Culture Articles
The Truth About Modern Slavery, by Emily Kenway
In this lucid book, Emily Kenway argues that the idea of ‘modern slavery’, as framed by some politicians and campaigners, is a misleading concept. It not only misrepresents the nature of the problem, she says, but actively acts against the kinds of policies and practices that would actually help with...
Asperger’s Children: The origins of autism in Nazi Vienna, by Edith Sheffer
This is one of the most harrowing books I have ever read. Edith Sheffer is a historian in the USA. Her son Eric, aged thirteen, is among the one-in-sixty children being diagnosed on the autism spectrum there. She dedicated this book to Eric.
Seven Small Experiments with Language and Faith
For Brian Ashley of Shetland Meeting, who calls for a generosity of spirit to embrace diverse ways of expressing our experience (Letters, 28 May). 1. Omega and Alpha sit squat on Skull Hill. As Christ dies, the dark night of language splits like a fig. Faith, like dawn’s yolk gutters gold...
Be Patterns: An illustrated Advices and queries, by Jenny Vickers and Brett Fletcher
‘Sing and rejoice, ye Children of the Day and of the Light; for the Lord is at work in this thick night of Darkness’ wrote George Fox in one of his epistles (Quaker faith & practice 20.23). The musician Jenny Vickers, in collaboration with the artist Brett Fletcher, was inspired by...
After: A doctor explores what near-death experiences reveal about life and beyond, by Bruce Greyson
It was just a wasp sting, but the evening before an early morning flight was not the best time to discover I was allergic. When the ambulance crew arrived they could not immediately find my pulse. Fortunately, after a couple of adrenaline injections and two hours in A&E,...
Sorry About the Mess, by Heather Trickey
I’ve been wondering whether this book should carry a warning, like those you get before a movie begins: ‘Swearing, violent emotions’; ‘Readers may find some poems distressing’; ‘May cause choking from laughter’.
Elijah’s Crossing
i.m. Graham Shaw, (1944-2021), author, teacher, priest, friend There, at the footbridge, in Lublin province, Kacyzne’s* camera finds Elijah out, his cap, his waistcoat, the shod foot lifted back, crossing the river, a grey flame. And working horses (the charcoal, the chestnut), break for the silver waters running ...
Given
The words lined up nicely – didn’t they just. Big and small, banging their pans till their echoes rattled in my tight chest, their once-, twice-swallowed meaning doing its level best to squeeze clear of the Light, into the light of day: my throat just a handy device, a dispenser,...
Still Love Left: Faith and hope in later life, by Michael Jackson
This 100-page book is an essential for our ageing Society. It will be an invaluable asset to our elders and ‘caring and supportive Friends’ (or whatever is replacing the name of overseers), or just anyone who is approaching later life with some trepidation. It changed my view from fearing the...
Stories from Palestine: Narratives of resilience, by Marda Dunsky
I have been visiting Israel and Palestine since the early 1980s. It has been an emotional journey. There was the buoyancy I felt when the Oslo Accords were signed in 1993, when there seemed to be grounds for hope. Since then it has been a challenge to express any optimism.