Month: January 2025 (Page 1 of 2)

Here is a selection of print and eBooks recently added to our collection.

Committed : on meaning and madwomen /Suzanne Scanlon. A raw and masterful memoir about becoming a woman and going mad–and doing both at once. When Suzanne Scanlon was a student at Barnard in the 90s, grieving the loss of her mother-feeling untethered and swimming through inarticulable pain-she made a suicide attempt that landed her in the New York State Psychiatric Institute. After nearly three years and countless experimental treatments, Suzanne left the ward on shaky legs. In the decades it took her to recover from the experience, Suzanne came to understand her suffering as part of something larger: a long tradition of women whose complicated and compromised stories of self-actualization are reduced to “crazy chick” and “madwoman” narratives. It was a thrilling discovery, and she searched for more books, more woman writers, as the journey of her life converged with her journey through the literature that shaped her.  Committed is a story of discovery and recovery, reclaiming the idea of the madwoman as a template for insight and transcendence through the works of Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Virginia Woolf, Sylvia Plath, Janet Frame, Audre Lorde, Shulamith Firestone, and others.

Hamas : the quest for power /Beverley Milton-Edwards and Stephen Farrell. Declared a terrorist menace yet voted into government in a free election, Hamas then used its Gaza power base to launch cross-border attacks that scorched Israel and transformed the dynamics of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. How did a small Palestinian offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood grow to challenge long-established rivals such as the PLO? Who supports Hamas and what is its agenda? How powerful has it become and how strong will it remain? With decades of combined experience researching and reporting from the occupied West Bank and Gaza, Jerusalem, and around the Middle East, Beverley Milton-Edwards and Stephen Farrell gained unrivalled access to Hamas. Drawing on years of frontline reporting and interviews with members of the group’s founding generation and their successors who now lead it, they trace Hamas’ path to the shocking attacks of 07 October 2023 and their devastating aftermath. Its critics believe Hamas must be ousted to reach a solution to the Middle East conflict. Hamas’s supporters believe it is the solution. Nobody now believes it can be ignored. Based on their landmark 2010 study which has been thoroughly revised and updated, this book brings the story of Hamas up to the present.

 Indian in the cabinet : speaking truth to power /Jody Wilson-Raybould.  Indian in the Cabinet is a groundbreaking memoir that reflects -Raybould’s experiences and perspective as the first Indigenous woman in the simultaneous roles of Canada’s Minister of Justice and Attorney General. Within this context, she describes how, within the Canadian political system, power and truth are disassociated from one another. In order for real change to occur, fraudulent power must be dismantled and replaced with truth as a primary commitment in the democratic system of the Canadian government.

The cradle of Christianity: Judaism, Jesus and the New Testament : essays in honor of Craig A. Evans /edited by Thomas R. Hatina, Stanley E. Porter. This major collection of essays by senior colleagues and friends of Craig A. Evans recognizes his contribution to the field of biblical studies by concentrating upon his areas of research and writing interest. These include: the emergence and characteristics of early Judaism, Jesus and the apostolic tradition, and a variety of other supporting areas in New Testament studies. These essays include both focused studies and challenging theoretical explorations.

The road to wisdom /Francis S. Collins. In The Road to Wisdom, Collins reminds us of the four core sources of judgement and clear thinking: truth, science, faith, and trust. Drawing on his work from the Human Genome Project and heading the National Institutes of Health, as well as on ethics, philosophy, and Christian theology, Collins makes a robust, thoughtful case for each of these sources—their reliability, and their limits. Ultimately, he shows how they work together, not separately—and certainly not in conflict. It is only when we relink these four foundations of wisdom that we can begin to discern the best path forward in life.

 Understanding Charles Darwin /Erik L. Peterson.  What did Darwin’s work change about the world? Understanding Charles Darwin explodes five misconceptions about Darwin’s work and theories, including how ”Darwinism” has been made to stand for things Darwin never stood for. Concise and accessible, this is the myth-busting look at the Darwin you never knew.

Understanding human diversity /Jonathan Marks.  No two people are the same, and no two groups of people are the same. But what kinds of differences are there, and what do they mean? What does our DNA say about race, gender, equality, or ancestry? Drawing on the latest discoveries in anthropology and human genetics, Understanding Human Diversity looks at scientific realities and pseudoscientific myths about the patterns of diversity in our species, challenging common misconceptions about genetics, race, and evolution and their role in shaping human life today. By examining nine counterexamples drawn from popular scientific ideas, that is to say, examinations of what we are not, this book leads the reader to an appreciation of what we are. We are hybrids with often inseparable natural and cultural aspects, formed of natural and cultural histories, and evolved from remote ape and recent human ancestors. This book is a must for anyone curious about human genetics, human evolution, and human diversity.

Understanding natural selection /Michael Ruse. Naturalselection, as introduced by Charles Darwin in the Origin of Species (1859), has always been a topic of great conceptual and empirical interest. This book puts Darwin’s theory of evolution in historical context showing that, in important respects, his central mechanism of naturalselection gives the clue to understanding the nature of organisms. Naturalselection has important implications, not just for the understanding of life’s history – single-celled organism to man – but also for our understanding of contemporary social norms, as well as the nature of religious belief. The book is written in clear, non-technical language, appealing not just to philosophers, historians, and biologists, but also to general readers who find thinking about important issues both challenging and exciting.

 Understanding species /John S. Wilkins, University of Melbourne.  A concise introduction to the concept of species, discussing its complexity, use and importance in biology, philosophy, ethics, policymaking and conservation. The book provides a history of the concept and its’ problems and benefits for any interested reader, including those without previous knowledge of biology or philosophy.

Understanding the nature-nurture debate /Eric Turkheimer.  There are arguably few areas of science more fiercely contested than the question of what makes us who we are. Are we products of our environments or our genes? Is nature the governing force behind our behaviour or is it nurture? While it is now widely agreed that it is a mixture of both, discussions continue as to which is the dominant influence. This unique volume presents a clear explanation of heritability, the ongoing nature versus nurture debate and the evidence that is currently available. Starting at the beginning of the modern nature-nurture debate, with Darwin and Galton, this book describes how evolution posed a challenge to humanity by demonstrating that humans are animals, and how modern social science was necessitated when humans became an object of natural science. It clearly sets out the most common misconceptions such as the idea that heritability means that a trait is ‘genetic’ or that it is a justification for eugenics.

W.B. Yeats : a life /R.F. Foster.  In the first authorized biography of W. B. Yeats for over 50 years, Roy Foster brings new light to one of the most complex and fascinating lives of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. Working from a great archive of personal and contemporary material, he dramatically alters traditional perceptions to illuminate the poet’s family history, relationships, politics, and art.  A bohemian life of uncertain finances, love-affairs, avant-garde friends and experiments with drugs and occultism prefaces his attempt to unite politics with high culture and his creation of an Irish national theatre. The Apprentice Mage charts the growth of a poet’s mind and of an astonishing personality, both of which were instrumental in the formation of a new and radicalised Irish nationalist identity.

Here is a selection of print and eBooks recently added to our collection

The adoptee’s journey: from loss and trauma to healing and empowerment /Cameron Lee Small. Every adoption is rooted in loss. Adoption is often framed by happy narratives, but the reality is that many adoptees struggle with unaddressed trauma and issues of identity and belonging. Adoptees often spend the majority of their youth without the language to explore the grief related to adoption or the permission to legitimize their conflicting emotions.  Adoptee and counselor, Lee Small names the realities of the adoptee’s journey, narrating his own and other adoptees’ stories in all their complexity. He unpacks the history of how adoption has worked and names how the church influenced adoption practices with unintended negative impacts on adoptees’ faith.

The inclusive language field guide: 6 simple principles for avoiding painful mistakes and communicating respectfully /Suzanne Wertheim, PhD.  Avoid inadvertently offending or alienating anyone, in today’s fast-moving and combative culture, language can feel like a minefield. Terms around gender, disability, race, sexuality and more are constantly evolving. Linguistic anthropologist Suzanne Wertheim offers six easy-to understand principles to guide any communication-written or spoken-with anyone.

The making of the modern Muslim state: Islam and governance in the Middle East and North Africa /Malika Zeghal. An analysis that traces the continuity of the state’s custodianship of Islam as the preferred religion in the Middle East and North Africa .  Zeghal reframes the role of Islam in modern Middle East governance. Challenging other accounts that claim that Middle Eastern states turned secular in modern times.

The riches of your grace: living in the Book of common prayer /Julie Lane-Gay. This book explores the vista of living in the Book of Common Prayer. It’s not a guide to its history, but the story of the author’s experiences of how its age-old prayers and liturgies have drawn her (and others) closer to God, and He to them-in the workday, the mundane, in weekly worship. It’s a book about how the Prayer Book can root us deep in Christ.

The spirit of the game: American Christianity and big-time sports /Paul Emory Putz. Displays of religious faith have become commonplace on America’s baseball diamonds, basketball courts, football fields, and beyond. How did religion become so entwined with big-time sports in America? ‘The Spirit of the Game’ provides the answer to this question by offering a sweeping history of the Christian athlete movement in the United States and its impact on American religion and the religion of sports.

The two-state delusion: Israel and Palestine : a tale of two narratives /Padraig O’Malley. Jewish state, and other intractable issues have repeatedly derailed peace negotiations between Israel and Palestine. O’Malley approaches the key issues pragmatically, without ideological bias, to show that we must find new frameworks for reconciliation if there is to be lasting peace between Palestine and Israel.

 True reconciliation: how to be a force for change /Jody Wilson-Raybould. There is one question Canadians have asked  Wilson-Raybould more than any other: What can I do to help advance reconciliation? It is clear that people from all over the country want to take concrete and tangible action that will make real change. We just need to know how to get started. For Wilson-Raybould, what individuals and organizations need to do to advance true reconciliation is self-evident, accessible, and achievable. True Reconciliation is broken down into three core practices-Learn, Understand, and Act-that can be applied by individuals, communities, organizations, and governments. The practices are based not only on the historical and contemporary experience of Indigenous peoples in their relentless efforts to effect transformative change and decolonization, but also on the deep understanding and expertise about what has been effective in the past, what we are doing right, and wrong, today, and what our collective future requires.

 What is reality?: an introduction to metaphysics /Ross D. Inman.  Inman introduces us to the tradition of metaphysics in Western philosophy, what it means to do metaphysics as a Christian, and considers timeless and universal inquiries into central topics of metaphysics: identity, necessity and possibility, properties, universals, substances, and parts and wholes.

Here is a selection of print and eBooks recently added to the collection.

A critical and exegetical commentary on Galatians /by Christopher M. Tuckett. For over one hundred years the International Critical Commentary has had a special place amongst works on the Bible. This new volume on Galatians brings together all the relevant aids to exegesis – linguistic, textual, archaeological, historical, literary and theological – to enable the scholar to have a complete knowledge and understanding of this New Testament book. Tuckett incorporates new evidence available in the field and applies new methods of studies.

 A primer for emotionally focused individual therapy (EFIT): cultivating fitness and growth in every client/Susan M. Johnson and T. Leanne Campbell.  Johnson et al, apply the key interventions of EFT to work with individuals, providing an overview and clinical guide to treating clients with depression, anxiety, and traumatic stress. Designed for therapists at all levels of expertise, Johnson and Campbell focus on introducing clinicians to EFIT interventions, techniques, and change processes in a highly accessible and practical format.

Atonement and the life of faith /Adam J. Johnon.  Johnson addresses the key soteriological theme of atonement, showing students how to integrate theology into the life of faith and how the practices of Christian worship influence theological thinking.

Egypt under el-Sisi: a nation on the edge /Maged Mandour. This book follows President Sisi’s regime in the aftermath of the 2013 coup that brought him to power. It is a chronology of the devastating political, economic and social consequences of direct military rule.  Mandour explains exactly how Sisi operates and what makes his regime so different, and so dangerous, compared to those that came before. It shows, for the first time, how Egypt has been pushed to the brink of the abyss and why this will change the country for decades to come.

Faith in reading: religious publishing and the birth of mass media in America /David Paul Nord. This is the remarkable story of the unlikely origins of modern media culture. In the early 19th century, a few entrepreneurs decided the time was right to launch a true mass media in America. Though they were savvy businessmen, their publishing enterprises were not commercial businesses but nonprofit religious organizations.

Heart. soul. mind. strength.: a narrative history of InterVarsity Press, 1947-2022 /Andrew T. Le Peau and Linda Doll ; expanded edition edited by Al Hsu.  In this behind-the-scenes narrative of InterVarsity Press, Peau and Doll offer a glimpse into the stories, people, and events that made IVP what it is today. Recording good times and bad, celebrations and challenges, they place IVP in its historical context and demonstrate its contribution to the academy, church, and world.

Jansenism: an international anthology /edited by Shaun Blanchard and Richard T. Yoder. The first comprehensive anthology of Jansenist texts in English translation. Covering the full sweep of the Jansenist movement from the 1630s until the early nineteenth century, this anthology is a major asset to historians of early modernity, theologians, advanced and beginner students, and interested non-specialists. Readers of English can now directly hear the voices of the women and men, nuns and priests, and politicians and pamphleteers embroiled in some of the most dynamic controversies of early modern Christianity.

New laws of robotics: defending human expertise in the age of AI /Frank Pasquale.  AI threatens to disrupt the professions as it has manufacturing.  Pasquale argues that law and policy can avert this outcome and promote better ones: instead of replacing humans, technology can make our labor more valuable. Through regulation, we can ensure that AI promotes inclusive prosperity.

Religion and poverty: monotheistic responses around the globe /Susan Crawford Sullivan, Stephen Offutt, and Shariq Ahmed Siddiqui.  This book offers a timely and compelling look at religion and poverty, focusing primarily on the two largest world religions, Christianity and Islam, and considering religion and poverty in the United States and international contexts. Written by social scientists, the book incorporates relevant theology with a focus on how theology is lived in relation to issues of poverty.

Scholarship reconsidered: priorities of the professoriate /Ernest L. Boyer ; updated and expanded by Drew Moser, Todd C. Ream, John M. Braxton, and associates.  Shifting faculty roles in a changing landscape.  Boyer challenges the publish-or-perish status quo that dominated the academic landscape.  The rise of the non-tenure-track class of professors is well documented. If the historic rule of promotion and tenure is waning, what role can scholarship play in a fragmented, unbundled academy? Boyer calls for a broadened view of scholarship, audaciously refocusing its gaze from the tenure file and to a wider community.

Staple security: bread and wheat in Egypt /Jessica Barnes.  Egyptians often say that bread is life; most eat this staple multiple times a day, many relying on the cheap bread subsidized by the government. In Staple Security,  Barnes explores the process of sourcing domestic and foreign wheat for the production of bread and its consumption across urban and rural settings. She traces the anxiety that pervades Egyptian society surrounding the possibility that the nation could run out of wheat or that people might not have enough good bread to eat, and the daily efforts to ensure that this does not happen.