Life’s Great Questions by Jean Vanier (SPCK, £9.99). Now aged 86, Jean Vanier, the co-founder of L’Arche, reflects on his life and discovers Providence at work: how he was guided towards his vision of community by a “mysterious attraction” towards people with disabilities; what led him to join the British Navy aged 13 in 1942; and what impelled him to resign his commission eight years later. Interweaving his own story with Gospel passages, Vanier challenges readers to discover the deeper meaning of their own lives, asking themselves: “How can I live [so that the suffering of others] becomes a source of life?”
To Prefer Nothing To Christ (CTS, £6.95). Written by five Benedictines (four men and a woman) and subtitled “The Monastic Mission of the English Benedictine Congregation”, this book explains to the lay reader what it means to be called to this particular vocation as a Religious. It also seeks to interpret the English Benedictine Congregation’s mission today: how to remain true to tradition yet at the same time be a prophetic sign to secular society. All who are attracted to the Benedictine charism and who recognise its distinctive contribution to the Catholic Church in this country will find it worth reading.
The Latin New Testament by HAG Houghton (OUP, £25). The process of creating a Latin version of the New Testament gobbled up the energies of some of Christendom’s sharpest minds over many centuries. Commenting on such versions was one of the foundation stones of Christian theology. The enterprise ranged from Northumbria to North Africa. Houghton has produced an all-encompassing survey that reminds us that the Vulgate did not fall from the sky and that, even after its arrival, there was ample space for scholarly cut and thrust.
The Sea Chart by John Blake (Bloomsbury, £25). This wonderfully presented and lavish book details the history of sea charts, both from a scientific as well as an aesthetic perspective. Sea charts were essential in the ancient world: without them trade would not have existed. They knitted the world together in a series of mutually beneficial agreements but they also helped slavers and colonialists find their targets. John Blake examines their history with large illustrations of hundreds of different maps. They are beautiful to look at but their influence on history is much greater than even the aesthetic pleasure they now bring.
Robert B. Parker’s Kickback by Ace Atkins (No Exit, £7.99). The late Robert Parker’s series of Spenser novels are among the most loved in crime fiction. So it is no surprise that the publishers have asked another author to continue the series. Kickback tackles the trenchant and pervasive issue of independent prisons. Spenser, a private investigator, is hired by the mother of a child who has been sent to a private facility for making a joke about his headmaster. As Spenser investigates, he finds crooked judges sending children to prison for cash remuneration. An important topic, handled with aplomb.
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