11 May 2021

A photograph in a journal,
a book review and two
chapters in a new book

‘The Holy City,’ a batik by Thetis Blacker in the Royal Foundation of Saint Katharine in London … a photograph in the latest edition of ‘Case Quarterly’ (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

I spent about 15 years in academic life, with four years part-time and 11 years full-time at the Church of Ireland Theological Institute and Trinity College Dublin.

Four years later, there is still joy in finding my work is being used in academic publications and journals. In the past week, I received confirmation that a book review has been published in one journal, that a photograph has been used in an Australian journal, and that two chapters are included in a book due to be published around next November.

In addition, I have been asked to write a lengthy paper on Orthodox theology for a major, peer-reviewed journal for publication next year.

My book review has been published this month in the current edition of the Irish Theological Quarterly … but more about that later this week, hopefully.

My two chapters are being published later this year in Birth and the Irish: a Miscellany, the third in a series of books edited by Professor Salvador Ryan of Maynooth and published in Dublin by Wordwell.

One of my submissions looks at the birth in poverty in Dublin of Albert Grant, who became a Conservative MP and a financial fraudster; the other tells the story of sons in the French family in Co Roscommon who were born to parents who married each other, not once but twice, and why some of them were unable to inherit the family title.

I have also contributed to the earlier books in this series, Marriage and the Irish (2019) and Death and the Irish (2016), and to other books edited by Salvador Ryan, including We remember Maynooth (2020), co-edited with John-Paul Sheridan, The Cultural Reception of the Bible (2018), co-edited with Liam Treacy, Treasures of Irish Christianity Volume III (2015), and Treasures of Irish Christianity Volume II (2013), co-edited with Bishop Brendan Leahy.

Meanwhile, I have received the latest edition of Case Quarterly, published by the Centre for Christian Apologetics, Scholarship and Education, part of New College at the University of New South Wales, Sydney.

The latest edition (No 60, 2021) looks at ‘the Beauty Paradox,’ and my photograph is one of the images illustrating ‘Coming to our senses’ (pp 21-27), a paper by Dr Dani Scarratt, co-editor of Case Quarterly and Alison Woof, copy editor of Case Quarterly.

In their paper, they say: ‘A wall hanging of the New Jerusalem can be a reminder of the inheritance in store for those who persevere.’ So, it seems appropriate that one of the images illustrating their paper is my photograph of ‘The Holy City,’ a batik by Thetis Blacker in the Royal Foundation of Saint Katharine in London.

But more about the other papers, book reviews and chapters in the weeks or months ahead.

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