From My Bookshelf: Giles Fraser, a regular visitor to Church House Bookshop, tells us about his recent reading and the books which have inspired and influenced him. But first a little about the man himself:

Revd Dr Giles Fraser is Vicar of Putney. He is a columnist for the Church Times, the Guardian and a regular contributor to BBC Radio 4's Thought for the Day. He also lectures in philosophy at Wadham College, Oxford.

He is the author of Christianity and Violence (DLT, 2001) and Redeeming Nietzsche (Routledge, 2003) as well numerous articles on the philosophy of religion. He is also President of the Inclusive Church network.

I have now read this book twice. It was written whilst Chris was, in effect, theologian in residence in the Parish of Putney, and offers a must read for all of those interested in the intersection between political liberalism and theology.

Amongst other things, it defends liberalism against the fashionable criticisms launched against it by Radical Orthodoxy. Excellent stuff.

‘Everything you wanted to know about we economics but were afraid to ask’ is how the Governor of the Bank of England described this book.

Being someone who finds numbers difficult, it is wonderful to come across someone who has Kay’s gift for explanation. His line may be too sympathetic to free trade for many in the church, but I found it constantly shifted my prejudices and moved me on.

This is a challenge that Christians just cannot ignore.

I used to be a pretty hard-core lefty - though, as my first two choices might indicate, I have now lost a lot of my faith in traditional left wing politics. Nonetheless, I still love to read Marxist thought, not least because it offers many significant parallels with Christianity.

Bewes book on Reification made me want to go away and write a book on the very similar philosophies contained within the Christian notion of idolatry and the Marxist concern with reification (which is the transformation of the human – and the divine - into commodities or things). I wish I had the time.

This started out in the category of books that I know I ought to have read but haven’t. It was just the treat I expected it to be.

As much about Bakhtin as it is about Rabelais, it offers a boisterous defense of the earthy and the vulgar. Rabelais is a great antidote to grim-faced ecclesiastical piety that can suck the life out of you.

In fact, I haven’t read this book – though I feel like I have. It’s currently my wife’s bedside read and the book that contains the notorious phrase: ‘All men are rapists’.

Every time Sally reads a bit she gives me a commentary and we start talking about men and women and sex and life, the universe and everything. We have had such great conversations, I have to include it on this list.