A Different Kind of Fast: Feeding our true hungers in Lent by Christine Valters Paintner (Broadleaf Books, £12.99 (£11.69); 978-1-5064-9211-7).
“Fasting is not just the physical practice of giving up food. Fasting can also be a way to combat our culture of endless distractions and busyness. Fasting is an act of letting go, of making more internal space to listen to the sacred whispers of our lives. Join Christine Valters Paintner, online abbess of Abbey of the Arts, on a spiritual journey through seven different kinds of fasts, including fasting from control, from our attachments, from ego-investment, and more. When we practice these fasts, we can discover unexpected spiritual gifts, as well as answers to deeper questions, leading us to ask: ‘What is my true hunger?’”
T & T Clark Handbook of the Early Church, edited by Ilaria L.E. Ramelli, J. A. McGuckin & Piotr Ashwin-Siejkowski (T & T Clark, £28.99 (£26.09); 978-0-567-70058-2). New in paperback.
“Exploring the key documents, authors and themes of Early Christian traditions, this volume traces the vital trajectories of emerging distinctive Christian identity in the Graeco-Roman world. Special attention is given to the coherent growth of Christian faith in connection with worship, alongside the crucial transformation of Christian life and doctrine under the Christian Emperors.”
Learning from Other Religions by David Brown (Cambridge University Press, £30 (£27); 978-1-00-936770-7).
“One common argument against taking the notion of divine revelation seriously is the extraordinrary diversity which exists betwen the world's major religions. How can God be thought to have spoken to humanity when the conclusions drawn are so very different? David Brown authoritatively and persuasively tackles this issue head-on. He refutes the idea that all faiths necessarily culminate in Christianity, or that they can be reduced to some facile lowest common denominator, arguing instead that ideas may emerge more naturally in one context than another.”
Selected by Frank Nugent, of the Church House Bookshop, which operates the Church Times Bookshop.