Discipleship Start This way: Beginning to live as an everyday Christian disciple (BRF, Abingdon 2025. 143pp: £9.99) and Discipleship Walk This Way: Living the life of an everyday Christian discipleship (BRF, Abingdon 2025. 296pp: £14.99) by Guy Donegan-Cross, an Anglican minister who has worked in Birmingham encouraging and resourcing discipleship and leadership, has written these two books. The first is written for people who wish to explore Christian discipleship; while the second is for people who want to go deeper into how to live out their lives as Christian disciples. These two books are a super resource for ministers and church leaders to use with their people.
Mother of Invention: Mother Teresa and the Franciscan Servants of Jesus and Mary (Sacristy Press, Durham 2025. 221pp: £25 hardback) by Bridget Gillard, tells the story of how Grace Costin, with no money, connections or academic background, founded a religious community. Prior to this she had been Sister Teresa in the Order of St Anne. In her community of sisters, she shared her radical beliefs in pacifism, ecology, anti-materialism, human rights, race equality and social justice. This is a fascinating book for those who are interested in modern religious communities.
Moments of Love: An eight-day retreat with the Song of Songs (DLT, London 2025. 144pp: £9.99 hardback) by John Mann, a former Dean of Belfast Cathedral, provides a creative approach to the Song of Songs. Four times a day for eight days, for Morning, Midday, Evening and Night, the book presents a short passage from the Song of Songs, and a contemplative reflection by John Mann.
God as Nothing (DLT, 2025. 256pp: £16.99) by Gilbert Markus, a former Dominican friar, who taught theology at the universities of St Andrews, Edinburgh, and Glasgow, is a difficult read for those who have not studied philosophy. The author argues that if God created everything that exists, then God cannot be one of the things that exist. “God is no thing, or Nothing”! Gilbert Markus writes that what believers and atheists disagree about is not whether there is a God. Rather, they disagree about the meaningfulness of looking at the world, at everything that is, and seeing it as a mystery.
Messy Togetherness: Being intergenerational in Messy Church (BRF, Abingdon 2025. 187pp: £9.99) edited by Alice Kennett-Brown, is revised and updated edition. Divided into three parts, part I deals with ‘Messy togetherness and why we do it’; part 2 deals with ‘Messy togetherness and how to do it’; part 3 deals with ‘Messy togetherness explored through messy church sessions’. Like many of the other BRF books, this is a great resource for ministers and church leaders to use with their people.
Beyond Dispute: Rediscovering the Jewish art of constructive disagreement (Hodder & Stoughton, London 2025. 263pp: £25 hardback) by Daniel Taub, an experienced peace negotiator and diplomat, who argues that in our age of seemingly irreconcilable differences, argument is increasingly seen as a plague to be avoided or a contest to be won. He argues that ancient Jewish wisdom offers a third way. This approach sees argument not as a combat zone but as a joint enterprise, and its disputants not as jealous of custodians of competing truths, but collaborative explorers. This book is a passionate call to rediscover and harness the vital and surprising power of a good argument.
False Messiah: Darwinism as the God that failed (Discovery Press, Seattle 2025. 201pp: price unknown) by Neil Thomas, is a follow-up to his earlier book, Taking Leave of Darwin. Although Darwin never claimed to be a ‘Messiah’ figure, nonetheless many of his followers saw him in that light. Interestingly Darwin was not always totally by convinced by his theory of natural selection, but developed doubts about his formula for ‘creation without a creator’. Neil Thomas shows that Darwin’s theory “cannot bear the weight of its role as Gospel for a brave new age of atheistical enlighten. Indeed, he points out that there are relatively few dyed-in-the-wool Darwinists… Among actual scientists doing serious work in biology, things have moved on from Darwin and even neo-Darwinism”. Although I have been a New Testament scholar and not a scientist, nonetheless I warmly commend this book.