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Helping Children and Adolescents Think about Death, Dying and Bereavement

Nov 22, 2020 | 2017 - Winter, Book Reviews, Free Winter 2017

Helping Children and Adolescents Think about Death, Dying and Bereavement

Author Marian Carter
Publisher JKP £13.99
Format pbk
ISBN 9781785920110  2016

Both a theoretical and practical resource, this book is written by an experienced chaplain and educator. It highlights the need for absolute honesty with the young as they are supported through all the issues around death. Each of the nine chapters follows a pattern, beginning with experience and leading to our own practical response with exercises to help us to reflect. The first chapter looks at what death is. Subsequent ones take us through grief and factors which influence it, what children and adolescents should be told, funerals, continuing care, and care of the carers. We live in a multi-cultural, multi-faith society and the sections on the traditions of other world faiths are extremely helpful, as are the appendices covering a vast array of further resources. This sensitively written and challenging book will deeply enhance our own understanding and bring depth to our relationships with grieving people of any age.

LIZ PACEY

Pastoral, Young People

 

Radical Grace

Nov 22, 2020 | 2017 - Winter, Book Reviews, Free Winter 2017

Radical Grace

Author S.T. Kimbrough
Publisher Lutterworth  £16
Format pbk
ISBN 9780718894870

It’s a dramatic title! – but gives little away about the matter therein! Here is an insightful gathering across all the writings of Charles Wesley’s views on justice for the poor and marginalised of the world. Using Wesley’s journals, sermons and poetry (including hymnody), Kimbrough assembles a rich commentary on the centrality of the themes of inclusion, justice, and grace for the poor, and applies them to the circumstances of the twenty-first century where such issues still blight God’s world – and thus still have a strong message to speak to the church of today. Very readable, scripturally connected, and carefully structured, there is much here to earth our preaching preparation into the radical grace that the gospel calls for in our faith and action to the world. Helpfully included is an extensive bibliography, worship resources, and musical settings for singing that make this both a thoughtful compendium of Wesley’s reflection and concern, and a practical resource for worship today.

MARK PULLINGER

Methodism, History

 

Who Needs the Old Testament?

Nov 22, 2020 | 2017 - Winter, Book Reviews, Free Winter 2017

Who Needs the
Old Testament?

Author Katherine Dell
Publisher SPCK  £9.99
Format pbk
ISBN 9780281065042

This well-written book perfectly fills the territory between obscure, ‘over-academic’ scholarship and biblical ignorance, producing an inspiring introduction to the complexities of the Old Testament. Dell’s principal objective is to thwart the bias of the ‘New Atheists’ (Dawkins, Hitchens) who have used selected parts of the Old Testament to question the validity and ethical value of all scripture. While not afraid to address difficult passages, Dell also illuminates these and many other texts for those who need to understand their wider context and to preach them with confidence and integrity. She succeeds admirably in illustrating the diversity of biblical genres, wearing her own formidable scholarship lightly, and showing the relevance of the Hebrew Scriptures to the New Testament and modern Christianity. I strongly recommend this book to all who need a general but authoritative guide to the Old Testament.

PETER CLOUGH

Old Testament Analysis

 

Reading John for Dear Life

Nov 22, 2020 | 2017 - Autumn, Book Reviews, Free Autumn 2017

Reading John
for Dear Life

Author Jaime Clark-Soles
Publisher WJK £7.99
Format pbk
ISBN 9780664238476  2016

This book presents a fresh and invigorating exploration of John’s Gospel and the approach taken is indicated by the sub-title: A Spiritual Walk with the Fourth Gospel. The book has clear origins in the USA, but it nevertheless crosses the Atlantic well. It manages to combine being scholarly with also being approachable and it engages us with the characters found in this gospel. Disability studies are put to good use and the author counters the erroneous assumption that suffering is related to sin. Meaningful distinctions are made between impairment and disability, and also between curing and healing. The use of footnotes, poetry, questions for reflection and prayers all add to the enjoyment of this book, which I highly recommend as a breath of fresh air in relating scriptural text to contemporary life. Reading it could well prove to be a fruitful journey.

MICHAEL FOSTER

New Testament Analysis

 

In a Glass Darkly

Nov 22, 2020 | 2017 - Autumn, Book Reviews, Free Autumn 2017

In a Glass Darkly

Authors Zoe Bennett and Christopher Rowland
Publisher SCM £25
Format pbk
ISBN 9780334054221  2016

Our reading of the Bible, or indeed any work, is to some extent coloured by our own life experience. Bennett and Rowland bring together the Bible and Christian tradition with their own personal and professional experience as they consider the interpretation of scripture, made more interesting by the fact they come from different church backgrounds. This is not an easy book to read, but it is made more appealing by reference to literature, particularly the works of John Ruskin and William Blake, and by the personal experiences encountered by the authors. It is, in the true apocalyptic sense, an ‘unveiling, unmasking, revealing, that which is hidden.’ As such it provides a challenging and thought provoking read for all who attempt to explain the Bible to others; a book to ‘stimulate readers’ imagination to engage with the Bible’, as the authors intend.

MARGARET TINSLEY

Biblical Analysis, Christian Tradition

 

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