Archbishop to present Michael Ramsey Prize at Hay Festival

Original artwork by Dee Hardwicke, part of this year's Michael Ramsey Prize

Friday 27th May 2011

Events surrounding the Michael Ramsey Prize include:

• Archbishop Rowan Williams and actor Simon Russell Beale on Shakespeare [download mp3 here]

• Gala prizegiving lunch in the presence of the Archbishop

• Jane Williams, Bishop Richard Harries, Bishop John Inge
  and Bishop Christopher Cocksworth on the King James Bible

• Shortlisted authors’ panel discussion chaired by Jane Williams

• Tea and evensong at St Mary's parish church, Hay-on-Wye

The Michael Ramsey Prize aims to encourage the most promising contemporary theological writing and to identify it for a wider Christian readership.

The Prize takes the form of a biennial award of an original artwork and £10,000 to be awarded to the author of the prize-winning book. The artwork for the 2011 prize is a mosaic plaque created by Dee Hardwicke, a ceramic artist from Monmouth.  The authors of the other shortlisted titles will be awarded £1,000 each. 

The books in contention this year are:

• Thomas E. Reynolds, Vulnerable Communion (Brazos Press)

• Christopher Cocksworth, Holding Together (Canterbury Press)

• Richard Harries, The Re-enchantment of Morality (SPCK)

• Angel F. Montoya, The Theology of Food (Wiley-Blackwell)

• Robert Hughes, Beloved Dust (Continuum)

• David Bentley Hart, Atheist Delusions (Yale University Press)

The judges will come together on May 26th at the Hay Festival to make their decision.  The panel is made up of:

• The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams

• his wife, theologian and teacher Jane Williams

• the winner of the 2009 Michael Ramsey Prize, Professor Richard Bauckham

• Bishop John Inge, Bishop of Worcester

• the actor Simon Russell Beale

• Janet Soskice, Professor of Philosophical Theology at the University of Cambridge

• Revd Lucy Winkett, writer, broadcaster and Rector of St James’s, Piccadilly.

Further information is available at the Michael Ramsey Prize website.

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