A Shaking Reality : Daily Reflections for Advent Peter B Price DLT 2018 Sometimes even the the most faithful of hearts might wonder how our religious words, images and metaphors make a difference. How do they shape our understanding of the world, God and the practice of believing ? If we desire God to shake and change us […]
Not for Profit – what kind of education will equip us for the future ?
Posted on by James Woodward
Looking backwards and wondering ‘what if’ is an exercise that requires care and some measure of wisdom. However, we need to engage in the ‘what if’ questions to nurture reflexivity and so challenge ourselves to be energised by the possibilities of change. So here is a question – if you could turn the clock back […]
Reminiscence Work with Older Adults
Posted on by James Woodward
The Multi-Sensory Reminiscence Activity Book 52 Weekly Group Session Plans for Working with Older Adults Sophie Jopling and Sarah Mousley Jessica Kingsley Publishers 2017 ISBN: 9781785922398 There are few of us in early middle age who do not know someone who is living with some of the opportunities and challenges of growing older. Sadly […]
Holiday reading (1) Gordon Brown My life, Our Times Bodley Head 2017.
Posted on by James Woodward
Having successfully downsized my living and therefore ‘storage’ arrangements I think twice about buying a book! I was, however, immediately drawn to this political autobiography, not least because on the two occasions I met Gordon Brown I found him humane, reflective and generous. Retired politicians, we are told, are generally more attractive than […]
Waiting and Wondering
Posted on by James Woodward
I find myself along with others caught up in quite absurd activity as ‘ the Christmas rush’ bears down. I discover that in this maddness I have no evenings free before Christmas and wonder how much of this is of my own making! An early flurry of sleet and the promise of snow for some tomorrow […]
Lent Books 2017
Posted on by James Woodward
Here is my wander through a number of Lent books offering you a little glimpse into some of what is available. Justin Welby, Dethroning Mammon. This short book well organised into six chapters and offers the possibility of a basis for lent study on the challenging question of what might a Christian make money and […]
Vulnerability and Care: Christian Reflections on the Philosophy of Medicine by Andrew Sloane
Posted on by James Woodward
I have recently seen at close hand the work a busy acute hospital having to deal with an older person suffering multiple challenges to well-being caused in the main by intense confusion as a result of the Alzheimer’s disease. The result was shocking and frustrating. Although,of course, a one-off situation which was intensified by my […]
How do we access the spiritual?
Posted on by James Woodward
Jessica Kingsley Publishers 2015; 280 pages; £19.99 ISBN 9781849054973 I review this book (the second week of July 2016) when two particular conversations were at the forefront of my mind. The first was the smooth transition between Cameron and May into 10 Downing Street and the office of Prime Minister. What followed was much speculation […]
Improving our understanding of Dementia ?
Posted on by James Woodward
I am gathering together a small collection of books all published by Jessica Kingsley who is certainly one of the most innovative and ground-breaking publishers working in this field. Their list covering a range of books on dementia is well worth examining. ( www.jkp.com ) These first two books handle at first hand the […]
Spiritual Accompaniment
Posted on by James Woodward
Spiritual Accompaniment and Counselling: Journeying with psyche and soul Edited by Peter Masden Gubi Jessica Kingsley Publishers 2015 paperback 192 pages £16.99 Here at Sarum College ( www.sarum.ac.uk ) our two year certificate in spiritual direction is very popular to a wide variety of individuals who wish to build upon, reflect and improve their practice. In a world […]
Performing Pastoral Care
Posted on by James Woodward
Making the case for the relevance of pastoral care today, this book explores the role of pastoral care through the prism of music. Using musical analogies, the author provides a new way of understanding and practising pastoral care, grounded in practical theology. Challenging overemphasis on mission, he shows that pastoral care remains essential to the […]
Jim Birren
Posted on by James Woodward
REMEMBERING JIM BIRREN One of the towering figures in gerontology has died : James E. Birren, founding Director of the Andrus Gerontology Center, at the University of Southern California, died at the age of 97. His achievements were extraordinary Foremost among these, is creation of the Andrus Gerontology Center at USC, as well as the Leonard […]
What kind of Ministry? Chaplaincy as Mission
Posted on by James Woodward
Chaplaincy Ministry and the Mission of the Church Victoria Slater, SCM Press 2015, 160 pages, pbk, no price marked, ISBN 978 0 334 05315 6 There are three distinctive and attractive characteristics of this book. The first is the authors’ skilful ability to open up her research in an accessible and stimulating way. The […]
The Quest for meaning in later life
Posted on by James Woodward
P. G. Coleman, D. Koleva and J. Bornat, eds., Ageing, Ritual and Social Change: Comparing the Secular and Religious in Eastern and Western Europe. Farnham and Burlington, VT: Ashgate Publishing, 2013. Pp. xviii, 283. Pb. £19.99. ISBN 978-1-4094-5215-7. This volume is a compelling and authoritative contribution to the literature that seeks to understand our quest […]
Sarum College Bookshop : Book of the Month
Posted on by James Woodward
‘Between Dark and Daylight’ by Joan Chittister I am busy at the moment embarking upon a major exercise of downsizing in preparation for my move to Sarum. This must include books! The process is illuminating. What do we attach ourselves to? All this ‘stuff’ faces me with the paradoxes and contradictions of living and […]
Writing the Self: David Lodge
Posted on by James Woodward
‘Quite a good time to be born’ – by David Lodge As an avid reader of biography and autobiography it is intriguing, I think, to wonder about the criteria of choice at work in the writing of such texts. Put simply, what you put in and what you leave out? What might any of […]
Strange Glory : A life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Posted on by James Woodward
‘Strange Glory’ by Charles Marsh It is always extraordinary to be reminded about the gaps – and sometimes very significant indeed – in our knowledge. The life and death of Dietrich Bonhoeffer is one of these areas. Born in 1906 and executed by the Nazi regime in 1945, this is the story, the […]
Understanding Age? Face the Future….
Posted on by James Woodward
It has been a great pleasure to offer a Forward to this stimulating contribution the literature on old age by the delightful William Cutting Foreword – (Face the Future. Book 2. Challenges, Joy and Faith for Seniors) Like many of you reading this book I am thankful for my satellite navigation system. It is […]
Psalms Redux & Prayers for the Day by Carla Grosch-Miller
Posted on by James Woodward
Here is a wonderful book to look out for from a skilled and humane theologian and my commendation for my friend Carla Psalms Redux & Prayers for the Day by Carla Grosch-Miller We human beings become so easily distracted and even bored with the familiar. The comfort of the ‘well-known’ so easily can […]
the costs of trying to avoid the inevitable
Posted on by James Woodward
From todays Church Times James Woodward on the costs of trying to avoid the inevitable Should We Live Forever? The ethical ambiguities of aging Gilbert Meilaender Eerdmans £11.99 HUMAN beings generally desire life. Most of us are grateful for the good gift that is our life. Like other animals, we pass through a life-cycle from […]