All questions great and small (by Adrian Plass and Jeff Lucas)

(Amazon UK link)

Two of my favourite modern Christian writers are Adrian Plass and Jeff Lucas. So when they write a book together, I acquire it as soon as possible. One of these books is ‘All questions great and small’, which I read and very much liked in 2016. Clearly, a decade later, it was time for a reread.

The book is presented as answers to questions which the authors were given on one of their tours. The introduction (or, rather, the Foreword) is written by someone who was part of the ‘Seriously funny’ team. She explains that Jeff and Adrian took it in turns to answer as many questions as they could, whether serious or otherwise.

Then the official introduction, written by Adrian, caricatures some typical enthusiastic Christian pat responses to questions. He points out that it’s too easy to become lazy when presented with doubts, or genuine queries about the Bible, or about living as a Christian in the 21st century. So in their tour - and in this book - they attempt to be completely honest. No question is considered unsuitable, or too silly. 

There are eight broad sections to the book, but the categories are somewhat general and I never quite worked out what the differences were.  It didn’t matter. I read about fifteen to twenty pages per day for ten days or so, and very much appreciated some of the responses given - as well as some of the queries.

Not that I can remember anything specific without checking back. In the first section, there are some answers that cover two or three pages. The first question asks whether pets go to heaven. Adrian doesn’t have a definitive answer, exactly, but gives a very encouraging response with an anecdote and even a poem. Jeff is then asked about his experience with guns, and what meals he had to pretend to like. There are a few shorter responses - and some of them don’t actually end up being answered - and then a longer response when Adrian is asked about doing a function at someone’s church.

The book continues in similar fashion - a mixture of longer and shorter replies to a wide variety of questions. Some are straightforward, some relate to faith, some not. Both authors give their honest opinions, sometimes backed by Scripture, often with examples from their life experiences. And they’re all well-written and interesting, with humour here and there, and also some quite serious points.

I assume the transcripts of the meetings were somewhat edited; I expect there was more banter in the original tour, and that the two men sometimes had to pause and think, or perhaps look something up in a Bible. But they come across as fairly spontaneous, nonetheless, and with plenty to ponder.

Not that there’s anything really new in this, but it made interesting reading. I don’t think I read anything that I would disagree with. That’s perhaps why I like these two writers so very much: their thoughts and utterances are based on the principles that God is love, and that we are here to build his kingdom on earth, and to demonstrate his love for each other. There are some branches of Christianity which would disagree with them in several respects. Their opinions are not always orthodox. So overall, I found this an encouraging book.

I would recommend it to anyone in - or on the fringes of - the church, who likes asking questions of any kind and would like to have real, heartfelt and honest opinions in response.  I'm pleased to see that this book is still in print in paperback, and available for the Kindle too.

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