I frequently moan that we are living in days when technology has not caught up with our needs. It has devised the most efficient means for authors to produce lots of words, and consequently theological books are both more numerous and also far lengthier than they generally were in the past: but technology has not kept pace with this development by devising some means for readers to be able to keep up with this vast output by reading faster. Therefore there is a warm welcome for authors who have the genius to express the essentials of a subject in short compass so that we can keep up with the ever-increasing number of areas with which we need to be familiar.

Such a need is being met by one or two groups and publishers who are producing short papers or booklets on matters of contemporary concern. We have the excellent material produced by Grove Booklets. Two organisations are producing short papers, no more than 4 or 6 A4 pages, which give crisp, readable accounts of important subjects. One is the series of Cambridge Papers towards a biblical mind (available from Mrs Gill Smith, 41 London Road, Stapleford, Cambridge CB2 5DE; four issues annually for £10 [students, ministers and others, £5]). The other is Whitefield Briefing (available from Whitefield Institute, Frewin Court, Oxford OX1 3HZ: subscription £10 per year). During 1998 this last series has included Trevor Cooling on The spiritual in modern education; Richard Turnbull on Eschatology and the Social Order: A Historical Perspective: Gareth E. Williams on Stillborn Funeral Liturgies in Theological Perspective; John Lennox on Is the Watchmaker Really Blind?; and Julian Ward on Michael Polanyi and Christian Witness to the Secular Society. These papers are all by people who have made a special study of the topics and are able to write lucidly, simply and succinctly, and they give very helpful introductions to complex topics with suggestions for further reading. I commend these papers as a worthwhile and comparatively inexpensive way of keeping up with modern thought and current issues.

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