, The Netherlands) “Does Praying Make Sense in Light of the Certainty of God’sProvidence?”

Fridays, Weeks 2 and 7, Thursdays, Weeks 3-6

4.30pm – 6.00pm

Aula of Blackfriars, St. Giles

 For further information: william.carroll@bfriars.ox.ac.uk

Modernism, Christianity, and Apocalypse

Modernism, Christianity, and Apocalypse
(18-20 July 2012)

A conference organised by the Department of Foreign Languages at the University of Bergen, Norway; funded by the Bergen Research Foundation through the ‘Modernism and Christianity’ research project.

The modernist imperative ‘Make it new!’ posits a break with traditional artistic forms, but also with the entire mould of a civilization felt to be in a state of terminal decay (‘an old bitch, gone in the teeth’, as a second dictum by Ezra Pound has it). Modernism was steeped in the language of apocalyptic crisis, generating multiple (and contradictory) millennial visions of artistic, cultural, religious and political transformation. This conference will examine the continuing impact of Christianity upon the modernist thinking of Apocalypse in Western culture, covering the period of early-to-high modernism (c. 1880-1945), with glances towards the immediate aftermath of World War II and the Bomb. ‘Modernism’ is not here confined to the arts, and contributions are invited from scholars across the humanities and social sciences.

Conference organisers:
Dr Erik Tonning
Dr Matthew Feldman

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS:
Professor Paul S. Fiddes (University of Oxford)
Professor John Milbank (University of Nottingham)
Professor Hans Ottomeyer (Former Director of the German Historical Museum)
Professor Marjorie Perloff (Stanford University)

INVITED SPEAKERS:
Professor C. J. Ackerley (University of Otago)
Professor Mary Bryden (University of Reading)
Professor Gregory Maertz (St. John’s University, NY)
Dr Malise Ruthven (Independent writer)
Professor Shane Weller (University of Kent)

For a full CFP, see:

http://www.uib.no/filearchive/modernismconferencecfp.pdf

Conference venue: Hotel Solstrand (outside Bergen, Norway)
Conference fee (early bird rate): NOK 3700: This covers two nights at the hotel with full board, plus a
direct conference bus (at c. 11 am) to the hotel from Flesland airport (18th), with a return on Friday afternoon (20th, at 4 pm). There is also a postgraduate rate of NOK 3200 available.

PLEASE NOTE: Registration at this rate is limited to 75 delegates. Once this number of delegates has been reached (first come first served), additional registrations will cost NOK 4400. All delegates registering after 1 May 2012 will also be charged at this higher rate. Early registration is thus strongly recommended.

Please submit your abstract by 1 April 2012 at the latest.

To register: Please send your title, abstract (100-200 words) and
biographical information to erik.tonning@if.uib.no for consideration.

Download Conference Poster here.

Conor Cunningham lectures on ‘Darwin’s Pious Idea’ at the Ian Ramsey Centre for Science & Religion

Conor Cunningham delivered a lecture on ‘Darwin’s Pious Idea’ at the Ian Ramsey Centre for Science and Religion in November. The lecture was recorded and may be viewed here: Link. [Note: You will need the latest version of Adobe Flash Player to watch this webcast.]

The Ian Ramsey Centre for Science and Religion conducts research into religious beliefs and theological concepts in relation to the sciences. The Centre is a part of the Theology Faculty at the University of Oxford.

Teaching and Studying Religion: Choices and Challenges

Teaching and Studying Religion: Choices and Challenges

BSA Meeting Room, Imperial Wharf, London
15 December 2011, 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.

Religion is not a neutral subject. As with other significant constituents of identity, such as sexuality, gender, ethnicity, or class, the subject of ‘religion’ as a topic for study is not straightforward. And yet, we study it, deconstruct it, analyse, and measure it, recognising as we do that definitions are bound to be contested, fluid, and sometimes slippery. What are the particular challenges and choices this presents in different disciplines, in different places and times? And what are the ethical, political and methodological implications of this?

To find out more about how participants from a variety of disciplines and contexts have engaged with the choices and challenges of teaching and studying religion, join us on December 15 at the BSA Meeting Room in London, for a BSA Socrel symposium, chaired by Abby Day (Department of Religious Studies, University of Kent and Department of Anthropology, University of Sussex) and Anna Strhan (Department of Religious Studies, University of Kent). We are grateful to the Higher Education Academy, for funding. It won’t be your usual ‘stand-and-deliver’ event. Our presenters have worked hard to condense their work into short summaries that will be distributed to all participants in advance of the day. All participants will be expected to read the summaries and come prepared for a full day of engaging in vibrant exchanges across disciplines, countries, methods and other conventional boundaries.

Total delegate numbers are restricted to 30. Registration for the symposium is now available on the BSA website, at http://bsas.esithosting.co.uk/public/event/eventBooking.aspx?id=EVT10172

Information on the venue location and transport links, is available at http://www.britsoc.co.uk/NR/rdonlyres/62CE3722-EE65-4B30-8058-90E8ACEFB636/0/BSA_Imperial_Wharf_directions041209.pdf

For any further information, please contact Abby Day (a.day@sussex.ac.uk) and Anna Strhan (as702@kent.ac.uk). The full programme for the day will be published on the BSA Socrel website: http://www.socrel.org.uk/

Keynote lecture by Adam Dinham, Director of Goldsmiths Faith and Civil Society Unit and Programme Director for the ‘Religious Literacy Leadership in Higher Education’ programme

Patrick Madigan, SJ: ‘Jesus and Lucifer’ Presentation [LINK FIXED]

As announced here, Patrick Madigan, SJ, editor  of the Heythrop Journal of Philosophy and Religion, presented a paper entitled ‘Jesus and Lucifer: Rival Sons of the Father’ at Gainesville State College on 26 October. You may now watch a video of this presentation by following this link. [Note: click on the link to stream the file, do not right-click and 'save as...']

New Publication: The Crisis of Global Capitalism

The Crisis of Global Capitalism: Pope Benedict XVI’s Social Encyclical and the Future of Political Economy, edited by Adrian Pabst (Wipf & Stock, 2011). [Purchase: Wipf & Stock | Amazon US |  Amazon UK]

Publication description:

This collection of essays outlines a new political economy. Twenty years after the demise of Soviet communism, the global recession into which free-market capitalism has plunged the world economy provides a unique opportunity to chart an alternative path. Both the left-wing adulation of centralized statism and the right-wing fetishization of market liberalism are part of a secular logic that is collapsing under the weight of its own inner contradictions. It is surely no coincidence that the crisis of global capitalism occurs at the same time as the crisis of secular modernity.

Building on the tradition of Catholic social teaching since the groundbreaking encyclical Rerum Novarum (1891), Pope Benedict XVI’s Caritas in Veritate is the most radical intervention in contemporary debates on the future of economics, politics, and society. Benedict outlines a Catholic “third way” that combines strict limits on state and market power with a civil economy centered on mutualist businesses, cooperatives, credit unions, and other reciprocal arrangements. His call for a civil economy also represents a radical ”middle” position between an exclusively religious and a strictly secular perspective. Thus, Benedict’s vision for an alternative political economy resonates with people of all faiths and none.

Table of Contents:

PART I: Christianity and Capitalism

1 A Real Third Way, John Milbank
2 A Tale of a Duck-Billed Platypus Called Benedict and His Gold and Red Crayons, Tracey Rowland

PART II: Christianity and Socialism

3 “We Communists of the Old School”, Eugene McCarraher
4 Beyond the Culture of Cutthroat Competition, Mark and Louise Zwick

PART III: Civil and Political Economy

5 Fraternity, Gift, and Reciprocity in Caritas in Veritate, Stefano Zamagni
6 The Paradoxical Nature of the Good, Adrian Pabst

PART IV: Caritas in Veritate and Traditions of Christian Social Teaching

7 The Anthropological Unity of Caritas in Veritate, David L. Schindler
8 Integralism and Gift Exchange in the Anglican Social Tradition, or Avoiding Niebuhr in Ecclesiastical Drag, John Hughes

PART V: Distributism and Alternative Economies

9 Common Life, Jon Cruddas MP and Jonathan Rutherford
10 Equity and Equilibrium, John Médaille

Endorsements:

“The current economic crisis is in fact a deeper crisis of cultural imagination and civilizational ethics. This collection of bold and provocative readings of Caritas in Veritate displays an intellectual verve unafraid to think beyond the fragmentations of modernity. By fully exploring the ontology of communion and gift, I believe this collection bears witness to the kind of daring discourse Pope Benedict XVI wanted to ignite. What is more, I believe the essays exemplify the kind of fruitful dialogue needed, not only for an adequate response to the crisis of Western civilization, but also to realize an economy that would facilitate the flourishing of the human heart. Adrian Pabst is to be commended for realizing this collection of excellent essays.”
-Javier Martínez Fernández, Archbishop of Granada

“Anyone interested in finding a ‘third way’ between today’s barely regulated capitalism and state socialism will find much to reward them in this collection. It goes beyond the rigid limitations of contemporary liberal thinking in order to explore some of the crucial resources, intellectual and cultural, that we need to devise a new politics of the Left.”
-Charles Taylor, author of A Secular Age

“Caritas in Veritate is the first papal encyclical that addresses issues immediately relevant for economic and social theory. It also embodies challenges that concern directly the academic community of economists, in particular the nature and scope of the firm, the market and profit. The reading of this important book is the best way for engaging with these themes and discovering the significance of Caritas in Veritate in the present theoretical debate.”
-Luigino Bruni, co-author of Civil Economy

“This collection of essays addresses a key challenge for anyone trying to think clearly about economics: how to dig out from under the intellectual rubble created by the failure of conventional economic theories. The proposed answers vary but there is a common and welcome effort to think philosophically, about both the foundations of the economic order and the detailed and failed arrangements of finance. Particularly serious attention is paid to the great challenge posed by Pope Benedict XVI-to integrate ‘quotas of gratuitousness and communion’ into economic activity. This book’s breadth of views and the depth of analysis make it a rewarding read for anyone trying to understand and improve the modern industrial economy.”
-Edward Hadas, author of Human Goods, Economic Evils

“This book provides a compelling intellectual engagement with the vision of an alternative civil economy proposed in Caritas in Veritate. The diverse essays collected in this book marshal Anglican and Roman Catholic social thought in service of a bold account of a progressive moral economy rooted in a transcendent common good. It will be essential reading for those interested in the increasingly cogent argument that religious reason is an indispensable resource for the remoralizing of economic life.”
-Anna Rowlands, co-editor of Pathways to the Public Square

[Purchase: Wipf & Stock | Amazon US |  Amazon UK]

New Journal: Humanum

H U M A N U M
Issues in Family, Culture and Science
The Online Review of the Center for Cultural and Pastoral Research
www.humanumreview.com

The Center for Cultural and Pastoral Research, a recently founded subsidiary of the American session of the Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family, launched its new online review Humanum on 15^th November 2011, the Feast of St Albert the Great.

This free quarterly journal is one of several expressions of the Center’s effort to bring sustained anthropological and theological reflection to the pressing cultural issues of our time, particularly as these affect children and the most vulnerable members of society, including the aged and infirm.

Humanum will engage contemporary themes—childhood, bioethics, education, work, issues concerning ecology, medicine, health, and so on—through major articles and also reviews of important and influential books.

The theme of the first issue is The Child—the first and purest expression of what it is to be human. After that, we begin a four-issue cycle on “Recovering Origins,” looking at the ways in which the origin of the child in marriage may be compromised by divorce, artificial reproduction, same-sex unions, and delinquent fatherhood. In each case we want to offer a Christian reflection on human experience.

Humanum is offered as a free service to researchers and students in the social sciences, medicine, and theology, as well as to pastoral and health-care workers, catechists, parents, teachers, and anyone concerned with the renewal of a culture of life in our time.

For further information, contact:

Stratford Caldecott, Editor <EditorHumanum@gmail.com>

Margaret H. McCarthy, Director, CCPR (www.centerforculturalandpastoralresearch.org)

New book from Stratford Caldecott: All Things Made New

A new book by Stratford Caldecott has been published entitled All Things Made New: The Mysteries of the World in Christ (Angelico Press, 2011). [Purchase: UK | US]

Publication Description:

All Things Made New explores the Christian mysteries in the tradition of St. John the Evangelist, and Mary, the Mother of Jesus, by studying the symbolism, cosmology, and meaning of the Book of Revelation, as well as the prayers and meditations of the Rosary, including the Apostles’ Creed and the Our Father. These reflections lead us step by step to the foot of the Cross, and to the Wedding Feast of the Lamb, where all things are made new.

Blurb:

“A wide-ranging, exciting, and erudite exploration of the Christian mysteries. Stratford Caldecott, with insight and patience, leads us through the complexities of the Book of Revelation, the Stations of the Cross, the Rosary, and much more, revealing as he goes along the radiant beauty and truth of these ancient writings and practices and their profound significance for today’s believers. A splendid achievement.” — Philip Zaleski (editor of the Best Spiritual Writing series).

Download the flyer here.

Conference: ‘A celebration of living theology: Engaging with the work of Andrew Louth’

Durham University in conjunction with the Department of Theology and Religion will be hosting the conference ‘A celebration of living theology: Engaging with the work of Andrew Louth’ on 9-12 July 2012 at Durham University. The conference aims to celebrate the work of Prof. Andrew Louth in the areas of Patristics, both Western and Eastern, Modern Theology and Theology as Life, as well as explore its reception outside the English-speaking world. The plenary papers will be collected into a Festschrift to be published after the conference.

Confirmed plenary speakers are:

• Antoine Arjakovsky: ‘The orthodox theology and the future pan orthodox council’.
• John Behr, ‘Studying the Fathers in the Twenty First Century’.
• Mary Cunningham: ‘The concept of “image” according to an eighth-century Byzantine bishop: St Andrew of Crete’s response to ps-Dionysius the Areopagite’.
• Pavel Gavrilyuk: ‘The Evolution of Florovsky’s Reading of Vladimir Solovyov and the Waywardness of Russian Theology’.
• Cyril Hovorun: ‘British Patristic School: Its impact on modern Orthodox Theology’.
• John Milbank, ‘The Far-Western Synthesis of East and West: Eriugena’s Promise for the Future’.
• Norman Russell: ‘Living the Mystery: the limits of patristic theology as an academic discipline’.
• Kallistos Ware: ‘The Future Path of Orthodox Thought: ‘Culture and Society’ or ‘Mystical Theology’?’.
• Jane Baun, title tbc.
• Augustine Casiday, title tbc.
• Thomas Graumann, title tbc.

Short papers of twenty minutes are welcome in the areas of:

New Publication: Turning Images in Philosophy, Science, and Religion

The following volume has just been released: Turning Images in Philosophy, Science, and Religion: A New Book of Nature, eds. Charles Taliaferro and Jil Evans (Oxford Univerity Press, 2011). [UK | US]

Publication description:

Turning Images in Philosophy, Science, and Religion: A New Book of Nature brings together new essays addressing the role of images and imagination recruited in the perennial debates surrounding nature, mind, and God. The debate between “new atheists” and religious apologists today is often hostile. This book sets a new tone by locating the debate between theism and naturalism (most “new atheists” are self-described “naturalists”) in the broader context of reflection on imagination and aesthetics. The eleven essays will be of interest to anyone who is fascinated by the power of imagination and the role of aesthetics in deciding between worldviews or philosophies of nature. Representing a variety of points of view, authors include outstanding philosophers of religion and of science, a distinguished art historian, and a visual artist. The book begins with Martin Kemp’s essay on the work of the biologist, mathematician and classical scholar D’Arcy Wentworth Thompson in which Kemp develops the idea of “structural intuitions and a critique of reductive thinking about the natural world. This is followed by Geoffrey Gorham’s overview and analysis of images of nature and God found in early modern science and philosophy. Anthony O’Hear questions a reductive, naturalist account of the origin of mind and values. Dale Jacquette offers a thoroughgoing naturalistic philosophy of the emergence of intentionality and a unique argument about the emergence of art and the aesthetic appreciation of nature. E.J. Lowe brings to light some challenges facing naturalistic approaches to human imaginative sensibility. Douglas Hedley articulates and defends a cognitive account of imagination, highlighting some of the difficulties confronting naturalism. Daniel N. Robinson offers a sweeping treatment of nature and naturalism, historically engaging Aristotle, Kant, Hegel and others. Conor Cunningham provides an aggressive critique of contemporary naturalism. Gordon Graham investigates the resources of naturalism in accounting for our sense of the sacred. Mark Wynn provides a subtle understanding of imagination and perception, suggesting how these may play into the theism – naturalism debate. The book concludes with Jil Evans’ reflections on how images of the Galapagos Islands have been employed philosophically to picture either a naturalist or theistic image of nature.