|
For more information:
July 9, 2007
Visit www.univpress.com
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE…
New Scholarship in French History
In seventeenth-century France,
Madame Guyon wrote about the concept of "pure love." "Love pure and holy, is a deathless fire," she wrote, and is "ethereal
fare." Her popular books spread quickly through Europe and the New World, drawing the attention of Louis XIV and the court
at Versailles. The Inquisition attacked her writing and concepts
resulting in her decade long incarceration including years in the Bastille. Archbishop Fénelon defended Guyon while the leading
cleric, Bishop Bossuet, demanded that the Vatican
condemn Fénelon and Guyon as heretics.
A contemporaneous historian
wrote a history of the "Great Conflict" between Guyon, Bossuet, Fénelon, and the Vatican entitled Supplement to the Life of Madame Guyon, which is regarded as having
been written in the eighteenth-century. Professor Nancy C. James's translation of this manuscript from the Bodleian Library
at Oxford University
is featured in this book coupled with an analysis of the powerful theology of Guyon that influenced both the growth of the
Quakers and Romanticism. This history addresses roots of our social conflicts as individual consciences struggle against destructive
political power.
Table
of Contents:
Introduction;
Historical Perspective on the Great Conflict; Guyon's Theology of the Holy Spirit; Madame Guyon's Dreams and Visions; Bossuet
and Fénelon: Opponents over Guyon's Theology; A Manuscript about the Life and Theology of Madame Guyon; Manuscript Translated:
Supplement to the Life of Madame Guyon; Madame Guyon's Theology: Conclusions; Endnotes; Bibliography
About
the Author:
Nancy C. James is a Priest Associate
at St. John's, Lafayette Square
in Washington, D.C. and an Adjunct Professor at Marymount University, Arlington,
Virginia. She received her M.Div. from Virginia Theological Seminary and her
Ph.D. from the University of Virginia.
Her first book is entitled Standing in the Whirlwind (2005). She is currently working on an anthology of Madame Guyon's writings.
To Order:
This book can be ordered via the publisher, University Press of America, at www.univpress.com or by calling Customer Service at 1-800-462-6420. All online
orders through the publisher’s website receive an automatic 15% discount.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Bookshelf
God's Confidants
A Sheaf of New Books Examines the Path to Faith as a Personal Pilgrimage
The Washington Post
Saturday, May 21, 2005; Page B09
Just when you think nothing new can be said about personal faith, out comes a new wave of books to prove
you wrong...
STANDING IN THE WHIRLWIND: THE RIVETING STORY OF A PRIEST AND THE CONGREGATIONS THAT TORMENTED HER , by Nancy
C. James (Pilgrim Press, $24). James's unusual story of being a priest who was harassed, stalked and threatened, apparently
by her own parishioners, was chronicled in a 1994 Washington Post story. She recounts here in greater detail the traumatic
experience at Emmanuel Episcopal Church in Rapidan, Va., along with other troubled yet fulfilling stops on her priestly journey,
as an English teacher at Lorton Reformatory and pastor of Christ Church in Brandy Station. She is now priest associate at
St. John's Episcopal Church Lafayette Square in Washington.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/20/AR2005052001430_2.html
Church Lady
By Anne Marson
Washington City Paper
March 25th, 2005
"If you buy into the conventional wisdom, it doesn’t make sense for someone to move to D.C. to get out of harm’s
way. But for the Rev. Nancy James, the city offers that which makes her most at ease. “There’s a giftedness to
being in a diverse society,” says James, 50. “Even if there’s crime, it’s a safer place for everybody.”
James moved to Capitol Hill 10 years ago, after her decadelong stint as rector of two rural Virginia churches was thwarted
by a campaign of intimidation and harassment. She shares the ordeal in her recently published book, Standing in the Whirlwind:
The Riveting Story of a Priest and the Congregations That Tormented Her."
Priest writes of hope in time of trial
Washington Window April 2005
By John Graham
William Wordsworth wrote of poetic expression as "emotion recollected in tranquility." The Rev.
Dr. Nancy C. James, a priest of the Diocese of Washington affiliated with both St. John's, Lafayette Square, and Grace, Georgetown,
has just published a powerful recollection of intense emotion called Standing
in the Whirlwind: the Riveting Story of a Priest and the Congregations that Tormented Her.
Following a period of
several years serving as rector of two rural Virginia parishes, during which time she suffered threats and harassment of the
most harrowing sort, James re-read the journals she had kept during these trials. In a recent phone interview she said, "I
found that fresh expressions of hope and faith had poured out of me in this time. I began to think that maybe this story would
speak to anyone in a difficult situation." She remembered that her theology and liturgics professor at Virginia Seminary,
the late Charles Price, had encouraged her to think about writing as a profession. And so, James began to recollect a turbulent
time during a relatively tranquil one, and to write her "story of hope."
Read the entire review which appears in the Washington Window on page 16
|
|
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
contact: Rebecca Wilson, 330-524-2067, rswilson@raex.com
BOOK BY WASHINGTON DC EPISCOPAL PRIEST CHRONICLES
CHAPTER IN
CHURCH’S
STRUGGLE OVER INCLUSION
CLEVELAND—As churches across the country struggle anew with issues of inclusion, a new book by a priest
at St. John's Lafayette Square chronicles a painful chapter in the church’s journey toward embracing civil rights. In Standing in the Whirlwind, the Rev. Nancy James tells the story of her tumultuous service to two rural Virginia churches. Divided by their attitudes toward women
priests, the community’s Civil War legacy, and the homeless African-American visitors James introduced, the churches
became the scene of unspeakable harassment, vandalism, and grave danger for James herself.
While Standing in the Whirlwind relates an extreme example of the church’s often-conflicted responses to social
and cultural change, the book is also a deeply spiritual story, narrated with James’ deep sense of grace. Interspersing
the stories of her experience in Virginia are both meditations on God’s presence in her native Alaska as well as the story of Madame Jeanne Guyon, a 17th
century French mystic on whom James has done extensive research.
Despite its dark
moments, Standing in the Whirlwind is a testament to Nancy James’ belief in the power of healing
and reconciliation. E. Ethelbert Miller, director of the African American Resource Center at Howard University has commented, “It is impossible to
read Standing in the Whirlwind and not have admiration for Nancy James. James lives a life of devotion.
She embraces the homeless as well as the incarcerated. Her faith creates bridges between communities. This is a book which
attempts to bring good news to the average reader.”
Another prominent Washington leader, Episcopal Bishop John
Chane has also endorsed the book, writing that James’ story allows the reader “the privilege of accompanying a
current Christian in her everyday life filled with the transcendent love of a living God who participates in our on-going
journeys as we allow the divine into our lives.”
Nancy James is currently priest associate at St.
John’s Lafayette Square and an adjunct professor at
American
University.
She holds an M. Div. from Virginia Theological Seminary and a Ph.D. from the University of Virginia. She lives in Washington DC with her family.
Title: Standing in the Whirlwind: The Riveting Story of a Priest and the Congregations
That Tormented Her
Author: Nancy James
Published by The
Pilgrim Press
Price: $24.00 hardcover
with jacket
ISBN 0-8298-1619-4
Review copies available
upon request for the press.
Press Contact: Rebecca
Wilson, 330-524-2067, rswilson@raex.com
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|