A Truth Universally Acknowledged: 40 days with Jane Austen by Rachel Mann (Canterbury Press, £12.99 (Church Times SPECIAL OFFER PRICE £10.39); 978-1-78622-503-0).
“Rachel Mann introduces Jane Austen, her world and her ideas, and, for each day of Lent, offers commentary on a short excerpt from her writing to explore how her faith can illuminate ours. She brings Jane's novels into conversation with biblical and spiritual ideas and also with today’s questions about class, sexuality and race.”
Lent with the Beloved Disciple by Michael Marshall (Bloomsbury, £10.99 (Church Times SPECIAL OFFER PRICE £8.99); 978-1-3994-0493-8).
“The 2024 Bloomsbury Lent Book invites you on a six-week journey in the company of the ‘beloved disciple’ as found in the narrative of the Gospel of St John. As the only disciple to have stayed close to Jesus at every stage from the Last Supper to the Crucifixion at Calvary, this eagle-eyed eyewitness intentionally records certain subtle details and signs which, when perceived with the eyes of faith, indicate a deeper and far lasting significance. Michael Marshall explores what these signs are and how, with prayerful reflection, they draw us ever more deeply into the personal, eternal and cosmic significance and awareness of all that Christ accomplished by his death and resurrection – the Paschal Mystery.”
Glorification and the Life of Faith by Ashley Cocksworth and David Ford (Baker, £19.99 (£17.99); 978-1-5409-6168-6).
“Two renowned theologians open up the reality of God’s glory in this book, offering readers a dynamic foundation for glorifying God in the twenty-first century. Drawing from Christian spirituality, liturgy, poetry, hymns, iconography, seminal ‘glory’ texts in the Bible, the Nicene Creed, and theologians throughout the ages who caught sight of the glory of God in diverse ways, this book explores the immensely rich and generative soteriological theme of glorification.”
Selected by Frank Nugent, of the Church House Bookshop, which operates the Church Times Bookshop.