Curl up with a good book this Advent

Rev'd Zoe King and her band of merry priests from Barry Ministry Area share their Advent book recommendations.

I’m blessed to be part of a team of clergy that are all quite different but we get on well. One of the things we have decided to do to understand each other and widen our own knowledge and anyone else's is that each of us over the year will choose a book we all will then read.

Sharing book recommendations often leads us to books we may never have picked up ourselves and we hope that it will encourage a lot of discussions and further recommendations for both lay and ordained alike. So here’s a few suggestions from Fr Robert, Fr Dan and myself.

Journey to the Manger by Paula Gooder.

Chosen by Fr Robert Parrish

Paula Gooder is a leading Anglican New Testament scholar, and Canon Chancellor of St Paul’s cathedral, London. This book, first published in 2015, introduces non experts to what scholars are saying about the Christmas stories in the Gospels.

The title to the introductory pages is ‘The New Testament Scholars Who Stole Christmas.’ Scholars have been accused of being like the Grinch, out to ruin everyone else’s Christmas by pointing out the difficulties in taking the Gospel stories of the birth of Jesus literally. Did Mary and Joseph go to Bethlehem to obey an imperial order (Luke) or were they already living there (Matthew)? Was Jesus born in a stable (tradition) or was he born in a house (Matthew and Luke)? Did three kings bring the infant Jesus gifts (tradition) or was it an unspecified number of magicians (Matthew)? Did the Holy Family flee to Egypt to escape the murderous intentions of King Herod (Matthew), or did they return unimpeded to Nazareth after the presentation of Jesus in the Temple (Luke)?

Paula Gooder points out that the evangelists are more interested in theology than literal history. Many of the birth stories echo Old Testament stories where God promises salvation, and acts through chosen individuals. For example, Moses was nearly killed on the orders of a wicked king (Pharaoh), who succeeded in killing many Hebrew boys. Just as God acted powerfully through Moses, now He was to act powerfully through Jesus. So the story of Herod trying to kill Jesus tells us that Jesus is a new Moses.

I particularly enjoyed the comparison Paula Gooder makes between the genealogies of Jesus in Matthew and Luke, and the prologue of John’s Gospel which deals with the divine origins of Jesus.

Joyful Christianity: Finding Jesus in the world by Cally Hammond

Chosen by Fr Dan Barnes-Davies

Dr Hammond writes about each of the 'joyful mysteries' (Annunciation, Visitation, Nativity, Presentation, and the child Jesus in the Temple) in turn. Though these will at first glance be more familiar to those who pray the rosary, this book will be of interest to all those looking for a thorough examination of these events in the broad Christmas story. Hammond herself writes that "[this] book is for those who want to understand what they believe" — and she achieves this by bringing her own formidable understanding of scripture and experience of prayer to the task of connecting these profound moments in Christ's story with our lives today.

I very much enjoyed the opportunity to consider and reconsider the joyful mysteries, as we begin to turn our thoughts towards Advent and Christmastide.

This book is a recipe for a calm and joyful outlook in this season; each chapter begins with the pertinent reading from Luke's Gospel and ends with a prayer and some questions for group discussion or individual rumination.

I heartily commend this engaging read to anyone who yearns to (re)discover a prayerful joy this Christmastide.

Wake up to Advent! John Sentamu

Chosen by Rev’d Zoë King

I read this book last year and thoroughly enjoyed it. Written by the former Archbishop of York it is based in upon the collect for the first Sunday of Advent in which the author writes ‘the images and symbolism I want to use in this book are found in this prayer. They are the images of someone from sleep and getting ready for life of the day. Having stirred from our slumber we are now ready to Wake Up, Clean Up, Feed Up and Grow Up.’

Each week of advent takes one of these as a theme and each day starts with a short bible reading, a short passage of commentary and thought, followed by a prayer a short reflection for the reader.

The book is easy to read but inspires thought and reflection. John Sentamu’s personality and liveliness shines through the commentary sections and the reflections offer an opportunity to consider our faith through the story and characters of the nativity.

And now for something completely different

The Christmas Mystery by Jostein Gaarder

Maybe an advent book is not quite what you are looking for this year. This novel is a book where each chapter is a day in December up to Christmas Eve. The author also wrote Sophie’s World and I hasten to tell you this is nothing like that book - whilst I enjoyed that novel it was a dense book full of phliosophy.

The novel is based around a boy who finds an old advent calender in a shop and each day a piece of paper falls out with another part of a story about a girl who travels back in time to Bethlehem and the birth of Christ.

The story is charming and a lovely read through December and I’ve read it a few times over the years and plan to do so again this year.

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