Reviews

REVIEWS

Inspirational cameos

Soul Survivor: How my Faith Survived the Church, by Philip Yancey. Hodder & Stoughton £9.99

"THE commonplace deed is a great step and beautiful compromise. The beauty of it consists in today's compromise being less impure than yesterday's; it consists in our eyes being carried in a straight line towards something beautiful when we look, not at the deeds, but at the direction in which they are set."

So said Mahatma Ghandi, and it's just one of the many insights in a book brimming with wisdom. Indeed, there are a lot of good reasons to read Soul Survivor, but the subtitle 'How my faith survived the Church' isn't one of them. It's not that Yancey doesn't actually tell us how his faith survived the Church – he does – it's rather that the subtitle leads you to believe that he will provide Christians who are disaffected, disillusioned and bored by church with some blueprint for survival. He doesn't.

In fact, Yancey's own survival kit consisted of his encounters with the lives and work of 11 great men and one woman – all learners from Jesus, and all Christians except Ghandi. What Yancey offers us is 12 inspiring cameos which capture their distinctive, particular contribution to the world in general and to his own pilgrimage of faith.

Yancey does not include all the usual suspects. Indeed, his heroes are rarely church-based ministers, but rather people who are more involved in the non-believing world. Yes, Martin Luther King is here, though in his human frailty as well as in his prophetic courage, but so is the evangelical US Surgeon General Everett Koop, who was vilified when he was appointed but succeeded in holding a strong pro-life, anti-sodomy line whilst enjoying the admiration and gratitude of the American gay community at the height of the US Aids epidemic. He was their doctor and they were his people. Compassion without compromise.

Yancey writes too of the brilliant work of Dr Paul Brand among lepers whose combination of extraordinary surgical technique and unbounding belief in the dignity and value of every individual rebuilt thousands of lives. From Brand, Yancey learned that it was possible "to live in modern society, achieve success without forfeiting humility, serve others sacrificially, and yet emerge with joy and contentment."

As a writer, Yancey introduces us to other writers: Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky, Annie Dillard and Frederick Buechner. Obviously, some cameos will grip some readers more than others and like almost all such collections it's harder to ‘get into' a book like this in the way you might a novel or work on a single theme. Still, the chapter on Chesterton would have justified the price on its own. The fat, holy, jolly jester and grand defender of a joyous faith had much to teach his own generation and much to teach ours. So does Yancey.

Mark Greene is executive director of the London Institute for Contemporary Christianity

Recommended reading

June Jolly reviews a selection of inspirational books on health issues and bereavement

A Need For Living, by Tom Gordon. Wild Goose Publications £9.99

A hospice chaplain, Tom Gordon writes with compassion and a sense of his own inadequacy to meet the spiritual needs of all his patients with their very unique and differing experiences – some with faith, others with none.

He has learnt over the years that for some people, 'Christian' answers appear trite and hollow, but he has found that spiritual needs can be addressed by seeking to listen to them and understand how to meet them where they are.

This book is full of illustrations that help grieving relatives as well as the dying patient. Tom Gordon uses everyday verbal ‘pictures’ to convey the way people can work through their pain and bewilderment. Whether it is climbing a rock face or clearing out an attic, watching the damming up of a flowing stream by a huge boulder, and waiting until the stream finds another way through, even by joining the individual on an observation coach looking back with them on their life, he shows just how empathy allows the person to travel their own particular pathway.

He is non-judgmental in his approach and one is sometimes left wondering how his own Christian belief is shown to his patient. However, as the book progresses, one is left in no doubt and one surmises that no one else is.

Tom Gordon is very much aware that many people feel inadequate for the task of spiritual care and his illustrations should be of enormous help. He clearly shows how some are able to plan a celebration at the same time as facing imminent death and that this is not a denial but can be held in tandem.

This book is peppered with poems and meditations on Scripture passages that complement the chapters and illustrations he makes.

It is to be highly recommended by all those who work with terminally ill patients and bereaved families, and those who have difficult questions to answer from friends and family.

Testimony to God’s power

From Medicine to Miracle, by Dr Mary Self. Harper Collins £17.99

This is a riveting book and traces the experiences of a young person confronted by the devastating news that she had life-threatening bone cancer. Written by a doctor and psychiatrist steeped in medical tradition by training and her parentage, she has all the qualifications to know the prognosis and outcome of terminal cancer.

Dr Self was brought up a devout Catholic and found faith within her church family. She later joined a fellowship who believed passionately in the power of prayer and the Holy Spirit’s work in healing.

Having developed an osteo-sarcoma, she had a leg amputated at the age of 17. She was convinced that God not only could but would restore it and for a time remained abundantly confident. The author tenderly describes her feelings as she came to terms with the fact that this wasn’t going to happen and that her ambitions for medical school, and later marriage and a family were crushed.

Despite all her experiences she trusted God was going to perform a miracle and she would be completely healed. But when her 'miracle' children were still small she developed bone secondaries and became terminally ill.

As she fearlessly confronts this news and her dread of dying and the pain she draws round her a support group with whom she could be totally honest.

When all hope of survival had gone, and Mary was relying on his repeated promise 'trust me Mary even unto death', God stepped in with the miracle she had stopped expecting.

Aged 34, Dr Mary Self is the living testimony of a contemporary very human person who fiercely loved life, her family and clung to the promises of God and his power over the most dreaded of diseases. Whether you are yourself in Dr Self's position or someone unaffected, this book is one you will not want to miss.

... and God's comfort

Through it all, by Stella Heath. Shalom Christian Outreach £5 plus 50p p&p
from Shalom Christian Outreach, 47 Stephenson Drive, East Grinstead RH19 4BG

Perhaps the most devastating thing that can happen to an elderly person is to find their lifelong companion disintegrates mentally, and gradually becomes a mere shell, unable to recognise them or to be able to perform even the most ordinary tasks themselves.

When this happened to the author, like most people, she found it bewildering, stressful and a huge physical burden day by day – let alone remaining ‘on duty’ all night as well.

Stella Heath, who with her husband had spent their whole life caring for the blind and being Mum and Dad to the Torch family in Sussex, writes: “I have tried to share not only the pain, sorrow and heartache, but also the sparkle which laughter brought, and the light which illuminated a very dark pathway.”

This she does with great honesty and one feels the agony and bewilderment with her. Small nuggets of her experience make this book a treasure for all of us who can only stand by and support. It is, of course, a book to share with those whose pathway leads ‘through the valley of the shadow of death’.

Not only is it a book about the trials and tribulations of those families where a member succumbs to Alzheimer’s disease (the process of the dying of the brain), but also of the comfort and support of our Good Shepherd who supported Stella all the way through the valley. As she says, she didn’t always realise that the verse in Psalm 23 meant ALL the way through to the end.

Despite the sadness and heartache of the book, it is a testimony to the reality of our Shepherd’s presence at the best and worst of times.

June Jolly is a qualified social worker with a Diploma of Christian Counselling with CWR

© Christian Family Network
is run by CPO, supported by
Care for the Family, Marriage Resource, Positive Parenting,
Care, Women Alive, Christian Herald and many others.


		REVIEWS Inspirational cameos Soul Survivor: How my Faith Survived the Church, by Philip Yancey. Hodder & Stoughton £9.99 "THE commonplace deed is a great step and beautiful compromise. The beauty of it consists in today's compromise being less impure than yesterday's; it consists in our eyes being carried in a straight line towards something beautiful when we look, not at the deeds, but at the direction in which they are set." So said Mahatma Ghandi, and it's just one of the many insights in a book brimming with wisdom. Indeed, there are a lot of good reasons to read Soul Survivor, but the subtitle 'How my faith survived the Church' isn't one of them. It's not that Yancey doesn't actually tell us how his faith survived the Church – he does – it's rather that the subtitle leads you to believe that he will provide Christians who are disaffected, disillusioned and bored by church with some blueprint for survival. He doesn't. In fact, Yancey's own survival kit consisted of his encounters with the lives and work of 11 great men and one woman – all learners from Jesus, and all Christians except Ghandi. What Yancey offers us is 12 inspiring cameos which capture their distinctive, particular contribution to the world in general and to his own pilgrimage of faith. Yancey does not include all the usual suspects. Indeed, his heroes are rarely church-based ministers, but rather people who are more involved in the non-believing world. Yes, Martin Luther King is here, though in his human frailty as well as in his prophetic courage, but so is the evangelical US Surgeon General Everett Koop, who was vilified when he was appointed but succeeded in holding a strong pro-life, anti-sodomy line whilst enjoying the admiration and gratitude of the American gay community at the height of the US Aids epidemic. He was their doctor and they were his people. Compassion without compromise. Yancey writes too of the brilliant work of Dr Paul Brand among lepers whose combination of extraordinary surgical technique and unbounding belief in the dignity and value of every individual rebuilt thousands of lives. From Brand, Yancey learned that it was possible "to live in modern society, achieve success without forfeiting humility, serve others sacrificially, and yet emerge with joy and contentment." As a writer, Yancey introduces us to other writers: Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky, Annie Dillard and Frederick Buechner. Obviously, some cameos will grip some readers more than others and like almost all such collections it's harder to ‘get into' a book like this in the way you might a novel or work on a single theme. Still, the chapter on Chesterton would have justified the price on its own. The fat, holy, jolly jester and grand defender of a joyous faith had much to teach his own generation and much to teach ours. So does Yancey. Mark Greene is executive director of the London Institute for Contemporary Christianity Recommended reading June Jolly reviews a selection of inspirational books on health issues and bereavement A Need For Living, by Tom Gordon. Wild Goose Publications £9.99 A hospice chaplain, Tom Gordon writes with compassion and a sense of his own inadequacy to meet the spiritual needs of all his patients with their very unique and differing experiences – some with faith, others with none. He has learnt over the years that for some people, 'Christian' answers appear trite and hollow, but he has found that spiritual needs can be addressed by seeking to listen to them and understand how to meet them where they are. This book is full of illustrations that help grieving relatives as well as the dying patient. Tom Gordon uses everyday verbal ‘pictures’ to convey the way people can work through their pain and bewilderment. Whether it is climbing a rock face or clearing out an attic, watching the damming up of a flowing stream by a huge boulder, and waiting until the stream finds another way through, even by joining the individual on an observation coach looking back with them on their life, he shows just how empathy allows the person to travel their own particular pathway. He is non-judgmental in his approach and one is sometimes left wondering how his own Christian belief is shown to his patient. However, as the book progresses, one is left in no doubt and one surmises that no one else is. Tom Gordon is very much aware that many people feel inadequate for the task of spiritual care and his illustrations should be of enormous help. He clearly shows how some are able to plan a celebration at the same time as facing imminent death and that this is not a denial but can be held in tandem. This book is peppered with poems and meditations on Scripture passages that complement the chapters and illustrations he makes. It is to be highly recommended by all those who work with terminally ill patients and bereaved families, and those who have difficult questions to answer from friends and family. Testimony to God’s power From Medicine to Miracle, by Dr Mary Self. Harper Collins £17.99 This is a riveting book and traces the experiences of a young person confronted by the devastating news that she had life-threatening bone cancer. Written by a doctor and psychiatrist steeped in medical tradition by training and her parentage, she has all the qualifications to know the prognosis and outcome of terminal cancer. Dr Self was brought up a devout Catholic and found faith within her church family. She later joined a fellowship who believed passionately in the power of prayer and the Holy Spirit’s work in healing. Having developed an osteo-sarcoma, she had a leg amputated at the age of 17. She was convinced that God not only could but would restore it and for a time remained abundantly confident. The author tenderly describes her feelings as she came to terms with the fact that this wasn’t going to happen and that her ambitions for medical school, and later marriage and a family were crushed. Despite all her experiences she trusted God was going to perform a miracle and she would be completely healed. But when her 'miracle' children were still small she developed bone secondaries and became terminally ill. As she fearlessly confronts this news and her dread of dying and the pain she draws round her a support group with whom she could be totally honest. When all hope of survival had gone, and Mary was relying on his repeated promise 'trust me Mary even unto death', God stepped in with the miracle she had stopped expecting. Aged 34, Dr Mary Self is the living testimony of a contemporary very human person who fiercely loved life, her family and clung to the promises of God and his power over the most dreaded of diseases. Whether you are yourself in Dr Self's position or someone unaffected, this book is one you will not want to miss. ... and God's comfort Through it all, by Stella Heath. Shalom Christian Outreach £5 plus 50p p&p from Shalom Christian Outreach, 47 Stephenson Drive, East Grinstead RH19 4BG Perhaps the most devastating thing that can happen to an elderly person is to find their lifelong companion disintegrates mentally, and gradually becomes a mere shell, unable to recognise them or to be able to perform even the most ordinary tasks themselves. When this happened to the author, like most people, she found it bewildering, stressful and a huge physical burden day by day – let alone remaining ‘on duty’ all night as well. Stella Heath, who with her husband had spent their whole life caring for the blind and being Mum and Dad to the Torch family in Sussex, writes: “I have tried to share not only the pain, sorrow and heartache, but also the sparkle which laughter brought, and the light which illuminated a very dark pathway.” This she does with great honesty and one feels the agony and bewilderment with her. Small nuggets of her experience make this book a treasure for all of us who can only stand by and support. It is, of course, a book to share with those whose pathway leads ‘through the valley of the shadow of death’. Not only is it a book about the trials and tribulations of those families where a member succumbs to Alzheimer’s disease (the process of the dying of the brain), but also of the comfort and support of our Good Shepherd who supported Stella all the way through the valley. As she says, she didn’t always realise that the verse in Psalm 23 meant ALL the way through to the end. Despite the sadness and heartache of the book, it is a testimony to the reality of our Shepherd’s presence at the best and worst of times. June Jolly is a qualified social worker with a Diploma of Christian Counselling with CWR © Christian Family Network is run by CPO, supported by Care for the Family, Marriage Resource, Positive Parenting, Care, Women Alive, Christian Herald and many others.