Your Christmas Gifts sorted

Finally, proof that I do more that post cartoons on my blog-the book I wrote as part of my postdoctoral research in the Milltown Institute and which was funded by the Irish Jesuits (no longer can I confuse people by saying I’m a Jesuit postdoctoral student. Yes women can get funding too....). Publishing your first book is weird. I can’t think of any academic terminology that better sums the experience up, so I’m going to stick with “weird” for the time being. Having your work out there for people to read and comment on without you sitting over their shoulder explaining yourself has to be one of the most terrifying things I’ve ever done (and I’ve tried to teach sexual ethics to the fifth years). I was ridiculously lucky to get a contract with Continuum (who are now owned by Bloomsbury, so I can legitimately say that myself and J.K. Rowling share the same publisher) who were very patient with all my spelling mistakes and my naive idea that it was a good call to publish something with English, Classical Arabic, Hebrew and Greek in it. English all the way in the next one I swear...

So give a kid a break and buy a copy for friends, family, co-workers....the dog...just once they don’t actually read it. If you want a copy for review (nice things only!) please feel free to email me or Continuum. The preview is available on Google Books and the blurb below

This book offers a welcome solution to the growing need for a common language in interfaith dialogue; particularly between the three Abrahamic faiths in our modern pluralistic society. The book suggests that the names given to God in the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament and the Qur’an, could be the very foundations and building blocks for a common language between the Jewish, Christian and Islamic faiths. On both a formal interfaith level, as well as between everyday followers of each doctrine, this book facilitates a more fruitful and universal understanding and respect of each sacred text; exploring both the commonalities and differences between each theology and their individual receptions.
In a practical application of the methodologies of comparative theology, Maire Byrne shows that the titles, names and epithets given to God in the sacred texts of Judaism, Christianity and Islam contribute towards similar images of God in each case, and elucidates the importance of this for providing a viable starting point for interfaith dialogue.

Lordie, I've come over all American on my self-promotion, next thing will be business cards ;)