Culture Articles
Roger Bannister crosses the line
How we cheered in childhood, back when we, in the world, were young; seeing that tall figure stride, steady as a metronome, to achieve the unachievable, and, reaching the end, give us the hopefulness to believe the unbelievable.
Uncivil worship and witness: Following the lamb into the new creation, by Michael J Gorman
I am in a curious position regarding this book, most of which I found helpful and illuminating. Its title denounces me as having read Revelation irresponsibly – it was through reading it in 1971 that I found myself steered towards Quakers. I was amazed to find that the images described had been...
Old Rage, by Sheila Hancock
As many readers will know, Sheila Hancock takes her Quakerism seriously. In this latest work of autobiography (covering 2016 to 2021), she begins with a note about becoming a dame. Should she accept? Is it in keeping with a Quaker belief in equality? She decides that to turn it down would be...
Faith songs
I I have faith, not in God, but in the infinite tenderness of your touch, in the fragility of this.
The Salt of the Earth, by Wim Wenders and Juliano Ribeiro Salgado
This 2014 film, which chronicles the life’s work of the photographer Sebastião Salgado, is a hard watch. The camera is pitiless, presenting horrific images – corpses in Rwanda, skeletal bodies in the Sahel – but with deep humanity and empathy.
The Last Days, by Ali Millar
I’ve always found Jehovah’s Witnesses fascinating and, over the years, have come to know several reasonably well. But only one, Kevin our window cleaner, has ever been prepared to talk about faith. We’ve chatted about how he spends Saturdays knocking on doors, and how he remains cheerful,...
Recycling facility
What shall I do with this, the old lady asks, Offering a telephone. It still works. Not now, it doesn’t. He chucks it in a skip.
Forgiveness: An exploration, by Marina Cantacuzino
This is a significantly hopeful book for our time. We’ve been through the extended trauma of Covid (its impact on our health and our reaction to its mismanagement), and the continuing uncertainty and lack of confidence in our political leadership, direction and competence. The coarsening of public discourse and...
White Debt: The Demerara Uprising and Britain’s legacy of slavery, by Thomas Harding
We inherit a past in which damage was done. We can’t cure the damage, but its effects persist. It presents us with responsibilities.
IMHO
Jesus did not appear to me today in a burnt a piece of toast. Nor in the face of the cornbread, nor in the sad black eye of the sunflower. Maybe he was lingering in the musical shadows of children singing in my morning dreams.