THE title and cover of Jesus: The unauthorized biography, by Martyn Whittock and Esther Whittock, may suggest a debunking of the origins of the Christian faith; but this is an introductory book with commendations by the President of the Baptist Union, and by the Cambridge scholar James Carleton Paget. The latter describes it as “sober, uncluttered, painstaking and stimulating”. All references are given (Lion, £11.99 (£10.79); 978-0-7459-8094-2).

The Whittocks are also the authors of a hardback, The Story of the Cross: A visual history (Lion, £15.99 (£14.39); 978-0-7459-8063-8), which largely uses fine illustrations to tell the story from the first century to the future. In its purview are Africa and the New World, as well as the age of total war, the abuse of the cross in fascism and racism, the persecuted identifying with the cross post-war, fashion, and modern art, as well as the centuries of Constantine, the crusades, and the contested piety of the Reformation and the Counter-Reformation.