Books

A children's book written by SCIAF's Development Education Officer Elaine McGinlay has received international recognition after being named a winner of the Christlit Book Award. The illustrated children's book, The Wisdom of the River, is rooted in the Catholic vision of human flourishing and invites young readers to journey through the story making choices, in a 'choose your own adventure' format... Read More

Tina Beattie, A Theology of Becoming: Body, Blood, Birth and Sacrament Published by Cambridge: CUP, 2026 Reading this book reminded how much theology is literally and metaphorically bloodless. Here, by contrast, Tina Beattie takes us through the birth of each of her four children, with the joy, pain and sometimes trauma involved. She draws on her experiences to interrogate the images we have of t... Read More

Like Doctor Ray Guarendi, my father had ten children, but he only met four of his many grandchildren before he died. He was still learning on the job, good man that he was. He would have enjoyed and approved of this book, though there would have been some interesting discussions between him and Doctor Gaurendi, had they met. I'll have to scrutinise my own experience of three (but soon to be four) ... Read More

This important and helpful book is a response to the rise of the Far Right in Europe, including Britain, and particularly to the growth of specifically Christian justifications for Far Right activity. It is the result of conversations between a number of academics about a 2020 publication, The Claim to Christianity, by Hannah Strømmen and Ulrich Schmiedel. Both books concentrate heavily on the Fa... Read More

Todd Walatka, Words of Life. The Preaching of Saint Oscar Romero. Publisher: Maryknoll Orbis Books, 2026 At the beginning of March, Professor Todd Walatka came to the UK to speak at a series of events organised by the Archbishop Romero Trust during 'Romero Week', ahead of the 46th anniversary of his martyrdom on March 24, 1980. Walatka is a real expert on Romero's theology and witness, being the f... Read More

Diary from Gaza: Pages from a Tent in the Gaza War by Mohammed Hussein, published by Beacon Books. What does a father write when the world around him is collapsing? In Pages from a Tent in the Gaza War, Mohammed Hussein offers a raw and deeply human diary from inside one of the darkest chapters of modern history. Written from a fragile tent in Gaza while bombs fall and families struggle simply to ... Read More

Climate activist Tim Hewes, a retired dentist and Anglican priest in his seventies, was accused of conspiring to bring the M25 motorway to a standstill in a protest against climate change. On a quiet Sunday afternoon, his home in rural Oxfordshire was raided by eight officers from the Metropolitan Police. Tim was handcuffed and taken to court, then imprisoned on remand for six weeks. Finding Beaut... Read More

Domina Nostra Publishing announces the publication of Saints and Healers: Models of Faith in Medicine, a revised and expanded edition of the respected work by Edgar A Gamboa, MD, FACS. First published in 2008 under the title Virtuous Healers, the book returns in a timely new edition addressing the moral, spiritual, and vocational dimensions of healthcare today. Saints and Healers examines medicine... Read More

The Congregation of the Sisters of St Joseph of Peace (CSJP) is pleased to announce that Easter in Disguise, the 2026 Bloomsbury Lent Book, by Liz Dodd, CSJP, is now available for purchase. Rooted in the Congregation's charism of pursuing peace through justice, Sister Liz invites readers to rediscover Lent as a "radical, subversive season of resistance" and a time for genuine liberation. In Easter... Read More

The World Council of Churches, in collaboration with the Volos Academy for Theological Studies, has released a translation of Hellenism and Christianity: The Meeting of Two Worlds, by John D Zizioulas, the late Metropolitan of Pergamon (Ecumenical Patriarchate). The publication was translated by Fr Gregory Edwards and edited with an introduction by Dr Nikolaos Asproulis. As a delegation from the H... Read More

Author Caris Grimes is a Consultant Surgeon, so she is clearly not someone who underestimates the importance of physical intervention in the healing of illness. But this is a book about praying for the sick. Written for the hesitant doubter, At the Foot of the Cross invites the reader to embrace the courage to pray for others' healing and wholeness while trusting in a God who works through our pra... Read More

This is a historic novel telling the story of Redemptorist priest Francis Xavier Murphy's involvement with the Second Vatican Council. Murphy was at the Council as an assistant to one of the American bishops present, but unbeknown to the bishop - or to almost anyone else - Murphy was writing articles for the New Yorker magazine about the confidential sessions of the Council and the attempts of pow... Read More

Anyone attending a church in the UK knows that in almost every community, the clergy and volunteers are confronted by the enormous unmet needs of homeless people. Some churches keep their doors open all winter, offering a safe, heated space for people to sleep during the day. Others provide food or vouchers, referring "the unhoused" to the relevant council services or charities. A few provide prac... Read More

Author Tim O'Brien trained for the Catholic priesthood before becoming a primary school teacher, then a residential social worker and finally a police officer before retiring. In 2024 he published this short 87-page work in celebration of his favourite saint, Francis of Assisi. Franciscan spirituality has attracted him since his youth, but with characteristic honesty and humility Tim notes the dif... Read More