OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS has accepted a book on marriage and singleness by Assistant Professor of Religion Jana M. Bennett. The book is scheduled to be published in March.

In the book she contends that many contemporary theologians focus almost exclusively on marriage and its problems while neglecting single people in the church. This situation leads to significant difficulties in the way “church” is understood, and so the book shows that marriage and singleness cannot be intelligibly separated from each other, and that marriage between Christ and the Church is the first mediator in any state of life for Christians. The water of state of life for Christians. The water of baptism, Christians’ first birth and initiation into the life of Christ, becomes the primary standard for relationships rather than familialties, even marriage ties. The book, entitled Water is Thicker than Blood: An Augustinian Theology of Marriage and Singleness, uses several of Augustine’s works as a means of critiquing contemporary theology.

Bennett has also given several recent presentations on theology, including on women and theology. In 2006 she spoke about the concept of “the domestic church” at a Catholic moral theologians’ conference, discussing ways in which the idea of family as domestic church (a prominent concept in contemporary Catholic theology) may be at odds with a sound theological vision of what it means to be church.

She gave a lecture at the College Theology Society in 2006 on the ways in which the Internet might (and might not) be a good tool in ethical thinking, and currently she is engaged in writing a book on Christian conversion and the best moral ways of converting from one tradition to another. That book is under contract with Cascade Books.

Bennett received her B.A. from Colorado College, her M.Div. from Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary, and her Ph.D. from Duke University. She has taught at the College since 2005.

BEYOND THE Classroom FOR THE Classroom
Hampden-Sydney College Faculty Scholarship 2005-2008
A report by the Office of the Dean of the Faculty