You are here: Home / Archives for Book Review

The Contented Life – Spirituality and the Gift of Years by Robert Atwell

26 October 2011 By 1 Comment

The Scottish Episcopal Church has been well blessed in recent years by a close association with the Faith in Older People Project (www.faithinolderpeople.org.uk) which works to celebrate the lives of older people and develop best practise in understanding and meeting the spiritual needs of older people and their families. It seems, upon reading this book, that such a vision is not exclusively a Scottish thing. Indeed, it is alive and well in other parts of the vineyard and burn particularly brightly in the Rt Rev Robert Atwell, the Bishop of Stockport.

This book stems from an invitation to Bishop Robert (who was formerly a Benedictine monk) to give a lecture to a group of older people in the Diocese of Cheshire. Those to whom he was speaking were unimpressed by the all too real cult of youth which is present in some church circles. They wondered what there was in the experience of growing older that was to be celebrated. Bishop Robert provided some answers and starting places for considering spiritual experiences which might  be particularly relevant to older age.

This is a very attractive book of common sense and profound thinking. It does not patronise. It does not bewilder. Instead it is gentle, readable and wonderful. There are too many books on spiritual themes which seem to suggest that spirituality consists of high mountain peaks of piety and too few which deal in topics like contentment happiness and joy. This particular effort belongs in the latter category and is a delight to read. It contains Jenny Joseph’s poem “When I am an old woman I shall wear purple” which many cite as an example of how they would like to get older. It contains a great deal more besides and is highly recommended for anyone wishing to think about how their own spirituality might be changing with age or indeed how to support with kindness and love the aging of others.

Canterbury Press £9.99

First published in inspires magazine

Buy from amazon.co.uk

Filed Under: Book Review

1 Comment

Here I am

10 April 2011 By 1 Comment

Here I Am – Reflections on the Ordained Life by Richard Giles (Canterbury Press £9.99)

This is a little book about ordination that is full of glistening little gems of insight, wisdom and humour.
Richard Giles will be known to many for his books on the shape of liturgical space (Repitching the Tent) and the shape of the liturgy itself (Creating Uncommon Worship). This latest book is itself a different shape – small and hardback and easily fitted into the cassock pocket. However, it is about the shape of the ordained life.

The text is based on words taken from modern ordination liturgies. It feels as though one has been invited to join in a pre-ordination retreat with someone who is at once, wise, witty, clever and holy.

A time may be coming when a new conversation is needed within the churches about the nature of ordination and its place amongst the people of God. If we believe that the People of God are fundamental to God’s mission in the world and that liturgy is itself the Work of the People then we will need priests to minister in changing ways. This book may form part of that conversation. No more will we be able to speak of someone being ordained as “entering the church”. The church and the ministry of the church is something that we all share. Our language and our assumptions are challenged by changing patterns of ministry. Richard Giles would challenge us gently, nudge us and cajole us. He is a visionary trying to communicate a vision of a different kind of church life than that which many of us have known. It is a vision worth trying to catch and his is a voice worth listening to.

A good book for an ordained person to mull over on retreat. Or for a lay person to mull over in order to try to understand why ordained people behave the way they do. Or for anyone considering ordination. Sprinkled with gold dust. Highly recommended.

Buy from Amazon:

Filed Under: Book Review
Tagged With:
1 Comment

New Monasticism as Fresh Expression of Church

8 April 2011 By 3 Comments

New Monasticism as Fresh Expression of Church Edited by Graham Cray, Ian Mobsby and Aaron Kennedy. (Canterbury Press – £14.99)

The truth is, you can get away with an awful lot in ecclesiastical life in Scotland by explaining away whatever mischief you are up to as being genuinely, authentically Celtic. In England, they’ve had to invent a new expression upon which people can project their wistful longings. Its called, “Fresh Expressions of Church”. There are few things that Christians can come up with in England which can’t be justified by calling them a Fresh Expression of Church. This is a book wherein those twin traditions meet with the kiss of peace. For quite a few of these Fresh Expressions of Church that the authors are promoting, they explain away as a return to Celtic tradition.

For all that, this book is an interesting and quite compelling read. The basic theme is that the values of monastic life are very much things that contemporary people are seeking. The success of programmes like The Big Silence on television recently and the yearnings that lead modern people to attempt community living suggest that these ideas are not only alive and well but may be just the thing that people are seeking.

Why can’t people be honest about what they hope for and argue for what they want without having to invent a fey Celtic fantasy from which to justify their desires though? Much of monastic life was about hierarchy and power. The Celtic experience was as much about reciting the psalms whilst up to your oxters in cold sea water as it was about the things that are represented in this book.
Notwithstanding that, I know enough people interested in forming, founding and shaping new ways of living the Christian life with others that are outside or beyond of the immediate expectations of the nuclear family that I’ve a notion that God’s spirit might be at work. This book represents some of the experience of those being called to something new. Some of them feel that the Christian mission in these islands depends entirely upon the ability of the churches to embrace different structures to those of family and congregation which have reigned hitherto.

They might be right.

Buy from Amazon: New Monasticism as Fresh Expressions of Church (Ancient Faith, Future Mission)

Filed Under: Book Review
Tagged With: , ,
3 Comments

Book Review: Re-shaping Rural Ministry

16 February 2010 By 4 Comments

Here comes another book trying to persuade me that life in rural churches has a different set of challenges, presumptions and priorities to those which apply in an urban setting. To articulate that is also to articulate an uncertainty about who this book is aimed at. It might be written to encourage others engaged in rural endeavors. On the other hand it might be written for the very purpose of convincing the wider church (ie those decision makers who live in towns and cities) of some kind of perceived special needs of the rural church. It it is the latter, I fear I am not yet convinced.

This is a book (like many being produced currently) which many hands have contributed to. Different people (bishops, directors of ordinands, rural officers) from around the rural scene in the Church of England have each made their contributions. It is perhaps not surprising that these are most contentious when it comes to areas dealing with ministry. Once again, the rural strategy outlined here seems to be to find ever more inventive ways of providing ministry on the cheap to ensure that rural churches die more slowly. Once agan, collaborative ministry and ordained local (ie relatively under-resourced and undertrained) clerical ministries seem to be the answer.

It is the generalisations which stick in the mind long after reading this book. Apparently, for those living in these special rural places, in contrast to those living in towns, time may be “seen as cyclical…based on the seasons rather than just linear”. Has the author of this section (Amiel Osmaston) never met the academic year? “Rural spirituality,” she tells us, “was forged by those who were in touch with the soil and the seasons.” Is that paganism she is talking about or not? “In rural areas faith is often implicit, shown in practical works and relationships within the community”. Is that supposed to mean that it isn’t elsewhere?

Those of us who live in areas which are not deemed sufficiently rural should be rightly indignant at these holier-than-thou attitudes from those who live in the countryside. There can be no doubts at all that the experience of Christian Faith is shaped by its context. However, that does not justify such condesension towards the places where most people actually choose to live, as we find in this volume.

The truth is, the more that people make a case for the church developing strategies (and setting aside budgets) for the rural church, the more one remembers that Christianity started in a city and was passed from city to city in the ancient world. It is undoubtedly true that there seem to be a number of recurring neo-pagan spiritual responses that modern people make to being in the countryside. However, whether the church should encourage the notion of a distinctive ministry in such places is less certain. That rural ministry should be possible, is no doubt cause for celebration. That it should take up the time and energies of synods and assemblies is far less clear.

Re-shaping Rural Ministry
Edited by James Bell, Jill Hopkinson and Trevor Willmott (Canterbury Press 14.99)

Filed Under: Book Review, Inspires
Tagged With:
4 Comments

Conscience and Compromise

13 October 2007 By 2 Comments

Fr Gadgetvicar has been reading Patricia Meldrum’s book about Evangelicals of yore. So have I. This is the review of the book that was published in this month’s inspires.

Conscience and Compromise Forgotten Evangelicals of Nineteenth-century Scotland

Patricia Meldrum (Paternoster Press – 29.99)

As the oft repeated quotation says, those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it. This book from Patricia Meldrum is a most important contribution to Anglican-Episcopal history in Scotland at this time. Dr Meldrum presents in these pages a remembrance of a small but particular grouping of nineteenth century Scottish Christians, those who adhered to Episcopacy but who identified with an Evangelical consciousness.

This is an area of Scottish Church history which has been hitherto under-explored and this volume, which is derived from the author’s PhD thesis, is by far the most comprehensive treatment of the Evangelical nineteenth century cause that will be found.

Two major disputes characterise the experience of Evangelical Episcopalians in Scotland in the mid-nineteenth century. The first was over the doctrine of conversion; the second was over doctrinal scruples concerning the Scottish Communion office. It was largely disagreements over the acceptability of this liturgy that prompted many who had once been loyal to the Scottish Episcopal Church to leave and become aligned with Henry Drummond of St Thomas’s, Edinburgh who had already left over disputes about the former. The small number of English Episcopal congregations which banded together are now largely forgotten, though the influence of those disputes lingers into modern times. High Church people and Evangelical Episcopalians still fight their disputes over particular words, sentences or even the grammar of the liturgy of the church.

The truth is, many of the doctrinal debates which caused churches to secede and which prompted bold declarations of independence from individual ministers are difficult for us to understand. That Dr Meldrum explains them so well should not distract the reader from the fact that the much of the doctrinal disputation seems irrelevant and foolish just over a century and a half later.

At a time such as this, it is important to mark well that the Evangelicals who are recalled so comprehensively here are remembered for their inability to remain in fellowship with those with whom they had doctrinal disputes. Those doctrinal disputes must have seemed to be of vital importance in their day. How sad that they are not remembered for their zeal, their passion for the gospel, their goodwill and for their love for others.

This is a most important piece of historical research. One cannot understand either nineteenth century Episcopal sensibilities or the modern Scottish Episcopal Church without it.

Highly recommended.

Filed Under: Book Review
Tagged With: , , ,
2 Comments

Book Review – Reclaiming the Sealskin

24 July 2007 By Leave a Comment

Reclaiming the Sealskin: Meditations in the Celtic SpiritReclaiming the Sealskin: Meditations in the Celtic Spirit by Annie Heppenstall-West is a series of meditations on themes that are mostly drawn from the natural world (eg Ripples, Deer, Fire, Otter). Each theme has a beautifully drawn card that comes ready to be pressed out of the book. The idea is to take a theme and carry the card with you to meditate on for a period of time. Each theme has a biblical text, something for mind, body and spirit and a simple prayer. The book might be used with groups or by individuals. Those making a retreat would find much to ponder in these pages. The whole thing is tinged with a post-modern Celtic aura. Little more needs to be said those who like post-modern Celtic auras will love it.

Click here for details from Amazon

Published in inspires the magazine of the Scottish Episcopal Church

Filed Under: Book Review
Tagged With: , ,
Leave a Comment

Book Review – Mission Implausible

24 July 2007 By 1 Comment

Mission Implausible: Restoring Credibility to the ChurchMission Implausible Restoring Credibility to the Church (Paternoster Press 15.99)
Duncan MacLarens new book Mission Implausible should be required reading for all those formulating mission strategies and schemes in the church, as well as for students of the mission of Gods people in the world.

Contemporary sociological analysis of society is used by the author to illuminate questions which are more often easier to formulate than to answer. Why do people struggle to believe? How can we explain the decline in church attendance in some parts of the world church?
MacLaren refuses to accept that society is inevitably moving towards secularisation. He writes in a Britain in which people claim to believe yet who rarely connect with church life. Perhaps surprisingly, hope springs from deep and ancient wells, not least models of thinking which come from the Columban mission in Scotland a missiological community which is at once distinctive, inculturated and engaged.

This is a book which will sit on this reviewers bookshelf next to David Boschs Transforming Mission. It is a more accessible book and a more entertaining book even though it is never an entirely comfortable read. It can hold its own in lofty company.

Duncan MacLaren is Associate Rector of St Pauls and St Georges Episcopal Church, Edinburgh.

Click to buy from Amazon

Published in inspires, the magazine of the Scottish Episcopal Church

Filed Under: Book Review
Tagged With: ,
1 Comment

Book Review – You’ve Got to Have a Dream

24 July 2007 By Leave a Comment

You\'ve Got to Have a Dream: The Message of the MusicalYouve Got To Have a Dream the message of the musical by Ian Bradley (SCM Press 16.99)
What will we have a theology of next? Ian Bradleys book is a theological reflection on musical theatre.

Well start at the very beginning. Despite cheerfully admitting that it is rather difficult to locate references to God in the Savoy Operas, the author (Hon Life President of the St Andrews University Gilbert and Sullivan Society) chooses them as the starting point on his quest through some of the most ubiquitous and dominant cultural icons of modern times.

Ian Bradley makes grand claims about the importance of musicals. In particular, he makes the suggestion that musicals have taken over from late night Sunday television drama as the primary vehicle for portraying contemporary conflict and debate in the sphere of religion. This seems a bold claim. If true, it suggests that serious debate has become more and not less the province and domain of those with ready access to metropolitan theatre.

The dominant theme in this book is of the dream motif which runs through much musical theatre. The suggestion here is that the musical has at times proposed that if you follow your dream, then all will be well and more recently, that dreams do not always come true.
In recent months, the debate about the power of musical theatre reached a new high point with the intensely moral and utterly controversial Jerry Springer the Opera. Sadly this book was completed before that debacle. Should the book run to a second edition, a further chapter about this more recent controversy would be welcome.

This book will appeal to fans of musical theatre interested in probing under the surface of their favourite shows as well as to all those interested in the relationship between religion and popular culture. It will also appeal to liturgists, who need to know what they are up against.

Click here to purchase from Amazon

Published in inspires, the magazine of the Scottish Episcopal Church

Filed Under: Book Review
Tagged With: , ,
Leave a Comment

Book Review – eucharist with a small e

24 July 2007 By Leave a Comment

Eucharist with a Small \eucharist with a small e by miriam therese winter (Orbis Books 8.99)
Miriam Therese Winter is a professor of liturgy, worship and spirituality, but does not let that get in the way of asking us to imagine a spirituality rooted in doing what Jesus did. In this imaginative book, she challenges those who look to Jesus for inspiration to do as he did rather that, perhaps, what they churches have taught us to do.

This is a book which starts out with an agenda to imagine and enact eucharist with a small e. For the author, this means being empowed to continue what Jesus began, identifying with those who are hungry and thirsty or who are sick and in prison and then working with and for them as thanksgiving to God. She is a woman who knows that eucharist comes from a common Greek word (meaning thank you) that can be heard at every table and not only at the altar of God. Indeed, one can guess that she sees every table as the altar of God. Or god.

This basic idea is very rich. Eucharist is to be seen in the ordinary. Eucharisticness is a way of being, not something that one receives packed into a taste of bread and a sup of wine. Eucharist for Jesus, as for Professor Winter is so much more than that, and in this book that is explored with great imagination and creativity. This is spirituality at its most imaginative and as such to be welcomed by all who long for a Godly understanding of the here and the now.
Review by Miriam Western

Click here to order from Amazon

Published in inspires the magazine of the Scottish Episcopal Church

Filed Under: Book Review
Tagged With: ,
Leave a Comment

Book Review – Consecrations, Blessings and Prayers

24 July 2007 By Leave a Comment

Consecrations, Blessings and Prayers: A Pastoral Companion to the Ritual and to the Book of BlessingsConsecrations, Blessings and Prayers A Pastoral Companion to the Ritual and to the Book of Blessings Compiled by Sean Finnegan. Canterbury Press 16.99

This is a handy little hardback book filled with lots of helpful prayers for all kinds of pastoral situations. Stemming from the Roman Catholic tradition, there is much here for Anglicans too. Indeed, the compiler hopes in his introduction that the book will be read by those outside the Roman Catholic church who want to discover some of the real meaning of the rites and ceremonies which they may have encountered and previously dismissed as mere superstition. This is not a book of superstition, it is a welcome collection of blessings which can be used to sanctify all kinds of human existence and experience.

What do you say, when called upon to bless an aeroplane or a farm, a scout flag or a couple getting engaged. There are prayers here for all those situations and more. This is no trite book difficult situations are treated head on. There are sections for deathbed prayers and for meetings likely to be stormy. A form of words is presented which can be used as a solemn covenant before going on retreat.

Towards the end of the book, there are liturgical notes to accompany some of the lesser ceremonies of the Christian year. Some of the material presented here comes from the liturgical days of long, long ago. The much loved and oft missed Blessing of the Throats for St Blaises day is here and crying out for revival. Alongside that, there is a service for the blessing of pets and prayers for those who suffer from addictions.

Not everyone will like every prayer, but that is not the point. Much of human life is here, and much in the world waits for a blessing in Gods name.

Click here to buy from Amazon

Published in inspires the magazine of the Scottish Episcopal Church

Filed Under: Book Review

Leave a Comment
« Older Posts