Picking up and pulling at the vibrant threads of Robert Priest’s last book of poems, Reading the Bible Backward, this collection explores new themes while spanning multiple strands of thought. One strand leads, with unabashed candor and elegance, through the author’s love life; another, through fields of praise; a third experiments with automated metaphors and delivers a challenging new selection of mash-ups that Priest calls meme splices. A fourth thread rekindles the author’s love of the prose poem to produce a suite of strange tales, bizarre playlets, and phonetic modifications. With flair and daring, Previously Feared Darkness consorts with forms and subject matter to present the work of a master getting deep, nasty, and hilarious with the best of them.
For over half a century, Robert Schmuhl interviewed and wrote about Reverend Theodore M. Hesburgh, C.S.C., who served as the president of the University of Notre Dame from 1952 until 1987. Beginning as an undergraduate student during the 1960s, when he covered Hesburgh and Notre Dame for the Associated Press, to 2014 when he conducted his last visit with the frail ninety-seven-year-old priest, Schmuhl maintained a unique relationship with Father Hesburgh. Over time, Hesburgh’s meetings with Schmuhl evolved into a friendship, which is documented in this personal and warmhearted portrait of the man who was for decades considered the most influential priest in America. Fifty Years with Father Hesburgh: On and Off the Record contains excerpts and commentary from various interviews Schmuhl conducted with Father Hesburgh about his service as Notre Dame’s president, including the most difficult years of his presidency during the 1960s, when Notre Dame and other college campuses were in turmoil because of student protests against the Vietnam War and other issues. Knowing and working with four popes and nine U.S. presidents, Father Hesburgh was a moral force in virtually all major social issues of his day, including civil rights, peaceful uses of atomic energy, third-world development, and immigration reform. Schmuhl records Hesburgh’s candid reflections on the U.S. presidents with whom he worked and his assessment of the years after he left the university’s presidency and maintained an active life of service in retirement. Schmuhl expresses his devotion and respect in the chapters about Hesburgh’s twilight decades. He describes how Hesburgh dealt with macular degeneration and blindness in his later years, enlisting students to read the New York Times and other publications to him. During the 1990s and the first years of the twenty-first century, Father Ted was, as he liked to say, “everybody’s grandfather.” His open-door policy extended beyond students to faculty, staff, alumni, and campus visitors, and continued right up until the end of his life. Throughout the book, Schmuhl captures the essence, spirit, and humanity of a great leader.
The biblical figure Melchizedek appears just twice in the Hebrew Bible, and once more in the Christian New Testament. Cited as both the king of Shalem-understood by most scholars to be Jerusalem-and as an eternal priest without ancestry, Melchizedek's appearances become textual justification for tithing to the Levitical priests in Jerusalem and for the priesthood of Jesus Christ himself. But what if the text was manipulated? Robert R. Cargill explores the Hebrew and Greek texts concerning Melchizedek's encounter with Abraham in Genesis as a basis to unravel the biblical mystery of this character's origins. The textual evidence that Cargill presents shows that Melchizedek was originally known as the king of Sodom and that the later traditions about Sodom forced biblical scribes to invent a new location, Shalem, for Melchizedek's priesthood and reign. Cargill also identifies minor, strategic changes to the Hebrew Bible and the Samaritan Pentateuch that demonstrate an evolving, polemical, sectarian discourse between Jews and Samaritans competing for the superiority of their respective temples and holy mountains. The resulting literary evidence was used as the ideological motivation for identifying Shalem with Jerusalem in the Second Temple Jewish tradition. A brief study with far-reaching implications, Melchizedek, King of Sodom reopens discussion of not only this unusual character, but also the origins of both the priesthood of Christ and the role of early Israelite priest-kings.
Reverse engineering the word, meme splicing, morpheme replacement therapy, phonetic modifications: these are some of the techniques in play throughout Reading the Bible Backwards, the lyrical thought experiments that make up this eagerly anticipated new collection of poems by Robert Priest. By throwing the Bible and other cultural narratives on the turntable and spinning them backwards, Priest unleashes surprisingly new but strangely familiar music and meaning. Whether the movements are sideways, inverted, or omni - directional, his satire has never been sharper - or darker. Ultimately, though, Priest's lyric voice has never been more finely tuned or elegant, especially in the wonderfully groundbreaking "I Love You Forwards" poems that afford this book its remarkable balance.
Besides being a Roman Catholic priest, Robert H. Benson was a fine writer of supernatural stories. These two collections are particularly favored. The Light Invisible recounts the stories told by an old priest to a young friend, recounting his experiences with the spiritual world and spirits (good and evil) within. A Mirror of Shalott brings together a group of priests who tell each other stories as they try to decide what it means to encounter the supernatural.
The concept of the physician-priest is an ancient one existing pre-Christianity, and historic references to the role can be found within the majority of religions and across all continents. However, despite a growing body of scientific evidence indicating the value of spirituality, the 20th century medical profession within the Western world has placed religion at arm’s length, effectively excluding such discussion from the medical consultation. Referring to both primary and secondary sources within theological, medical, legal, historic and philosophical literature, Robert puts forward an argument in support of a 21st century role for the physician-priest. He argues that if the physician can exercise the role of priest in addition to their medical role, they can thereby truly minister to the whole person in terms of mind, body and soul. With consideration of modern NHS funding streams, Robert suggests a radical proposal whereby the Church of England and medical educational institutions might combine to offer dual theological and medical training. The result would establish a new breed of professional person ideally positioned in respect to the care of the elderly and those with terminal illness. The Healing Enigma suggests that this not only assists with the provision of ‘whole-person’ care, but also allows the Church to firmly re-establish itself in the 21st century within its Christian healing tradition.
I have been a priest for fifteen years. Since October 2010, I have served as a first-time pastor of Holy Trinity Church in Poughkeepsie, New York. This is a collection of most of my church bulletin messages, entitled, "A Word From the Pastor," as well as some my letters for a variety of parish mailings.
A restless search is on. Cover stories about the "real" Jesus are on the increase in news magazines, best sellers based on alternative Gospels, and documentaries. Whether you're a devout Christian, an inquiring seeker or a rank skeptic, this book is for you if you wish to explore the teaching of Jesus. Provocative Grace focuses on the words of Jesus, not as rules to live by but as challenges to precipitate growth into greater maturity. Morris asks us to enlarge our existing concepts and to stretch our beliefs about Jesus beyond the borders of formal Christianity and what we learned in Sunday school. "The Jesus of the Gospels, in all his modes of encountering people—as prophet, healer, wisdom teacher, mystic, social critic, and nonviolent revolutionary—is a disturber of our immaturities, one who challenges us to find and use our strengths," writes Morris. "Jesus was neither a rule maker or idealist but a provocateur. Rather than impossible ideals imposed upon us, his sayings are proddings to grow step-by-step, by trial-and-error learning, into the best possibilities of our nature." Listen to Jesus' words not with an attitude of uncritical acceptance or blind faith but rather with an openness to hear the message in a fresh way. Provocative Grace dares us to wrestle with Jesus' sayings and to experience a vivid revelation of God's love and grace. Each chapter helpfully arranges the book so that it may be an aid to personal reflection, journaling, or discussion.
The doctrines of the atonement and the Trinity are central not only to the Christian faith but also to Christian systematic theology. Over the last decade or so, one or another theological interpretation of either of these doctrines has assumed pride of place among theologians. Before Robert Sherman, though, no theologian has ever dared to read the atonement in light of the Trinity. Most of the time atonement theories simply focus on the redeeming work of Jesus Christ, without any reference to Christ's relationship to the Father and the Spirit of the Trinity. But, as Sherman argues, Christ's atoning work is diverse and cannot be limited to one who ransoms our sins or to one who has victory over our sins (although in Sherman's view Christ's atoning work includes these tasks and more). He offers here a constructive theological proposal that connects Trinity with the rubrics of prophet, priest, and king to help explain Christ's atoning work. One can understand adequately neither Christ's multifaceted reconciliation of a complex humanity to God nor that reconciliations fundamental unity as God's gracious act apart form the Trinity. Without this framework, one will likely stress one person of the Trinity, one aspect of God's reconciling work, and/or one understanding of the human predicament to the exclusion of others and the detriment of theology, both systematic and pastoral. Sherman's constructive theological proposal suggests that we should recognize a certain correspondence and mutual support between the three persons of the Trinity, the three offices of Christ (king, prophet, priest), and the three commonly recognized models of his atoning work (Christus victor, vicarious sacrifice, moral exemplar). Sherman's book offers a well-nuanced and well-grounded constructive theology of Trinitarian atonement and is a significant addition to the Theology for the Twenty-First Century Series. Robert J. Sherman is Professor of Christian Theology at Bangor Theological Seminary in Maine. His work has appeared in such publications as the Scottish Journal of Theology, the International Journal of Systematic Theology, and The Journal of Religion.
As a Catholic priest, Grandier was an influential figure in the Loudun community and local government. A brilliant speaker, he was popular with his parishioners. But he had enemies, including Cardinal Richelieu and Louis XIII, who was trying to wrest political autonomy from local governors and centralize power in Paris. Grandier's support of the governor of Loudun meant that he was seen as an enemy of the crown. In addition, the debonair priest's romantic intrigues brought him into conflict with some of the town's most influential power brokers. When a nearby convent of Ursuline nuns began experiencing strange visions and hallucinations, Grandier's enemies seized the opportunity to orchestrate his downfall. These mass possessions, which spread through the convent despite attempts at exorcism, were regarded as witchcraft and Grandier was accused of having caused them. Condemned by Richelieu and the king, Grandier was tortured and burned at the stake for his alleged crimes. He maintained his innocence to the end. This tale of conspiracy, corruption, and mass hysteria provides a fascinating exploration of human behaviour and community dynamics.
The Gospel According to Renan provides a new and holistic interpretation of one of the non-fiction sensations of the nineteenth century: Ernest Renan's Life of Jesus (Vie de Jésus). Published in 1863, Renan's book aroused enormous controversy through its claim to be a historically accurate biography of Jesus. While Life of Jesus provoked the ire of the Catholic Church in hundreds of sermons and pamphlets, it also sold hundreds of thousands of copies, making a fortune for its author and his publisher. Based on research into a huge range of print and manuscript sources, The Gospel According to Renan demonstrates how Renan's work intervened in a remarkable range of debates in nineteenth-century French cultural life. These went far beyond questions of religion, from the role of individuals in history to the meaning and significance of 'race'. Through an engaging reconstruction of Renan's intellectual formation, Priest shows how Renan's ideas grew out of the context of Parisian intellectual life after his loss of faith in the 1840s. Going beyond a traditional intellectual history, Priest uses a wide range of new manuscript sources, many of which have never been examined by modern historians, in order to reconstruct the ways that ordinary French men and women engaged with one of the great religious debates of their age. By tracing the legacy of Life of Jesus into the early years of the twentieth century, Priest finally shows how Renan's work found new political meaning in the heated debates over secularisation that divided French society in the young Third Republic.
This collection of Robert Priest's short prose includes bizarre sexual parables, hilarious science fiction, fables, text-tangles, dirty stories, lush love letters, re-visionary fairy tales, predictions, strange new games, dream transcripts, and a complete handbook of absurdist instructions, including one on the dangerous arts of pig-swallowing.
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