Heart of My Own Heart: Deepening life with Christ by John Francis Friendship (Canterbury Press, £14.99 (Church Times SPECIAL OFFER PRICE £11.99); 978-1-78622-579-5).
“The heart as an image of love is found everywhere in popular culture, yet devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus is often dismissed as excessive piety. This rich and deep tradition, that is rooted in scripture and reaches back to the earliest Christian centuries, springs from an understanding of the name and nature of God as love. In this poetic and powerful book, John-Francis Friendship opens up the treasures of an overlooked spirituality and offers a wealth of resources for the living the of faith and reflecting the wonder, joy, compassion and calling that comes from intimacy with the love of God made visible in Christ.”
Why Aquinas Matters Now by Oliver Keenan (Bloomsbury, £16.99 (£15.29); 978-1-3994-0418-1).
“As Oliver Keenan argues, Aquinas matters now not because he was right about everything but because he can teach us a new way of looking at the world. A powerful voice for community, justice, friendship and peace, Aquinas’ profoundly non-violent philosophy shows us how to be human in a deeply dehumanizing world. The era that he knew was defined by conflict and divisive politics, much like our own – his unfailing belief in the power of communication to overcome alienation and despair is an important lesson for us all.”
The Lost Chapel of Westminster: How a Royal Chapel became the House of Commons by John Cooper (Head of Zeus, £25 (£22.50); 9781801104517).
“St Stephen’s has been part of many lives over the centuries, from the medieval masons who worked through the Black Death to complete the chapel, to the generations of MPs who locked horns in the Commons chamber. Threading together religion, politics, art, architecture and narrative history, John Cooper tells the story of the lost chapel, an iconic building that reflects the national transition from medieval divine-right monarchy to modern parliamentary democracy.”
Selected by Frank Nugent, of the Church House Bookshop, which operates the Church Times Bookshop.