Christianity Books
SPCK Publishing Scientists as Theologians
Book SynopsisIan Barbour, Arthur Peacocke and John Polkinghorne are major contributors to the interaction between science and religion. As their thinking has developed, differences between them have emerged. This is John Polkinghorne's survey of the debate, setting out where they agree and disagree.
£10.44
SPCK Publishing The Historical Character of Jesus
Book SynopsisThe first book to explore in detail what we can deduce about the historical Jesus from the later New Testament writings (i.e. everything after the Gospels).
£17.84
SPCK Publishing Reconciliation A Life Times Journey
Book SynopsisStarting from the area covered by his previously book - Memory, Victimhood, Forgiveness and Reaching out to the Other, the author moves deeper to speak of personal flourishing, social cohesion, political co-existence and the survival of the planet, as well as a deeper understanding of the work of God in the world.
£12.59
SPCK Publishing A Guide to Christianity
Book SynopsisA guide to the Christian faith, which takes a broad sweep from the big bang through the Old Testament to the New and beyond into the history of the faith and modern theological thinking. It explores contemporary strands of Christian thinking and relates them to world faith and non-faith viewpoints.
£8.54
SPCK Publishing Jesus and the Subversion of Violence
Book SynopsisAn honest and compelling presentation of the present-day tensions surrounding the interpretation of New Testament texts relating to violence. While violence may not be as central a concern to the writers of the New Testament as is peace, it opens up avenues of analysis and reflection that shed important light on the New Testament.
£14.39
SPCK Publishing How to Be Wise
Book SynopsisHow to be Wise opens with an unexpectedly entertaining survey of the philosophical and religious roots of wisdom. The author then considers how literature can enable us to discover more about ourselves; he probes the spiritual dimension of music, and the significance of silence.
£10.44
SPCK Publishing Beauty and Brokenness
Book SynopsisExplores the way we think about the relationship between creation and humanity, their brokenness and beauty and, in this connection, compassion, faith and power. This work uses Mantegna's painting Presentation at the Temple, which is a traditional Madonna and Child composition except that the infant Jesus is depicted as a child with Downs.
£10.44
SPCK Publishing Celebrating Christs Appearing
Book SynopsisConsiders the practicalities of celebrating the liturgical year from the point of view of the liturgical president and other liturgical ministers (eg the deacon at the Easter Vigil), and with particular reference to "Common Worship Times and Seasons" material. This book also considers material from the wider Western tradition where appropriate.
£10.44
SPCK Publishing The Integrity of Pastoral Care
Book SynopsisThis work presents a study of pastoral care as the central pastoral ministry of the church, relating it to other functions of Christian ministry. The theological importance of pastoral care is explored, and other pastoral activities.
£14.39
SPCK Publishing Mission and Dialogue
Book SynopsisExplores fundamental questions about the nature and purpose of the gospel: how it speaks to people of widely differing cultures and world views, and focuses on the encounter with other faith communities, addressing such issues as multi-faith worship and how to understand the uniqueness of Christ.
£10.79
SPCK Publishing Encountering Depression
Book SynopsisIn twenty short chapters, this compassionate and practical volume looks at common questions and worries, such as 'What is depression?', 'Does it run in my family?', 'Why doesn't God heal me?', 'Why do I keep thinking of ending it all?' and 'How can I help myself?'
£9.49
SPCK Publishing The Cross and the Colliery
Book SynopsisBased on sermons originally delivered by Bishop Tom Wright during Easter 2007, this book uses the story of a coal-mining town in northern England as a modern parable for loss and rebirth.
£8.54
SPCK Publishing Liturgies for the Young in Years
Book SynopsisOffers a diverse collection of liturgies for the 'high days' of the church year. This work focuses on specific themes within the central message of each festival.
£10.44
SPCK Publishing Living Faith
Book Synopsis
£5.99
SPCK Publishing The God You Already Know
Book SynopsisTwo spiritual directors involved in counselling work explore matters such as stages of spiritual growth and finding a faith community. They then offer the stories of a number of people who have found helpful ways of praying in particular circumstances.
£10.79
SPCK Publishing Youth Ministry
Book SynopsisThis book, written by experts in the field, explores the role of the youth minister by looking at a range of metaphors, such as 'flawed hero', 'visionary architect', 'party planner' and 'guardian of souls'.
£12.59
SPCK Publishing ISG 43 A Guide to Leadership International Study
Book SynopsisAn introduction to missiological Christian leadership. The book's focus is on the need to empower and equip the people of God to carry out God's mission in the world. Exploring principles of leadership, it suggests practical skills and stimulates further discussion.
£12.59
Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge Cry of the Deer
Book SynopsisTakes us deeper into the prayer experience through a series of meditations leading into practical exercises in affirming the Presence of God. This book features meditations that are based on the eternal certainties of the Christian faith.Trade ReviewFirst published in 1987, this re-issue will be warmly welcomed by lovers of David Adam’s writings. The Celtic style illustrations by Peter Dingle and Jenny Pearson help the mind to concentrate on the source of the Hymn of St Patrick, and David Adam’s meditations are not just for those used to meditating, they teach the art of meditating on a short phrase and bringing the most meaning out of it. The introduction telling the story of the early life of St Patrick sets the scene, and the two translations of the hymn are the starting point of the meditations. Of course you are intended to work through as the book is written, but I have found that dipping in over the years has revealed gems of wisdom that have stayed with me and helped my faith. If you have not met this book before I highly recommend that you spend time with it and pray that you will find it as rewarding as I have done. -- Mary Bartholomew * GoodBookStall *
£9.49
SPCK Publishing Facilitation Skills for Ministry
Book SynopsisMany ministry training courses do not teach facilitation skills per se and ministers are often left to learn on the job. This book is designed for those who wish to encourage and empower through their leadership skills.
£12.59
SPCK Publishing Finding Hope and Meaning in Suffering
Book SynopsisTrystan Owain Hughes suggests that learning how to suffer and how to wait patiently may be the secret of finding joy in our lives. Diagnosed with a degenerative spinal condition, he was surprised to discover that, instead of increasing his unhappiness, it spurred him on to seek out sources of hope and meaning.
£10.44
SPCK Publishing Supporting Dying Children and their Families
Book SynopsisThis practical guide offers sensitive advice for all who work alongside terminally ill children, their families and families who have been bereaved. A resource for all who minister to terminally ill children and their loved ones - whether in hospitals, hospices or in the community.
£14.39
SPCK Publishing Inside Grief
Book SynopsisThe book explores the reality of grief from different perspectives and provides some insightful help primarily to those trying to support a colleague, friend or family member who is being overwhelmed by their primal grief.
£12.59
SPCK Publishing The Compassion Quest
Book SynopsisTrystan Owain Hughes encourages us to develop an approach to life that looks beyond our own concerns. Using illustrations from poetry, literature and film, and drawing on contemporary scientific thought, the author makes plain that our natural state is an interconnected harmony with God, with each other and with the world around us.
£10.44
SPCK Publishing Making Sense of Sex
Book SynopsisUsing familiar theological ideas, biblical passages and Christian doctrines, this book reinterprets them in a less familiar way. Subjects covered include Desire, Bodies, Sexual Difference, Marriage, Spirituality and Sexualities.
£8.54
SPCK Publishing Gods Green Book Seven Bible Studies About the
Book SynopsisThe Bible is bursting with teaching about nature: how God created it, how humans fit into it, and how it is part of his big story of justice, love and redemption. But what does the Bible have to say about the environmental issues that face us?
£9.49
SPCK Publishing Children in the Bible
Book SynopsisIn re-examining what the Bible says about children, mission theologian Anne Richards argues that God finds children worthy of call, commission, blessing, healing and salvation. Interweaving analysis of the Biblical material with stories about contemporary children and childhood, also touches on issues of infertility, consumerism and neglect.Trade ReviewA brief postscript concludes that children are "the words of God in the world." Here is a book to help us listen to those words. -- Revd Dr John Pridmore, former Rector of Hackney in East London * The Church Times *
£12.59
SPCK Publishing The Advent of Peace A Gospel Journey To Christmas
Book SynopsisMary Grey looks at how the Advent story encourages forgiveness and reconciliation, both essential for peace, and how the Gospels can be key tools to help Christians work towards peace.
£10.44
SPCK Publishing Complex Christ Signs of Emergency in the Urban
Book SynopsisMy gratitude to Kester Brewin for raising so helpfully the questions we must address if the aspiration of Mission Shaped Church is to go beyond rhetoric.' Richard Chartres, Bishop of London.
£10.79
SPCK Publishing The Holy Spirit
Book SynopsisThe book is divided into three parts. Part One provides a thematic analysis of all the relevant biblical and cognate literature. Part Two investigates the thinking of key Christian theologians on the Holy Spirit. Part Three examines more recent writings on the Spirit.
£24.80
SPCK Publishing Brand New Church
Book SynopsisBrand New Church? aims to make sense of what 'post-modern' actually looks and feels like in real life, and to ask what this means for the church. The book attempts to discover what those involved in practising church within post-modern cultures really believe and hope for.
£12.59
SPCK Publishing The Underground Church Reclaiming the Subversive
Book SynopsisProminent progressive writer, speaker, and minister Robin Meyers proposes that the best way for the faithful to recapture the spirit of the early Christian church is to recognize that Jesus-following was - and must be again - subversive in the best sense of the word because the gospel taken seriously turns the world upside down.Trade ReviewRobin Meyers is an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ in the USA, a columnist, media commentator and lecturer in the philosophy department of Oklahoma City University. His progressive critique of Christian faith and the institutional Church will surprise few people who are already acquainted with other American writers such as Brian McLaren, Diana Butler Bass, Marcus Borg and Bishop Jack Spong. Taken together, these writers and others represent a considerable influence on both sides of the Atlantic among liberal Christians and those seeking a faith and Church ‘fit’ for this third millennium. Meyers is an attractive wordsmith, whose 2010 book, Saving Jesus from the Church (HarperOne), immediately revealed its radical credentials through its chapter titles, such as ‘Faith as Being, Not Belief’, ‘Jesus the Teacher, Not the Savior’, ‘Original Blessing, Not Original Sin’, ‘Religion as Relationship, Not Righteousness’. You get the drift. The Underground Church covers the ground rather more comprehensively in rehearsing again the story of how the radically subversive way of Jesus, over the centuries, became lost in the enforcing Church of orthodox belief. Meyers writes: What began as communities of radical inclusiveness, voluntary redistribution of wealth, a rejection of violence as the tool of injustice, and a joyful egalitarianism that welcomed a ‘nobody’ to worship elbow-toelbow with a ‘somebody’ devolved into a top heavy edifice defined by obligatory beliefs enforced by a hierarchy. (p. 59) Meyers desires to see the followers of Jesus, untrammelled by the accretions of church tradition and institutional baggage, set free as an underground movement to be the kind of counter-cultural, anti-imperial, diverse and inclusive community which is Meyers’s idealisation of the early church. There seems to me to be little evidence of the early Christian communities coming anywhere near this ideal state of radical subversion and inclusivity, but it does provide a platform for Meyers, like many others, to inveigh against the Constantinian ‘takeover’ of the Jesus movement. Meyers describes Constantine’s fusing of church and state as ‘the moment when the drive to "standardize" the Christian product fundamentally transformed The Way into the Belief System – when orthopraxy was replaced with orthodoxy’ (p. 66). And so the author goes on to ‘reimagine’ the Church in the context of North America and this is where some caution is needed by UK readership. It seems to me that his harsh criticism of mainstream American religion cannot be so easily replicated in the UK, where despite the trappings of establishment, even the Church of England bishops have no hesitation in challenging many a government programme in the light of Christian teachings. Interestingly, Meyers quotes Chrysostom as defining perfect Christianity as ‘seeking the common good’ – parlance familiar to those in the UK. Common to progressive commentators on religion both in the UK and in the USA is of course the desire for an authentic and trustworthy re-presentation of Christian faith, which writers such as Marcus Borg were so skilled at achieving. Meyers’s book deserves to be read for this desire alone. In the epilogue, Meyers catalogues the characteristics of the ‘underground church’. Many of these ‘marks’ would earn a sincere ‘Amen’ from a broad spectrum of believers – a church where children are cherished, not just in theory; a church where the mission budget is as large as the operating budget; a church where learning is not subversive and science is not the enemy of faith; and much more. Does Meyers intend to create a new Church built around the changes which he pointedly advocates in the closing pages of the book? Or more hopefully and realistically can such changes occur within existing denominations and structures? Only time will tell. Here, then, is another contribution to a growing movement of those seeking to be true to the way of Jesus and wishful for a transformation of the Church. Put simply, Meyers imagines for us a Church whose members ‘share the conviction that it is more important to be loving than to be right’ (p. 254). Amen to that! -- Adrian Alker * Modern Believing *
£12.59
SPCK Publishing A Biblical Theology of the Holy Spirit
Book SynopsisA comprehensive account of the role and work of the Spirit, covering the entire Bible. Written by a team of leading evangelical scholars, including world authorities such as Craig Bartholomew, David deSilva, James D. G. Dunn, Walter Kaiser and Max Turner. Informed by the latest scholarship.Trade ReviewA well-conceived and stimulating collection of essays . . . that makes an important contribution [to the subject]. * Books at a Glance *
£22.94
SPCK Publishing Rediscovering the Ministry of Blessing
Book SynopsisAs he has travelled the country teaching on the ministry of blessing, the author has seen an enthusiastic response and uptake, especially amongst those involved in prayer ministry. He believes it is time for all who want to be part of God's renewal to consider how we might help others to flourish as the people God has called them to be.Trade Review‘Russ Parker’s ground breaking work on healing community history will be so helpful to churches. It has greatly helped me.’ * The Rt Revd Graeme Dow, former Bishop of Carlisle *
£10.44
SPCK Publishing Isg 46
Book SynopsisStinton has edited the work of prominent African theologians, making their writings accessible at an introductory level. Some African scholars have written new pieces for the book, others have given permission for articles to be condensed and simplified in style.
£13.29
SPCK Publishing To Tell Afresh
Book SynopsisMichael Perham, Bishop of Gloucester, explores key Christian beliefs. His approach is readable and accessible yet with the depth of his pastoral experience and theological insight.
£9.49
SPCK Publishing Still Caring
Book SynopsisThere comes a time when a loved one needs more looking after than can be provided at home. Dorothy M. Stewart, whose husband suffers from dementia, found herself in just this situation. As a result she has written a book to accompany carers through the emotional and spiritual wrestling many experience in considering residential care.
£9.49
SPCK Publishing Saints Signs and Symbols
Book SynopsisA comprehensive guide to symbols used in Christian liturgical art, architecture, manuscripts, stained glass, etc. The book includes over 500 new illustrations. First published in 1964, now completely updated.
£7.59
SPCK Publishing The Easter Stories
Book SynopsisThe resurrection accounts are stories of encounter with God - the recovery of that ancient intimacy briefly enjoyed in the Garden of Eden. This volume suggests that in entering into the resurrection stories from the Gospels, we step outside time and place into a world where death no longer holds sway.Trade Review"'Vivid, imaginative... sharpen[s] our longing and love for Christ.' Parish News '... has an engaging and light-hearted quality that can bubble up into a chuckle while conveying an important message.' The Julian Meetings Magazine"
£10.44
SPCK Publishing Making Sense of Faith in God
Book SynopsisThis book deals with the popular interest in spirituality, and physicists' interest in God, as opposed by the new atheists. It also considers the role of God in a secular society.
£8.54
SPCK Publishing Dying and Grieving
Book SynopsisMost funerals in Britain continue to be conducted according to the rites of one or other of the Christian churches. This work seeks to give those engaged in the pastoral ministry two things: a sense of how the nature of the funeral service has changed and some pointers to good practice today.
£12.59
SPCK Publishing Jesus and Peter Growing in Friendship with God
Book SynopsisThis book considers what the New Testament has to say about Simon Peter, in particular how his relationship with Jesus develops. Peter has often been considered a model of discipleship, but Jesus and Peter looks at his friendship with Jesus and considers how it can help anyone to understand and develop their own friendship with God.
£10.44
SPCK Publishing Intercessions for the Calendar of Saints and Holy
Book SynopsisA collection of prayers for the principal feasts and festivals. There are prayers for each principal feast and festival, with sets to cover each of the 'headings' for the lesser festivals and commemorations. This collection is a natural companion to Exciting Holiness, the compendium of readings to accompany the calendar.
£10.44
SPCK Publishing ISG 41 Understanding and Using the Bible
Book SynopsisPart One explores key Christian belief about the Bible and why it matters. Part Two illustrates examples of applied Bible use in different contexts.
£12.59
SPCK Publishing God Where Are You
Book SynopsisIn this volume, Enzo Bianchi reasons that, above all, the story of God is the story of his relationship with his people. In order to help us get to know this God of our fathers, he analyses a number of encounters between the Lord and significant figures in the Old Testament. The author suggests we can be challenged to question our own certainties.Trade ReviewOn Enzo Bianchi’s previous title, Words of Spirituality (2012): Fresh and original . . . Bianchi’s insight and gentle, intelligent approach remained with me long after reading. * Christianity *Enzo Bianchi is one of the most significant Christian voices in Europe . . . His is a perspective that the English-speaking Christian world should welcome enthusiastically. * Rowan Williams, Master of Magdalene College, Cambridge, from the series Foreword *
£10.44
SPCK Publishing Preaching Like a Woman
Book SynopsisAims to encourage and empower women preachers to preach as women, as feminist theologians and as those who will make a difference to the Church. This book provides a step-by-step guide to approaching the Bible from a feminist standpoint with suggestions for how to develop your own voice as a preacher.Trade Review"'This is a book which every woman preacher will value highly and from which every male preacher will learn a great deal. It succeeds in being at once fresh and sane, scholarly and lucid... I highly recommend this book both for its general themes and the actual examples of sermons preached, which can also be useful for personal meditation.' Richard Harries, retired Bishop of Oxford"
£12.59
SPCK Publishing Jesus the Priest
Book SynopsisA contribution to historical Jesus studies, presenting the case that Jesus saw himself as the priestly messiah who sought to prepare a people to share in his priesthood.Trade Review'A significant contribution to historical Jesus studies. . . Delightful reading and worthy of careful appraisal.' Jeannine K. Brown, Professor of New Testament, Bethel Seminary;'Stimulating stuff, well-argued and accessibly written, with an eye on its relevance for us today.', Methodist RecorderTable of ContentsContents: Introduction 1. The Prayer of Jesus 2. The Baptism of Jesus 3. The Kingdom of Jesus 4. Jesus Son of David 5. The Identity of the Son of Man 6. A Re-envisioned Priesthood 7. Final Confrontations Conclusion
£28.80
Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge Skills for Collaborative Ministry
Book SynopsisIntended to help you to work more effectively with other people, both inside and outside of the Church. Each chapter focuses on a particular skill - such as team building, facilitation, diversity skills, conflict resolution and evaluation techniques - outlines the theory and the theology behind it, and gives practical guidance and advice.
£12.59
SPCK Publishing Jesus and Scripture
Book SynopsisThis book meets the need for an accessible introduction to the various ways that Jesus used Scripture, both in his teaching and in his own understanding of his ministry. It summarizes the main scholarly arguments, and contributes to modern debates about the proper interpretation of Scripture.
£12.59
