Exhibit in Special Collections celebrates women's history

Mar 1, 2024

Women at Princeton Theological Seminary: Herstory includes items from and about women’s participation in theological work and the church, including the first translation of the Bible by a woman, Julia Smith. From there, explore the involvement and training of women here at Princeton Theological Seminary.

View this exhibition in Special Collections and Archives at Wright Library (hours by appointment).

Image description: photo of part of this exhibit in a rectangular display case with 3 shelves; portraits of Betsey Stockton, Muriel Van Orden Jennings and A. Jane Molden are prominent

photo of the rectangular display case with 3 shelves described here, portraits of Betsey Stockton, Muriel Van Orden Jennings and A. Jane Molden are prominent

New Faculty Book: Guide me into your truth

Feb 28, 2024

Guide me into your truth: essays in honor of Dennis T. Olson, edited by Rolf A. Jacobson, Jacqueline E. Lapsley and Kristin J. Wendland is now available at Wright Library.

Find it on the shelf at BS413 .G854 2023 and as an e-book.

Contributors include: Katharine Doob Sakenfeld, Justin Reed, Jeremy Schipper, Hannah S. An, Sara M. Koenig, James K. Mead, Elaine T. James, L. Juliana Claassens, Walter C. Bouzard, Rolf A. Jacobson, Kristin J. Wendland, Elna K. Solvang, Jacqueline E. Lapsley, F. W. Dobbs-Allsopp, Mark S. Smith, C. Clifton Black, Beverly Roberts Gaventa

From the publisher:

"In his forty-plus years of work as a biblical scholar, Dennis Thorald Olson has illumined the meaning of the Bible for his readers and hearers in diverse ways. Among the topics he has taken up in his scholarship and teaching are the nature of leadership, life in community, the relation of science and theology, Jewish-Christian relations, repentance and forgiveness, and many, many more. In this essay collection, a number of Dennis's students, colleagues, and friends respond to the profound values and seminal ideas at the heart of his work and take up the profound question of truth as it pertains to Scripture, a question that Olson himself urged biblical scholars to consider in his inaugural address ["Oh Lord God, How Am I to Know?" The Pentateuch and Contemporary Understandings of Truth] from over twenty years ago."

Flora, Fauna, and Mysteriana: a Wright Library exhibit

Feb 21, 2024

A series of 10 exhibition cases, each of which depicts various aspects of humanity’s view of nature through a theological lens, comprise an exciting new exhibit on the main concourse created by Princeton Theological Seminary's department of Special Collections & Archives at Wright Library.

The exhibit, entitled Flora, Fauna, & Mysteriana, presents viewers with visual evidence of how theological and biblical studies overlap and intersect with the natural world.

The books and manuscripts selected for display in this exhibition allow us to demonstrate the important role that imagery, illustration, and visual expression play in the interpretation and understanding of the Bible. In an academic setting such as Princeton Theological Seminary, it is often easy to get lost in the words on the page and the multitudinous language(s) of our faith.

This exhibit is an attempt to bring another “language” into discussion, that of visual language. The items on display here can (and should) be interpreted through the visual medium rather than the textual. It is another way for us to interact with scripture; and a way of combining the theological with the ecological through visual media.

As indicated in its title, the exhibit is separated into three primary areas: depictions of flowers and plants (Flora), depictions of land animals, sea creatures, and birds (Fauna), and depictions of mythical and folkloric beasts (Mysteriana). These three “realms” reflect the Creation story of Genesis (flora and fauna) as well as the creatures of the Apocalypse in the Book of Revelation (mysteriana). We invite you, however, to wander through these realms in any order you desire and explore the beauty and mystery of the world around us.

-- Special Collections & Archives Staff

Image descriptions: photos of 3 of the cases in this exhibition, Mythical Beasts, Serpents, and Dragons; each case has 4 shelves of Special Collections materials on display. The top shelves hold ornate blue and white signs indicating the topic within the case, e.g. Mythical Beasts, Serpents, and Dragons respectively.

photo of a case in this exhibition, Mythical Beasts
photo of a case in this exhibition, Serpents
photo of a case in this exhibition, Dragons

New Faculty Books: Decolonial Horizons

Feb 19, 2024

Decolonial horizons: reimagining theology, ecumenism and sacramental praxis; and Decolonial horizons: reshaping synodality, mission, and social justice, both edited by Raimundo C. Barreto and Vladimir Latinovic, are now part of the Wright Library collection both in print and as e-books in the series Pathways for Ecumenical and Interreligious Dialogue.

Find them on the shelf at BT83.593 .D43 2023 and BT83.593 .D433 2023.

From the publisher:

"...[T]wo volumes of essays from the Ecclesiological Investigations International Research Network's 14th International Conference focused on decolonizing churches and theology, addressing oppressions based on gender, racial, and ethnic identities; economic inequality; social vulnerabilities; climate change and global challenges such as pandemics, neoliberalism, and the role of information technology in modern society, all connected with the topic of decolonization."

Lent 2024

Feb 12, 2024

Encounter a new devotional or book of reflections or return to a familiar guide as you journey through the season of Lent.

graphic includes photo of Wright Library, illustration of a cross, crown of thorns and palm leaf on a purple background with text Lent 2024 Devotionals and other selected reading

New Faculty Book: Divine Style

Feb 12, 2024

Divine style: Walt Whitman and the King James Bible by F.W. ("Chip") Dobbs-Allsopp is now available, on the shelf at Wright Library (PS3242.B5 D6 2024) and as an open access e-book online.

From the publisher:

"Utilising his wealth of expertise in this field, [Dobbs-Allsopp] constructs a compelling, erudite and methodical argument for the King James Bible’s importance in the evolution of Whitman’s style – from his signature long lines to the prevalence of parallelism and tendency towards parataxis in his works.

'Divine Style' focuses on Whitman’s output in the years preceding the release of his 1855 opus 'Leaves of Grass' through the general period of the book’s first three editions. In this, Dobbs-Allsopp’s exploration of the period is exhaustive – covering not just Leaves of Grass but recently recovered notebooks, newly digitised manuscripts and additions to the corpus, such as the novel 'Life and Adventures of Jack Engle'."

photo of the book on a table next to an open copy of the Holy Bible

New Faculty Book: Preaching Romans from here

Feb 5, 2024

Preaching Romans from here : diverse voices engage Paul's most famous letter, edited by Lisa M. Bowens, Scot McKnight and Joseph B. Modica is now available at Wright Library.

Find it on the shelf at BS2665.54 .P74 2023 and as an e-book.

From the Introduction:

"The communities represented in this volume speak to the value of their inhabited spaces and at the same time speak to the inhabited space of all Christian believers. From the beginning of the early church, God called believers to inhabit a diverse space, a space created by the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon women and men from various nations around the world (Acts 2:4–12). The unfortunate reality is that the church has often failed to live fully into this diverse space due to its complicity in racism, sexism, and oppression. Yet the wooing of the Spirit relentlessly beckons the church to live out its divine identity even in the midst of current intense societal divisions that often demand and mandate our allegiance. Preaching Romans from Here, however, bears witness to the greater allegiance God calls believers to remember and em-body, that is, both the diversity and unity of the people of God: 'So we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another' (Rom 12:5)." Lisa Bowens, Associate Professor of New Testament, Princeton Theological Seminary

photo of the library copy of the book facing out on a library bookshelf by other cataloged and shelved books

New Databases: Eerdmans Bible Commentaries

Feb 2, 2024

This academic year, Wright Library purchased two new collections available on Bloomsbury's Theology & Religion Online platform:

  • Eerdmans Bible Commentaries: New Testament
  • Eerdmans Bible Commentaries: Old Testament

Explore over 130 commentaries by international authors from a range of denominational backgrounds, including Job 1–21 : Interpretation and Commentary (C. L. Seow) and Journeying With God : A Commentary on the Book of Numbers (Katharine Doob Sakenfeld).

Theology & Religion Online logo from Bloomsbury

Celebrate Black History

Feb 1, 2024

Come browse books (and e-books) from the collection, as well as research databases, conferences, lectures and other recordings.

Check out what's coming up for BTLI 2024 and connect with The Betsey Stockton Center for Black Church Studies at Princeton Theological Seminary.

Authors and editors in the curated bibliography include (among others):

  • Afe Adogame
  • Albert J. Raboteau
  • Angelique Harris
  • Anthony B. Bradley
  • Austin Channing Brown
  • Betty Livingston Adams
  • Brenda Salter McNeil
  • Brian K. Blount
  • Bruce D. Haynes
  • Cain Hope Felder
  • Carla Jones
  • Cassandra Jackson
  • Cecelia Barr
  • Chad Williams
  • Chanequa Walker-Barnes
  • Charlene A. Carruthers
  • Charles M. Payne
  • Charlotte McSwine-Harris
  • Clarice J. Martin
  • Claudette Copeland
  • Clayborne Carson
  • Cleophus J. LaRue
  • Coretta Scott King
  • Cornel West
  • Courtney Pace
  • Dale P. Andrews
  • Danjuma G. Gibson
  • Darnell L. Moore
  • David Marriott
  • David Walker
  • Deborah Blanks
  • Deborah Gray White
  • Delores Carpenter
  • Derrick A. Bell
  • Desmond Tutu
  • Dorothy Porter
  • Dwight Hopkins
  • Eboni Marshall Turman
  • Eddie S. Glaude, Jr.
  • Efrem Smith
  • Emerson B. Powery
  • Frantz Fanon
  • Frederick Douglass
  • Gregory C. Ellison, II
  • Harriet Jacobs
  • Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
  • Howard Thurman
  • James Baldwin
  • James H. Cone
  • James Weldon Johnson
  • Jarena Lee
  • Jennifer T. Kaalund
  • Jesmyn Ward
  • Johari Jabir
  • John H. McClendon
  • John Lewis
  • Josef Sorett
  • Juan Williams
  • Judith Weisenfeld
  • Karen D. Crozier
  • Kathryn Watterson
  • Katie G. Cannon
  • Keisha N. Blain
  • Kenyatta R. Gilbert
  • Keri L. Day
  • Kerri Greenidge
  • Khristi Lauren Adams
  • Kidada E. Williams
  • Lisa M. Bowens
  • Malcolm X
  • Manning Marable
  • Margaret Busby
  • Margarita Simon Guillory
  • Maria Thomas
  • Marisa J. Fuentes
  • Martin Luther King, Jr.
  • Michael Eric Dyson
  • Monica M. White
  • Natasha Sistrunk Robinson
  • Nikole Hannah-Jones
  • Nyasha Junior
  • Octavia E. Butler
  • Phillis Wheatley
  • Piper Kendrix Williams
  • Quinton H. Dixie
  • Resmaa Menakem
  • Richard J. Douglass-Chin
  • Richard S. Newman
  • Rima Vesely-Flad
  • Robert A. Wortham
  • Shamoon Zamir
  • Stephanie J. Shaw
  • Stephen C. Ferguson
  • Tamura Lomax
  • Ta-Nehisi Coates
  • Tara A. Bynum
  • Toni Morrison
  • Vincent W Lloyd
  • W. E. B. Du Bois
  • Wallace D. Best
  • Walter Earl Fluker
  • Whitney Battle-Baptiste
  • Willie James Jennings
  • Winnifred Brown-Glaude
  • Yolanda N. Pierce
  • Zora Neale Hurston

New Faculty Book: Reading the Song of Songs in a #Metoo era

Jan 29, 2024

Reading the Song of Songs in a #Metoo era : women, sex, and public discourse, edited by Simeon B. Chavel and Elaine T. James is now available at Wright Library.

Find it on the shelf at BS1483 .R46 2023 and as an e-book.

From the publisher:

"The Song of Songs is the only book of the Bible to privilege the voice of a woman, and its poetry of love and eroticism also bears witness to violence. How do the contemporary #MeToo movement and other movements of protest and accountability renew questions about women, gender, sex, and the problematic of the public at the heart of this ancient poetry? This edited volume prominently features women scholars and seeks to reinvigorate feminist scholarship on the Song by exploring diverse contexts of reading, from Akkadian love lyrics, to Hildegard of Bingen, to Marc Chagall."

Reading the Song of Songs in a #Metoo era : women, sex, and public discourse, edited by Simeon B. Chavel and Elaine T. James on a table in Wright Library