THE shortlist for the £10,000 Michael Ramsey Prize for the most promising contemporary theological writing from the global Church has been announced.
They are:
- Fierce Imaginings: The Great War, ritual, memory and God by Rachel Mann (DLT, £12.99 (£11.70); 978-0-232-53278-4).
- God Beyond Words: Christian theology and the spiritual experiences of people with profound intellectual disabilities by Jill Harshaw (Jessica Kingsley Publishers, £50 (£45); 978-1-78592-044-8).
- God is Stranger by Krish Kandiah (Hodder & Stoughton, £9.99 (£9); 978-1-473-64891-3).
- The Splash of Words: Believing in poetry by Mark Oakley (Canterbury Press, £12.99 (£11.70); 978-1-84825-468-8).
- Making All Things New: Catholicity, cosmology, consciousness by Ilia Delio (Orbis Books, £20.99 (£18.90); 978-1-62698-136-2).
- The Theology of Everything: Renaissance Man joins the 21st century by Keith Eyeons (Ellis & Maultby, £7.99 (£7.20); 978-1-9997631-1-4).
The Archbishop of Canterbury, who announced the shortlist, said: “This year’s shortlist spans a remarkable range of subjects — from spirituality, culture and the new sciences, to the impact of the Great War on our faith and rituals.
“Woven through many of them is an urgent concern for deep issues of justice and reconciliation — from the environment, to refugees, to being church with those who are different from ourselves. This breadth of vision shows the vibrancy of contemporary theology, and the riches that await those who explore it.”
The judges were also announced. They will be: The Bishop of London, the Rt Revd Sarah Mullally; the First Church Estates Commissioner, Loretta Minghella; Dr Emma Wild-Wood, Senior Lecturer African Christianity and African Indigenous Religions, University of Edinburgh; the Team Rector of St Luke in the City Team Parish in the diocese of Liverpool, the Revd Dr Miranda Threlfall-Holmes; and Terry Waite.
The prize was established in 2005 by the then Archbishop of Canterbury Lord Williams in memory of Michael Ramsey, who was Archbishop from 1961 to 1974. Archbishop Welby said: “It is fitting that Archbishop Ramsey’s passion for enquiry into the nature of God in Christ, and the profound question of how we respond to His love, is celebrated by this prize.”
