Stephen Cottrell – författare

Meditations on the story of Holy Week and the things Jesus did, from his entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday until his arrest on Maunday Thursday.One extraordinary week.Jesus rides a colt into Jerusalem.He shows righteous rage in the temple.He eats with the wrong sort of people.He lets a woman anoint him with oil.He washes his disciples' feet.He breaks bread and shares wine.He prays passionately in the garden.He allows himself to be arrested.Jesus stands in the prophetic tradition of those who embody what they teach. The things he did were carefully planned. And in this riveting book, Stephen Cottrell draws out their political and religious significance as Jesus moves towards his greatest and final act - his death and resurrection.

The radio programme Desert Island Discs has run almost continuously since 1942, and represents a unique record of the changing place of music in British society. In 2011, recognising its iconic status, the BBC created an online archive that includes podcasts of all programmes from 1976 on, and many from earlier years. Based on this and extensive documentary evidence, Defining the Discographic Self: Desert Island Discs in Context for the first time brings together musicologists, sociologists, and media scholars in one volume. They reflect on the programme's significance, its position within the BBC and Britain's continually evolving media, and its relationship to other comparable programmes. Of particular interest are the meanings attributed to music in the programme by both castaways and interviewers, the ways in which music is invoked in the public presentation of self, the incorporation of music within personal narratives, and changes in musical tastes during the seven decades spanned by the programme. Scholarly chapters are complemented by former castaways' accounts of their appearances, which give fascinating insiders' views into how the programme is made and how its guests prepare for their involvement.

Stephen Cottrell brings home, vividly and poignantly, the physical reality of the passion story.The narrative of Holy Week is powerful and painful, and because we know how the story ends it's easy to gloss over the difficult details, and stay in the comfort zone of our understanding. The Things He Carried is a book to stimulate thought, provoke discussion and create space for contemplation.'In order to understand the cross you need to stand under it . . . with the imagination as well as the mind... This book aims to help in that process... But however you use it – on your own or with others - I hope you will receive some small appreciation of just how much the cross weighs, and maybe even pick it up yourself.'From the Introduction

The follow-up to the author's highly successful The Things He Carried, this book takes the post-resurrection sayings of Jesus as starting-points and uses the same reflection format.The meaning and significance of the resurrection, how it was first communicated and how it is communicated to us today, are explored by piecing together these sayings of Jesus.However, the content may not quite be what we imagine. Following the resurrection, we would expect the triumphant 'I have risen from the dead'. Yet Jesus' statements are so different, so apparently innocuous, that they are often overlooked. The Christian faith stands or falls on the resurrection of Jesus; without it, says St Paul, we are to be most pitied. In this revelatory book of surprising reflections, Stephen Cottrell's retelling of the Easter story encourages us to slow down and hear it properly - perhaps for the very first time.

'[Cottrell’s] love of the work of the artist Stanley Spencer (1891-1959) has relentlessly deepened over 20 years, and he expresses it here with a spiritual breathlessness that is infectious and transformative.'MARK OAKLEY, CHURCH TIMESIn this devotional book, Stephen Cottrell reflects on five paintings from Stanley Spencer's Christ in the Wilderness series.These paintings give us startling insight into Jesus' own vocation and self-understanding of his ministry. They show his great love for the earth, for the whole created order and for all creatures within it.For Christians, the wilderness is a place of discovery. By dwelling in the wilderness of these beautiful and provocative paintings, Stephen Cottrell encourages us to refine our own discipleship and learn again what it means to follow Christ.This book is excellent reading for Lent but can be enjoyed at any time of year. It includes full-colour illustrations, making it a lovely gift book.

This Lent book offers imaginative reflections on Christ's crucifixion. Each of the seven chapters is focused on a different key character, who describes his or her experience of the Passion. The nails used to crucify Christ are used as a jumping off point for their reflections. Each character considers the questions, 'who killed Christ' and 'who was responsible?' Each chapter includes a Biblical passage, a meditative hymn, a reflection from the point of view of the character, and a short prayer. The book finishes with practical suggestions on how the book can be used as a Lent study course. It is ideal for individual reflection or group study, and can also readily be adapted for use as a Good Friday liturgy.

'Cottrell has a gift for inhabiting the most diverse perspectives . . . All are rendered in glorious physical language, a strange but apt mix of Scripture and modern idiom. The result is revelatory.' The TabletWalking Backwards to Christmas gives you a new and grown-up perspective on the Nativity story you first encountered in school and church Nativity plays. Stephen Cottrell gets you back into the real meaning of the childhood story simply by telling it backwards; from where you are now, to where you need to be to really understand its truth and deeper purpose.On the whole, this familiar version is more concerned with light than darkness. The backwards approach taken here allows the movement to be in the opposite direction, enabling us to get under the skin of a complex narrative. We begin by seeing through the eyes of Anna, the prophetess; followed by Rachel, who weeps for her children; King Herod; Casper, a wise men; David, a shepherd; Martha, the (so-named) innkeeper's wife; Joseph; Elizabeth; Mary; Isaiah and, finally, Moses. Each imaginative reflection is prefaced by a Bible reading and followed by a prayer.Each imaginative and solidly biblical reflection is prefaced by the relevant Bible reading and followed by a thoughtfully crafted, devotional prayer. If you want an Advent and Christmas devotional that will help to change and mature your understanding of the Nativity story, then Walking Backwards to Christmas is probably the way.

The Sleepy Shepherd is so dozy he completely misses the visit of the angels . . . and the chance to greet the Christ-child in Bethlehem. But one crucial night, years later, he makes an important decision - to be a real shepherd to a man whose friends have all fallen asleep . . .

In the first fully comprehensive study of one of the world’s most iconic musical instruments, Stephen Cottrell examines the saxophone’s various social, historical, and cultural trajectories, and illustrates how and why this instrument, with its idiosyncratic shape and sound, became important for so many different music-makers around the world. After considering what led inventor Adolphe Sax to develop this new musical wind instrument, Cottrell explores changes in saxophone design since the 1840s before examining the instrument's role in a variety of contexts: in the military bands that contributed so much to the saxophone's global dissemination during the nineteenth century; as part of the rapid expansion of American popular music around the turn of the twentieth century; in classical and contemporary art music; in world and popular music; and, of course, in jazz, a musical style with which the saxophone has become closely identified.

This volume brings together leading voices from the new wave of research on musical instruments to consider how we can connect the material aspects of instruments with their social function, approaches that have been otherwise too frequently separated in musical scholarship.Shaping Sound and Society: The Cultural Study of Musical Instruments locates the instruments at the centre of cultural interactions. With contributions from ten scholars spanning a variety of methodologies and a wide range of both contemporary and historic music cultures, the volume is divided into three sections. Contributors discuss the relationships between makers, performers, and their local communities; the different meanings that instruments accrue as they travel over time and place; and the manner in which instruments throw new light on historic music cultures. Alongside the scholarly chapters, the volume also includes a selection of shorter interludes based on interviews with makers of comparatively new instruments, offering further insights into the process of musical instrument innovation.An essential read for students and academics in the fields of music and ethnomusicology, this volume will also interest anyone looking to understand how the cultural interaction of musical instruments is deeply informed and influenced by social, technological, and cultural change.

Found in Common Worship: Times and Seasons, The Way of the Cross is a series of scripture-based devotions for personal or group use in Lent and Holy Week. Similar in intent to the traditional Stations of the Cross, it focuses wholly on the biblical narrative of the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus.This seasonal companion provides the sequence of fifteen meditations appears in full, including opening and concluding prayers. Each is accompanied by three short reflections from different perspectives by three of today's very best spiritual writers:- Paula Gooder offers reflections on the scriptural narratives;- Stephen Cottrell considers the story from the perspective of personal discipleship;- Philip North explores the story's challenge to mission and witness.

How to Pray is a basic primer on prayer. It will get you started, keep you going and uses every stage of life and its varied events to renew and expand your understanding of being alive to God. Completely honest about the struggles and difficulties everyone encounters, it will help you discover how natural prayer is, even when you least feel like it.With his characteristic humour and realism, Stephen Cottrell offers a guide 'from an experienced beginner' for those starting out on the Christian journey and for those who feel there is more to discover. Full of stories and examples from the Christian tradition and daily life, simple principles to follow, some prayers to use and helpful insights from spiritual writers through the ages, this is a book to inspire over and over again. A great gift for confirmation or adult baptism.Previously published as Praying Through Life.

How to Live is a personal companion for your journey of faith. Whether you are a new Christian setting out, or a weary traveller in need of refreshment, it offers an inspiring guide to the essentials of the Christian life.With wisdom, honesty and humour, it explores the inward and outward journeys that being a Christian involves:Prayer Reading the Bible Worship Relating faith to daily life Sharing your faith Seeking God’s kingdom Living as a Christian means being open to a lifelong journey of discovery, change and growth. Let How to Live be your guide to this amazing adventure.An ideal gift for new Christians, confirmation candidates, and those completing an Emmaus or Alpha course.Previously published as Travelling Well.

Contact is a practical, hands-on booklet that helps churches make the most of their connections with those outside the church. Most churches find that setting-up a course for non-churchgoers to explore Christianity is not the most difficult task – getting them to come is the real test. Here´s where Contact steps in. Contact builds on insights from recent research and case studies and provides helpful advice for churches on: making contact with those outside the church making the most of existing contacts, such as occasional attendees, toddler groups connecting with people´s spirituality how to set up a nurture group encouraging your church to be involved in evangelism and outreachThis second edition builds upon the experience of those who have used the Emmaus material since it was first published and also the considerable amount of statistical research which has been done in recent years.

Youth Emmaus is a course designed to help those aged 11 to 16 explore the basics of the Christian faith. This is no easy task - but Youth Emmaus offers a winning combination of meaty leaders' notes, cool handouts for group members, great cartoons and graphics. The material is fully road-tested and ideal for youth groups and as a confirmation course for young people. Youth Emmaus tackles: What Christians Believe (5 Units) How Christians Grow (5 Units) Living the Christian Life (3 Units)Youth Emmaus also contains free online content that includes: Handouts and supplementary handouts for all sessions as PDF files Emmaus Poster Downloadable services to use with young people and a section on using Youth Emmaus in an all-age context Powerpoint presentation on Youth Emmaus All icons from handouts available in colour in a downloadable format

Pilgrim is a teaching and discipleship resource that will help enquirers and new Christians explore what it means to travel through life with Jesus Christ. It offers an approach of participation, not persuasion, encouraging enquirers to practice the ancient disciplines of biblical reflection and prayer, exploring key texts that have helped people since the earliest days of the Christian faith. What do Christians believe? Turning to Christ examines the heart of the Christian faith through the six questions asked at baptism. Over six sessions it aims to help participants discover their own answers to these questions.Session One: Do you turn to Christ? Explores the attraction of Jesus Christ. What happened when people met him? What would happen if you did?Session Two: Do you believe and trust in God the Father? What do Christians believe about God? This session uses the Old Testament to look at how God is like a Father.Session Three: Do you believe in his Son Jesus Christ? Looks in more detail at who Christians believe Jesus is, and what Jesus’ baptism reveals about his identity.Session Four: Do you believe in the Holy Spirit? Uses the story of Pentecost to show how Christians believe the Holy Spirit makes Jesus present today.Session Five: Do you repent of your sins? Looks at what Christians call sin: that inbuilt tendency to get things wrong and God’s great desire to put things right.Session Six: Do you renounce evil? Explores the reality of evil, and how the Christian faith invites us to set the moral compass of our lives.All sessions combine a simple framework prayer, reflection on the Bible in the lectio divina style, an article by a modern writer, and time for questions and reflection, supported by online audio-visual resources.

Pilgrim is a teaching and discipleship resource that will help enquirers and new Christians explore what it means to travel through life with Jesus Christ. It offers an approach of participation, not persuasion, encouraging enquirers to practice the ancient disciplines of biblical reflection and prayer, exploring key texts that have helped people since the earliest days of the Christian faith. How do Christians know and worship God? The Lord’s Prayer uses one of the greatest Christian prayers to reveal more about what God is like. Over six sessions, it uses each powerful line of the Lord’s Prayer as a gateway to the Christian gospel.Session One: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name - Explores the Christian belief that, through prayer, Jesus invites us into a relationship with God as our Father.Session Two: Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as in heaven - Unpacks the idea of the kingdom of God, which is central to Jesus’ teaching and being a Christian disciple.Session Three: Give us today our daily bread - How does God feed his people, and what does it means to pray the words: ‘Give us this day our daily bread’?Session Four: Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us - Looks at the central place of forgiveness in the Christian life: both receiving God’s forgiveness and forgiving others.Session Five: Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil - Considers our strengths and weaknesses, exploring this plea to God for help and protection.Session Six: For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours now and forever. Amen - How praise and worship begins and ends Christian prayer, and draws everything together.All sessions combine a simple framework prayer, reflection on the Bible in the lectio divina style, an article by a modern writer, and time for questions and reflection, supported by online audio-visual resources.

Pilgrim is a major new teaching and discipleship resourcefrom the Church of England. It will help enquirers and new Christians explorewhat it means to travel through life with Jesus Christ.A Christian course for the twenty-first century, Pilgrimoffers an approach of participation, not persuasion. Enquirers are encouragedto practice the ancient disciplines of biblical reflection and prayer,exploring key texts that have helped people since the earliest days of theChristian faith. Believing that the Christian faith is primarily aboutrelationship, Pilgrim aims to lay a foundation for a lifetime of learning moreabout God’s love revealed in Jesus Christ and what it means to be his disciple.Assuming little or no knowledge of the Christian faith, Pilgrim can be used atany point on the journey of discipleship and by every tradition in the Churchof England.Pilgrim is made up of two parts: Follow and Grow. Eachconsists of four short courses and a leaders’ guide. Follow introduces theChristian faith for complete beginners, while Grow aims to develop a deeperlevel of discipleship in those who have turned to Christ. Each short course contains six-sessions, supported byonline audio-visual resources. All sessions combine a simple framework prayer,reflection on the Bible in the lectio divina style, an article by a modernwriter, and time for questions and reflection. The Leaders’ Guide explains the aims and approach of Pilgrim and offers advice and support for running the sessions.

Pilgrim is a teaching and discipleship resource that will help enquirers and new Christians explore what it means to travel through life with Jesus Christ. It offers an approach of participation, not persuasion, encouraging enquirers to practice the ancient disciplines of biblical reflection and prayer, exploring key texts that have helped people since the earliest days of the Christian faith. How should Christians behave and how should we live? The Commandments are one of the foundations of the Christian faith. They teach us how we should aim to live as individuals and as a community. These six sessions explore the ways in which Jesus interprets the Commandments for his disciples and expands their meaning.Session One: Priorities - Looks at Jesus’ summary of the law as the foundation for the way a disciple is called to live.Session Two: Reverence - Explores the vital importance of reverence and worship for God and the danger of making idols of what we love.Session Three: Rest - This session further explores the theme of reverence in the third commandment and the linked theme of rest and the Sabbath in the rhythm of our lives.Session Four: Respect - Focussing on the honour shown within the family and respect for the sanctity of life, this session explores the theme of respect.Session Five: Righteousness - Looks at the commandments about adultery and theft and their implications for our daily lives.Session Six: Reliability - What are the dangers of dishonesty and covetousness? This session looks at the damage they may cause.All sessions combine a simple framework prayer, reflection on the Bible in the lectio divina style, an article by a modern writer, and time for questions and reflection, supported by online audio-visual resources.

Pilgrim is a teaching and discipleship resource that will help enquirers and new Christians explore what it means to travel through life with Jesus Christ. It offers an approach of participation, not persuasion, encouraging enquirers to practice the ancient disciplines of biblical reflection and prayer, exploring key texts that have helped people since the earliest days of the Christian faith. How can we build our lives on the teaching and example of Jesus? The Beatitudes are probably the most important, subversive and revolutionary text in the Bible. In order to follow Jesus and live the Christian life, we need to enter into the challenging but beautiful world of the Beatitudes and that is what this exciting course is all about.Session One: Living with Openness to God - Looks at what it means to live with openness to God and to the world.Session Two: Thirsting for what is right - What does it mean to live with obedience to God and with a desire to put things right in the world as God intends?Session Three: Living Transparently - Exploring what it means to be transparent in all we do and are, looking at how we show others the mercy God gives to us.Session Four: Peacemaking - What does it mean to be a peacemaker after the example of Christ and what is the cost of this witness?Session Five: Living as Citizens of God’s Kingdom - Looks at what Jesus meant by the kingdom and how we can live as its citizens.Session Six: Foundations - Explores what it means to build our lives on the teaching and example of Jesus, as we have seen in the BeatitudesAll sessions combine a simple framework prayer, reflection on the Bible in the lectio divina style, an article by a modern writer, and time for questions and reflection, supported by online audio-visual resources.

Pilgrim is a teaching and discipleship resource that will help enquirers and new Christians explore what it means to travel through life with Jesus Christ. It offers an approach of participation, not persuasion, encouraging enquirers to practice the ancient disciplines of biblical reflection and prayer, exploring key texts that have helped people since the earliest days of the Christian faith. This first book in the Grow Stage explores the core of Christian belief in greater depth through the Nicene and Apostles' Creeds. Its six sessions aim to equip participants with an understanding of these priceless resources for living the Christian life and for knowing God better.Session One: What are the Creeds? - Examines the reasons the Creeds were developed and the role they play in Christian life and faith.Session Two: God as Trinity – Father, Son and Holy Spirit - Considers the profound and wonderful truth that God is Trinity: three persons in relationship, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.Session Three: Fully God and fully human - Looks at the unique nature of Jesus Christ, fully God and fully human, and what this teaches us about God and being human.Session Four: Crucified, risen and ascended - Explores the great shadows in our lives - sin, death and hell - and the way Jesus overcomes these through his death and resurrection.Session Five: I believe in the Holy Spirit - What does it mean to receive the Holy Spirit? This session looks at the Holy Spirit's role in the life of the Church.Session Six: One holy, catholic and apostolic church - Explores what it means to belong to the people of God and to declare that the Church is one, holy, catholic and apostolic.All sessions combine a simple framework prayer, reflection on the Bible in the lectio divina style, an article by a modern writer, and time for questions and reflection, supported by online audio-visual resources.

Pilgrim is a teaching and discipleship resource that will help enquirers and new Christians explore what it means to travel through life with Jesus Christ. It offers an approach of participation, not persuasion, encouraging enquirers to practice the ancient disciplines of biblical reflection and prayer, exploring key texts that have helped people since the earliest days of the Christian faith. This second book in the Grow Stage explores in greater depth how Christians know and worship God. Its six sessions reveal the reasons why The Eucharist is celebrated as a memorial of Christ’s saving passion and stands at the very heart of Christian worship.Session One: Your ancestors ate manna in the wilderness - Explores worship as communion with God.Session Two: This is my body broken for you - Considers the Eucharist as the pattern of all Christian worship.Session Three: He was made known to them in the breaking of the bread - Looks at the intimacy we have with God in Holy Communion and how we are transformed by the encounter.Session Four: If you hear my voice and open the door, I will come and eat with you - How can worship be seen as a sign and foretaste of heaven?Session Five: Do this to remember me - Explores how worship shapes our entire lives.Session Six: I am the bread of life - Considers the notion that the whole of life is sacramental.All sessions combine a simple framework prayer, reflection on the Bible in the lectio divina style, an article by a modern writer, and time for questions and reflection, supported by online audio-visual resources.

Pilgrim is a teaching and discipleship resource that will help enquirers and new Christians explore what it means to travel through life with Jesus Christ. It offers an approach of participation, not persuasion, encouraging enquirers to practice the ancient disciplines of biblical reflection and prayer, exploring key texts that have helped people since the earliest days of the Christian faith. The Bible is one of the most influential books in the world. This third book in the Grow Stage explores the Bible: what it is, where it comes from, how we should read it, and how it can help us grow as disciples of Jesus Christ.Session One: What is the Bible? - Looks at a ‘way in’ to reading the Bible, thinking particularly about how to recognize what kind of writing the Bible is.Session Two: The Bible as Breath - Reflects on what it means to say that the Bible is the breath of God.Session Three: The Bible as a stream of living water - Explores how the Bible nourishes us.Session Four: The Bible as a lamp - Looks at the Bible as something that enlightens and informs us as Christians.Session Five: The Bible as a two-edged sword - Explores what it means to say that the Bible is living and active.Session Six: Daily bread - Considers how we can make Bible-reading a part of our regular life and prayer.All sessions combine a simple framework prayer, reflection on the Bible in the lectio divina style, an article by a modern writer, and time for questions and reflection, supported by online audio-visual resources.

Pilgrim is a teaching and discipleship resource that will help enquirers and new Christians explore what it means to travel through life with Jesus Christ. It offers an approach of participation, not persuasion, encouraging enquirers to practice the ancient disciplines of biblical reflection and prayer, exploring key texts that have helped people since the earliest days of the Christian faith. What does it mean to live as a child of God? This final part of the Grow stage looks at how following Christ each day affects our life at home and at work, our resources and relationships, and how the Christian faith can shape us to become more like Jesus.Session One: Praying through life - Explores the importance of prayer, particularly daily prayer as foundational for the Christian life.Session Two: At home and at work - Looks at how we live out our faith every day and of the importance of Sabbath.Session Three: Living generously - Considers what it means to reflect the generosity of God in our own lives.Session Four: In all my relationships - Looks at how faith in the God who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit shapes and changes all our relationships.Session Five: Confronting the injustices of the world - Considers how the Christian life requires us to be involved in the affairs of the world and to witness to God’s kingdom of peace and justice every day.Session Six: Treading lightly on the earth - Explores our relationship with the earth itself.All sessions combine a simple framework prayer, reflection on the Bible in the lectio divina style, an article by a modern writer, and time for questions and reflection, supported by online audio-visual resources.

Professional Music-Making in London is an engaging yet innovative study which examines the lives and work of Western art musicians from an ethnographic perspective. Drawing in part on his own professional experience, Stephen Cottrell considers to what extent musicians in Western society conform to Alan Merriam's paradigmatic assessment of them as having low status yet high respect, as well as being given an unusual degree of licence to deviate from convention. The book draws on a wide variety of approaches from scholars elsewhere: from ethnomusicologists such as Bruno Nettl and Henry Kingsbury, performance theorists such as Richard Schechner and Victor Turner, as well as psychologists such as Sigmund Freud and Melanie Klein. This rich intellectual heritage provides the framework for discussion of a variety of themes, including how musicians conceive their self identity and how this is negotiated in the professional musical world; how the deputy system facilitates musical exchange and engenders gift relationships; how humour lubricates social and musical relationships and mitigates the stresses of musicians' lives; and how the events in which musicians participate can be viewed as quasi-rituals, and thus related to analogous events in non-Western cultures. The focus of this study is on professional music-making in London, one of the world's busiest centres of musical performance. Yet the issues raised and explored are deeply relevant to other major centres of Western art music, such as New York, Berlin or Sydney. Ethnomusicologists, anthropologists, musicologists, performers, teachers and concert-goers will find this book a stimulating insight into, and investigation of, Western art musicians and their place in today's world.

Professional Music-Making in London is an engaging yet innovative study which examines the lives and work of Western art musicians from an ethnographic perspective. Drawing in part on his own professional experience, Stephen Cottrell considers to what extent musicians in Western society conform to Alan Merriam's paradigmatic assessment of them as having low status yet high respect, as well as being given an unusual degree of licence to deviate from convention. The book draws on a wide variety of approaches from scholars elsewhere: from ethnomusicologists such as Bruno Nettl and Henry Kingsbury, performance theorists such as Richard Schechner and Victor Turner, as well as psychologists such as Sigmund Freud and Melanie Klein. This rich intellectual heritage provides the framework for discussion of a variety of themes, including how musicians conceive their self identity and how this is negotiated in the professional musical world; how the deputy system facilitates musical exchange and engenders gift relationships; how humour lubricates social and musical relationships and mitigates the stresses of musicians' lives; and how the events in which musicians participate can be viewed as quasi-rituals, and thus related to analogous events in non-Western cultures. The focus of this study is on professional music-making in London, one of the world's busiest centres of musical performance. Yet the issues raised and explored are deeply relevant to other major centres of Western art music, such as New York, Berlin or Sydney. Ethnomusicologists, anthropologists, musicologists, performers, teachers and concert-goers will find this book a stimulating insight into, and investigation of, Western art musicians and their place in today's world.