In this week’s edition of the Baptist Times, Stephen Copson reviews books for Lent (I’ve bolded the important passages):

Christmas past, Lent beckons! How do you spiritually prepare for Easter? One way is to find a companion to journey with you through Lent. Three quite different options are offered by Justin Lewis-Anthony, Stephen Cottrell and Timothy Radcliffe.

Justin Lewis-Anthony’s Circles of Thorns: Hieronymus Bosch and Being Human looks at the 16th century artist’s Christ Mocked to be found on the wall of the National Gallery. Jesus is framed by four characters in 16th Flemish dress. The picture is a rich allegorical feast of the Passion where the characters manage to bear different layers of meaning through representing gospel characters, historical themes, social and political forces and basic human personality traits and more.

These allow the author to frame the question, ‘How does Christ show us what it means to be human in a world where humanity is capable of great promise and staggering cruelty?’ He enlists the help of Bonaventure to Bob Dylan, Thomas a Kempis to Terry Pratchett and Pontius Pilate to Michael Portillo.

This is not so much art detective work as profound theological exploration of spiritual insights. It is a fascinating and rewarding book.

[A discussion of Stephen Cottrell’s The Things He Carried and Timothy Radcliffe’s Why Go To Church?]

So, you pays your money and you takes your choice. For me, I’ll think I’ll be going with Hieronymus.

The Revd Stephen Copson is a regional minister for the Central Baptist Association.

(and a jolly good chap, too!)