Elemental Claims of the Gospel by Walter Brueggemann (Cascade Books, £20 (£18); 979-8-3852-1780-9).

“These essays cover ‘themes that have long occupied my thinking, and permit me to offer something of a summary of my work. . . . The first three sections of this book concern, in turn, God, the human agent, and the riddle of communication between them. . . . In the fourth and final section of the book I turn yet again to the book of Jeremiah in which I have, over time, invested much of my scholarly energy.’”

Ancient Christianities: The first five hundred years by Paula Fredriksen (Princeton, £25 (£22.50); 978-0-691-15769-6).

“In Ancient Christianities, Paula Fredriksen traces the evolution of early Christianity — or rather, of early Christianities — through five centuries of Empire, mapping its pathways from the hills of Judea to the halls of Rome and Constantinople.”

Women and the Reformations: A global history by Merry Wiesner-Hanks (Yale, £25 (£22.50); 978-0-300-26823-2).

“Merry E. Wiesner-Hanks explores the history of women and the Reformations in full for the first time. Wiesner-Hanks travels the globe, examining well-known figures like Teresa of  Ávila, Elizabeth I, and Anne Hutchinson, as well as women whose stories are only now emerging”

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