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Living in Two Kingdoms

Author:	David Adam
Published By:	SPCK (London)
Pages:	144
Price:	£7.99
ISBN:	978 0 281 05775

Reviewed by Luke Penkett.

Here is a study book that will be particularly useful for groups meeting throughout Lent. David Adam, who has a deservedly fine reputation for his writings on the Celtic part of the church, gently guides his readers through the Parable of the Forgiving Father, better known as the Parable of the Prodigal Son.

Each of the eight chapters ends with a series of exercises, enabling the reader to become more aware of God’s presence alongside each one of us in the world, an awareness that we are already living in God’s kingdom.

There is actually less reference to Celtic spirituality here than in most of Adam’s books but there are pertinent quotations from Augustine, Brother Lawrence, Teilhard de Chardin and Isaac Watts. What I do find surprising, however, is the complete lack of any reference to Henri Nouwen’s classic, Return of the Prodigal Son.

Adam also leaves out the grittier side of Celtic life, which is so relevant here: the punishments prescribed by the penitentials, the battle against evil, and so on. But this is a book especially for those living on the fringes, those who wish to deepen their faith, rather than, perhaps, those already aware of the abiding love of God.