Review: The Covid Pandemic and the World’s Religions edited by George D. Chryssides and Dan Cohn-Sherbok
This book brings together 30 contributors, representing 14 religions, each writing about the pandemic and their faith. Each writer received […]
Review: Lower than the Angels by Diarmaid MacCulloch
Historian Diarmaid MacCulloch offers a calm and thorough history of sex and Christianity in this compendium.
Review: On Voice. Speech, Song, Silence: Human and Divine
The array of topics covered range from the sad tale of eunuchs to the mysterious voices of bird and whale song, and a fascinating reflection on how the timeless synthesised voice of Stephen Hawkings defied his debilitated body and captured his youthfulness.
Review: Vile Bodies. The Body in Christian Teaching, Faith and Practice.
Before reading Vile Bodies, I had no idea how alien the ancient understanding of bodies and sex were to ours. These ancient understandings seem risible to us now – and I did laugh many times reading this book – but the consequences of them are no laughing matter.
Review: Passions of the soul
Williams introduces the book as ‘non-scholarly’, though the introduction was dated ‘Michaelmas 2022’, using the esoteric Oxford calendar. I’m not a scholar and I had to read this book without distraction and often multiple times. I suppose I was forced into a monastic experience of reading.
Review: Unknowing God: Towards a Post-Abusive Theology
I recently completed the Church of England’s safeguarding training – mandatory for me as a Parochial Church Council member. The training was rigorous but something felt missing. This book identifies that gap: it is the failure to understand how theology can harm. The Church has failed to explore how its theology is a contributor to abuse, instead falling into the easy assumption that church life was just a coincidental backdrop. It is frustrating to see this opportunity being missed.