New books to delight everyone
A magnificent book on a magnificent building: Royal Academy Publications (via Thames and Hudson) have produced a wonderfully illustrated volume Matisse: The Chapel at Venice by Marie Therese Pulvenis de Seligny, which will be read with interest by anyone interested in religious art or in Matisse.
Derek Osborne has written what Bishop David Pytches calls a ‘unique spoof of church life’ in Roddy Goes to Church, which takes a humorous look at the problems of Roddy and his friends with their local church in a small town. There is a wordy Archdeacon and an enlightened bishop. This short pamphlet could be a very good discussion starter. Published by White Tree Publishing in Bristol it is available from Cromer Parish Church and the Norwich Christian Resources Centre.
Congratulations to SPCK for republishing Lesslie Newbigin’s The Gospel in a Pluralist Society in their ‘Classics’ series and to Lutterworth Press for republishing Alan Wilkinson’s fascinating study The Church of England and the First World War. This is a timely reprint as we celebrate the 100th anniversary of the start of the war.
Lutterworth has also published a study Catherine Booth by John Read, which looks at the achievements of Catherine Booth, the husband of William, as a revivalist, a social reformer and a champion of women’s rights as well as her work as a co-founder of the Salvation Army.
Among SPCK’s latest publications are: John Pritchard: Ten Reasons Why Christianity Makes Sense (highly recommended); Jonathan Lawson and Gordon Mursell: Hearing the Call (stories of vocation); Jenni Williams: God Remembered Rachel (Women’s stories in the Old Testament and why they matter); Katherine Smith: Recovering from Depression (with a foreword by Jane Williams): and Andrew T Lincoln: Born of a Virgin. Professor Lincoln has written what one scholar hails as a ‘masterly literary and historical analyses of the traditions relating to Jesus’ birth in the New Testament and beyond to offer theological and hermeneutical reflection at its best’.
Among the new books from IVP are two welcome reprints of books by John Stott, Balanced Christianity and Challenges of Christian Leadership. Two important new books from the same publisher are Christopher J Wright: The Message of Jeremiah and David F Wells: God in the Whirlwind (‘how the holy God of love reorients our world’). These two authors are well known and well respected Christian thinkers.
Sound Bites by Richard Everett (Monarch) contains a number of short plays lasting about five minutes for use in church or youth groups. Richard Everett was a professional before becoming a playwright. The book has a foreword by Bishop James Jones and the plays are described as ‘poignant and funny’ by Bishop Rowan Williams.