Book Reviews 2008-2009
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Shock and Awe: Tasting God's outrageous Grace
By Ian Coffey, BRF, 2009
(BRF Advent book) December 2009
Unlike most of my Advent resources (books, candles, chocolate calendars) the BRF’s selection of daily readings for Advent does not finish on Christmas Eve but continues until 6 January, so that readers can face the New Year – not with (already broken?) resolutions about diet and exercise, but with renewed hope and confidence in God’s outrageous grace.
Read full review of Shock and Awe
Going to Church: A User's Guide
By John Pritchard, SPCK, 2009
November 2009
This is a wonderful book – witty, affectionate and clear sighted about the church as it is, should be and might become. John Pritchard pulls no punches about the things which prevent people going to church (or returning after their first visit) but offers practical and constructive suggestions for how these might be addressed. It should be essential reading for any church contemplating Back to Church Sunday or reviewing its attitude to mission (a sentence which would score me six runs in sermon cricket – one of ten things to do during a boring sermon).
Read the full review of Going to Church
Justification: God's Plan and Paul's Vision
By Tom Wright, SPCK, 2009
October 2009
Justification is Tom Wright’s response to critics on two fronts: the denominational-Christian and the Pauline-theological.
Read the full review of Justification
Jesus’ People, What the Church Should Do Next
by Steven Croft, Church House Publishing, 2009
September 2009
This is a short book in which Steven Croft reflects on his five years leading the ‘Fresh Expressions’ Initiative before moving on to become the Bishop of Sheffield. The usual hype on the cover calls it ‘a passionately sane piece of prophecy’, ‘exciting’, ‘uncompromising challenge’, but I think I would call it steady, thoughtful and on the whole unsurprising.
Read full review of Jesus' People
Tantalus and the Pelican: Exploring Monastic Spirituality today
by Nicolas Buxton, Continuum, 2009
August 2009
Buxton, one of the participants in the BBC reality show ‘The Monastery’ (first shown in 2005), writes of the quest for God that is both personal and perennial.
Read the review of Tantalus and the Pelican
The Day is Yours
by Ian Stackhouse, Paternoster, 2008
July 2009
In a world where work is stressful and leisure often trivial and unreal, where our time is dehumanised and commodified in a ‘series of schedules to be adhered to’, Stackhouse recovers time as a shared ‘rhythm to dance to’—both life-giving and distinctively Christian
Read the full review of The Day is Yours
The God Conclusion
by Keith Ward, DLT, 2009
June 2009
The chapters in this engaging and well-written book are the revised and expanded Sarum lectures given in 2008 at Salisbury by Professor Ward who was Professor of the History and Philosophy of Religion in the University of London, and Regius Professor of Divinity at Oxford.
Read the full review of The God Conclusion
A Book of Silence
by Sara Maitland, Granta Publications, 2008
May 2009
In the summer of 2000 the novelist and theologian Sara Maitland moved into an isolated house on a moor high above Weardale in County Durham to pursue her new-found passion for silence. Her book is an account of the ensuing quest which takes her to remote Islands; a rocky desert; an ancient forest and mountainous wilderness.
View the full review of A Book of Silence
Hit the Ground Kneeling
by Stephen Cottrell, Church House Publishing, 2009
April 2009
Stephen Cottrell’s book is one of those short, pithy books on leadership. It is outstanding in its ability to discern a kernel of truth, express it simply, illustrate it with telling examples and weave it around with practical wisdom.
Read the full review of Hit the Ground Kneeling
Why Go to Church?
Archbish
op of Canterbury’s Lent Book 2009
by Timothy Radcliffe, Continuum, 2008
March 2009
Timothy Radcliffe, former Master of the Dominicans, has become very well known for his spiritual writings and lectures. This book is a sequel to What is the Point of Being a Christian?,awarded the Michael Ramsey prize for theological writing in 2007.
Read the full review of Why Go To Church?
Wisdom and Ministry: the Call to Leadership
by Michael Sadgrove, SPCK, 2008
February 2009
This gem of a book by the Dean of Durham brings to mind a dry comment made by a former colleague: ‘Some people write because they have something to say; others write because they have to say something.’ Michael Sadgrove is a writer of the first kind: he has something to say, something both substantial and refreshing.
Read full review of Wisdom and Ministry
Finding Happiness
by Christopher Jamison, Phoenix, 2008
January 2009
Christopher Jamison has the talent of expressing complex ideas in clear language without losing their essential meaning. His previous book Finding Sanctuary – Monastic Steps for Everyday Life grew out of the well-received television programme “The Monastery”. This exploration into the nature of happiness and how it is to be discovered in the contemporary context continues that exploration.
Read full review of Finding Happiness
Christian Approaches to Other Faiths
Alan Race and Paul M.Hedges (editors), SCM, 2008
December 2008
This is a book intended primarily for upper level undergraduate students of religious studies but also for the educated layperson with an interest in Christian dialogue and understanding of other faith traditions represented in our multi-cultural society.
Read full review of Christian Approaches to Other Faiths
The Shack
by William P. Young, Hodder, 2007
November 2008
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The attractive cover design and gentle narrative style of this book give it the feeling of something rather beautiful. But I am afraid I cannot quite bring myself to describe The Shack thus. As a novel, it fails to satisfy, because the engaging plotting that characterises the early parts of the book necessarily ceases once the author addresses his real reason for writing, which is to attempt an imaging of God as Trinity in which the horrors of our fragile existence are given due weight.
Why There Almost Certainly Is a God: Doubting Dawkins
by Keith Ward, Lion Hudson, 2008
October 2008
Who said that theology and philosophy are boring? Since his appointment as Regius Professor of Divinity at Oxford in 1991, Keith Ward has repeatedly proven the contrary through his lectures and books.
Some of his most enjoyable contributions have come whenever his path has crossed the path of another well-known academic: Richard Dawkins, author of the best-seller <em>The God Delusion</em>. Dawkins, in fact, is utterly convinced that only fools believe in God. Therefore, theologians are the worst kind of scholars, since they base their discipline on delusions rather than evidence.
Read full review of Why There Most Certainly Is a God
Finding the Monk Within
by Edward C. Sellner, Hidden Spring, 2008
September 2008
It is seldom that one discovers a book solidly based on contemporary scholarship and yet written for the general reader. Edward C Sellner’s Finding the Monk Within is an example of this felicitous combination. Sellner traces the lives and accomplishments of a dozen of those men and women who have informed the Western monastic tradition; he sees them as spiritual mentors for those searching for an authentic spirituality which can be experienced in a contemporary context.
Huge Turnout for To Trust and To Love Book Launch
The Cavell Room at Sarum College was overflowing for the launch of To Trust and To Love on 29 July.
Sarum Expands MA programmes
Sarum College will introduce two new MA programmes, one in Faith-based Leadership and one in Theology, Imagination and Culture, in January 2011. These programmes will run alongside the two programmes currently offered, MA in Christian Spirituality and MA in Christian Liturgy.