Books for Lent

LENT BRINGS with it new books intended to deepen faith and enrich spirituality. Here is a selection of the best of this year’s offerings.

The Fingerprints of God

Tracking the Divine Suspect Through a History of Images

Robert Farrar Capon

163 pages

paper $22.95

Eerdmans

0-8028-4768-4

This novel presentation of salvation history traces images – many of them surprising – that point people to the godhead. As well, it analyzes the use and misuse of scripture by human image-makers. It’s worth having just for the imaginary pre-creation planning conference within/among the three persons of the Trinity.

Twelve Step Christianity

The Christian Roots and Application of the Twelve Steps

Saul Selby

188 large format pages

paper, $18.85

Hazelden

1-56838-561-7

An invitation to sort out your life with help from this all-purpose, explicitly Christian adaptation of the spiritual program made famous by Alcoholics Anonymous.

Ashes to Glory

Meditations for Lent, Holy Week, and Easter

Martin Dudley

146 pages

paper $17.95

SPCK

0-281-05247-6

A “traditional” Lent Book: powerful meditations for the 40 days, plus Sundays, and seven special ones for Good Friday. The prologue, built around directions for a holy Lent by 8th century Bishop Theodulph (who wrote “All Glory, Laud, and Honour”), effectively sets the tone.

Confound Them!

Diabolical Plans for the Church

Herbert O’Driscoll

119 pages

paper, $16.95

ABC Publishing

1-55126-318-1

Satirical “letters from hell” plotting the demise of the church: gentle, whimsical, and devastatingly on target. Think of every issue bedeviling church life today – sexuality, prayer and hymn books, gender, treatment of scripture – and remember I Peter 5: 8 and 9.

My Soul in Silence Waits

Meditations on Psalm 62

Margaret Guenther

139 pages

paper $15.95

Cowley

1-56101-181-9

This is for the person unable to make a traditional retreat. After explaining how to make a “do-it-yourself” retreat wherever you are, the book offers eight meditations for waiting on God, built around themes like patience, trust, and expectation.

Open Return

Renewing Your Faith through the Gospel Story

Roy Williamson

138 pages

paper $15.95

SPCK Triangle

0-281-05292-1

Forty meditations on some of the best-known New Testament stories – an “open ticket” to journey from Jesus’ birth through Pentecost – invite the reader to rediscover their impact and experience.

Abba Father

Understanding and Using the Lord’s Prayer

Kenneth Stevenson

202 pages

paper $30.95

Canterbury Press

1-85311-382-4

An English bishop barnstormed his diocese inviting people to join him in reflecting on the Lord’s Prayer. Here are some gems of insight from those pastoral encounters, supported by biblical, historical, and liturgical perspectives.

William Portman is Book Review Editor for the Anglican Journal