On a bright afternoon this time last week I was on a coastal path in North Cornwall near Bude. Having walked up an arduously steep hill, we were rewarded all of a sudden by a long and open view. On the next headland I could see the tiny form of human figures like vertical ants, their heads like pinpricks. And I thought how amazing that in these tiny skulls are receptors that can contemplate the vastness of the universe. An individual’s brain concentrates reality into a sharp

I discovered that the lectionary readings for today didn’t do a lot for me and I wanted to write a general op ed sort of piece: I could have chosen the new Archbishop of Canterbury, or the concerningly sad attack on a Manchester synagogue. Or, I said to Cortney, I could do ‘new beginnings’, and she replied something like, ‘Well, that hits it on the nose.’ So, that’s where we’re at, not altogether untopically, in this season of political party conferences, when politicians of

Faith as six impossible things before breakfast, or a way of seeing divine potential The reading was from Romans 4.13-end where St Paul...

I have this week been in email correspondence with some Oxford college chaplains and what I notice is that most seem to think it...

Only 46% of people in England and Wales consider themselves Christian, while 37% say they have no religion at all. It’s time for...

I’m taken aback when Charlotte asks over Sunday lunch, ‘Do you ever pray, Dad?’ I’m very uncomfortable when faced with what I regard as an

My experience of religion We don’t choose our parents or the time or the culture we’re born into. You might be born into a wealthy family...

This extract from a recent funeral address struck a chord with an unusally large number of people, so I share it here. I think I know...

Just found this chapter from an old book of mine which sold but a few copies and was surprised by how good it was! I've edited it a bit....

I apologise to those who have been looking here for my latest blog. I have been completely absorbed with my own personal housing crisis,...

But he wasn’t really a believer. This is a frequent response when I say to a family planning a funeral or memorial service that they must...

Bubbly and irrepressibly Jewish, Hindy Najman, the Oriel and Laing Professor of the Interpretation of Holy Scripture, urges me to attend...

Introduction – two versions of me 1. Self in the mirror: your image, how you see yourself, the clothes you choose etc. Why is to be the...

The more I read Amia Srinivasan’s sermon from last Sunday, the more brilliant I think it is. She talks about the ambiguity of experience:...