Wonderful, really helpful

TO KNOW THE UNKNOWN
By Roger Carswell
Authentic. 59 pages. £2.99
ISBN 1 85078 530 9

Roger Carswell is one of the best known evangelists in the UK and has a tireless and infectious passion for communicating the gospel. He has been used in recent years to great effect as a prolific speaker at university missions and his latest evangelistic book seems to be pitched at the student market.

The short book has an attractive cover, and good use is made of different fonts and a stylish text layout. There are a number of interesting quotations from students peppered throughout the book.

Carswell starts with a lengthy quotation from Acts 17 and the book's 14 pithy chapters are thematically linked to the passage, rather than being direct exposition.

There is, unfortunately, a lot of jargon in the book that goes unexplained and in an increasingly biblically illiterate student world phrases like 'the gospel', 'created in the image of God', 'anonymous Christians' and 'Saviour' need clearer explanation.

There is also one bizarrely-misjudged illustration, paralleling the prejudice shown in mass-murderer Harold Shipman's trial, and the way people preconceive Jesus Christ today. I would recommend this be removed from any further publications.

The conclusion of the book could also use some more theological clarity. For example, Carswell writes: 'To repent means to turn from what is wrong and trust Jesus in a personal way. God has given us the Ten Commandments and we have failed to keep them. But here is an eleventh! If we obey this one, it will make up for the breaking of the others' (p.56). This paragraph sounds very close to repentance as a work which we perform that earns us salvation.

With these reservations stated, I will leave the last words on the book to one of Carswell's intended audience. I lent this book to a Hindu friend of mine for his perusal and comments, who told me that the book was 'wonderful, it has really helpfully and logically laid out the Christian message. Every page made me think about what I believed and why'.

Krish Kandiah, Elmfield Church, Harrow, Middlesex