David Russell Mosley http://elflandletters.wordpress.com/ 16 July 2013 Commemoration of Osmund, Bishop of Salisbury, 1099 Beeston, Nottinghamshire Dear Friends and Family, I can hardly believe I’ve been at this for a year. I’ve had many blogs in the past. I believe it all started with Xanga for me. Then I moved to a Myspace blog, then a Facebook blog. After that I discovered blogger and used it to create several different blogs. I was never able to keep one going, so... Read more
Dear Friends and Family, Several times now on this blog have I written about Faerie and the enchantment of our universe. Today I wanted to reflect on a few different things I’ve come across lately in relation to this. What Is Faeriean Metaphysics? Faeriean is an adjective I made up at the recent Centre of Theology and Philosophy Conference on the Soul after hearing John Milbank’s response to William Desmond’s paper. I’ll come back to that in a moment. I got... Read more
Dear Friends and Family, Well, I’m up, if not at ’em, this morning and back in Nottingham after the Centre of Theology and Philosophy’s conference on The Soul. The conference was, in a word, excellent. Never have I attended a conference so large, so full of varying positions on the conference theme (as well as other issues) and yet so friendly and cordial. I made many new friends and got to spend time with some old ones. My paper was... Read more
Dear Friends and Family, This week I and several of my colleagues here at the University of Nottingham are preparing ourselves for this year’s Centre of Theology and Philosophy conference on The Soul. The line-up definitely looks excellent: Plenary 1: Iain McGilchrist and Conor Cunningham Plenary 2: John Milbank and David Bentley Hart Plenary 3: Marilynne Robinson with response from John de Gruchy An Interview with Mary Midgley in conversation with Graham Ward Plenary 4: William Desmond and respondents. Plus a... Read more
Dear Friends and Family, Well, today I just wanted to do a quick wrap-up of the past few weeks. I had the idea to start highlighting some of the members of our staff that I knew well and who, in my opinion, were not well known outside their specific circles. I wanted to introduce people to some of the truly stellar members of our faculty about whom they might not have heard. This quickly turned into short pieces on all... Read more
Dear Friends and Family, Today I want to introduce you to our Islamic Studies associate professor, Dr Jon Hoover. Jon, as well as his wife, often teach courses on the history of Islam as well as the relation of Islam to other religions, both historically and contemporaneously. Jon did his BS in Mechanical Engineering from Virginia Tech. From there, his interests seem to have changed and he received an MA in Theological Studies from the Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary in... Read more
Dear Friends and Family, Today I want to introduce to you the other member of our Jewish studies team, Agata Bielik-Robson. I don’t know Agata’s background very well, nor has she written anything about on her university webpage. I do know that Agata spends half of her year with us in Nottingham and the other half in her native land of Poland teaching at Warsaw University. Agata teaches primarily Jewish philosophy. Her interests include modern Jewish philosophy from Baruch Spinoza... Read more
Dear Friends and Family, Today I want to introduce you to another member of our faculty, Dr Holger Zellentin. While I’ve many kitchen conversations with Holger, he’s definitely one whose work I’m not very familiar with. However, his insights during seminars certainly show him to be an excellent thinker. Holger, who teaches Jewish Studies, began his higher education career at the Université des Sciences Humaines de Strasbourg where he received a degree in Protestant theology. Holger went on to do... Read more
Dear Friends and Family, Today I want to introduce you to someone who I have heard others call the rock star of the theology department here at Nottingham, Conor Cunningham. Conor is certainly one of the most well known faces from our department and his name is perhaps second only to that of John Milbank in certain theological and philosophical circles. Conor was born and raised in Belfast, and remained there until his university days. He began his academic career... Read more
Dear Friends and Family, Today I introduce you to one of the newest and youngest members of our faculty, Carly Crouch. Carly, a California native, did her Bachelor’s at Scripps College focusing primarily on theology and ethics. She then went on to do her Master’s (as well as some other programs) and PhD at Oxford under John Barton. Before coming to Nottingham, Carly held a variety of fellowships throughout the UK. Carly came to Nottingham at the same time as I... Read more
Letters from the Edge of Elfland
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