Some Reading Suggestions

For those readers of blogs who wish to explore some print material, let me suggest three new titles that have come to my attention.

(1) Gary Macy, The Hidden History of Women's Ordination: Female Clergy in the Medieval West published by Oxford University Press in 2008 (ISBN 987-0-19-518970-4). This is a careful exploration of the evidence for women clergy in the medieval western church that can be found in the documents of the period. This is not an evening's read, but a worthy task for those who are interested in reclaiming all our histories.

(2) Jeremie Begbie, Resounding Truth: Christian Wisdom in the World of Music published by Baker Academic in 2007 (ISBN 987-0-8010-2695-9). Begbie, an English Evangelical, is a widely-respected commentator on theology and the arts. This book has been well-reviewed.

(3) Richard D. McCall, Do This: Liturgy as Performance published by the University of Notre Dame Press in 2008 (ISBN 978-0-268-03499-3). McCall is Professor of Liturgy at Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge MA. This is not a book about how to perform liturgy but a serious exploration of the following question: "What is the place of the rites of the church in a world that is itself a performance, a continuing enactment that come to be in the act?" One reviewer says that this is the most important work in liturgical studies that he has read in five years.

Just some suggestions.