{"title":"Books by Fergus Butler-Gallie","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"9781399731300","title":"Twelve Churches","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eWith his trademark reverence and revelry, The Revd. Fergus Butler-Gallie travels through time and place to get to the heart of the religion he is so passionate about. \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn this book he takes us from Bethlehem and the birth of Christ some 2000-odd years ago, to the immediate present and future of Christianity.  He brings together a Baptist Church in the segregationist American South with a medieval monastery in the heart of the Greek countryside; the Vatican - beautiful, imposing, vainglorious, the seat of Catholicism - with a sparse, tiny private church above the rocky coastline of Southern Japan.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eTwelve Churches\u003c\/i\u003e is a quest for a new people's history of Christianity, told through the stories of twelve churches scattered across the globe. Through a patchwork of interlinking and varied human stories, Butler-Gallie takes us on a physical and historical journey, exploring the role of hope, faith and beauty in Christianity, but also its fraught relationships with sex, violence and power.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe story of Christianity is, he shows, the story of our modern world: it's a story of who we should be, as well who we sometimes are.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":57685705687413,"sku":"9781399731324","price":14.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"Hardback","offer_id":56298882924917,"sku":"9781399731300","price":30.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781399731324_f6d63b1d-a86f-4c68-a109-d8fb4797b46d.jpg?v=1792598862"},{"product_id":"9781529176117","title":"Touching Cloth","description":"\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e'Touching Cloth\u003c\/i\u003e can be compared to Adam Kay's \u003ci\u003eThis Is Going to Hurt \u003c\/i\u003eand the writings of the Secret Barrister' \u003ci\u003eObserver\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'I laughed my way through this...\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cb\u003eFunny, fascinating, and gorgeously humane' Marina Hyde\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'Funny and touching in equal measure' Tom Holland\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eA laugh-out-loud memoir of becoming a 21st-century priest, \u003ci\u003eTouching Cloth \u003c\/i\u003eis also a love letter to the Prayer Book, Liverpool, funerals, cake tins, lager and, above all, to what the Church of England can be at its best. \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe very word 'reverend' inspires solemnity. To be a priest is to dedicate one's life to quiet prayer and spiritual contemplation. Isn't it?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFergus Butler-Gallie reveals what it's like to become a priest in the twenty-first century. Find out why black really is slimming, how to keep a straight face when someone is inadvertently hot-boxing a funeral, and which royal-themed biscuit tin can best contain a very loud personal alarm that no one knows how to switch off. Spot a sweet old lady trying to pay for a taxi with coinage from fascist Spain? Congratulations, shepherd, she's your problem now.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBehind the daily scrapes is an all-too-human love letter to the Church of England, and the amazing variety of people who manage to keep it going, providing a listening ear, company and community at a time when so many people desperately need it, as well as a reflection on what it means to follow a spiritual path amid the chaos of the modern world.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56303693562229,"sku":"9781529176117","price":10.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781529176117_dee1c2bd-93a1-4f4b-922d-ce816d75a33c.jpg?v=1786022306"},{"product_id":"9781911673453","title":"The First P G Wodehouse Society (UK) Essay Prize","description":"\u003cbr\u003eBinding: Paperback \/ softback","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56308542112117,"sku":"9781911673453","price":9.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781911673453_a4b4bf30-7167-48cd-82dc-806853133e1c.jpg?v=1786030186"}],"url":"https:\/\/backstory.london\/collections\/author-fergus-butler-gallie.oembed","provider":"Backstory","version":"1.0","type":"link"}