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All Shall Be Well

Aug 29, 2025 | 2025 – Autumn – Free, Book Reviews

All Shall Be Well

Author Emma Pennington
Publisher BRF £12.99
Format pbk
ISBN 9781800392069

Julian of Norwich is well known for her saying ‘All shall be well … and all manner of things shall be well’; but there is far more to her than superficial optimism. In this book, which is a sequel to an earlier volume, the author delves beneath the surface of the tenth to sixteenth revelations or ‘showings’ which Julian experienced during a near fatal illness. The late 14th-century world in which she lived was a time of turbulence both politically and in the church. The author explores the thought processes of the time and draws conclusions which are relevant to our own day, inspiring the reader to reflect prayerfully on Julian’s words. This book is best approached with the text of the showings to hand and will repay slow and careful reading. Pennington writes from personal experience of suffering a painful illness which lends weight to her narrative. Each chapter has suggestions for individual meditation and questions suitable for group use. The text does not offer easy answers but encourages us to delve deeper into the mystery of the incarnation.

Reviewed by LAURA HILLMAN

Spirituality

 

A Sparkle from the Coal

Aug 29, 2025 | 2025 – Autumn – Free, Book Reviews

A Sparkle from the Coal

Author Barbara Howard
Publisher SCM Press £35
Format pbk
ISBN 9780334066293

This impressive book is a tribute to the theological writings of Rowan Williams and especially the way his exceptional imagination has provided new understandings of God’s constant love, in contrast to the ambiguities of our frail lives. Howard’s title is a quote from the Cloud of Unknowing, and is a metaphor used by Williams to denote the ‘sparking’ of our yearning for God from within our hard hearts. Howard uses many illustrations from Williams’ books, but is particularly adept at interpreting his vivid poetry and relating his verse to both scriptural interpretation and theological discourse. This is no mean feat, for Williams is a formidable polymath, with a seemingly inexhaustible knowledge of languages, literature, philosophy, history and art as well as scripture. He is also a foremost expert in the west on the Eastern Orthodox Church. The great value of this book is twofold: it explores and elucidates the thinking of one of our great modern theologians; and it demonstrates how human imagination can renew faith and draw all of us closer to God. Expensive but highly recommended.

Reviewed by MALCOLM DAWSON

Theology and imagination

 

A Prayer Book of Days

Aug 29, 2025 | 2025 – Autumn – Free, Book Reviews

A Prayer Book of Days

Author Gregory Cameron
Publisher Canterbury £12.99
Format pbk
ISBN 9781786225955

Looking for something to stimulate your devotional life? Interested in the development and diversity of Christian prayer? Why not try A Prayer Book of Days? Thirty-one short chapters, beautifully illustrated with icon-like portraits, explore significant figures in the history of Christianity, each focussing on one signature prayer. Beginning with David, Jesus and early Christian saints, we are led through continents and ages to the present, meeting many who feature as ‘Lesser Festivals’ in Common Worship. Some, like Augustine of Hippo, St Patrick, or Ignatius Loyola, are well known, others, like John Climacus or Edith Stein perhaps less so. The stories of these ‘saints’ are interesting, accessible and sometimes moving, reminding us that prayer can take many forms, from prose to song, from words to silence. The material could prove invaluable for incorporation into sermons, reflections or group discussions.

Yet, primarily, this is a book to use day by day as a springboard into our own prayer times, for experimenting with new insights and patterns and making some of the famous prayers our own. It is a book to treasure
and re-visit.

Reviewed by Prayer

Advent, Nativity

 

Perfectly Ordinary

Aug 29, 2025 | 2025 – Autumn – Free, Book Reviews

Perfectly Ordinary

Author Marcus Throup
Publisher Canterbury £14.99
Format pbk
ISBN 9781786225856

This relatively short accessible book is about Christian leadership, for those in, or preparing for, leadership as well as those training or mentoring them. The focus is ordained ministry rather than lay, and the context is primarily Anglican. Throup specifically addresses the issue of unhealthy models of leadership and how they can lead to spiritual abuse. He characterises types of spiritually abusive leaders as overprotective, egocentric or narcissistic. These and their manifestations he defines and pictures vividly and starkly. I wondered if there are not perhaps more nuanced, less obvious but equally harmful, variations to be considered. Characterising all manifestations as the work of ‘showmen’ enamoured by the spectacular, he urges leadership that is unspectacular, authentic, humble, pastoral, prayerful, faithful and Christ-centred. A longer book might have considered abusive lay leadership, or how a managerial emphasis on quantification, centralisation and hierarchy in the institutional church may unwittingly devalue the ‘perfectly ordinary’ leadership of the title. Nonetheless the book is insightful and incisive A concluding section on self-care for leaders is typically thoughtful, sealing a recommendation.

Reviewed by PETER WRIGHT

Christian leadership

 

Chaplaincy: Contemporary and Global Perspectives

Mar 31, 2025 | 2025 - Summer – Free, Book Reviews

Chaplaincy: Contemporary and
Global Perspectives

Author Grace Thomas and Kim Wasey (eds)
Publisher SCM £35
Format pbk
ISBN 9780334066217

This is a collection of essays written by a range of practitioners, most (but not all) from the UK. The editors have actively sought ways to establish and celebrate an inclusive and progressive ethos, something which is often seen within the world of chaplaincy ministry itself. One of the contributors refers to an earlier writer, Ewan Kelly, for whom ‘the intentional use of self is a core skill of chaplaincy, rooted in and developed from self-awareness’: this maxim is amply reflected across the range of personal stories and insights presented in the volume. Contributors reflect on their work (and, inevitably, themselves) within specialised contexts such as the police, prisons, industrial and retail settings along with aspects of health and social care provision. Educational chaplaincy seems slightly marginal to the main material, although the essay by Ian Delinger on higher education chaplaincy makes sense as a concise and comprehensive ‘how to’ guide. Nik Hookey’s detailed account of NHS chaplaincy is invaluable to those in parish ministry wanting to get to grips (or up to date) with what is often seen as a mysterious parallel universe. Insights derived from any particular setting are often transferable to many of the others and, as editor Grace Thomas concludes in her essay-contribution, ‘chaplaincy is a discipline that holds together a multitude of different models and approaches to practice. This book is a clear example of the many ways in which chaplaincy is lived out and the diversity of contexts it inhabits’. Groups of essays on broad topics focus on ‘Multifaith and Secular Dimensions’; ‘Chaplaincy and Christian Mission’; and ‘Research and Reflective Practice’, and these will amply satisfy readers’ appetites for fresh thinking and wise reflections. Throughout the volume, full regard is given to the fact that today’s chaplains are adapting (or have adapted) to contexts and clienteles which are increasingly less ‘Christian’ and where the idea of ‘mission’ is in need of continual redefinition. Each essay is accompanied by a detailed bibliography, and Thomas and Wasey have certainly succeeded in providing a landmark resource which will be of lasting value to those engaged with the emergent discipline of chaplaincy studies.

Reviewed by STEPHEN LAIRD

Chaplaincy

 

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