New book: Conversations with George Pattison: God, philosophy, and the meaning of life
Scottish Universities Press is pleased to publish Conversations with George Pattison: God, philosophy, and the meaning of life by George Pattison and Philip Tonner, out today.
George Pattison trained in theology at the University of Edinburgh and spent fourteen years in parish ministry before moving into academic life. Over four decades his writing has ranged across theology, philosophy, existential thought, art and aesthetics, technology, modernity and faith, mysticism, and the life of the Anglican Church. His work returns repeatedly to questions about prayer, hope, the devout life, what it means to be human, and God.
This book is the first book-length introduction to his thought. It is built on a series of interviews with Philip Tonner, a philosopher based at the University of Glasgow. The interview format lets Pattison explain his ideas in his own words and reflect on how his thinking developed. The conversations follow his whole career, from his earliest publications to his most recent essay collection, A Philosophy of Prayer: Nothingness, Language, and Hope (2024). Along the way they look at his readings of Dostoevsky, Kierkegaard and Heidegger, and at how a life spent as both priest and scholar has shaped his work.
The book also includes a response from Clare Carlisle, philosopher, Kierkegaard biographer and a former student of Pattison’s. In “Kierkegaard’s queerness: A response to Conversations with George Pattison”, she argues that Kierkegaard’s life and thought are best understood through the lens of queerness rather than existentialist authenticity. Pattison replies in turn, and the exchange carries the book’s conversation forward into new territory.
Andrew Hass, Associate Emeritus Professor of Religion at the University of Stirling, describes the book as “scholarship as elicited through conversations.” It will interest readers in theology, philosophy and religious studies. Its conversational style also makes it an accessible starting point for anyone curious about the questions it explores.