WHAT can great literary works tell us about forgiveness and
human relationships? John Haddon takes the works of Shakespeare and
Charles Dickens and uses specific characters from their writings to
explore how this theme is presented in them, in The Comedy
of Forgiveness (The Brynmill Press, £18;
978-09567048-0-1).
Catherine Campbell encourages her readers by showing how God can
turn suffering into something positive. Parts of her own story are
interwoven with biblical teaching and others' true-life tales in
Broken Works Best. She and her husband lost two of
their three children, aged ten and 13, as a result of profound
disabilities; so she writes from painful experience (Monarch, £7.99
(£7.20); 978-0-85721-223-8).
Life without feelings would be a very monochrome experience. In
Emotions: Living life in colour, Graham Beynon
explores the place of emotion in Christian life and faith (IVP,
£8.99 (£8.10); 978-1-84474-589-0).
Exploring the Religion of Ancient Israel is
part of an SPCK series for students which also includes works on
the books of the Old and New Testaments. Aaron Chalmers has divided
the majority of his material into looking at four groups: priests,
prophets, sages, and the common people (SPCK, £14.99
(£13.50); 978-0-281-06481-6).
Keith Kahn-Harris's Judaism: All that matters
is an introductory guide that covers much more than religion. He
addresses identity, history, politics, and culture, and shows where
and how differences and divisions exist between Jewish people.
Chapter headings include: living Jewishly, anti-Semitism, and the
State of Israel (Hodder Education, £8.99 (£8.10);
978-1-4441-5672-0).