The
Modern Churchpeople's Union
Modern Believing 49:1 January 2008
Books Reviewed - each picture link will take you to Amazon
Xinzhong Yao and Paul Badham,
Religious Experience in Contemporary China
Bangor: University of Wales Press, 2008
In April 2006 Professor Xinzhong Yao gave an initial report in Modern Believing on ‘ Religious Experience in Contemporary China' . These findings, now published in fuller detail in a book with the same title which we have jointly edited, were the result of the fullest survey of Chinese religion yet undertaken. The research, funded by a major grant from the John Templeton Foundation was carried out by 110 Chinese interviewers who collected 3196 24-page questionnaires from all across China (excluding Tibet and the two Muslim provinces). The research sought to compare religious experience in China with what had been discovered about religious experience in Britain by the Alister Hardy Religious Experience Research Centre.
Fergus Kerr,
Twentieth-century Catholic Theologians
Oxford: Blackwell, 2007. Pp. ix, 230.
Imagine carrying out this task over the range of the Christian churches: take any dozen books, commonly estimated to represent a particular church's style of theology, from the first quarter of the century and then a similar number from the latter quarter. Then ask how different, relatively, as two groups? If this test were carried out for the 20th century, I suspect that no group would show more change in assumptions, style, and content than Roman Catholic theology.Reviewed by Thomas O'Loughlin
John Cox, Alistair V. Campbell and Bill (K.W.M.) Fulford, eds.
Foreword by Julia Neuberger
Medicine of the Person: Faith, Science and Values in Health Care Provision
London and Philadelphia: Jessica Kingsley Publishers. Pp. 240.
Reviewed by Robert Thompson
This volume forms a response to the work of Paul Tournier (1898-1986) who worked as a GP in Geneva. Tournier developed a personalised vision of healthcare known as ‘Medicine of the Person' in which the ability of the doctor to communicate on a spiritual level with the patient was deemed as important as technical, physiological competence. This vision was informed by his own engagement with biblical theology and his daily practice of meditation.
Stratford Caldecott,
The Seven Sacraments: Entering the Mysteries of God
New York, Crossroad Publishing Company, 2006. Pp. x, 148.
Reviewed by Patrick Thomas
After a difficult day looking after our mentally ill youngest daughter, my wife unwinds by sitting down at the kitchen table with a book of Killer Sudoko and polishing off a puzzle or two. Although I'm not averse to the occasional crossword, Sudoko leaves me cold, which may possibly be the reason why I found it difficult to be enthused by Stratford Caldecott's book.