I am currently reading Mirosalv Volf's latest offering Free of Charge: Giving and Forgiving in a Culture Stripped of Grace (published by Zondervan, 2005).  You can check out the blurb on Amazon (click on the picture below) if, like me, you don't hapen to be on first name terms with Rowan Williams, who recommends it for Lent!

Fellow Volf fans will not be disappointed - in what I have read so far (about two and half chapters) I find myself, as ever, captivated by the gentle, accessible and yet incredibly profound ideas of this writer.  The first part of the book explores the idea of giving and, as any Volf-lover would expect, does so in the light of a relational concept of trinity.  Our own giving is then critically examined in a way that is neither cynical or sentimental; it challenges our selfishness without inducing guilt in the reader - a gift I wish I had when preaching!

I don't intend to commit to write about this book - things have a habit of scuppering our best laid plans, and in any case my own Lent programme is decidedly hectic (think I might abstain from Lent events next year!) - but if you like Volf you'll probably enjoy this, and if you don't yet know him, it seems to me a good place to start.