Meaning, Mattering, Transcendence: Essays on meaning, morality, and God by Vernon White (Cascade Books, £16 (£14.40); 978-1-6667-6486-4).

“This book examines the meaning of some of the most basic terms we use in both confessional and secular discussion about morality and religion. Is there any credible and distinctive meaning in what we refer to as ‘right and wrong’ and ‘God’? What do we even mean by meaning itself? Outside specialist academic discourse these terms are rarely examined in depth. Here they are probed with as much rigor as possible, but also accessibly.”


In the Eye of the Storm: Middle Eastern Christians in the Twenty-First Century, edited by Mitri Raheb (Pickwick Publishers, £27 (£24.30); 978-1-6667-4893-2).

“In the Eye of the Storm tells the story of the plight of 21st-century Middle Eastern Christians in five countries (Palestine, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, and Egypt) in the context of the so-called Arab Spring and within a destabilised region that is a geopolitical triangle shaped by Israeli hegemony and Arab-Iranian tensions.”

Treasure in the Wilderness: Desert Spirituality for Uncertain Times by Andrew D. Mayes (Resource Publications, £18 (£16.20); 978-1-6667-7521-1).

“This exciting resource on desert spirituality is quite unlike any other: at once a physical journey to outstanding deserts of the planet and an odyssey of the soul. A journey of discovery takes us across five continents as we venture to places few pilgrims reach: the Gazan desert, the Sahara, the Australian outback, the Athos wilderness and the Ordos Desert of China, and the Syrian desert, among others.”


Selected by Frank Nugent, of the Church House Bookshop, which operates the Church Times Bookshop.