REVIEWS

REPACKAGING CHRISTIANITY

Written by: Andrew Atherstone Published by: Hodder & Stoughton Price: £22

Alpha has been a cornerstone for a number of years for a number of churches as a tool of evangelism.

It has helped many come to faith and now more than a million people attend Alpha courses every year.

This hardback offers the full story and history of Alpha – brought together for the first time – and the journey which saw founder and former barrister Nicky Gumbel repackage the Christian message for a contemporary audience.

Atherstone, Latimer Research Fellow at Wycliffe Hall, Oxford and a member of the university’s faculty of Theology and Religion, has previously written a number of books around theology and modern Christianity, most notably Archbishop Justin Welby: Risk Taker and Reconciler.

Although there have been a number of books focussing on the work of Alpha, the author recognised there was a gap in learning with no definitive history of the movement, and with the impending retirement of Nicky Gumbel from Brompton Holy Trinity this year and the forthcoming 30th anniversary of the global launch of Alpha, this book is clearly a timely asset for those interested in the roots and development of the Alpha movement.

In an introduction, Atherstone notes: ‘Alpha in the 2020s remains vibrant, frequently refreshed and reinvented for new audiences, in digital media, reaching many new communities… The story of Alpha is of major significance for understanding the place of religious faith in the modern world, but that story has never before been told.’

Meticulously researched, the book provides the definitive archive and story of the roots and the seeds sown which paved the way for the birth of Alpha, along with key background on the life of Nicky Gumbel and the story of how he found faith.

Flicking through the early pages, perhaps what is most striking is the flourishing and unifying nature of faith in the 1950s and 1960s, with many Christian groups in many different places offering vital social connection. There is a sense of something lost over the passage of time, but also in the spirit of Alpha, a willingness to diversify and change – best exemplified by a photograph of Alpha headquarters in Kensington, London, during the most heavily restricted days of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Simple lettering across the windows spells out (in red and white):

‘Try Alpha Online’. A message transmitted in the simplest of ways but which likely reached thousands of people – and it is this sort of diversification which has ensured Alpha has endured.

OBERAMMERGAU 2022

Published by: Municipality of Oberammergau Price: €28

2022 marks the return of the Oberammergau Passion Play in Germany, delayed from 2020 by the Covid-19 pandemic. Staged around every ten years in a spectacular setting in the German municipality in Bavaria, the play is a highlight of a visit to the region and draws thousands of tourists every time it is staged.

To accompany this year’s staging, which runs from May to October, a new 186-page book sharing images and information about the play has been published.

In an introduction to the programme, this year’s festival director Christian Stückl outlines the history of the play – first staged in the 17th century amid the Great Plague which swept across Europe and successfully staged nearly every ten years since, with the cast drawn from Oberammergau itself.

He describes how passion plays were performed in over 400 locations over the region when they first emerged, retelling the story of Jesus’ death.

‘In many other sites, Passion Plays disappeared without a trace long ago. But not in Oberammergau. Here it is a living tradition, maintained with an enthusiasm which transcends the generations. Sometimes it seems like a miracle: a village transforms into a theatre, thousands of spectators come from all over the world and marvel at hundreds of longhaired and bearded amateur actors, singers and musicians, who come together on stage and fervently perform the life of Jesus. How does it happen?’

He credits the continuing success of the globally acclaimed production to a willingness to change in line with the social demographic of the village (up until the 1990s participants had to be members of either the Catholic or Protestant congregations in the village but now open to all) and there is an emphasis on continual inclusion rather than exclusion which the director is keen to highlight. He also cites the importance of drawing parallels with the profound message of the play to conflict around the world today.

The book can be purchased digitally or on paper and offers spectacular photographic quality as well as interesting insights to the play.

A companion photographic book featuring images behind the scenes of the 2022 staging by the official photographer to this year’s production was published in July.

Lynne McNeil