Question and answer sessions are an essential part of any state school Religious Education teachers methodology. They tend to allow us get to the point. The itch gets scratched!

With Episcopalian Questions, Episcopalian Answers, Ian Markham (Dean and President of Virginia Theological Seminary) has written a slim volume that does just that. He provides brief answers that manage to acknowledge the depth of the issues he with which he deals.

Touching on all the familiar issues that swirl around under the heading of Life's Big Questions (LBQs) Markham gets to the point and does it from a point of view that is decidedly Episcopalian (or Anglican as we non- Americans think of it.

In the LBQ category, he touches on the issue of suffering and evil, the importance of prayer, and many more. In fact the book organises itself beyond these LBQs into sections on beliefs, ethics, architecture and vestments, sacraments, the Book of Common Prayer, the Church and the Anglican Communion.

Useful for preparation for Baptismal families, Confirmation, a questing teenager or study groups, Markham's book is so useful it will never just sit on the bookshelf.

You can borrow Episcopalian Questions, Episcopalian Answers from the Roscoe Library.