Inspiring books: The choices of two bishops

Two bishops kindly let us know their personal choices of a book which inspires them, in our ongoing series of inspiring books.

First of all thank you to our own bishop, David, Bishop of Manchester who writes:

“The book I would choose is Prayers of Life by Michel Quoist

First published in French in the 1950s it was translated into English sometime in the 1960s and I was given a copy whilst an undergraduate at Kings College Cambridge. The book is simply a selection of short prayers and meditations based on the things that he sees as he goes around his daily routine. There are prayers about a football match, a banknote, and a bald head. What inspired me as a young Christian, and continues to do, is the linking of prayer to the ordinary things of life. There is no separate section of our lives into which our spirituality is confined and constrained, rather we can look at any object and any situation with a mind focussed on God, so that it becomes the source of prayer.”

And thank you too to Christine, Bishop of Newcastle, for her choice of an inspiring book for this series:

“My choice is  Prophetic Imagination by Walter Brueggemann

I love this book, it has been wonderful source of inspiration for me for many years. Many people find it quite difficult to put words on the spiritual journey, by its nature the inner journey can be quite mysterious and often surprising, and yet Walter Bruggemann manages to write in a way that connects at a very deep level with the soul of the reader. In offering a spiritual perspective, this book calls us to question many accepted norms around us. It encourages the reader to harness the power of imagination, of how things could be different for our world and of how this might be achieved. Ultimately, it is a book about hope and transformation, seeking to inspire the reader to look for a new reality, and to point to futures that are not thought to be possible. I think we all need something of this in our lives, and we need it for our world.”

What a wonderful variety of different books, from a wide variety of people, we are being shown in this series. This post is the eighth in our ongoing series in which different people share their Inspiring Books, for the first post, the choices of two University Librarians,  click here. and for the second, the choice of two students, click here. In the third post two women priests gave their choices here.  We crossed the sea to the US for our fourth post the choice of  two young ladies – here. Our fifth choice was from two local children and teachers, and two cathedral deans offered their choices here. Then, in our seventh choice two life sentenced prisoners gave their choices, here.