Book Review: A New Day by Peter McGuigan
Book Review: A New Day by Peter McGuigan
22 November 2022
In A New Day, Major Peter McGuigan, Sydney Congress Hall Corps Officer, shares essays reflecting on faith and theology whilst living through lockdowns due to COVID-19.
The first thing that catches you about this book – before you even get to reading it – is the quality of the production. It’s a lovely book with an engaging layout and stunning photos. So credit must first go to photographer Gareth McGuigan (son of the author) and designer Jooles Tostevin-Hobbs.
Major Peter McGuigan wrote A New Day while appointed Corps Officer at Preston in Victoria. He is now Corps Officer at Sydney Congress Hall alongside his wife, Major Tara McGuigan.
Peter, a former editorial colleague of mine [when I worked in Australia], is a thoughtful and insightful writer, always with the best of intentions both for The Salvation Army and the Church. He writes from the perspective of wanting to see Kingdom growth and people ‘found’ and made whole.
The book is subtitled, ‘Writing during the pandemic on relationships, responsibility and spiritual renewal’, and my first thought was that I appreciated it being set in the local. Many books tackle faith and doctrinal ecclesiological questions in a kind of abstract, ethereal manner that can simply cause them to come across as theoretical.
Peter, however, bases his text in his home, in his corps, in his community and in everyday reality. While some readers will not know the streets of Melbourne, they will recognise the themes and challenges on offer.
I also like that there are reflection pages, including prayers, questions and space to make notes. This is not just a book to read, it’s a book to engage with – or, more so, wrestle with.
The book raises heavy questions, but it is not a heavy read, containing nice flashes of humour and the joys and challenges of family life. Well worth having on your shelf; well worth reading.
A New Day is available for pre-order from Salvationist Supplies by emailing trade.sydney@salvationarmy.org.au or trade.melbourne@salvationarmy.org.au or call Sydney Salvationist Supplies (1800 634 209) and Melbourne Salvation Army Supplies (1800 100 018). It is available at Koorong and on Amazon Kindle ebook.
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