REVIEWER: Malcolm Peacock

BOOK: Why God: Stories to Inspire Faith

(Paulist Press, 2024) Paperback, 144pp, RRP £15.42

Reading the cover, I expected to find good stories to help with sermon illustrations – a constant challenge for me. The book is short enough not to daunt, and long enough to be worth picking up. It has 52 chapters, broken into 4 sections. Each chapter is a newspaper article written as a regular column, and the book covers a timespan of over 20 years. 

Richard Leonard SJ is a Jesuit and an Australian and the book is rooted through these lenses. It is profoundly Roman Catholic and flows out of an Australian context. I found both of the lenses challenging, helpful and at times disconcerting, as I had to put away some of my assumptions in order to engage with the material.

The chapters may be related thematically but they are not related in terms of content. This makes the book perfect for coffee breaks and dipping into. Each chapter left me with a thought which was self-contained, and I didn’t have to remember any of the previous chapters to understand it – a definite benefit for me. 

I found most of the chapters to be opinion pieces and thought provokers rather than stories of inspiration. Some of the articles felt dated and maybe less relevant for today. Some of the introspection around the internal life of the Roman Catholic I was unable to engage with, as it was very different to my own spirituality and church context. The different cultural context left me having to pause and reflect on the issues raised – this I found helpful.

It didn’t give me an almanac of ready-made sermon illustrations – a reflection of my unreal expectations. It is a book whose benefit will come when the thoughts presented have a chance to percolate. Being able to dip into it, read an article which takes perhaps 5-10 minutes and have a moment to pause for thought all make it handy to keep on the coffee table, to help when we need a break to help clear the mind.

Reviewer: Malcolm Peacock – Superintendent Mid Glamorgan Mission Circuit in the Methodist Church.