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Faith in the Centre: Christianity and Culture
Edited by Paul S. Fiddes

This volume explores the many ways in which Christian faith and human culture have been related to each other in the past, and how they interact with each other in the present. In particular, Faith in the Centre asks how we can tell the Christian story in the midst of a postmodern culture, marked as it is by a rejection of all large-scale explanations of the world, by relativizing of truth and by the loss of a memory of Christian images. Special attention is given to the experience of women – theologians, poets and artists – in the meeting between faith and culture. The contributors draw their examples from a remarkably wide scope of cultural contexts, ranging from the writing and music of the medieval Abbess Hildegard of Bingen to the modern science fiction world of Star Trek. The chapters offer a a comprehensible and readable guide to such widely-used terms as ‘modernity’, ‘postmodernity’, ‘inculturation’ – and indeed, ‘culture’ itself.

Contributors: Paul S. Fiddes (editor), Alan Kreider, Jane Shaw, Marjorie Reeves, Oliver Davies, Mark Atherton, Frances Kennett, Julian Thompson, Larry Kreitzer, Jean Lamb and Nicholas Wood.

Cover illustration: Tree of Life by Gustav Klimt. Reproduced by kind permission of the Österreiches Museum für Angewandte Kunst, Vienna.

Paperback, 264pp. ISBN 0-9518104-8-0
Firedint Publishing in association with Regent’s Park College, Oxford.
£8.95.
Please order by using ‘Contact’ page.

Flickering Images. Theology and Film in Dialogue.
Edited by Anthony J. Clarke and Paul S. Fiddes

Studies of the relationship between film and Christian theology are growing in number, but this collection of essays has the special aim of offering help to those who want to draw on current films in church services or in small study groups. Questions of theory are certainly kept in mind, especially in the first part of the book, which offers a thorough academic exploration of theological, existential and ideological approaches to film. But the writers never forget their concern for the practical needs of worship-leaders and study-group leaders. The second part of the book thus aims to model a variety of ways of holding the dialogue between film and theology, with examples which include romantic comedies, ‘block-busters’, sci-fi and fantasy. The format of the third part is designed for reflecting on a film in a group context, each chapter providing a detailed synopsis followed by a series of comments and questions gathered round a number of themes.

Contributors: Paul Fiddes (editor), Robert Ellis, Steve Nolan, Léonie Caldecott, Anthony Clarke, David Sutcliffe, Nicholas Wood, Sally Bedborough, Simon Carver, Tim Bradshaw, John Weaver, Stratford Caldecott, Chris Holmwood, and Steve Holmes.

Cover illustration: A-1208 by Maurice Estève. ©2005 ADAGP, Paris and DACS, London. Reproduced by kind permission.

Paperback, 310pp. ISBN 0-9539746-1-81
Firedint Publishing in association with Regent’s Park College, Oxford.
£8.95. Please use the ‘Contact’ page to order from Firedint Publishing Oxford.