Publisher's Synopsis
The Divinity School follows the lives of four of faculty members at an interfaith studies centre at the fictitious Hamilton University. A widower now Catholic priest tries to reconcile with his gay daughter. A Jewish rabbi confronts domestic violence and is tempted to return to a life he left behind. A Muslim woman tries to help a former student stop her sister from travelling to Syria to join ISIS, and a grieving Episcopal priest finds himself confronted with zany situations that amuse as much as annoy him. The Divinity School is a story that touches on the themes of grief, the complexity of parental relationships, dealing with one's past, revenge, the seduction of Islamic extremism, and the complexity of religious freedom in a pluralistic world. It is a comic novel with dramatic flair that confronts the issues of our time. Like the late modern playwright, Edward Albee, Michael Bird uses the sharpest tools in the writer's kit--irony, wit, violence, and intellect--to shatter some of the dearest idols of modern culture. The Divinity School is wickedly funny and subversively good. Karen Swallow Prior, author of Booked: Literature in the Soul of Me and Fierce Convictions: The Extraordinary Life of Hannah More: Poet, Reformer Abolitionist Michael Bird is an Anglican priest and lecturer in theology at Ridley College in Melbourne, Australia. He is the author and editor of over thirty books in biblical and theological studies as well as his debut novel Iskandar. Michael occasionally writes for the ABC on religion and politics, he blogs about Christianity at Euangelion, and he speaks frequently at churches, colleges, and universities across the world. He is married to his wife Naomi and together they have four children. In his spare time, Michael enjoys jogging and despising coffee.
