3 Extracts 1 The music of the spheres. A universe harmonious as a harp. Rhythm is repeated equal times. Heartbeat. Day/night. Migrant birds' arrivals and departures. Star cycles and maize cycles. Mimosa opening during the day and folding when night comes. Moon and...
Extract Elected Silence, sing to me And beat upon my whorlèd ear, Pipe me to pastures still and be The music that I care to hear. Shape nothing, lips; be lovely-dumb: It is the shut, the curfew sent From there where all surrenders come Which only makes you...
The Climate Book by Greta Thunberg. Allen Lane (London 2022). 464 pages. £20. This is an admirable tour de force for its creator and compiler Greta Thunberg … more of a manual than a straightforward textbook. Well over 400 pages long it is not an easy, fun read – this...
The Shaping of a Soul by Richard Harries. Christian Alternative (Winchester 2023). Pbk. 256 pages. £13.99. Richard Harries has had a long and glittering career in the Church of England, rising to become Bishop of Oxford. In retirement he looks back on the people and...
Bad Theology. Oppression in the Name of God by Leah Robinson. SCM Press (Norwich 2023). 256 pages. £15.99. I learned a lot about the Ku Klux Klan from Leah Robinson's book, and it was very interesting. However, Dr Robinson's book is not intended as a history book;...
The Fox, the Whale and the Wardrobe by Dónall Dempsey. Dempsey & Windle (Guildford 2023) Pbk. 119 pages. £10.99. This collection, Dónall Dempsey's sixth, is dedicated to 'my Uncle Mikey, the treasure trove of my childhood' and, indeed, Irish childhood is a magical...
Penny Mawdsley makes some Short Sorties into Silence. For a hearing test recently, I experienced being in a dark anechoic chamber. The silence between the staggered bursts of sound were eerie and I was glad to get out! Physicists maintain that pure silence is...
Download full issue PDF Contents Editorial Music and Religion, Dinah Livingstone Articles Religion and Music, Stephen Mitchell and Elaine Henson And Again I Say Rejoice, Patti Whaley Music in a Reform Synagogue, Katie Hainbach Harvest Festival, Tony Windross Poetry...
Religion and music went hand in hand long before the appearance of plainsong. Don Cupitt was talking to me on the phone about the theme of music and religion and giving me a little lecture on Neanderthal bone flutes and religion. Since Neanderthal times, music has...
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, and something new and joyful stirred in his soul… The chief reason was...