GOD IS STRANGER
By Krish Kandiah
Hodder and Stoughton. 352 pages. £13.99
ISBN 978 1 473 648 904
God is far far greater than we think him to be, far less predictable and completely ‘unmanageable’.
As C. S. Lewis said through Mr Beaver in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Aslan is not a tame lion. It is a point well made, and clearly too, by Krish Kandiah in his latest book, God is Stranger.
Through the Bible
Kandiah takes us through the Bible to consider how God turns up in different situations to meet ordinary people in surprising ways, revealing as he does so unexpected aspects of himself which have largely slipped from evangelical consciousness in the 21st century.
This well-written and disturbing book confronts us with issues that are widely ignored – like poverty and how we respond to those affected.
Over-polished doctrine
In our passion to safeguard the integrity of Scripture we have managed to polish our doctrine so highly that we have made some of its themes all but transparent. Kandiah draws out from that familiar book the overlooked evidence that God is passionately concerned for poor and disadvantaged people to the extent that our eternal welfare is directly influenced by our response to them. Passage after passage is explored to underscore the theme. The author’s own commitment to Scripture and his personal engagement with the issues require us to listen with care.
Scale of the problem
With 150 people becoming homeless in Britain every day, with thousands of children desperate for foster families, with care services for elderly and vulnerable people closing at the rate of more than one a week for want of staff and funds – not to mention the hundreds of thousands overseas who are dying in appalling conditions – how should we who know and love and serve God respond?
You must read this book and hear what God is saying to the churches in our day.
