From practical guides to taking nonviolent direct action to personal accounts of time spent in jail to songbooks you can take on protests, we have a great range of books published by CCA and our members.
Time to Act
Christian Climate Action’s book Time to Act includes essays, sermons, poetry, and stories from dozens of Christian Climate Action members and guest contributors. It’s a great introduction to who we are, why we do what we do and how you can do it too.
Listen to some extracts from Time to Act, read by the authors.
Sam Lindo – In court, exactly where I’m supposed to be
Holly-Anna Petersen – Burnout is not the sacrifice we need
Jeremy Kidwell – Contemplating extinction
Bodies On the Line
Bodies on the Line: Christians, Civil Resistance and the Climate Crisis by Rev Sue Parfitt, a much loved and long-time member of Christian Climate Action.
Why are ordinary Christians breaking the law? For the incredulous and inspired alike, Rwv Sue Parfitt describes the experience, surveying our ecological, emotional, spiritual crisis with the blinkers off.
Finding Beauty Behind Bars
CCA’s Rev Tim Hewes has written a beautiful book called Finding Beauty Behind Bars. In late 2022 Tim Hewes, a retired dentist and priest, was accused of conspiring to bring the M25 motorway to a standstill. On a quiet Sunday afternoon his home in rural Oxfordshire was raided by eight officers from the territorial unit of the Metropolitan Police. Tim was handcuffed and taken to court, from where he was imprisoned on remand for six weeks.
Finding Beauty Behind Bars is the diary kept by Tim through this period. It describes the challenges of life in prison, and unexpected moments of beauty and humanity he encountered.
The book is beautifully illustrated with paintings by Tim’s wife, Andrea Hewes. It represents a coming together of their separate cathartic processing of his imprisonment.
Sacrament of Civil Disobedience
“Firm footing for a life of holy trouble.” – Shane Claiborne
Originally published in 1994, this brilliant book by US activist John Dear was updated in 2022, including by a member of CCA.
The Christian faith has a rich tradition of civil disobedience. From Old Testament stories of noncooperation with evil to Jesus, the nonviolent revolutionary, peacemaker, risk-taker. The early Christian communities, repeatedly imprisoned for speaking truth to power, like Dorothy Day or Martin Luther King Jr., centuries later.
Nonviolent civil disobedience, when rooted in faith, is not only a way to protest unjust laws; it can be an experience of the sacred.
Within this book you’ll find a civil resister’s field guide to that tradition, and best practices for discernment, court appearances, even jail time.
The Christian Climate Action Songbook
This collection of hymns and songs was put together for the Faith Bridge, so that people of all faiths and none can join us in song. It includes songs from a variety of faiths.
Christian Climate Action 