BOOK REVIEW : Meeting God in Mark by Rowan Williams

A short and rich guide to a short and rich gospel! Rowan Williams explains that the purpose of this book is to “offer suggestions for a slow reading of what notoriously feels like a rushed and packed text" and we used it accordingly, over a six week study group at St Stephen Walbrook this autumn. For those looking for a more formal structure and reading guide, the appendix contains questions for group discussion around the themes covered in each chapter and a weekly reading guide, followed by a short reflection.

BOOK REVIEW - Four Ministries, One Jesus : Exploring your vocation with the four gospels by Richard A. Burridge

I was given this excellent book by Fr Chrichton, my last vicar in Southgate. I think it helped (but was not essential) that I had read “Four Gospels : One Jesus” (by the same author and considered to be a modern classic) before reading this book.
‘Four Ministries’ draws on the theme of the earlier (1994) text, using the four symbols now associated with the evangelists to describe a different area of mission and ministry. As in the earlier book, in which Richard Burridge makes clear that the four portraits of Jesus offered by each gospel help to provide a different picture of the same man (in the same way that at Chartwell, different photographs on the walls in different rooms show different aspects of the life of Churchill), so this text, divided into sections examining each gospel, describe different aspects of the one mission and ministry of the church.