Sofia, Reviews
The Ethics of Pressure
In November of 2024, I led an online discussion about the ethics of “pressure tactics” as a means to achieving a political end. This came up because of me questioning my own different reactions to...
Author: Patti Whaley
Theological diversity: health or heresy
A report to the 2003 Sea of Faith (UK) Annual General Meeting The Sea of Faith (UK) Steering Committee is pleased to present this report on the allowability of doctrinal diversity in the Christian tradition....
In Conversation, Events
Developing an ethical critique of ‘Pressure tactics’
In our November session, we explored developing an ethical critique of ‘Pressure tactics’. This topic was introduced by Patti Whaley.
Sofia
And Again I Say Rejoice
There is a beautiful scene from War and Peace, where Prince Andrew realises he is in love with Natasha, and it is specifically her singing that breaks his heart open. ‘He looked at Natasha singing,...
Sofia
Revisiting: Patti Whaley revisits Five Letters from an Eastern Empire by Alasdair Gray
Back in the late 1990s, if you booked a sleeper on the Flying Scotsman from Euston Station up to Edinburgh, you got an extra-special treat: on your bed, along with the wee bar of soap...
Sofia
Pie in the Sky when you Die
Patti Whaley asks what do we want from an afterlife, why do we want it, and does it help us live better on Earth?
Sofia
SOF Sift: Patti Whaley
Paƫ Whaley Faversham, Kent Is there such a word as ‘post-non-realist’? Perhaps that’s what I am now. I no longer worry about the difference in real and non-real. The surprising thing is, perhaps, that I...
Sofia, Reviews
The Testament of Mary
Penguin Pbk 2013. £5.51. What would the life of Jesus have looked like to his mother? Tóibín is not the first writer to challenge the traditional Mary – silent, haloed, ever-virginal, full of sorrow and...
Sofia, Reviews
Jesus for the Non-Religious: Recovering the Divine at the Heart of the Human
Jack Spong’s latest book, Jesus for the Non-Religious, ranks with great religious classics such as The Divine Comedy and The Brothers Karamazov in at least one way: all three promise that the long, arduous journey...
Sofia, Reviews
Patti Whaley reviews Saturday by Ian McEwan
I have never really considered Ian McEwan in the top rank of writers. I enjoy his books, but they tend to rely just a bit too much on some sort of horror, whether physical or...