A Letter That Makes Sense of Life

Written by: Andrew Ollerton Published by: Hodder and Stoughton Price: £16.99

“On all my travels, if I had the Gospels, Paul’s letter to the Romans and Andrew Ollerton’s book I would need nothing else!” is the endorsement from actor David Suchet for this title. That is quite a commendation from David Suchet but in my opinion, a worthy one.

Ollerton is a theologian and pastor with a strong connection to the Bible Society: He is also a mountain climber and he approaches Romans from the perspective of that experience. It is a unique and engaging way to study Romans and one that in my humble opinion is very effective.

He breaks Romans down into its various parts – ten sections in all – using the various different parts of a mountaineer’s approach to climbing and descending a mountain. His insights and language create for the reader a thoughtful and progressive understanding of one of the greatest [and at times most difficult] parts of God’s revelation.

A slow, careful, reading of this book will, I believe, prove for the reader to be hugely rewarding. Looking back on my own copy, I have underscored, written margin notes and asked many questions for future reference – for me, the sign of a good and helpful read.

Ollerton almost at the end says this, “Paul opened Romans with this phrase [‘the obedience that comes from faith’ 1:5], and now closes the brackets at the other end. What lies between is a message more relevant than we’ve dared to imagine – ‘the obedience of faith lived out in every sphere of life.’ – Amen to that.

The Very Rev Dr Iain Greenshields