Alan Spence: 11 books

A classic of short fiction, Alan Spence’s celebrated debut collection, first published in 1977, brings Glasgow to vibrant life and captures the spirit of the city as it teetered on the brink of change. From childhood Christmases in small tenement flats and games played on scrubland, to Orange Walks...

Clear Light contains 150 haiku bursting with Alan Spence's characteristic verve and wit. Mythic and mesmerising, inspiring and hilarious, these poems shed clear light on the delights, hardships, breakthroughs and frustrations of the world of the momentary. Simple in form, these haiku request a fresh...

A superb new collection of haiku and other short poetic forms on the theme of Glasgow – its people, landscape, culture. As always, Spence is uniquely illuminating, witty and delightful. Incorporating some of the poems which appeared decades ago in the much sought-after collection of the same title, Glasgow Zen includes mostly new material from this highly popular and exquisite poet.

A “lively and epic . . . thoughtful and vivid” historical novel based on the true story that inspired Madame Butterfly and Miss Saigon (Publishers Weekly). The year is 1858. Thomas Glover is a gutsy eighteen-year-old in Aberdeen who grasps the chance of escape to foreign lands and takes...

This is Spence's first book of poetry since "Glasgow Zen". In this collection he evokes the essence of the seasons with this cycle of haiku.

On the side of a mountain, in eighteenth century Japan, sits a man in perfect stillness as the summit erupts, spitting fire and molten rock onto the land around him. The man is Hakuin. He will become the world's most famous teacher of zen. This is not the first time he has seen hell. Hakuin's quest...

Un Écossais au pays du soleil levant 1858. Tom Glover, 15 ans, est courtier maritime à Aberdeen, lorsqu'on lui propose le poste de contremaître du comptoir de Nagasaki. Sans trop hésiter, il quitte son Écosse natale pour tenter sa chance en Orient. Prêt à relever tous les défis, il se lance...

This book offers a fresh outline of the Christian story shaped by the idea of God's love as it is described in the New Testament. Love Hurts is a fresh and compact summary of the central themes of the Christian message. Journeying through the Bible's rich and diverse world of ideas and stories,...

Today Christology is of concern to both New Testament scholars and theologians alike and continues to provoke debate within the Church. Christology: A Guide for the Perplexed examines the key debates and defining moments in the early Church and the Reformation. After a brief introduction providing...

A study of Paul's letter to the Galatians as a way to understanding the nature of the gospel, justification by faith, the law, the Holy Spirit, Christian freedom, being one with Christ, and the challenges those truths faced in Paul's day, at certain key stages in the history of the Church, and today....

Through engagement with the historical debate Incarnation and Inspiration offers a systematic exposition of the person of Jesus that brings together dissonant aspects of the tradition. It serves as an introduction to the theology to John Owen, the most able of the Puritan theologians and provides...