This book is a collection of 31 short chapters (every one limited to six pages) each expounding a text containing the words "But God . . ." or a near equivalent. The idea is not a new one, and Tony Bennett acknowledges a debt to preachers who have used it in the past. But he has certainly taken it further than anyone else. He also isolates two or three thoughts from each chapter, along with verses from a familiar hymn, for further reflection.

Bennett is an earnest evangelist as well as a skilled communicator, and these mini-sermons make good reading. His theology is Reformed, although his quotes and illustrations are drawn from a wide variety of sources. It is a weakness that the chapters follow a strictly consecutive Biblical order, giving the whole book a slightly disjointed feel. If the author had grouped the chapters under a few subject headings (for example God's attributes, the person and work of Christ, providence, faith/unbelief, right conduct and the Christian hope) the book would, in the reviewer's opinion, have had more coherence.

Donald Mackay, Knox Church, Perth