Dr Alan Cadwallader

Theology book takes out top prize

Dr Alan Cadwallader, a Biblical Studies lecturer at  ACU's Canberra Campus, has won the Lynlea Rogers Australasian Theological Book of the Year award.

Dr Cadwallader received the prize for his 2008 book Beyond the Word of a Woman: Recovering the Bodies of the Syrophoenician Women.

An in-depth analysis of the Gospel of Mark story on the Syrophoenician woman, the book takes the reading of the text from the traditional focus on the word to a concentration on the body.

The prize was awarded by Rev Dr Paul Babie, chair of The Australasian Theological Forum.

"Dr Cadwallader's book is an erudite book that fits all the criteria for an award of excellence and makes a new and unique contribution to biblical scholarship," he said.

"Developing a sophisticated methodological approach, Dr Cadwallader reads the text against the backdrop of the social world of the first century AD, highlighting the rhetorical conventions of the day.  The analysis is detailed, sophisticated and insightful, and is, in short, an outstanding piece of scholarship," added Rev Dr Paul Babie.

Dr Cadwallader's analysis brings new insights to the field of both Markan studies and feminist biblical critique.