'Iscariot, Benjamin'; The Gospel according to Judas.

A scholarly study of the story of Jesus in the context of Jewish vs Roman politics; it suggests that Judas could have ended up with the Essenes, and that the story of his betrayal was rigged, in the context of the perceived need by the Jewish establishment to get rid of Jesus as a trouble-maker liable to bring down the wrath of Rome on a movement for independence of Israel, led by Jesus as a perceived Messiah in the Davidic tradition. The teaching of Jesus is shown to be oriented towards a universal public, via the resurrection process, though most of his followere, including Judas, regarded him as Davidic. The authors are in fact Jeffrey Archer (ex-MP, now in Lords) and Prof F J Moloney, a colleague of Joseph Ratzinger, the current Pope; an interesting combination.

Hedges, Chris; War is a Force that Gives us Meaning.

A retired war correspondent's critical assessment of his experience, in totally negative terms. He seeks for alternatives, though somewhat dispairingly. It could be a useful source of arguments in an analysis of recent Bosnia or Palestine experience seeking alternatives.

Harris, Marvin; Cows,Pigs, Wars and Witches.

This is a Des King donation, published in 1975 by Hutchinson, by an anthropologist, in an attempt to analyse the nature of belief, at the cultural level (not eating pork, the 'sacred cow' etc) as well as the religious level (treating the Christian religion, as well as witchcraft, cargo cults etc). This is a serious book which deserves a critical review from the angle of Quaker theology. Prof Harris, of Columbia University, is a significant contributor to the history of theories ofculture.

Prince, Simon; Northern Ireland's '68; Irish Academic Press 2007.

This book gives a historical overview of the emergence of the Civil Rights movement in the Northern Ireland in the 1960s, giving, unusually for historians of the period, some credit to the work of Roy Johnston and his attempt to get the republican movement to 'go political' in the 1960s via the Civil Rights route; the latter subsequently joined Friends in 1982.

Emerson, Peter J: we have here a series of books addressing the problem of majoritarian 'democracy' in tribal situations, as experienced in Northern Ireland, and more recently in Bosnia and elsewhere in political transition situations. The author is working towards a way of helping consensual democracy to evolve, perhaps in effect generalising Quaker experience; he is clearly someone to be cultivated in the Northern Ireland political context in situations where Friends can play a part in helping to maintain and develop the emergent non-violent pokitical culture.

Manji, Irshad; The Trouble with Islam

Manji makes an important contribution to the current process of developing a critical review of Islam from within. She is Canadian, of East African origin, and retains her Muslim identity while developing a powerful feminist argument for reform. I will not attempt a review, but simply give a few promotional quotes, all of which are, to my mind, valid comnment (RJ):

Friday Times (Pakistan): "Manji has in no way abandoned he Muslim identity... What exactly (she) is refusing to do is simple: she refuses to accept that Islam is a stagnant and unchanging structure".

Philadelphia Inquirer: "One of the most hard-hitting analyses of Islam to appear since the 11 September attacks",

Quantara.de: (German Internet pportal promoting dialogue with the Islamic world): "Irshad Manji breaks every taboo in the book, while also challenging our prejudices about Islam. What's more, she does so as a Muslim, and not as a Westernised woman preaching from the pulpit of a feminist ivory tower."

Her website http://www.irshadmanji.com/ contains reference material supportive of the book, and is worth a look.

Lewis, Franklin D; in Rumi: Past and Present, East and West gives an in-depth scholarly account of the background, life and times of Jalal al-Din Rumi, a 13th century Persiam poet who has in recent times become a best-selling author in the USA. The latter part of the book gives some insights into his writings and teachings, which have many parallels with subsequent Quaker thought in the Christian context, in their critical attitude to the Muslim religious Establishment. This book does not lend itself to being read straight through, but dipped into, selectively.

'Ata'ur-Rahim, Muhammad & Thomson, Ahmad; in Jesus Prophet of Islam present a scholarly analysis of the role of Jesus as seen from within the philosophy of Islam. He is seen as essentially human, and as a prophet whose teachings are valid within the Islam tradition. There is much comparative critical analysis of the various Christian interpretations of what is believed to have happened. The Unitarian view is held to be the most compatible with Islam. It suffers from the lack of an index, though it presents a substantial bibliography.

P D Ouspensky; In Search of the Miraculous:

This book needs to be read somewhat selectively and critically. The author puts on record his experience of explorations of philosophy and psychology in Russia during WW1, and later in the Caucasus when attempting to avoid the Bolsheviks. He records the interaction of philosopher G I Gurdjieff with various intellectual discussion groups, in an attempt to analyse human understanding of the world. The analysis of psychology and levels of knowledge and understanding are insightful, but much of the later analysis, where he ventures into areas like cosmology, is open to question. This book is a 1977 reprint of a book first published in London 1950, and there were many reprints, suggesting that it was seen by some as a fashionable read.

D Marmion & G E Thiessen (eds) Theology in the Making

We have here 14 essays giving personal insights into theology, all from members of the Roman Catholic Church. The editors it seems made an effort, without success, to make it interdenominational, but this does not unduly reduce its interest, which tends to relate to the varied impact of the Vatican 2 events initiated by Pope John 22. The contributors include 4 women (Mary Condren will perhaps be familiar) and one Nigerian currently lecturing in Milltown. Among the male contributors perhaps Sean Freyne and Enda McDonagh will be familiar; not all are currently in holy orders, some never were and some have lapsed. So we have a good cross-section giving some feed for the internal level of critical thought within the RC Church. There are some interesting aspects of feminist and liberation theology which emerge, and the analysis of how the various complex aspects of God's existence relate to the various tasks of the Church and its members. An informed critical paper from someone well-versed in Quaker theology would be of interest; I conjecture that there would be much common ground, as there was between some authors and other denominational theologies.