21st Century
Q Marks the Spot 139 (May 2020)
Sacred Treasure Comparing COVID-19 and the Chernobyl disaster? Here is a literature academic living in Turkey who grew up in Kyiv at the time of
1st May 2020
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MUSIC
18th Century
Echoes from Eternity 13. Christopher Smart’s Cat Jeoffry
I know little about Christopher Smart (1722-1771), apart from the fact that the suffered the torments, like his almost contemporary William Cowper, of an eighteenth-century
6th April 2020
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19th Century
Q Marks the Spot 137 (March 2020)
Sacred Treasure There has been much heat and hurt recently about power abuse and church ministry. It is something that I’ve been working on and
1st March 2020
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Q Marks the Spot 136 (February 2020)
Sacred Treasure This is an extraordinary story that reads like a whodunnit: the stolen early manuscript of Mark? (long read but worth it) I’m an
2nd February 2020
1 Comment
ARTS
2019: Listening Highlights (with free playlists!!)
I really wasn’t sure how to choose this because there are various options. Spotify and the like will tell you what you listened to the
20th December 2019
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20th Century
Q Marks the Spot 134 (December 2019)
Sacred Treasure One man mission – a fascinating story about reviving Welsh chapels – and fascinating it gets such a high profile on the BBC
1st December 2019
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abuse
Q Marks the Spot 131 (September 2019)
Sacred Treasure The Josh Harris ‘deconversion’ story (for those who are aware) is very sad and my heart goes out to him and his family.
1st September 2019
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20th Century
Q Marks The Spot: Treasure Map 129 (July 2019)
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
1st July 2019
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art & painting
Q Combinations 21: The big IF of Easter (from AE Housman & Eugène Burnand)
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…?
21st April 2019
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beauty
A song of lament, a need for songs
Q regulars know that Turkey is a country close to my heart. I have just returned from my 15th (!) trip and so naturally it
2nd February 2019
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20th Century
Q Marks The Spot – Treasure Map 124 (February 2019)
Sacred Treasure Only just discovered the Visual Commentary on Scripture this week – WOW! Something that only the internet can make possible! Lots to explore
1st February 2019
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20th Century
The flicker of a smile from the unsmiling man
Shostakovich is a personal hero of mine. He walked a tightrope between the Gulag and compromise in the vortex of Stalinist Russia. But more than
22nd December 2018
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