Skip to Main Content

LibGuides Blog

Recent Research, Publications, and Acquisitions (First Half 2023)

by Vincent Williams on 2023-07-06T14:25:00-04:00 | 0 Comments

These blogs are aimed at helping researchers stay up-to-date on their fields. I highlight notable recent acquisitions, journal articles, publications, and other scholarly conversations in religion/theology. Follow along every ~6 months for a new update on the field. Curated by me (Vincent Williams, User Services Librarian), and so necessarily reflects some of my own biases and interests. 

Books

Visit the library's New Book Shelves every couple of weeks to browse recent acquisitions. The library gets thousands of books a year, and the highlights below are only a microscopic snippet of the whole.

 

Theology

Cover ArtPatience--A Theological Exploration by Paul Dafydd Jones
Call Number: BV 4647.P3 J66 2023
Publication Date: 2022
Here is Jones' (very) long-awaited work on patience as a theological concept applied to God. Written in the style of a systematic theology, Jones invites readers into the depths of the Biblical witness on patience, major figures from the history of Christianity across all eras, and ultimately to his own constructive account of divine patience. Paul Dafydd Jones is a professor in the Religious Studies Department at the University of Virginia.
Cover ArtDust in the Blood: A Theology of Life with Depression by Jessica Coblentz
Call Number: BV 4910.34 .C63 2022
Publication Date: 2022
Coblentz, a Roman Catholic theologian, offers up an account of depression in the Christian imagination. In doing so, she provides the Church with a crucial theological account of depression at a time when mental health is at the forefront of many discussions inside and outside of the Church.
Cover ArtWalking Through the Valley: Womanist Explorations in the Spirit of Katie Geneva Cannon by Emilie M. Townes (Editor); Stacey Floyd-Thomas (Editor); Alison P. Gise-Johnson (Editor); Angela D. Sims (Editor)
Call Number: BT 83.9 .W35 2022
Publication Date: 2022
This is an indispensable work of contemporary womanist theology, featuring essays from nearly all the leading thinkers. They attempt to carry on Cannon's legacy in terms of justice, leadership, ethics, and scripture.
Cover ArtThe Home of God: A Brief Story of Everything by Miroslav Volf; Ryan McAnnally-Linz
Call Number: BR 115 .H56 V65 2022
Publication Date: 2022
Miroslav Volf, director of Yale's Center for Faith and Culture, offers us a systematic theology through the lens of 'home.' Along with McAnnally-Linz, Volf responds to our contemporary crises of belonging, immigration, and fractured family life by imagining the God who calls us home and provides us with a home.

 

Biblical Studies

Cover ArtThe Cambridge Companion to Biblical Wisdom Literature by Katherine J. Dell (Editor); Suzanna R. Millar (Associate Editor); Arthur Jan Keefer (Associate Editor)
Call Number: BS 1455 .C36 2022
Publication Date: 2022
This is one of the newest editions in the 'Cambridge Companions' series of starting points for research. This volume on the Biblical Wisdom Literature is sure to be a helpful guide for students entering into the scholarly conversations of the field. Topics include the books themselves, their reception history, and issues of interpretation/theology.
Cover ArtFinding Phoebe: What New Testament Women Were really like by Susan E. Hylen
Call Number: BS 2445 .H95 2023
Publication Date: 2023
Susan Hylen, a NT prof. at the Candler School of Theology, details how the literature and evidence of the ancient world can help biblical interpreters understand the context of women mentioned in the NT.
Cover ArtPaul Transformed: Reception of the Person and Letters of Paul in Antiquity by Adela Yarbro Collins
Call Number: BS 2650.52 .C59 2022
Publication Date: 2022
Collins, one of the most significant NT scholars of the last few decades, has written a fine study on the earliest reception history of Paul's letters. She examines how the earliest Christian communities received and applied Paul's theology of the resurrection, marriage, women in the church, and suffering.
 
Cover ArtA Sage in New Haven: Essays on the Prophets, the Writings, and the Ancient World in Honor of Robert R. Wilson by Alison Acker Gruseke (Editor); Carolyn J. Sharp (Editor)
Call Number: BS 1198 .S244 2023
Publication Date: 2023
This festschrift features essays by VTS' own Judy Fentress-Williams and Stephen Cook, and contributes to Robert Wilson's legacy on the discipline of Hebrew Bible Studies.
 
Cover ArtMark's Gospel: History, Theology, Interpretation by C. Clifton Black
Call Number: BS 2585.52 .B535 2023
Publication Date: 2023
C. Clifton Black is one of the preeminent scholars on the Gospel of Mark, and this collection of essays features Black's work on Mark from a variety of angles.

 

Church History / Historical Theology

Cover ArtThe Wandering Mind: What Medieval Monks Tell Us about Distraction by Jamie Kreiner
Call Number: BR 195 .D57 K74 2023
Publication Date: 2023
Written for a popular-audience, Kreiner's work is part historical investigation into medieval monasticism and part prescription for our contemporary obsession with distraction and focus. She is a historian of the medieval period at the University of Georgia. As with much history written with contemporary views in mind, she suggests that medieval monks faced the same problems of distraction and lack of focus as we complain about today.
Cover ArtOrigen of Alexandria: Master Theologian of the Early Church by John Anthony McGuckin
Call Number: BR 65.O68 M34 2022
Publication Date: 2022
This recent entry in Fortress Press' 'Mapping the Tradition' series provides a new introduction to Origen of Alexandria. It would be very useful for students new to engaging Origen and is a welcome monograph on Origen featuring up-to-date scholarship.
 
Cover ArtDante the Theologian by Denys Turner
Call Number: PQ 4416 .T87 2022
Publication Date: 2022
Turner's newest work forcefully argues that Dante's Divine Comedy is not simply an interesting piece of historical literature, but is in fact one of the most profound works of theology in Christian history. For Turner, Dante is writing theology in the mode of poetry, and in so doing, offers unique insights into the Christian's journey impossible in other mediums.

 

Ethics

Cover ArtLiving Accountably: Accountability as a Virtue by C. Stephen Evans
Call Number: BJ 1451 .E93 2023
Publication Date: 2023
Evans is the University Prof. of Philosophy and Humanities at Baylor. He is primarily a Kierkegaard scholar but here offers a constructive account of the virtue of "accountability."
Cover ArtHealthcare Funding and Christian Ethics by Stephen Duckett
Call Number: R 725.56 .D83 2023
Publication Date: 2023
A provocative book engaging with one of the core questions within our society -- how to ration and pay for healthcare, using the Christian ethical tradition as guidepost. The author has served as a civil servant in the Australian government developing health care policy.

 

Ministry/Liturgy/Ecclesiology

Cover ArtChurch Matters: Essays and Addresses on Ecclesial Belonging by Scott Cowdell
Call Number: BX 5714 .C69 2022
Publication Date: 2022
Cowdell was a recent VTS Dean's Scholar in the Spring of 2023. This work takes readers on a journey through many of Cowdell's recent essays and lectures on the topic of what the Church offers to the world. Cowdell is an Australian Anglican.
Cover ArtSacramental Presence: An Embodied Theology of Preaching by Ruthanna B. Hooke
Call Number: BV 4211.3 .H66 2023
Publication Date: 2023
VTS' very own Prof. Ruthanna Hooke offers a theology of preaching founded on the physical/embodied act of preaching. With sacramental undertones, Hooke imagines how the event of preaching corresponds with the Eucharist and thereby enhances our connection with God and one another.

 

Other

Cover ArtGeeky Pedagogy: A Guide for Intellectuals, Introverts, and Nerds Who Want to Be Effective Teachers by Jessamyn Neuhaus
Call Number: LB 2331 .N424 2019
Publication Date: 2019
This book is for academics who think their geekiness or introversion will get in the way of effective teaching. There are a number of helpful guideposts for effective teaching for those folks. The author is the Directory of the SUNY Plattsburgh Center for Teaching Excellence.
Cover ArtWriting with Pleasure by Helen Sword
Call Number: PE 1421 .S96 2023
Publication Date: 2023
The newest edition from Princeton Univ. Press' useful series, Skills for Scholars. Sword is an internationally-recognized writing consultant and here offers tips for academics who seem to have lost the love of writing and research that drove them into the profession. Sword offers readers tips on rediscovering the pleasurable aspects of writing and reframing one's negative emotions.
 
Cover ArtReading for the Love of God: How to Read as a Spiritual Practice by Jessica Hooten Wilson
Call Number: BV 4501.3 .W55477 2023
Publication Date: 2023
The author investigates the connection between reading and piety, finding useful interlocutors in Augustine, Julian of Norwich, Frederick Douglass, Dorothy Sayers, and Flannery O'Connor.
 
 
 

Journal Articles

Use the library's "BrowZine" platform to stay up-to-date on particular journals. It's easy to set up an account, get notified of new issues, and browse virtual shelves.

 

Theology/Ethics/Ministry

 

Biblical Studies

 

Forthcoming Items

  • I'm very excited about Janet Soskice's forthcoming book, Naming God: Addressing the Divine in Philosophy, Theology, and Scripture (expected Fall '23). Soskice's first major book, Metaphor and Religious Language, is a true classic in its field. Having just retired from her post at the University of Cambridge, Soskice is ending her career right where it began.

 

Further Conversation

Did I miss something significant? Let me know! vwilliams@vts.edu

 Add a Comment

0 Comments.

  Search this Blog


  Recent Posts


Recent Research, Publications, and Acquisitions (First Half 2023)

  Subscribe


Enter your e-mail address to receive notifications of new posts by e-mail.


  Archive


  Return to Blog
This post is closed for further discussion.

title
Loading...