New Books
The Library regularly adds new books to stock, both through purchase and as gifts.
Here is a small selection of recent acquisitions.
The Cambridge history of the book in Britian. Vol. 1: c. 400-1100, edited by Richard Gameson (Cambridge University Press, 2012).
This is the first volume, although the last to appear in print, of a six-volume work. It completes the Library's set, which has been purchased from the bequest of Sir Roger Mynors (1903-1989), the author of the Catalogue of the manuscripts of Hereford Cathedral Library, completed after his death by R.A.B. Thomson. It comprises 39 chapters by almost as many authors, several of whom draw attention to the late 8th- or early 9th-century Hereford Gospels, the Library's earliest book and the only one to have survived the destruction of the Cathedral in 1055 by the outlawed Earl Aelfgar and his supporters. The book adds little to our knowledge of the Hereford Gospels, but affirms its importance as a rare survivor of a regional, non-luxury style, probably from the Welsh borders, and sets it within the context of the other surviving Insular gospel books and liturgical manuscripts, with chapters on their production, circulation and use.
THIS BOOK IS AVAILABLE IN THE REFERENCE COLLECTION AT R.002.0942 CAM.
Gary Macy, The hidden history of women's ordination: female clergy in the medieval West (Oxford University Press, 2008).
Macy's book questions the received wisdom that women were never 'really' ordained in the Western medieval church. With careful reference to little-known sources, many of which he transcribes, he argues that there is sufficient evidence to warrant the claim that women were considered to be ordained ministers in the Western church prior to the 12th century. Then, in the 11th and 12th centuries, ordination was redefined, resticting it to a male priesthood and ensuring that women were excluded from exercising sacramental functions. The subsequent rather lukewarm review of the book by Professor Bernard Hamilton in the Times Literary Supplement of 23 September 2011 provoked the author to respond in the same journal with a re-instatement of his central thesis that 'the ritual for the ordination of a woman deacon or an abbess before the 12th century was a true ordination to a clerical state that allowed them to exercise sacramental functions' (21 October 2011). Since then, several other letters have been printed in TLS, broadly in support of Macy. The book's concluding paragraph begins, 'The purpose of this study is to begin a discussion'. It will be interesting to follow that discussion as it develops further.
THIS BOOK IS AVAILABLE FOR LOAN AT 262.1409 MAC.
RECENT ISSUES OF THE TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT ARE DISPLAYED IN THE READING ROOM.
Paula Gooder, Heaven (SPCK, 2011).
You can't read much of the Bible without encountering beliefs about heaven, God's throne and angels. It is a vast subject, to which Paula Gooder, writer and lecturer in biblical studies, Canon Theologian of Birmingham and Guildford cathedrals and a lay canon of Salisbury Cathedral, has written a 'rough guide' combining readability and scholarship. For Gooder, 'Believing in heaven is the ultimate rebellion against the idea that this world is all there is'. This book has been chosen by the Revd Canon Dr Maureen Palmer as a key text for her Advent series of talks, 'The Four Last Things', part of our Life & Learning programme. The first talk, 'Heaven' took place on Wednesday 23 November 2011 and 'Hell'. 'Death' and 'Judgement' follow on subsequent Wednesdays at 10.30am in the Library Reading Room.
TWO COPIES OF THIS BOOK ARE AVAILABLE FOR LOAN AT 237.4 GOO.
Alexandra Walsham, The reformation of the landscape: religion, identity, & memory in early modern Britian and Ireland (Oxford University Press, 2011).
The author, who is Professor of Modern History at the University of Cambridge, approaches the English Reformation and its aftermath from an unusual and fruitful viewpoint. How did it affect people's perceptions of, and the practices associated with, natural phenomena such as trees, woods, springs, rocks, mountains, prehistoric monuments and other topographical features? Writing in the Times Literary Supplement on 23 September 2011, Anthony Fletcher described the book as 'often radical in its revisionism ... Its grace and authority will commend it to theologians, anthropologists, geographers and a mass of general readers ...'
THIS BOOK IS AVAILABLE FOR LOAN at 261.21 WAL.
Nigel Saul, English church monuments in the Middle Ages: history and representation (Oxford University Press, 2009).
Those who attended this year's Cantilupe lecture, held in the Lady Chapel on 7 October, will recollect Professor Saul's magisterial and compelling narrative of the monuments in the Cathedral, why they are there and what they were for. This book surveys English church monuments up to the early 16th century, both in terms of their social meaning and the role that they played in the religious strategies of the commemorated. It was clear from Professor Saul's talk that Hereford Cathedral is especially rich in both medieval tombs and memorial brasses and that the cult of St Thomas Cantilupe in the late 13th and early 14th centuries played an important part in the siteing of the monuments. Hereford is mentioned many times in the book and if you enjoyed the talk, you will find much more of interest here.
THIS BOOK IS AVAILABLE IN THE REFERENCE COLLECTION at R.731.76 SAU.