The Sparkle from the Coal: Rowan Williams’ theology of imagination by Barbara Howard (SCM Press, £35 (Church Times SPECIAL OFFER PRICE £28); 978-0-334-06629-3).

“Perhaps one of the least appreciated aspects of Rowan Williams is his theology of imagination. Seeking to fill this gap, this book explores the imaginative impulse operative in Rowan Williams’ theology and poetry, which centres around the notion of ‘divine desire’, and the way in which imagination can reveal possibility even in the bleakest of circumstances. Drawing on his poetic work as well as his theological writing, the book explores how Williams’ theology leads us to a fresh understanding of the ways in which the renewing and enabling energy of the Holy Spirit is ever active, within and beyond the Church, in enabling human imaginations to cooperate with the divine energy of love in bringing creation to fulfilment.”

Religion and Artificial Intelligence: An introduction by Beth Singler (Routledge, £35.99 (£32.39); 978-1-03-218764-8).

“Religion and Artificial Intelligence: An Introduction explores an emerging field with a religious studies approach, drawing on cultural and digital anthropological methods to demonstrate the entanglements of religion and AI, our imaginaries of these objects and our ideas about their utopian or dystopian futures.”

John Henry Newman and the English Sensibility: Distant scene by Jacob Phillips (T & T Clark, £28.99 (£26.09); 978-0-567-70999-8). New in paperback.

“Asides about John Henry Newman being either particularly English or particularly un-English are common. John Henry Newman and the English Sensibility scrutinises Newman’s theological writings to establish how his theology can be considered distinctively English or un-English at the different stages of its development.”

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