A New Heaven and a New Earth just won the Word Guild Award for best Biblical Studies Book of 2014

Posted on June 13, 2015 by J Richard Middleton

Writing my eschatology book A New Heaven and a New Earth (Baker Academic, 2014) has been a labor of love. Like all my books, I’ve put my heart and soul into it. So seeing the book in print, and hearing of its impact on people’s thinking and lives, has been a great encouragement.

Best Biblical Studies Book—Word Guild Book Awards

To top it off, I just found out that A New Heaven and a New Earth won the World Guild Award for best book of 2014 in the Biblical Studies Category. I knew the book had been shortlisted (1 of 3) for the award by the World Guild (the primer Christian organization for Canadian writers). They had their annual Gala in Toronto tonight (June 13, 2015) and announced winners in various categories.

Best Overall Book—Word Guild Book Awards

The winner for general Academic book was Leonard Hjalmarson for No Home Like Place (The Urban Loft, 2014). Len also won the Grace Irwin prize for best overall book—quite an honor (or should I say honour).

I met Len in 2013 when he roomed with me to attend the Canadian Evangelical Theological Association (CETA) meeting in Victoria, BC. He presented a beautiful paper entitled “Recovering the Practice of Place: A Theology of Place,” which was based on the book he was writing.

I’m honoured to be in such company.

For some other awards the book has received, see my follow-up post.

Heading for the Congress of Humanities and Social Sciences (Ottawa)

Posted on May 26, 2015 by J Richard Middleton

I’ll be heading off to Canada next weekend to the Congress of Humanities and Social Sciences, held this year at the University of Ottawa. I am member of, and typically attend, three of the eighty academic societies that meet over the space of a week each year on a different Canadian university campus.

This year I’m presenting papers at all three societies.

For the Canadian Society of Biblical Studies (CSBS) I will present a paper on May 30 called “Is God Fickle? The Theological Significance of Interpretive Conundrums in YHWH’s Judgment on the Elide Priesthood (1 Samuel 2-3).” This paper grows out of research and teaching I’ve been doing on 1 and 2 Samuel over the last number of years; I’ve been particularly interested in how God’s character and actions are understood in relation to the momentous transition of Israel from a tribal league to a monarchy.

For the Canadian Evangelical Theological Association (CETA) I will present a paper on May 31 called “A Psalm against David? A Canonical Reading of Psalm 51 as a Critique of David’s Inadequate Repentance in 2 Samuel 12.” This paper also grows out of my work on 1 and 2 Samuel, in connection with my teaching on the Psalms. Here I’m interested in how we in the church tend to read the character of David as pious and faithful, when the narrative portrays him in no such manner.

Also on May 31, as part of the CETA evening program, I will be participating in a panel discussion, responding to three reviews of my book A New Heaven and a New Earth: Reclaiming Biblical Eschatology; this discussion will be held at Sunnyside Wesleyan Church.

For the Canadian Theological Society (CTS) I will present a paper on June 1 called “Faith Seeking Understanding: Reflections on Narratival Biblical Hermeneutics from a Canadian Immigrant Perspective.” This paper is part of a larger project on Narratival Hermeneutics of the Bible in Canada that will involve a variety of immigrant biblical scholars, each of whom will reflect on how their own ethnocultural background and tradition shapes their approach to the Bible, in connection with their Canadian experience.

Canadian Evangelical Theological Association Website Updated

Posted on January 15, 2015 by J Richard Middleton

This is just a note to say that the website for the Canadian Evangelical Theological Association CETA) has been updated, with information about the upcoming conference in Ottawa (May 31, 2015); I had mentioned the Ottawa conference in a previous post. A Call for Papers is posted there (proposals due January 31, 2015).

Also, all published articles from the Canadian Theological Review are now available as PDFs from the website (going back to the beginning of the journal in 2012). See the journal page for access to back issues.

Although they are a bit behind in production, two new issues of the Canadian Theological Review will shortly be appearing, with a third not far behind. The journal hopes to be caught up by the end of the year.