Culture Articles
A New Zealand Psalm 23
How the shepherd loves his little woolly charges! Trot, trot, trot they run on their little stubby legs towards the spring green pasture tingling in their nostrils where he has brought them.
Old Man
By your side There is peace, A quiet place Of beauty and realisation, Where wisdom Seeks reason and understanding, Where myth is laid to rest By the reality of knowledge.
A life in science
The second volume of Richard Dawkins’ autobiography is entitled Brief Candle in the Dark: My Life in Science and is more interesting than the first. As Dawkins has engaged in a herculean contest with religion, now, near the end of his life, one would expect his view of it to...
How good can we be
This book is a rant. But what a rant! It is unputdownable. This is extraordinary for a piece of non-fiction, much as was Will Hutton’s The State We’re In, written twenty years ago. How Good We Can Be: Ending the Mercenary Society and Building a Great Country reads...
Simple Gifts for a King
When as a child, I came into the world Helpless and lying in a draughty shed Your wisest men, they say, brought gifts to me: Of gold – for crowning of an infant King; And frankincense – for raising prayers to him; And myrrh – portending burial and death.
James and the Jerusalem Church
If you enjoy ‘whodunnits?’ and jigsaw puzzles, the chances are you will enjoy this radical exploration of Christian origins. Alan Saxby, in James, Brother of Jesus, and the Jerusalem Church, has examined in detail the situation in Judaism during the lifetime of Jesus, and the following seventy years. He follows...
Quaker artists
These pictures are a selection from those painted by Quaker artists that were displayed in exhibitions held in London during 2015.
Courting rendition
Respect the laws of the state but let your first loyalty be to God’s purposes. If you feel impelled by strong conviction to break the law, search your conscience deeply. Ask your Meeting for the prayerful support which will give you strength as a right way becomes clear. Advices ...
God in a nutshell
At the heart of God in a nutshell is a deep concern with the discord and divisions that have been produced in the name of religion. The atrocities of today have been happening, in one form and another, for several thousand years. Why? Author Rex Andrews, who is a Quaker,...
Good reads
Marcus Tullius Cicero said: ‘A room without books is like a body without a soul.’ Friends may or may not agree with this opinion. However, they certainly enjoy reading them and 2015 has been a productive year for many Quakers involved, in different ways, in the written and printed word. ...