A RENOWNED astrophysicist and theologian will publish a new book on prayer next week (Friday, May 15).

The Reverend Professor David Wilkinson, principal of St John’s College at Durham University, is a popular author and speaker and regular contributor to the Thought for the Day slot on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

His new book, When I Pray What Does God Do?, explores questions how whether and how God answers prayer, including the author’s own personal struggle with the issue.

It is published in paperback by Monarch Books on Friday, May 15.

The work has won acclaim from Dr John Sentamu, the Archbishop of York, who wrote the foreword and called the book deeply illuminating and highly accessible.

John Pritchard, a former Bishop of Oxford, said it was exciting and Joel Edwards, a former general director of the Evangelical Alliance UK, said it combined humour, personal experience and informed intelligence and was an excellent read.

Copies can be pre-ordered, for £8.99, via Amazon now.

Prof Wilkinson has previously written about extraterrestrial life, the end of the world and Darwinism.