Logo

 

Banner Image:   Baptist-Times-banner-2000x370-
Template Mode:   Baptist Times
Icon
    Post     Tweet

God’s Fingerprints - the Evidence is Everywhere

Encouraging to find a book which seeks to find him in every day life

GodsFingerprintsGod’s Fingerprints - The Evidence is Everywhere
By John Samways
Matador, Kibworth Beauchamp
ISBN: 9781784623982
Reviewed by Alec Gilmore

A random collection of personal anecdotes and experiences which Samways unhesitatingly identifies as ‘God’s Fingerprints’.

To the uninitiated a few unintelligible scratches on a bit of paper don’t necessarily make ‘a fingerprint’; they may indeed be just scratches and often are. To a specialist, however, those apparently random scratches may be a genuine fingerprint with considerable consequences, and at a time when God is mostly identified (if at all) by a set of religious rituals and traditions, mostly meaningless to the uninitiated, it is encouraging to find a book which seeks to find him in every day life. God’s ‘dabs’ are everywhere.

The difficulty is that ‘finger fingerprints’ can be scientifically tested whereas God’s fingerprints, like beauty, are in the eye of the beholder, which often tells you more about the reader than the reality. So spare a thought for those many readers who will want to question one example after another. How do we know it is the hand of God?

Even if it is, what difference does it make and what are we supposed to do when we find out?

No doubt Samways deals with such issues in his wider ministry but not here, resulting in a collection which is too one-dimensional for comfort. The most you can hope for is that it will widen the horizons for some and lead others at least to reflect on its validity. Sadly, it leaves me with a image of a detective, fascinated by fingerprints and an avid collector, but who never pauses for a moment to consider their validity, how to evaluate or explore them further, and apparently no interest in following any of them up.

So, good at amassing the potential but weak in how to maximise its usefulness. Perhaps this is to come in the next book.
 

Alec Gilmore is a Baptist minister



 
Baptist Times, 22/01/2016
    Post     Tweet
Mindful Formation by Shaun Lambert
'Blends academic, practical, and devotional content seamlessly - a modern spiritual classic'
Slow Wisdom by Ruth Moriarty
'If taken on board, it should see the church meeting becoming more of what it should be: a dynamic, prayerful, joyful space of listening to God as we listen to one another'
What’s Up, by Joanna Adeyinka-Burford
Recommended devotional book for Key Stage 2 children who have some knowledge of Christianity, created by someone with a strong understanding of the world of the child
Mind Fuel for Young Explorers, by Bear Grylls and Will Van Der Hart
'A brilliant tool to aid our young people as they navigate our changing modern world, non-preachy yet shot through with Christian wisdom'
The Martyr and the Red Kimono by Naoko Abe
'I am personally very grateful to Noako Abe for this outstanding piece of work... Through her assiduous research she has retrieved the whole of Maximilian Kolbe’s life story'
Unforgiveable? by Stephen Cherry
'Explores forgiving and forgivability in the aftermath of serious, traumatic and life-changing harm. An important book, which deserves serious study'
    Posted: 04/10/2024
    Posted: 01/03/2024