Having the main point of your religion be something that pretty much no one wants: that’s a tough sell. But without failure, writes the Revd Emma Ineson, Christianity stops making sense. That’s true in an obvious way – her book, Failure: What Jesus Said About Sin, Mistakes and Messing Stuff Up (SPCK, £10.99; Tablet price £8.99), emerged from her experiences helping to run the Church of England as the pandemic sent the whole world off the rails. It’s also true in the most profound way possible. Paul put it as only Paul could in Philippians: “Whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ.”