In a world that is always online and in touch, relationships seem to be breaking down all around us. We need real connection to each other more than ever, and yet it's even further out of reach. How is it possible to remain full of hope when church and society seem to have lost it? How to find a stable centre within ourselves, and still be part of a meaningful, loving community?

Sebastian Moore grapples with these questions again for the generation which has just discovered The Contagion of Jesus, one of the most widely discussed new works of theology published in recent years, and short-listed for the Michael Ramsey Prize.

Sharing food creates community as nothing else can. Jesus shared food with friends in the family tradition, but he was doing something much more radical. He was creating a table at which everyone was welcome; the people on the social, sexual and economic margins were his chosen family and closest friends. Yet his death blew that apart.

Written with Dr Kate Wilson (a Reformation historian with a passion for learning new languages. She is currently studying Theology for Pastoral Ministry at the Margaret Beaufort Institute and is Lay Pastoral Assistant at Christ's College, Cambridge).