From Aberdeen to Oxford : Collected Essays

Academic theologians, when they write, normally decide for themselves what to discuss. Admittedly, these days, they may work under pressure, to ensure tenure, to advance their prospects, or to secure funding for a departmental project. Mostly, however, they work, sometimes for years, on the books which consolidate the vision of theology that has energised their teaching. Sometimes, of course, the contingencies of being invited to review a book, or take part in a conference, lead to what for medieval theologians were ''quodlibets'' - responses to ''whatever'', topics raised by members of the class during open-ended discussions, sometimes unexpected, even random, treated suggestively rather than fully worked out. This volume is a miscellany of just such papers.

From the Introduction

In New Blackfriars, Fergus once wrote of the necessity of listening if we are to preach: ''Preaching requires listeners. Moreover, preaching assumes that what people will hear will make sense. It may challenge and provoke but in the end, if there is to be communication, it must awaken some response in the listeners -- resonate with what they already believe. But listening never comes easily''. Listening is a discipline of the mind, the imagination and the heart, and it is because Fergus has an acute ability to listen and so speak words that resonated in his brethren, his Dominican brothers.

From the Foreword by Timothy Radcliffe OP