This book is a contribution to the above publisher’s ‘My Theology’ series and is effectively an account of an academic journey, forged by an unwavering determination to engage with higher education and supported by mentors who throughout her career encouraged and facilitated her progress. Here lies the essential characteristic of her journey. It is scholarship in community. Fortuitous encounters with a succession of inspirational figures at school and university sparked, then consolidated, her interests, and Loades is generous in her appreciation of their support. These influential encounters occurred from her formative years at school, where she was encouraged to immerse herself in music, art and literature of quality and to engage with the fundamental elements of history and theology.
Such a broad range of interests allowed her to become aware of the importance of context in the study of any discipline and alerted her to the element of transcendence in worship, inspired by visits to the great cathedrals whose music and architecture left a lasting impression. It was also during her years at school that she became conscious of the importance of a gracious hospitality and the indiscriminate acceptance of those outside society’s rigidly defined boundaries. So was born a social concern which remained a priority in her commitment to the importance of community within academic circles.
Loades recounts in some detail a scholarly journey enriched by encounters with an enviable range of distinguished theologians and writers who directly or indirectly offered guidance and inspiration. She provides interesting insights into the tutorial and lecture arrangements as a student at university, and then the inner dynamics of faculty life, teaching responsibilities, committee work and the rigours and frustrations of office administration. Throughout, her academic horizons were being constantly tested and expanded, and her theological outlook came to embrace both ethics and politics. Her initial concentration on G.W. Leibniz’s Theodicy broadened to embrace various aspects of theological interest, bearing fruit with invitations to give lectures and papers, including the significance of gender and feminist theology.
Loades makes regular reference to the various awards and recognition she has received, and her satisfaction at having attained goals which no-one had achieved before becomes evident. As the jacket declares, she was the first woman (and only second ever person) to be awarded a CBE for services to theology, the first female president of the Society for the Study of Theology, the first woman to be given a personal Chair at Durham and the first woman to take a seat in the Chapter of Durham Cathedral. Her invitations to deliver important series of lectures is also impressive.
These considerable achievements assume a heightened significance for Loades, given the obstacles that posed a not-infrequent deterrent to the acceptance of women who wished to pursue a career in higher education, let alone a vocation in the ministry of the Church. Her sensitivity to prejudice and to being treated condescendingly as ‘a statutory woman’ in her early days in academia is more than understandable, and that she remained productively engaged with an academic career and with the life of the Church is testimony to a tenacity beyond the ordinary. So, here is an account of a journey which, as the title indicates, provides an insight into the fortuitous personal influences which gave rise to a life-long engagement with theological interests. It is a journey justly rewarded.
