REVIEWS

THE CONTEMPORARY WOMAN

Can she really have it all?

Written by: Michele Guinness

Published by: Hodder Faith

Price: £10.99

Broadcaster and author Michele Guinness considers the role of women, the workplace and the church in this book, the roots of which lie in an earlier title which has been updated and revised to reflect the changing world of the 21st century.

First published in 2021, the work has now been released in paperback, but its premise remains relevant as the status of women continues to be under the spotlight, particularly in secular society.

Raised in a practising Jewish family and married to a retired Church of England vicar, with a lifetime spent in the media, Guinness is uniquely placed to offer commentary on the place and purpose of women in our world – and in positions of faith. While written with an Anglican perspective, the messages remain relevant to show the importance of women in faith and their place and influence in so many ways through all that is recorded within the Bible.

It traces the part played by women in some of the key Bible stories – showing their wisdom and qualities and draws parallels with modern female figures (although some of those mentioned are now out of date).

The book is lively and controversial in places (as you might expect), but always entertaining and with the stories of the women of the Bible at heart – along with real-life experience and a willingness to be counter-cultural and different and not embrace popular responses but to be different and offer a profoundly faith-based response to unfairness.

Perhaps the greatest words of wisdom (and encouragement) lie in the final sentences: ‘If industry, institutions and governments, not to mention the Church, want to rise up and fly, they desperately need the voices of women, Otherwise they will only have half the expertise, half the capability, half the potential and half the achievement.’

CONVERSATIONS BY THE SEA

Reflections on Discipleship, Ministry and Mission

Written by: Andrew R Rollinson

Published by: Handsel Press

Price: £10.00

Taking the narrative of just one chapter of the book of John (21 – the final chapter of the gospel) as the premise for the work, this unusual approach has resulted in a book which offers the reflections of the author and his long ministry within the Baptist Church and shows how a single chapter of the Bible offers thoughts and themes on discipleship, ministry and mission.

The title is drawn from a key moment of the chapter – the disciples catching nothing, but Jesus appears as a stranger and requests they cast again (against their better judgement) and are found to be full.

The author explores the complex multiple layers of the chapter and reflects on the many messages which can be discerned from within this single, but critical, chapter of the Bible.

The book has been published with funding from the Drummond Trust.

Lynne McNeil