It would be hard to argue that we live in an age of crisis. Maybe not for you but for somebody.

In this short essay (36 pages) Jonathan Ingelby reflects on how Christians should live in an age of imminent crisis, whether it be financial, environmental or societal. I think this was the most interesting thing for me, was thinking not simply about THE END OF THE WORLD but the end of ‘my world’, the end of a civilisation and the changing of eras.

I guess for the Luddites the industrial revolution felt like the end of the world for them, each massive change makes those from a previous generation feel like the world has changed and the one they grew up in no longer exists.

Ingelby offers a thoughtful rather than practical approach, let’s assume disaster will happen then think about about what we should have done and then start doing that, whatever that is.

He helpfully reminds us that technology will not be our salvation and that a strong church community is essential whatever the catastrophe. The church is after all a people designed for a future that changes the present.

It’s not the most accessible of reads though. Any essay that functions as a response to the Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Zizek is unlikely to appeal to lots of readers and that remains true for many of the sources quoted. So even though this is short its aim is pitched up the academic scale.

On a design note, it’s a shame that for a publisher called Wide Margin books it didn’t actually embrace that design option and make it easy to write notes and so on. Launching a publishing venture in this climate is not easy and I’d embrace every trick in the book to make the books stand out. But that’s just my opinion.