Jane Williams (1) (1957–)

The variety and breadth of voices and material here is almost as interesting as the content. Drawing from an international conference of the same name held at SPTC in London in 2010, this delves deeply into the work of the Spirit and its interplay with the Jesus and His church. As you'd expect from contributors as diverse as Jurgen Moltmann, Miroslav Volf, Graham Tomlin and Rowan Williams, it is respectful of different church traditions, but has some implied challenge for everyone's thinking, whether charismatic or not. Recommended for those wanting to understand latest explorations on these connections, and who don't mind some academic writing.… (mere)

NCLA Review: Jane Williams is a tutor in Theology at St. Mellitus College in London and Chelmsford and a visiting lecturer at King's College in London, England. Ms. Williams is a Christian theologian, not an artist or art historian. This slim volume is not about artists or their techniques, but "Christology—the study of the person and work of Jesus Christ." The author uses paintings and some sculptures from various centuries to make theological points. "When artists paint Jesus, they help us to see both idealized humanity, which we can emulate, and our own actual humanity..." This is a beautifully illustrated book with famous and not so well-known artists' portrayals of Christ. FACES OF CHRIST traces the Biblical story of Jesus from the annunciation through to His resurrection and ascension. The accompanying text explains the author's theological views as informed by the artists' works. If your library does not have works of art, this would be an excellent choice to begin. Rating: 4 —BS… (mere)

Well written, with lovely pictures and some nice literary allusions. A thoughtful, meditative exploration of Lent and Easter through themes including love, anger, fear and power. A very nice devotional book.

I disagreed profoundly with some of the theology, but when I began the book I was pretty sure that this would be the case; I'm well aware that I'm in a different theological tradition to the author.

The first half of the book would get a 5/5 - but I don't think that I can justify giving it such a high rating when, no matter how well it is written, it makes theological statements which I believe to be flawed. But then, to what extent is it fair to penalise a book simply for propounding conclusions with which you disagree? On the basis that there's some justification for so doing when the disagreement is over the theology of the cross and the book is about Easter, and therefore the disagreement is pretty central to the whole thing, I'm going to rate it as 4/5 with the additional observations that it is very well written, and will probably have more appeal if your theology is broadly Anglo-Catholic. And that it does us all good to read things we disagree with from time to time.… (mere)