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Killing Fields Living Fields

Apr 8, 2026 | 2026 - Summer - Free, Book Reviews

Killing Fields Living Fields

Author Don Cormack
Publisher Dictum £12.99
Format pbk
ISBN 9781838097233

Ten Stories from the Killing Fields

Author Don Cormack
Publisher Dictum £5.99
Format pbk
ISBN 9781838097295

‘Pol Pot’, ‘Phnom Penh’ and ‘Khmer Rouge’ are names I remember from news bulletins fifty years ago, though I confess to thinking little and knowing almost nothing about them beyond recognising names. These books, though no easy read, have changed that for the good. The main book, together with the excerpts in the smaller one, gives insights into times in Cambodia, a whole country transformed into a concentration camp, which are, at the same time, moving, horrific, powerful and disturbing. Amidst these reactions are stories of deep faith, trust in the gospel and a challenge to all of us who hold a Christian faith. We might ask questions about where God was in all the horror; we might give thanks that the Pol Pot era is now history, though its impact remains. Whatever else these books do, they cannot but inspire us with their accounts of endurance and faith, and push our horizons so as to think, pray and act beyond the confines of our own churches which, thank God, have seen nothing of these horrors.

Reviewed by CHRIS BRACEGIRDLE

Persecution

 

A Year of the Lord’s Favour

Apr 8, 2026 | 2026 - Summer - Free, Book Reviews

A Year of the Lord’s Favour

Author Pete Wilcox
Publisher CHP £12.99
Format pbk
ISBN 9781781405086

This book documents an eventful year in the life of its author. He was considered but not appointed as the Bishop of Sheffield and then appointed after the withdrawal of the previous candidate, and in between the two was diagnosed with bowel cancer. It chronicles how he managed to cope with the physical limitations and relatively few people being aware of his diagnosis. The author is honest about his shortcomings in dealing with others, especially family. Using his spiritual journals, he recalls the emotions and awareness of his own mortality. Although an interesting book, I was slightly disappointed. As a retired doctor, I felt there was too much emphasis on the medical details, and the procedures of the church, rather than his emotional, spiritual feelings and his relationship with God.

Reviewed by ANN VINCENT

Memoir

 

Being the People of God

Apr 8, 2026 | 2026 - Summer - Free, Book Reviews

Being the People of God

Author Paul Bradbury, Isabelle Hamley and Andy Smith (Eds)
Publisher ASCM Press £40
Format pbk
ISBN 9780334066422

An interesting collection of academic essays divided into three parts: Being Worship; Being Witness; Being Pilgrim. The reader is invited to engage with this collection in a spirit of conversation. So, what can be drawn from these conversations? First, missional ecclesiology begins with a focus on God, His activity and our attentiveness to that activity. Secondly, he emphasises that the foundation of all mission is that God is a sending God. Third, understanding that the church is called into being by God and then sent by Him to participate in this sending. Finally, understanding how the church participates in mission by living out, as the conclusion puts it …the identity coming to us from the future and which eschatological future has already begun. If the CofE fully embraced and understood its identity as the children of God present and future, how might it share this missionally with a post-Christian nation that does not have a future vision or even a present identity for itself?

Reviewed by ANDREW CARR

Missional Ecclesiology

 

Attentive to God

Apr 8, 2026 | 2026 - Summer - Free, Book Reviews

Attentive to God

Author Tony Horsfall
Publisher BRF £9.99
Format pbk
ISBN 9781788931588

Horsfall works from the premise that attentiveness is all-important in spiritual life, but all too often our inattentiveness frustrates God and robs us of a greater depth of relationship with him. Hence, the author has subtitled his work ‘Being aware of God’s presence in everyday life’. To this end, he focuses on six Biblical characters, Jacob, Moses, Jeremiah, Samuel, Mary and Cleopas and shows how each becomes more aware of the presence of God in their lives. Following each is a ‘spiritual insight’, based on prayer, an awareness walk or a different author’s writings, such as Julian of Norwich or Jean Pierre de Caussade. The book is admirably suited to personal reading as it is thoughtful, perceptive and challenging; each character or author can teach us to recognise and respond to God’s presence more readily. In addition, for each section, there are questions for group discussion, so this text would be suitable in that context as a number of ideas can usefully be shared from these starting points.

Reviewed by MARGARET TINSLEY

Personal Development, Group Study

 

Christian Women at University

Apr 8, 2026 | 2026 - Summer - Free, Book Reviews

Christian Women at University

Author Jenny Morgans
Publisher SCM Press £25
Format pbk
ISBN SCM Press £25

The pastoral care of young Christian adults matters. This is an academic book combining post-doctoral qualitative research interviewing Christian women at university with much reference to other academic work in this field. The subtitle is Faith, Feminism and Feeling at Home. The women access a variety of chaplaincies, Christian unions and university town churches, and describe meeting different faith perspectives. Their experience as women is at a time when post-feminism is significant if not always obvious. Their identities as students, women and Christians ‘intersect’ and will also include aspects of sexuality, race and class. A major focus is the transition from home to ‘unhome’, and then to creating home. This uses a model of spiritual development, not linear, but of a home with several rooms. The author critiques the barriers still faced by women in church, at university, and in post-feminist culture, but celebrates the women in the study and the way they have navigated their transitions.

Reviewed by ROSIE MEDHURST

Women’s Ministry/Pastoral

 

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