Coming autumn 2023
As summer fades and the nights start to draw in, there's still plenty of outstanding new titles to look forward to this autumn. Here's a taste of what's in store over the next couple of months.
October
Being Real: The Apostle Paul’s Hardship Narratives and The Stories We Tell Today by Phillip Plyming explores how Paul's stories of hardship in his letters to the Corinthians speak not only to his own fame and reputation-driven culture but also to our world where we take time and trouble to carefully curate our Instagram or X and BeReal feeds to build a polished and perfected idea of our lives.
The book has already been described by historian and podcaster Tom Holland as "a potent demonstration of just why Paul’s writings deserve to rank as the most influential letters ever written", and by New Testament theologian Scott McKnight as "an exceptional study of Paul that will prove to be an even more valuable book for pastors who need to turn down the social media and turn up the cross of Christ". Leading New Testament scholar Paula Gooder, meanwhile, comments that "in this book Philip Plyming with admirable openness and honesty reflects not just on the sufferings that Paul experienced but on how that helps him to make sense of his own sufferings."
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How do Christians go about understanding their cultural context in twenty-first century Britain? What is the relationship between faith and the culture in which it is lived? Considering the most formative influences for people of faith in our culture, and the forces at play in competing for their attention, Cultural Hermeneutics: The World Through the Lens of Theology by Roger Standing, equips those in ministry, and those in formation for roles within the church, to better ‘read’ the times in which they serve.
Kevin Vanhoozer comments "Cultural Hermeneutics is a tract for the times about how to read the signs of the times, and to do so theologically. To make disciples of all cultures, we must first understand it. After surveying other disciplinary approaches, Standing offers his own theological proposal for interpreting culture 'in the Spirit,' a prophetic activity of Christian discernment for the sake of faithful presence."
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What does it mean to be a prophet in queer times? Considering first the queerness of the prophet Jonah, Queering the Prophet: On Jonah, and Other Activists, then broadens its scope to the queer prophetic in our own time, reflecting on what makes a prophet ‘queer’, and considering how public theology is itself, an example of the queer prophetic. Co-edited by L. Juliana M. Claassens, Steed Vernyl Davidson, Charlene van der Walt and Ashwin Thyssen the book features chapters from a broad range of international contributors including Jione Havea, Rhiannon Graybill and Adriaan van Klinken this book offers a bold and essential new addition to queer biblical studies literature.
Susannah Cornwall comments that "Queering the Prophet is a genuinely intersectional, international, interdisciplinary and interreligious book", while Chris Greenough remarks that, "this volume superbly demonstrates how queer biblical scholarship challenges multiple, powerful systems of exclusion".
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November
Celebrating ten years of the annual lecture series, The Sam Sharpe Lectures, 2012-2022: History, Rebellion and Reform is a collection of a decade's contribution from scholars, thinkers, activists, and ministers responding to the legacy of Sam Sharpe, a historical Jamaican hero. Edited by Rosemarie Davidson, E.P. Louis and Dahlia Fraser and with contributions from the likes of Robert Beckford, Amanda Khozi Mukwashi and the late Joel Edwards, the lectures together seek to capture how Sharpe's legacy inspires action for justice in the 21st century. Rooted in a radical Jamaican narrative, The Sam Sharpe Lectures collectively demonstrate how Sharpe's legacy can inspire all people to be game-changers despite life's challenges. Sharpe was illiterate and enslaved, yet through a grounding in Christian faith, compassion, justice, and self-determination became an agent for transformation, and these lectures translate his legacy into tools for today's injustices.