text, translation and the printing process

My job at CMU Press meant I had almost unlimited access to the printing press at CMU. No, the two are not at all connected. CMU Press has never had occasion to use the almost hundred year old press. Such books are printed elsewhere. Most printed materials (usually class projects, as the press is major component of book history courses at CMU) hold the "spyTower Press" imprint. I've used the printing press for projects like the one featured above, which was the last piece I worked on while in Winnipeg. The image (which features St. Jerome, joined by a range of symbols) is cut from a linoleum block, but the red (or rubricated) text (an excerpt from what is perhaps the most famous of John Donne's Devotions) is set in various sizes of Goudy Bold, one of the many font families to which I had access.

Before this, I had mostly been cutting blocks about the quarter of this size (8.5" x 11"). Normally I'll have a specific object in mind and conceptualize the project based on it. Early on, I had my mind set on cutting out a forest but had no text in mind. I was nearly resolved to use an early passage from Dante's Inferno, which begins in a dark wood, but the image would have had to be quite complex. One day at work, I noticed this excerpt from John Donne's Devotions posted on the English department bulletin board, and I instantly fell in love with it, in part because it relies so heavily on book imagery. In this passage, death does not delete or remove us from the world; rather, it translates us "into a better language." Here, Donne presupposes the textuality and translatability (the finitude, and thus the instability) of human life -- I like to imagine that it anticipates Derrida, but it's clearly a bit of a stretch. I chose to feature St. Jerome partly because of his significance (and recognizability) as a figure associated with texts and translation. Perhaps most well-known for translating the Bible (Greek, and, in the case of the Septuagint, Hebrew) into Latin (now referred to as the Vulgate), St. Jerome also appealed to me because of the range of symbols that accompany him in most of his artistic representations (skull, lion (!), hourglass, various texts, etc.).

Before beginning this project, I'd had some experience working with lino-blocks. It started with a series of birds I cut a year and a half ago. I found the cutting process quite addictive, not least because the medium was so different from what I'm used to working with. I love how it brings together the subtractive element of sculpture and the two-dimensionality of drawing. It's a bit strange at first and requires a mental flip: you must remain conscious of the fact that you are only ever creating negative space. However, during the artistic process, I've never felt quite so connected to a medium.

New Book - The Gift of Difference: Radical Orthodoxy, Radical Reformation

Winnipeg, MB – CMU PRESS is pleased to announce the publication of The Gift of Difference: Radical Orthodoxy, Radical Reformation edited by Chris K. Huebner and Tripp York. The Gift of Difference is a collection of essays in which theologians such as Craig Hovey, Harry J. Huebner, and D. Stephen Long consider the strengths and weaknesses of Radical Orthodoxy in dialogue with the Radical Reformation tradition. Writers in this volume engage topics such as ecclesiology, martyrdom, worship, oath-taking, peace and violence.

In recent years, Radical Orthodoxy has become an important and influential movement in contemporary theology and philosophy. Spearheaded by John Milbank, Catherine Pickstock and Graham Ward, Radical Orthodoxy enlists the resources of classical theology to engage the current strongholds of secular and religious thought.

Proponents of Radical Orthodoxy argue that the Enlightenment project to remove reason, ethics, politics and economics from a theological framework culminates in the nihilism of postmodern discourse. They suggest that much contemporary theology is idolatrous in nature because it takes the isolation of such disciplines for granted.

In the Foreword, John Milbank writes that “[modern Mennonites] see the Church itself as the true polity and (unlike most of the magisterial Reformation) they see the possibility of ‘living beyond the law’ in terms of a new sort of social and political practice.” What might this concrete expression of Christian discipleship have to suggest to a movement like Radical Orthodoxy? What gifts does Radical Orthodoxy offer academics, ministers and laypeople from Radical Reformation tradition?

“This book explores both common and divergent themes between Anabaptist/Mennonite theologians and their counterparts in the Radical Orthodoxy movement,” says co-editor Chris K. Huebner. “For example, while they jointly reject as false the dualisms characteristic of modernity, the manner in which questions of peace and justice get framed remains an ongoing debate.”

Chris K. Huebner is Associate Professor of Theology and Philosophy at Canadian Mennonite University. He is the author of A Precarious Peace: Yoderian Explorations on Theology, Knowledge, and Identity (Herald Press, 2006) and co-editor, with Peter Dula, of The New Yoder (Wipf & Stock, 2010).

Tripp York is an Instructor of Religious Studies at Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green, Kentucky. He is the author of The Purple Crown: The Politics of Martyrdom (Herald Press, 2007) and Living on Hope While Living in Babylon: The Christian Anarchists of the 20th Century (Wipf & Stock, 2009).

my new employer

CMU PRESS

Mission Statement

"CMU Press is an academic publisher of scholarly, reference, and general interest books at Canadian Mennonite University. Books from CMU Press address and inform interests and issues vital to the university, its constituency, and society. Areas of specialization include Mennonite studies, and works that are church-oriented or theologically engaged."

First day on the job over and done with. I've been shoved into an office I'll be sharing with three sessional professors, not that I'm complaining or anything. I met Simon, who teaches advanced calculus to a class of six. Another fellow strolled in later that afternoon and his cellphone would not keep quiet. Coffee in the staff and faculty lounge may rival the Blaurock's. CMU personal, I'm told, take their coffee culture very seriously - much talk is wasted on who will be making coffee, whether they'll make it strong enough, when to start the new pot, etc. Quite the fixation, but a welcome one. The lounge is also host to a variety of reading material - so anytime I'm tired of "Mennonite studies" I can snag the latest TLS, London Review of Books or any other pretentious academic rag I lay eyes on. 

Did you know the New York Review of Books has a section for personal ads, suited, of course, to the single bibliophile? See example below:

"VERY ATTRACTIVE, slender professor of English, DJF, loves foreign films and classical music, seeks her soulmate, a genuine and successful mensch (55–67) for friendship, love, and whatever follows. NYC. Call (212) 300-3767." Titillating indeed. 

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Over the holidays, I saw a romantic comedy starring Ricky Gervais. Shmaltzy, yes, but Gervais is, as always, a charming slimeball. Here's an audio sample of an amusing interview between Gervais and Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, that I stumbled across recently. It's from the Simon Mayo Radio Show on BBC Radio 5 Live. I love it when Williams does this sort of thing.