Summer Book Reviews: 'Journalling the Psalms' by Paula Gooder and 'The Greatest story ever told' by Bear Grylls

Journalling the Psalms by Paula Gooder

Reviewed by Jon Timms   

In the middle of your Bible, you will find a most sacred collection of writing. The book of Psalms provides us with a prayer book, hymnal and poetic masterpiece that has accompanied the people of God, both Jewish and Christian, for over two millennia. Within these sacred texts, the reader gets profound insight into the full spectrum of human emotion that one experiences when seeking to walk closely with God. It is indeed a treasure trove for the willing explorer.

In her book Journalling the Psalms, theologian and writer Paula Gooder invites the reader into the practice of journalling the Bible, learning to linger in the text, allowing it to speak into your own life and circumstance. She focuses on the psalms, and for good reason. Each psalm is briefly introduced with a broad perspective. But her book is no theological systematic exposition, and rightly so. The psalms don’t need that, they are the raw, unedited, fully exposed experiences of poets, worshippers and kings who refused to hold back in polite reverence, as they poured their hearts out to Yahweh. It’s hard to accurately articulate their meaning with black and white conceptual ideas or to nail down the exact meaning the writer intended. To understand them, the reader must relate them to their own experiences, to journey with the psalmist.

Paula Gooder

This is where Gooder’s book is helpful. She uses fifteen psalms which include a series of short journalling prompts to help you read and reflect on the text. Each section has space for you to write on the pages and answer the prompts. It’s a very invitational approach that offers an opportunity for spacious exploration of the psalms and one’s own feelings towards them.

Personally, I found the prompts so helpful for reading through these psalms. I would encourage you to go slowly through these. This is not a ‘tick-box’ exercise, a race through to the end. My suggestion would be to linger, allowing a more immersive experience of the Bible. It’s a wonderful way to engage with scripture and a worthy accompaniment for your Lent reflections.

The Greatest Story Ever Told By Bear Grylls Reviewed by Ruth Leigh   

Bear Grylls, adventurer, soldier, youngest ever Chief Scout and the main Ambassador for the Alpha Course in 2017, has published a new book of five eyewitness accounts of the story told in the Gospels. It’s a fresh and engaging take and he’s clearly done his research. The introduction parachutes the reader on to the dusty road where two dispirited followers of Jesus are trudging along three days after his crucifixion. Then we go back in time to Nazareth, thirty-three years earlier, where a young girl betrothed to a local carpenter is having an angelic encounter.

The story of Jesus’ conception, birth and ministry is so familiar that it’s difficult to find a new way to recount it. The author has succeeded, using a mix of Greek, Aramaic and Hebrew spellings, so that Mary is Myriam, Joseph is Yosef, Bethlehem is Beit Lechem and so forth. It gives the story an immediacy, an authentic sense of place which draws the reader in. Nazareth (Nazaret) is described as a small village in the wild hill country of Galilee, populated by around five hundred subsistence farmers and construction workers. We all know places like this, and they are not generally sympathetic to teenage girls who find themselves pregnant out of wedlock.

Myriam’s courage and faith shine through.

Bear Grylls

‘I’m bursting with good news! I’m the most fortunate woman on earth …’

As she ages, has more children and is widowed, her narrative is that of a loving mother always waiting for that prophesied sword to pierce her heart.

The second eyewitness is Ta’om, a guest at the wedding at Cana, a cool-headed observer.

‘I don’t do spontaneous. I like well thought-out plans that have solid foundations.’

This doubting man becomes one of the disciples. Still a cynic, he follows Yeshua and gradually begins to see something different about him. I loved the way he was written – we all know a Ta’om. When he meets a woman at a Samarian well, he comes over all judgy. She is: ‘rough and on the make.’ But two days spent with the villagers changes his mind. Inbuilt prejudice can be reversed. It’s a timely message for our society.

Ta’om’s recollection of the times spent with the Twelve and Yeshua are extremely moving, all the more so because we know this will end in cruel death.

‘The crowds wouldn’t always be so full of love, and the teachers of the law wouldn’t be silenced so easily.’

The stories continue with Shimon (Simon Peter), Yohanan (John) and Myriam of Magdala. Jesus is seen through the eyes of his mother, Galilean fishermen who become the fathers of the early church and a faithful female follower who goes to watch and mourn by the tomb when none of the other disciples will.

This is that rare thing, a book which can be given to friends and family who don’t have a faith. The chapters are short, narrated in easy-to-read colloquial language. The narrative voices are distinct and engaging. Regular readers will remember that in the last edition of MOSAIC, we reported on Mount Zion Church in Cliviger who have started a book club to discuss it. This is the perfect medium to share such a well-written, powerful and engaging series of eyewitness accounts of the greatest story ever told.

If your church decides to do the same, please let us know. And enjoy the read. I certainly did.

First published in MOSAIC Issue 19, May - August 2026