Storm Eowyn, apparently named after a character from Lord of the Rings, roared like an army of uruk-hai across Ireland last week. It brought down hundreds of trees, tore off a lot of roofs, and left 700,000 of us without …
The devilish appeal of Satanism
Jared Mammon is not the sort of person you’d associate with the Prince of Darkness. A mild-mannered Floridian with a day job in finance — hence his alias — he could easily pass under a demon hunter’s radar. Yet when …
How Justin Welby hollowed out the Church
Most media comment about Justin Welby has naturally focused on the safeguarding lapses that triggered his downfall. What of the wider landscape? In big-picture terms, his 12 years as Archbishop of Canterbury involved a reprise of George Carey’s Evangelical vision …
The scandals haunting Pope Francis
The cardinals are already meeting to discuss who should be the next pope. Some of the liberal ones, who feel safe because they’re in favour with the ailing Pope Francis, can be seen comparing notes in a bar near the …
A fearful Christmas in Syria
The small city of Al-Suqaylabiyah has long been an indicator of Christian-Muslim relations in Syria. And two days ago, masked militants doused the northern Syrian city’s Christmas tree in petrol and set it alight. The message is clear: Christians beware. …
The promise of Hanukkah
Candidates for elite military units, the Navy Seals, Green Berets, and British SAS, conclude months of torturous weeding-out with a final ordeal. A physically exhausted, sleep-deprived, injured SAS applicant related his test’s end. He arrived at the designated finishing point, …
Why Christmas Eve is date night in Japan
In Shusaku Endo’s 1966 novel Silence, the apostatised priest Cristóvão Ferreira tells a Portuguese compatriot a bitter truth about Japanese Christianity. “The Japanese till this day have never had the concept of God,” he proclaims, “and they never will.” For …
The grief of Gaza’s Christians
Just as they do in England, Gaza’s Christians normally celebrate Christmas with a special meal. It might be stuffed lamb or chicken, with a rich array of salads, vegetable stews, flatbreads and fragrant rice. Their traditional dessert is burbara, a …
Notre-Dame won’t redeem Macron
Who, save for the most embittered cynic or those who ritually deprecate Western culture, could do anything other than raise a cap, beret or biretta, metaphorical or real, to those who have rebuilt Notre-Dame? Who is unable to salute the …
Donald Trump: crypto president
What is the underlying value of a clam? In short, nothing. But the clamshell was the world’s longest-lasting reserve currency, recognised globally for thousands of years as a store of value and a medium of exchange. The clamshell was the …
How Orthodoxy can save Russia’s soul
When Lucy Ash was escorted round the vast and numinous island monastery of Valaam, located in Lake Ladoga near St. Petersburg, she had an intriguing guide: a monk who introduced himself as Father Iosif but spoke fluent English in the …
Stonewall and the search for meaning
Is Trans Day of Remembrance being dropped down the memory hole? This time last year, Stonewall was urging followers to observe November 20 as an “important day to honour the lives of our trans siblings who have been taken from …
Burn down the Church Machine
I love the Church of England. I love its liturgy, I love its glorious parish churches, I love its lack of ideological fervour, I love the gentle and inclusive way that it is porous to those outside of the Church, …
Why Justin Welby had to go
I can still smell the fog of his disgusting cigars. And the sickly sweet tonic with which he slicked back his hair. I was seven when it started. I am 60 this month. It is more than half a century …
Will an Etsy witch find you true love?
Something wicked this way comes. Across the land, jilted maidens are engaging in digital necromancy, wreaking revenge on past lovers and using £5 spells to bewitch Hinge situationships into confessing true love. Welcome to the coven of the Etsy witch. …