The Psalms by Keith Bodner (OUP, £16.99 (£15.29); 978-0-19-091687-9).

“The Psalms is an introduction to the world of the Psalms that focuses on the content and the poetic forms in the collection, guiding the reader toward an appreciation of the purposes of the Psalms and their contribution to the Scriptures of Israel. Rather than abstract theorizing, Keith Bodner offers close readings of numerous psalms, exploring the poetically-framed questions raised in the Psalms, ranging from the problem of evil and the silence of God to issues of philosophical speculation, practical atheism, and even life after death.”

So Longeth My Soul: A reader in Christian spirituality by Joanna Collicutt (SCM Press, £25 (Church Times SPECIAL OFFER PRICE £20); 978-0-334-06310-0).

“The SCM Reader in Christian Spirituality not only offers a collection of readings from the classic texts of Christian spirituality but also gives the reader a way into these texts that enables them to be received as living and relevant for both personal spirituality and ministry.”

Mixed Ecology: Inhabiting an integrated church by Ed Olsworth-Peter (SPCK, £19.99 (£17.99); 978-0-281-08937-6).

“Much has been written about the mixed economy/ecology of Church over the last 15 years across a range of traditions and denominations, but what hasn’t been explored as such is the connectivity and dependency between different local expressions of church, and the value of ‘co-growing’ alongside one another for their mutual health and missional development. . . This book will help church leaders and worshipping communities to understand their place within the mixed ecology, the value of growing their own local ecosystem, and how to develop a physically gathered, digital and hybrid ecology of Church.”


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