Jennifer Newsome Martin, Associate Professor in the Program of Liberal Studies with a joint appointment in the Department of Theology, has had a year that highlights the role of international and interdisciplinary collaboration in her work and thought.
Alongside colleagues from KU Leuven in Belgium and Villanova University, Professor Martin has launched a new monograph series with Bloomsbury/T&T Clark, “T&T Clark Explorations at the Crossroads of Theology & Aesthetics.” The first book in the series, on Fyodor Dostoevsky, is slated to appear by the end of the year.
Other new national and international interdisciplinary collaborations include Professor Martin’s recent partnership—with faculty from Georgetown and other American universities—with La Civiltà Cattolica and the Council of Culture and Education in Rome to organize the international conference “The Catholic Imagination on the Global Stage,” as well as invited membership in both the Northwestern University Research Initiative for the Study of Russian Philosophy and Religious Thought and the International Network in Philosophy of Religion based in Paris, France. This summer, Professor Martin spent time in Dublin, Ireland, presenting new work on the poetry of Gerard Manley Hopkins and visiting sites important for understanding his life and works.
Professor Martin’s work continues to reach a broadening audience: for instance, her 2021 article, “The Annunciation of the Flesh: Bodily Mediation in the Work of Charles Péguy”—a theological meditation on the theme of corporeality in the poetry and prose of the French poet—was printed in the Polish edition of Communio as “Zwiastowanie ciała: mediacja cielesna w twórczości Charlesa Péguy,” Communio: Międzynarodowy Przegląd Teologiczny Nr 3 (215) Rok XLI (2021).
“It’s a genuine gift to be able to join forces with such talented scholars, educators, and Church leaders from across the globe,” she said. “In a time when we might feel distant from one another, I’m especially edified to witness and cooperate with the good work of my colleagues at other institutions.”