Boy Erased: A memoir of identity, faith and family by Garrard Conley (William Collins, £9.99 (£9); 978-0-00-827698-0).
“The son of a Baptist pastor and deeply embedded in church life in small town Arkansas, as a young man Garrard Conley was terrified and conflicted about his sexuality. When Garrard was a nineteen-year-old college student, he was outed to his parents, and was forced to make a life-changing decision: either agree to attend a church-supported conversion therapy program that promised to "cure" him of homosexuality; or risk losing family, friends, and the God he had prayed to every day of his life.”
Seeking the God Beyond: A beginner’s guide to Christian apophatic spirituality by J. P. Williams (SCM Press, £19.99 (£18); 978-0-334-05701-7).
“Apophatic theology, or negative theology, attempts to describe God, the Divine Good, by negation, to speak only in terms of what may not be said about the perfect goodness that is God.”
Redeeming Transcendence in the Arts: Bearing witness to the Triune God by Jeremy Begbie (SCM Press, £25 (£22.50); 978-0-334-05692-8).
“How can the arts witness to the transcendence of the Christian God? It is widely believed that there is something transcendent about the arts, that they can awaken a profound sense of awe, wonder, and mystery, of something "beyond" this world. Many argue that this opens up fruitful opportunities for conversation with those who may have no use for conventional forms of Christianity.”
All Things Anglican: Who we are and what we believe by Marcus Throup (Canterbury Press, £12.99 (£11.70); 978-1-78622-067-7).
“Whether you are training for Anglican orders, are curious about another denomination or would like to join an Anglican Church, this guide will introduce you to the basics of Anglican identity and the ways of the Church of England.”
See, Love, Be: Mindfulness and the spiritual life by Tim Stead (SPCK, £9.99 (£9); 978-0-281-07804-2). A practical eight-week guide with audio meditations on MP3 CD and to download.
“Many have been hugely helped by mindfulness practice. But how do we move beyond our initial goal of functioning well to live a life marked by deep awareness, genuine compassion and ease of being?”
Selected by Frank Nugent, of the Church House Bookshop, which operates the Church Times Bookshop.