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Casting Off - Finding Faith for Change

Author:	Ruth Scott
Published By:	SPCK (London)
Pages:	114
Price:	£7.99
ISBN:	0281 05696X

Reviewed by Corin Child.

Ruth Scott comes with a warm endorsement from Terry Wogan, although this probably isn’t sufficient reason to buy her book! It matters who the author is, however, since much of Casting Off revolves around Scott’s personal experiences - as a female Anglican priest, as an interfaith thinker and communicator, and as a mother.

Scott describes her spiritual journey with honesty, and this is the book’s strength. She does not prescribe or preach - her conclusions are presented simply as things that have become important for her. Some readers will find a companion echoing their own struggles - particularly, I suspect, women concerned with church leadership, who will find a chapter dedicated to this experience. Those who don’t empathise so naturally will still find a balanced voice, carefully trying to explain the peculiar poise of her current spiritual position.

This is not, however, the first time a Christian has professed in print a passage from fundamentalism to a more postmodern, post-evangelical faith. Nor is this the first book to offer poetic musings on the mysteries of human spirituality. Scott’s ponderings can be abstract and tangential at times; at others, slightly hackneyed. Early on I wondered how long it would be before some aspect of God or faith was described as ‘dancing’, and sure enough, there are a couple of references. This said, the metaphor on which the title is based - that faith is a floating raft, not a fixed rock - is a well-chosen one that aids the development of the book’s ideas.

Ruth Scott is a contributor to Radio 2’s Pause for Thought, and her book has a similar style: gently challenging, ecumenical, and within a certain mould.