Sonorous Desert: What deep listening taught early Christian monks – and what it can teach us by Kim Haines-Eitzen (Princeton, £14.99 (£13.49); 978-0-691-23289-8).
“For the hermits and communal monks of antiquity, the desert was a place to flee the cacophony of ordinary life in order to hear and contemplate the voice of God. But these monks discovered something surprising in their harsh desert surroundings: far from empty and silent, the desert is richly reverberant. Sonorous Desert shares the stories and sayings of these ancient spiritual seekers, tracing how the ambient sounds of wind, thunder, water, and animals shaped the emergence and development of early Christian monasticism.”
God: An anatomy by Francesca Stavrakopoulou (Picador, £12.99 (£11.69); 978-1-5098-6737-0). New in paperback
“Examining God's body, from his head to his hands, feet and genitals, Francesca Stavrakopoulou shows how the Western idea of God developed. She explores the places and artefacts that shaped our view of this singular God and the ancient religions and societies of the biblical world. And in doing so she analyses not only the origins of our oldest monotheistic religions, but also the origins of Western culture.”
Small Miracles by Anne Booth (Harvill Secker, £14.99 (£13.49); 978-1-787-30297-6).
“The 1990s are proving tough for the convent. The order of the Sisters of Saint Philomena is down to its three last nuns. The place that Sisters Margaret, Bridget and Cecilia call home is in dire need of repairs and, with no savings and no new recruits, they are facing the prospect of having to sell up and leave behind the friends and neighbours in the parish community that they love. That is, until ninety-year-old Cecilia decides to play the newly launched National Lottery and a series of small miracles begins to unfold. . .”
Selected by Frank Nugent, of the Church House Bookshop, which operates the Church Times Bookshop.