All Questions Great and Small (by Adrian Plass and Jeff Lucas)

(Amazon UK link)

I’ve been a huge fan of Adrian Plass’s writing for nearly thirty years now, and started to enjoy Jeff Lucas’s books about six years ago. I’m gradually collecting them, and was very pleased when the two collaborated with the ‘Seriously Funny’ books. So when I spotted another jointly written book by these two excellent writers, it went straight on my wishlist, and I was delighted to be given it last Christmas.

‘All Questions Great and Small’ is a series of questions and answers that were given on the authors’ ‘Seriously Funny’ tour; they felt that this particular selection deserved a wider audience, and I’m very glad that they and their publishers put this book together.

It’s divided into eight sections - after the introduction - which loosely group the questions together by theme. The first one, for instance, is entitled, ‘Now that reminds me of a time when…’. It includes questions about funny stories, embarrassing anecdotes and so on, encouraging Plass and Lucas to reminisce about events in their lives.

The second section is headed, ‘Where’s my soapbox?’ and includes questions where the two might be expected to have strong opinions - on American evangelists, for instance, or some irritating Christian jargon phases. I didn’t really distinguish this from the third section, ‘Telling it like it is’, and by this stage I wasn’t really noticing these loose chapter headings, but reading each question and answer for its own merit.

As ever, there’s self-deprecating humour in many of the responses, some of which made me smile or nod appreciatively. But this isn’t just light-hearted quips; the book contains much that’s profound, and thought-provoking, and some questions where I heaved a wonderful sigh of relief to know that even such well-known speakers feel the same as I do, despite evidence that many in the church would disagree.

I was going to read just a few pages each morning, but found it so enjoyable that I finished it in a couple of weeks. I feel reassured, enlightened, and encouraged and would recommend it to anyone with any interest in the Christian life, or church in general, whether or not you’re feeling positive about them.

Available for the Kindle as well as in paperback form.

Review copyright 2016 Sue's Book Reviews