God Hunting: A Diary of Spiritual Discovery Paperback – 4 April 2011

This book is well-written, interesting to read, and honest.It is a great achievement for the author that she finished it at all, given the busyness of her life and the fact that she gave birth in the middle of writing it.But it seemed to me that the author avoided addressing the causes of her depression.Surely spiritual exercises should help one to do this, if they are to be useful? In the final chapter, asking herself why she sometimes failed to continue with the spiritual exercises she had set herself, she concluded it was because she is "sinful." I was disappointed that after all her efforts, she was still beating herself up.Guilt is not a Christian virtue.Long-term, it is an unhelpful state of mind.Better either to excuse herself on the grounds of having a baby and toddler to look after, or to work out why she isn't doing the exercises and facilitate ways of doing them more regularly.

Jo Swinney knows she is not perfect. In this book she shares a six month journey to find how God can take a fuller place in her life and thus how she can get to know Him better. There is some solid theology and scripture teaching here. However, the emphasis is on practical living as a Christian in a world which makes that hard. I especially loved the chapter on fasting, where Jo shows how we can benefit from the idea, even if for medical or other reasons, giving up food entirely may not be an option. A cracking good read. It's hard to put it down.

A very interesting collection of thoughts for those interested in how different people approach their spiritual life. This years lent course has been based around this book.

Jo writes with so much honesty which we found truly refreshing and challenging. Every member in our group benefited from reading, discussing and praying through the book

Disciplines for soul-health have rarely read so excellently and easily. This is a delightfully practical book recording Jo Swinney's experiment to trial various different spiritual disciplines with accessibility, vulnerability and trustworthiness. Hope and wise direction are offered in each of these stirring month long chapter-challenges. Swinney helpfully explores prayer, fasting, Bible reading, worship, solitude and simplicity. I particularly liked the way Jo held the tension of prayer and procrastination and along with stories, scripture and godly spirit offers connectedness with hope, faith, depth and honest struggles.The chapter testimonies embed the learning well with further integrity and warmth.Pithy rhetorical headlines, sincerity, faith and heartfelt communication make for a pacey Scripture Union read. Well researched, this is a warmly and insightfully written book that offers much to inspire and grow depth and health in a fresh generation. A compelling invitation from God to come as close as we each might dare. Top class stuff from an exciting new writing voice!

I recently read God Hunting a chapter a day while on holiday. The author's style is easy to read and her way of learning about something and then giving it a go - that mix of theory and practice - made for interesting content. The author's honesty comes through and gives a sense that it could have been me on the journey she was on - finding things that looks straightforward difficult and vice versa!I am glad I read the book. I will in fact re-read it with the aim of specifically thinking about what ideas - big and small - are relevant to my journey. It is all good stuff and prompts thought.But for me there is something missing. As I read the chapters on solitude and simplicity I felt this most strongly. And what I sense is missing is something that is hard to describe. It is the doing nothing. Just being. Being still. "To stand and stare." To be mindful of ourselves, our surroundings and God's presence not as a "doing" activity but more as a "being"non-activity. It is not about solitude: we can be still within ourselves in the loudest, busiest of places; it is more about awareness - and probably for those more learned in such things than me is part of the meditative tradition. I suspect the author of God Hunting would actually be a great explorer of what we can learn from that meditative tradition - perhaps her next book??

Inspiring and challenging, yet completely honest and realistic - Jo Swinney brings alive the amazing truth that God is with us even in the chaos of our day to day lives. This book is like a delicious piece of cake - in the sense that it's quick and fun to get through, but will bring about lasting change as it gets digested... I would recommend it to anyone who's really busy but craves a deeper, more meaningful relationship with God.

A lot of these type of books leave me intimidated and guilty, but this is very honest and humble and therefore all the more inspiring. I know about all of the spiritual disciplines Jo describes, but feel encouraged to actually retry them by reading about her experience of them.