The Penguin Book of Spiritual Verse: 110 poets on the divine, edited by Kaveh Akbar (Penguin, £20 (£18); 978-0-241-39158-7).
“This anthology is a holistic and global survey of a lyric conversation about the divine, one which has been ongoing for millennia. Beginning with the earliest attributable author in all of human literature, the 23rd-century BC Sumerian High Priestess Enheduanna, and taking in a constellation of voices, this selection presents a number of canonical voices including Blake, Dickinson, and Tagore, alongside lesser-anthologised diverse voices going up to the present day, that showcase the breathtaking multiplicity of ways humanity has responded to the divine across place and time.”
Sacred Earth, Sacred Soul: A Celtic guide to listening to our Souls and saving the world by John Philip Newell (William Collins, £9.99 (£8.99); 978-0-00-846636-7). New in paperback
“John Philip Newell reveals how Celtic spirituality, listening to the sacred around us and inside of us, can help to heal the earth, overcome our conflicts and reconnect with ourselves. The book offers a new spiritual foundation for our lives, once centred on encouragement, guidance, and hope for creating a better world. It shares the long-hidden tradition of Celtic Christianity, explaining how this earth-based spirituality can help us rediscover the natural rhythms of life and deepen our spiritual connection with God, with each other and with the earth.”
The Creed in Slow Motion by Martin Kochanski (Hodder & Stoughton, £14.99 (£13.49); 978-1-399-80154-6).
“In 40 short chapters, with clarity and wit, The Creed in Slow Motion draws examples from real-life stories, history, and even science to uncover the core claims of Christianity. By turns it is deep, heartening, startling, revolutionary and even, by the world's standards, outrageous.”
Selected by Frank Nugent, of the Church House Bookshop, which operates the Church Times Bookshop.