Book Reviews

  Pope Francis  A Gift of Joy and Hope Translated from the Italian by Oonagh Stransky Hodder & Stoughton 2022 £9.99 eBook ISBN 978 1 399 80283 3 209pp 'This is Christian hope: the certainty of walking towards something that exists, not something I hope might be there.' So writes Pope Francis who like his patron Saint Francis shares the gospel in succinct phrases when necessary. The presence and joy of God are offensive to many but to Christians this certainty isn’t offensive but definitive. As definitive as the fact Christ is alive and wants us alive, rising from negativity into undefeatable joy. ‘Since Christ has risen and leads us into the afterlife, faith is also a light from the future, illuminating vast horizons before us, taking us beyond our isolated individual selves and towards the expanse of communion. We come to see that faith does not dwell in shadow and gloom; it is a light for our darkness. Dante, in The Divine Comedy, after professing his faith to St Peter, ...

  ‘The Via Dolorosa … is crossed by Jewish Orthodox hurrying down to prayer at the Western Wall, and at the same time it witnesses Muslim men kneeling on their mats at the time of prayer in their shops. It passes a place for the rehabilitation of blind refugees and others with disabilities. Along its route today are found soldiers, beggars, pilgrims, and tourists; street sellers, laughing children, and disabled elderly. This river of prayer and passion flows in the broken heart of the city, as a potential source of healing and forgiveness’. In such words Andrew Mayes takes us to the Jerusalem he is familiar with, its prayer and passion, opening up testimonies across faiths using the city gates as a device to frame a book on transformative spirituality. It works at different levels, guide book of Jerusalem, chronicle of salvation history, study of interfaith relations and celebration of missionary spirituality.  Each chapter links to a gate of Jerusalem - Golden, Southern, Zion...