So apologies are due; a daily echo was proving a little too much to manage, especially because we've been beset by various challenges in the last few days. So I'll aim for 3 or 4 a week. How's that? Today…
Thomas Gray by John Giles Eccardt, (1747-1748) Time to get out of the house. We're allowed out for up to an hour a day, which is just as well as we'd lose the plot otherwise, as would the dog. Followers…
William Cowper by Lemuel Francis Abbott (1792) Q regulars will know that William Cowper has been a personal favourite for years. He had to navigate the storms of mental illness throughout his adult life, without any of the understanding, support…
R. S. Thomas, I imagine, would not necessarily have had much time for me. I don't really know why I think that (and I'm probably committing a gross calumny), but there's a severity and pointedness to his writing which suggests…
Sacred Treasure A friend who pastors in Hong Kong tackles the church's divisions in the face of political turmoil and social unrest. We would do well to listen, here in Brexit Britain...The Simple Pastor draws on some fascinating Pew Foundation…
Sacred Treasure If you've not clocked this great little radio series by Nick Spencer, then you must: The Secret History of Science and Religion.Some very surprising realities about global Christianity (esp for those who only follow secular media) - HT…
Despite the relative freedom that singleness brought him, John Stott would never have achieved everything he achieved in his 90-year life were it not for one person: Frances Whitehead. Her legacy is truly unique: She was John's secretary for nearly…
Sacred Treasure Jeremy Marshall was a senior British banker - until he was informed about his terminal cancer with 18 months to live. It's now 4 years on - a remarkable testimony in The SpectatorAnd while on the theme, here's…
In a couple of months, I'll be leading a study day here in Maidenhead on postmodernism and stuff, revamping and updating old material that led to writing A Wilderness of Mirrors. It's been a while since I worked on it,…
There is an emotional complexity to this wonderful painting by Swiss artist Eugène Burnand. I know very little about him, apart from the usual resort of Wikipedia. But he manages to capture a moment of almost frantic inquisitiveness, as Peter and his young, fellow-disciple John rush in the golden sunrise light to the burial garden. Their faces seem filled with anxiety, confusion, hope, wonder, and longing all at once. Hoping against hope, but fearing a con, or something worse? Could Mary Magdalene, first to visit the tomb, possibly have been right...?