Culture Articles
Sayings on the Riches of Life by Rosemary May Wells
Rosemary May Wells is a prolific but gentle writer. I find her writings an inspiration. Sayings on the Riches of Life is a departure from her usual work, however. It is a wide-ranging collection of sayings drawn from a very broad compass. Some are paraphrases of well-known quotes, others are...
The Raising of Lazarus
for Graham Shaw (1944-2021) Lazarus, hope of my spring self, held in this black earth, resting beneath the hollow of a tree. And then Yeshua finds you, his tired and tender hands reach you; and, exhausted, he pulls you from the dark, he brings you to the green warmth of...
Living in the Mystery: Between head and heart, by Jan Arriens
Jan Arriens’ book is a personal account of his experiences around life and death. Jan is a Quaker by convincement: at his first Meeting, as he tells us in his introductory chapter, he found himself ‘swept up in a kind of forcefield’ and his ‘vertical sense of connection with whatever...
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 ...