Culture Articles
Poem: Rare Bird, a glosa for RS Thomas
Grey waters, vast as an area of prayer that one enters. Daily over a period of years I have let the eye rest on them. Was I waiting for something? ...
Respect, compiled by the anti-bullying team at Ilkley Grammar School
During dark days we all need to hear positive messages. This short book describes an anti-bullying team at a Yorkshire comprehensive school made up of students and three staff. They describe themselves as ‘passionate about our role… because… bullying can have a hugely devastating impact on young people’s...
Iris Murdoch: A guide to the novels, by Peter Whitfield
The difference between a religious and a non-religious person is not a question of what one believes, where one belongs, or how well one behaves, but whether one prays. Here’s Iris Murdoch talking about Immanuel Kant: ‘Surely, prayer (or something like it) is as essential as duty; and is...
A History of the Bible: The book and its faiths, by John Barton
Two religions, Judaism and Christianity, draw their basic convictions from the Bible, yet each draws very different key ideas from the material they cherish.
Conversations with a Blank Canvas by Isa Levy
Who is Isa L Levy? Difficult to define. Her brave memoir, Conversations with a Blank Canvas, explores the decades of her life from actor to artist, to arts psychotherapist, with many more labels in between. In 1998 she walked through the doors of her first Quaker Meeting after a chance encounter...
InnSæi, directed by Hrund Gunnsteinsdottir and Kristín Ólafsdóttir
I was recently prompted to watch Hrund Gunnsteinsdottir’s and Kristín Ólafsdóttir’s film and was immediately engaged and inspired. InnSæi is the Icelandic word for intuition. It means ‘the sea within’, like the borderless nature of our inner world, or it can mean ‘to see within’,...
When America Stopped Being Great: A history of the present by Nick Bryant
The governance of a society has big implications for the lives of the people living in it. Hence Plato’s Republic, which was meant to ensure that rulers knew what goodness is, and how to give it expression in a state they governed. Ideally, they would create a society in...
A Long Walk, A Gradual Ascent: The story of the Bolivian Friends Church in its context of conflict
Quick quiz: which four countries of the world have the highest numbers of Quakers? Answer: Kenya is in number one position, followed by the USA and Burundi. In fourth place by total number, and in third place by proportion of total population, is Bolivia. How did Quakers attain such prominence...
The heart and the hour
At the start, it’s no more than a fist, doing that opening, shutting, pumping business.
What lies ahead
Mashed into the last summer sunshine cold wind, a paper-cut barb Hints at winter ahead. Though told that warmth would banish this virus it hovers still, a vulture that threatens our fresh horizons Corralls us back into our cups Of joys, miseries and memories.