How to Eat Bread: 21 nourishing ways to read the Bible by Miranda Threlfall-Holmes (Hodder, £14.99 (£13.49); 978-1-529-36447-7).
“Filling the gap between popular Bible reading notes and more academic books, How to Eat Bread is the book the author would give to anyone wanting to explore the Bible as part of their faith. Its three main sections delve into the rich heritage of how Christians have read the Bible down the ages: From the Larder — ways that scripture itself uses other parts of scripture, or models and demonstrates different ways of reading; Grandma’s Recipe Book — historical methods of biblical interpretation; Molecular Gastronomy — the insights and methods of modern theological hermeneutics Encouraging readers to try out a variety of tried and tested ways of Bible reading, experiment with different ingredients and sample the results, How to Eat Bread is a refreshingly hands-on approach to understanding this ancient library of texts.”
Read a review here.
The Unbroken Thread: Discovering the wisdom of tradition in an age of chaos by Sohrab Ahmari (Hodder, £20 (£18); 978-1-529-36450-7).
“Sohrab Ahmari, the influential Op-Ed editor at the New York Post, offers a brilliant examination of our postmodern Western culture, and an analysis of the paradox at its heart: that the ‘freedoms’ we enjoy — to be or do whatever we want, subject only to consent, with everything morally neutral or relative — are at odds with the true freedom that comes from the pursuit of the collective good. . . By plumbing the depths of each question, the book underscores the poverty of our contemporary narratives around race, gender, privilege (and much else), exposing them as symptoms of a deep cultural crisis in which we claim a false superiority over the past, and helps us work our way back to tradition, to grasp at the thin, bare threads in our hands, while we still can.”
The Rule of St Benedict: An inclusive translation by Judith Sutera OSB (Canterbury Press, £12.99 (Church Times SPECIAL OFFER PRICE £10.39); 978-1-78622-390-6).
“The Rule of St Benedict, which dates from the sixth century, is the foundation of monasticism, one of the oldest continuing institutions in all of Western civilisation. The Rule not only defines life for men and women in monasteries, but has also become central to the spirituality of lay Christians across the globe. For communities and individuals alike, the text of the Rule is central. This first ever gender-neutral translation is true to the original text but provides an alternative for those who might prefer such a version over the masculine language of the original as it was written for St Benedict's monks, or as a text to read alongside Benedict's original.”
Selected by Aude Pasquier, of the Church House Bookshop, which operates the Church Times Bookshop.