Latest Posts
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Book Review – Making Church Buildings Work
The task of managing creaking church buildings is one which is mostly undertaken by volunteers in almost every community the length and breadth of the country. It is surprising therefore that so little has been written to aid those who take on this mammoth task. Those of us who do undertake such work now have…
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Book Review -Complete Bible Handbook
This is an attractive and lavishly illustrated handbook which deals with the Bible on a book by book basis. For each biblical book, there is a description of its origins and significance, the retelling of the main stories, background, history and theological themes. Religious art is used to the full. Taking the journey from Genesis…
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Book Review – Re-Pitching the tent
Richard Giles’s book is a modern, best-selling handbook on the design and use of church buildings. The prose is at once funny, profound and opinionated. Paradoxically, this is liturgical space management from someone who would affirm the primacy of the whole people of God and yet also is a Priest Who Knows Best. Excellent illustrations…
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Book Review – The God We Never Knew
Marcus Borg writes for those seeking an adult understanding of God. His description is of a Christian faith which has more to offer modern people than the easy answers of fundamentalism. Borg uses his own spiritual journey to describe a fresh and authentic view of God. This is faith for those who respect science, recent…
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Book Review – Holy Ground
This is the kind of book that Wild Goose Publications do well. Here there are liturgical snippets for a wide range of occasions. Not everything in a book like this will be suitable for all churches at all times but that is not the point. All kinds of global concerns are represented here which are…
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Book Review – Disclosures: Conversations Gay and Spiritual
The issue of homosexuality continues to polarise the churches, but what are gay people themselves actually saying? Michael Ford meets gay and lesbian Christians from the US, US and Africa and documents their own voices and their own views on current events. This is an engaging and readable book which explores the dynamics of being…
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Book Review – Lectionary Reflections Year B
Like a number of improving books (Bridget Jones and Tales of the City come to mind), this book began as a newspaper column. Jane Williams’ thoughtful reflections on the lectionary readings first appeared in the Church Times in the ‘Sunday Readings’ slot which is surely designed to prompt desperate preachers who have not made their…
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Book Review – A Fitting End
All Souls’ Day at the start of November may make a lot of people think about funerals that they have known in their own families. It seems not to be uncommon for people to experience funerals which do not fully satisfy those who attend them. This book is an attempt to make something better out…
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Book Review – Means of Grace, Hope of Glory
What do Anglicans think? At a time when it is becoming increasingly uncertain who Anglicans actually are, Raymond Chapman’s compendium is a helpful contribution. He takes a dozen big themes (Holy Orders, Authority, Holy Communion, Preaching etc) and then offers snippets of Anglican thought through the ages on each topic. Over a hundred voices can…
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