Mystery, beauty, enchantment, incompleteness, desire, suffering . . .
In this highly readable book, John Pritchard explores around 20 experiences common to us all. Each of these, he believes, offers us a route to a more authentic existence, an insight into some aspect of the divine.
Whether you are just starting out on spiritual exploration, or have some experience of 'signs of transcendence', this book will reassure you are on the right track, and point the way forward to the 'beyond in the everyday', the 'something more' we are forever designed to seek.
'What do we do when, as John Pritchard puts it, the burning bush has gone out and nothing is left but wet ash? Well, for a start, something like this: speak to the everyday post-religious twenty-first century world in its own terms, with respect and without concealment, about the ways in which, in everybody's experience, the damp ashes still gleam unpredictably with the promise of something more.'
Francis Spufford, author of Unapologetic
'In John Pritchard we encounter a true genius in contemporary spiritual writing - one who is gifted in expressing the profound, yet with a light touch and an easy-going approach. We discover in Something More that to encounter God's presence afresh, all we need bring is our humanity, humility and sense of wonder.'
The Very Revd Prof. Martyn Percy, Dean of Christ Church, Oxford
'Once we know how vast the universe is and how little we know of it, it's hard to go on believing in God as a powerful parent figure. John Pritchard faces the challenge head on. He rethinks Christian spirituality in a way that opens horizons rather than closing them down.'
Linda Woodhead, Professor of Sociology of Religion, Lancaster University
About the Author :
The Rt Revd John Pritchard was the Bishop of Oxford. He has written many well-received books, including How to Pray, The Intercessions Handbook and The Life and Work of a Priest, all published by SPCK.
Review :
What do we do when, as John Pritchard puts it, the burning bush has gone out and nothing is left but wet ash? Well, for a start, something like this: speak to the everyday post-religious twenty-first century world in its own terms, with respect and without concealment, about the ways in which, in everybody’s experience, the damp ashes still gleam unpredictably with the promise of something more.
In John Pritchard we encounter a true genius in contemporary spiritual writing – one who is gifted in expressing the profound, yet with a light touch and an easy-going approach. We discover in Something More that to encounter God’s presence afresh, all we need bring is our humanity, humility and sense of wonder.
Once we know how vast the universe is and how little we know of it, it’s hard to go on believing in God as a powerful parent figure. John Pritchard faces the challenge head on. He rethinks Christian spirituality in a way that opens horizons rather than closing them down.
Living Faithfully (2013): This is a very good book by a very exceptional leader. John Pritchard puts himself into what he writes, and the result is accessible, encouraging and fun, with a steel core that not only makes one think but takes one back to the face of Christ and the realities of Christian discipleship. John is never cheaply comfortable but always reassuringly real. I am very glad to have read Living Faithfully.
Wise, honest and realistic, Living Faithfully joins the dots in a lively and compelling way between the core of Christian teaching and contemporary human experience.
God Lost and Found (2011): This is an unusually honest book. Its analysis is plain-spoken and compassionate, and what Bishop John has to say about finding ways to live constructively with times of emptiness is superbly well focused. You'll emerge from reading this with – probably – relief that a widespread set of challenges has been so sensitively identified and – certainly – with gratitude for sensible, durable advice on how to go on making friends with the mystery we can never digest or contain.
God Lost and Found (2011): Amid church scandals, destructive natural disasters and terrorist atrocities committed in the name of religion, it is not surprising that many have stopped believing in God, lost their faith and go through the physical motions like church- going but with no belief. Pritchard's book is a useful, practical guide for those seeking reconnection with the spiritual aspects of their daily lives.
God Lost and Found (2011): What a courageous book! . . . full of hope and full of God.
