11.07.2025
‘Christ Alive’ – Dublin Lay Reader’s Reflections on Finding Christ in the Unexpected
Dublin and Glendalough Diocesan Reader, John Deane–O’Keeffe has released a new book which brings readers on a weekly journey finding Christ in unexpected places. Titled: Christ Alive: Reflections from the Shadows of Life into the Light of God, the book is published by Resource Publications.
John Deane–O’Keeffe is a lay reader whose home parish is Holy Trinity, Killiney. He also contributes regular columns to the Church Review (the diocesan magazine of Dublin and Glendalough) and the Church of Ireland Gazette.
Christ Alive is a book of fifty–two lessons, one for every week of the year, that takes the reader on a clever, humorous, roller–coaster voyage of discovery, where Christ is consistently found in places where we might least expect or want – from Vladimir Putin to prisons, from psychopaths to the homeless, with a little visit to our mums, dads, and the seven deadly sins along the way. There is a lesson included for every week of the year.
In his preface John says that the reflections are drawn from the streets, prisons, campus, church and from the people, but mostly from the heart. He says the book “aims to bring the message of faith, hope and love into the open air of our everyday lives. And just as Jesus walked among us in our daily struggles and joys over two millennia ago, he walks the same paths with us today. These pages reflect the realities of life outside and inside traditional walls where grace meets grit and where goodness abounds”.
Speaking at the launch of the book, Archbishop Michael Jackson noted that John brought his broad range of experience and acumen to bear in writing the weekly meditations. “As a criminal law lecturer and preacher, he can draw out a wide range of insights and tell a story where we see the overlap of biography and parable. His motivation is not to amuse but to bring to bear on the darker areas of life the light of God. I thoroughly recommend this book,” he said.
Timothy Mooney, Associate Professor, School of Philosophy, University College Dublin, added: “In its turn moving and amusing, this book is suffused with hope and cheerfulness as well as an irrepressible sense of humour. Through his insightful interpretations of recent events and deft use of examples, John Deane–O’Keefe shows the reader how the belief in the risen Christ has lost little of its inspirational power.”
John Deane–O’Keeffe is a church pastor, prison and hospital chaplain, and forensic criminologist. A Cambridge and Oxford graduate (where he tutors), he lectures in Ireland and Britain in criminology, forensic psychology, criminal law, and theology and works across the criminal justice system as it intersects with offenders, crime victims, prison inmates, and faith. Additionally, he has been sworn as a United Kingdom magistrate, where he served in the Law District of Northumbria.