New website, new features

November 17th, 2009

As you can see, the Centre of Theology and Philosophy’s website has gone through a design overhaul.  We are now happily on Wordpress, so please update your RSS news feeds to this link.

Amongst the updates for the site include:

• A revamped and much more comprehensive publications page.  There are now nearly 200 publications added which represent the work of the staff, fellows, and members of the Centre of Theology and Philosophy.  This also includes books that are a part of the Interventions, Illuminations, New Slant, Radical Orthodoxy, and Veritas series of books.
• An updated fellows & members page that now includes a sign-up form for those who would like to join the Centre of Theology and Philosophy.
• The ability to submit your own news story to the Centre.  There is only so much work out there that we are aware of ourselves, so it would help us if you know of work that would be of interest to the Centre to submit it and we’ll consider adding it to our news blog.
• Lastly, the news feed will act both as a source of CoTP news as well as soon a platform for blogging.  More on that to come…

Upcoming Conference: The Nature of Experience

November 15th, 2009

At the John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family at The Catholic University of America, there is a forthcoming conference entitled The Nature of Experience: Issues in Culture, Science, and Theology, which will be held December 3-5, 2009.

For information about the Symposium, please call 202-526-3799 or contact information@johnpaulii.edu. Registration ends Friday, November 20, 2009.

Speakers include David L. Schindler, D. C. Schindler, Conor Cunningham, Michael Hanby, Nicholas Healy, amongst others.

Please click here for more details.

“Did Darwin Kill God?” Syndication

November 15th, 2009

Conor Cunningham’s BBC2 documentary “Did Darwin Kill God?” gets syndication on ABC Compass, and will air on 22 November 2009 at 22:10. For details click here.

Alison Milbank in the latest Mars Hill Audio Journal

November 13th, 2009

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.

CoTP Autumn 2009 Lectures

November 9th, 2009

Two forthcoming lectures put on by the Centre of Theology and Philosophy this Autumn:

“How to Prove the Existence of God: Some Remarks on Anselm’s Proslogion” by Dr Lydia Schumacher

Tuesday 24th November 4:00 pm

“Experience and Transcendence: A basic philosophical problem after Luhmann, Kierkegaard and German Early Romanticism” by Dr Johannes Hoff

Friday 11th December 4:00pm

For more information, download the event post here and please distribute.

Audio from the ‘Spinoza and Bodies’ Conference

October 27th, 2009

At the “Spinoza and Bodies” conference held September 10-11 at the University of Dundee, Dr. Michael Mack and PhD candidate Anthony Paul Smith presented papers whose audio recordings may be listened to here, amongst other presenters at the conference.

Michael Mack, “Spinoza and Freud, or how to be mindful of the mind”

Anthony Paul Smith, “The Ethical Relation of Bodies: Thinking with Spinoza towards an Affective Ecology”

Bibledex

October 22nd, 2009

In a similar vein to the University of Nottingham’s Period Table of Videos, Brady Haran, in conjunction with our Department of Theology and Religious Studies, is now producing a series on the Bible dubbed Bibledex. There will be books on all 66 books of the Bible, and as the website states, they “are by no means comprehensive – rather they’re a curious assortment of academic insights into what is probably the most famous collection of books in history.” Each video consists of different insights from the different perspectives offered from the staff and postgraduates in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies. The first three videos are now up, on Genesis, the Song of Songs, and 1 Corinthians. The remaining videos will be released periodically.

Two Screenings of ‘Did Darwin Kill God?’ with Q&A with Conor Cunningham

October 22nd, 2009

On the 3rd and 4th of November, Conor Cunningham will be at St. Edward’s University and Baylor University, respectively, to screen the documentary “Did Darwin Kill God?” which he wrote and presented for BBC2. The Viewings will be accompanied by a Questions & Answers session afterward.

Please click on the thumbnails below to view the PDF posters for each event.

Michel Henry, Éditions de L’Âge d’Homme

October 14th, 2009

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.

Hauerwas and Hart in latest issue of Mars Hill Audio Journal

September 29th, 2009

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.

Book Releases

September 26th, 2009

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.

New Distance Learning Programme launching in January 2010

September 23rd, 2009

University of Nottingham
Centre of Theology and Philosophy

New Programme launching in January 2010

MA in Systematic and Philosophical Theology
by distance learning

Course Director: Simon Oliver, Associate Professor of Systematic Theology

Course Team: John Milbank, Conor Cunningham, Karen Kilby, Philip Goodchild, Aaron Riches, Jeff Wardle, and Tom O’Loughlin

This new programme will enable students from all over the world to engage in graduate study at one of the leading centres for research and teaching in theology and philosophy. Students will study at distance via printed and electronic media with regular contact with course tutors. Occasional visits to Nottingham for tutorial guidance are encouraged. A residential seminar and conference will be held annually in Nottingham, next between 27th and 29th April, 2010.

Further information on the programme can be found here. The applications procedure can be found here.

Also available: MA in Church History by distance learning.

For further information please contact the Course Director, Simon Oliver.

Radical Orthodoxy Reader

September 23rd, 2009

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)

Chris Simpson’s new book out today

September 23rd, 2009

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:

• Indiana University Press
• Amazon.com (Amazon.co.uk is still on pre-order)

SCM Press sale on CoTP books

August 29th, 2009

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

• The Theology of Money (paperback), by Philip Goodchild (special sale price £13.50)
• Transcendence and Phenomenology (paperback), eds. Peter M. Candler, Jr. and Conor Cunningham (special sale price: £28.00)
• Belief and Metaphysics (paperback), eds. Peter M. Candler, Jr. and Conor Cunningham (special sale price: £28.00)
• Tayloring Reformed Epistemology: Charles Taylor, Alvin Plantinga and the de jure Challenge to Christian Belief (paperback), by Deane-Peter Baker (special sale price: £9.50)
• Theology, Psychoanalysis and Trauma (paperback), by Marcus Pound (special sale price: £10.00)

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

August 28th, 2009

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

Pabst in the Guardian: “Pakistan must confront Wahhabism”

August 20th, 2009

Adrian Pabst’s latest piece in the Guardian: “Pakistan must confront Wahhabism: As the Saudi-financed Wahhabi Islam supplants the tolerant indigenous Sufi Islam, its violent creed is inspiring terrorism.”

Another article by Adrian Pabst in the Guardian

July 29th, 2009

Adrian Pabst, a Leverhulme research fellow at the University of Nottingham in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies and a research fellow at the Luxembourg Institute for European and International Studies, has published another piece in The Guardian entitled “Kirill is not the Kremlin’s man: Patriarch Kirill isn’t doing Russia’s bidding in Ukraine. What he wants is a unified, independent Orthodox church.”

Adrian Pabst in the Guardian

July 21st, 2009

Adrian Pabst, a Leverhulme research fellow at the University of Nottingham in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies and a research fellow at the Luxembourg Institute for European and International Studies, has published a piece in The Guardian entitled “Pope Benedict’s call for a civil economy: Instead of defending civil society in its current configuration, Benedict calls for a new, more radical settlement.”

Alex Andrews in the Guardian

July 14th, 2009

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.”