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www.stephendawes.com BOOKS click on thumbnail to open book go to university diploma or degree go to university certificate (1) go to university certificate (2) go to Truro Theological Society go to powerpoint presentations
All these books are now out of print and some (marked *) are available on Kindle. For books of mine currently in print see the books in print section of this site.
Why Bible-Believing Methodists shouldn't eat Black Pudding * The first edition of Why Bible-believing Methodists shouldn't eat Black Pudding was published in 1993 and sold nearly 3500 copies. The revised edition was produced in 1996 and it sold out too. Downloads have been made continually since. It is clear that the question of the authority of the Bible remains a pressing one for the Christian Church, and this book aims to address that question directly. Too often the question is addressed without taking the Bible as it is and how it has come to us seriously enough. This book insists on looking at those two areas before it talks about how to use the Bible because any belief about the place which the Bible ought to have in the Church, or about its inspiration and authority must begin from the Bible itself, and must take the Bible as it is very seriously. And I hope that taking the Bible seriously is what I do throughout this little book, which is written out of the conviction that simply saying, "The Bible says ..." and insisting that the Bible is the supreme authority for the Christian does not take the Bible as it is or the Church which created it seriously enough.
Desert Island Hymns * I wrote this book during a sabbatical when I was Chair of the Cornwall Methodist District. My aim was to write an introduction to the Christian Faith which took academic scholarship seriously, which was accessible to ordinary church members, and which could be given to anyone who was interested in finding out what Christianity is about. I decided to write it around eight hymns which, while not quite my eight favourite hymns, are not far off. The result was a book that I was and still am, very pleased with. Not every hymn is well-known, however, particularly to people who aren't Methodists, and not even these days to the more modern kind of Methodists who prefer worship songs to proper hymns. That's a drawback, I recognise, but maybe the book will also introduce a few readers to some classic hymns. So there's a hymn about Jesus, and one each on his birth, his death and his resurrection. There's two on what living as a Christian means, one on worship, and one on 'God'.
1 & 2 Kings Once upon a time I wrote regularly for the Guidelines series of Bible Study notes published by the Bible Reading Fellowship, and some of those notes are reproduced elsewhere on this website. I was very honoured to be asked to write the commentary on 1 and 2 Kings in BRF's 'People's Bible Commentary' series, though I must admit that I was not entirely happy with the version of what I had written which emerged after the Copy Editor had done her work. She was always on at me to tone down what I wrote because it might offend BRF's more conservative readers, though the editor of Guidelines never suggested anything like that to me once. What you have here is what was published by BRF with some of the Copy Editor's 'edits out' added at the end.
Prayer. Thinking Things Through My response to the Editor's request to write this book was, 'Why me?'. I pointed out that other things I had written had usually been on subjects I knew something about ... Anyway, he won. The aim of the Thinking Things Through series was to help Christians to think through their faith. Instead of setting out aspects of Christianity in an academic way, the authors were asked to begin from issues that arise in everyday life. The books could either be read by individuals or used in groups. Questions at the end of each section are given as a spur to reflection and discussion. Christians pray or at least they are supposed to pray. But what are they doing when they pray and why are they doing it? Are they trying to change God's mind or even change the world? This book follows the usual format of the 'Thinking Things Through' series. Part One listens in as members of Trepolpen United Church struggle with their difficulties about prayer, especially intercessory prayer. Part Two thinks the issues through by asking fundamental questions about what prayer is and about the God to whom we pray. It is not a 'How to Pray' kind of book, but a book about what we might be doing when we do pray.
Looking On. Reflections around the Cross * In this little book we join the crowds in and around Jerusalem in what would later be known by Christians as ‘Holy Week’. The year is probably AD 33. They see a Galilean enter the city on the Sunday, watch him executed on the Friday and hear the rumours about what happened next. We hear the reactions of a visiting Egyptian diplomat’s wife, and of a Pharisee; of a boy sent to bring a donkey back, and of a pilgrim from Galilee and her teenage son; of Salome and a centurion, of a civil servant and a shopkeeper; of Matthew the Scribe; and of a gardener’s labourer. Then we listen to a woman from Emmaus and to Jesus’ youngest brother as they look back on what have become, by then, distant events. We look at and listen to what they have to say about this Galilean – Jesus of Nazareth – and what his life, death and resurrection might mean. At the end of each chapter there are, in most cases, some Bible references which relate to the meditation for you to follow up if you wish. There is always a reflection, usually in the form of a short question, and a prayer. The prayers in chapters 4 to 10 are only slightly changed from those used in Truro Cathedral on Good Friday in 2002 when the seven reflections in those chapters formed the Three Hours Devotion which I was honoured to lead. I have retained the plural form in those and all the prayers, for even when we are praying by ourselves we are not praying alone.
Let Us Bless the Lord - Study Version This A4 ring-bound booklet - 'a study of Old Testament theology in Psalm 103' - began life during sabbatical leave in the spring term of 1992 when I was teaching Old Testament and Hebrew at The Queen's College in Birmingham. It came in very handy a few years later as a basic and introductory book on what the Old Testament is about when I was teaching a course called 'Reading Psalms' for the university of Exeter.
Let us bless the Lord - rediscovering the Old Testament through Psalm 103 *
Who is this Jesus who was born of Mary? * A baby. Angels. Shepherds. Wise men. Stable. Manger. Star. The Virgin Mary. Joseph. These are well known and much loved images from the Birth Stories in the gospels of Matthew and Luke. We read the stories every Christmas. But what kind of stories are they? Should they be read as historical, factual accounts of what happened when Jesus was born? If so, the differences between Matthew's stories and the stories in Luke don't tally. So should they be read in another way? Are they creative stories about who and what Jesus really is? This little book explores this question, and reads the old familiar stories, and the bits of them which usually get missed out at Christmas, to see what they are saying about Jesus. It looks at the beginning of the gospel of John in the same way, especially that famous but difficult opening line, 'In the beginning was the Word'. Here is careful Bible study, academic rigour and accessible writing exploring one of the biggest questions we can ask, 'Who is this Jesus who was born of Mary'?
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