PETER AND PAUL, LE NEUBOURG, FRANCE   The le Neubourg plain is a part of France that few English people visit, and those that do have only a passing acquaintance, on the way somewhere else using the Route Nationale [...]

Arthur Middleton on Crisis of Identity   A creeping Anglican identity crisis has been evident in various ways. In 1949 Henry McAdoo claimed that among theologians in the Church of England, there is something strangely unreal in the prevalent neglect [...]

John Gayford explores the spirituality of the Psalms   For over three thousand years Psalms have inspired spiritually both Jews and later Christians. Psalms have a dimension of prayer for individuals and collectively. They speak to the soul and from [...]

Thurifer is looking forward to freedom   Footnotes in books sometimes provided more entertainment than the books themselves. One of my favourites is in A. J. P. Taylor’s English History 1914-1945 where he notes that the creases in King George [...]

Barry A Orford on getting Evensong right   I am no lover of streamed Church services, but since our cathedrals have opened again, I have gratefully taken advantage of the screened opportunity to share in their offering of Choral Evensong. [...]

This, the 302nd issue of New Directions, is Fr Philip Corbett’s last as Editor. Fr Philip took up the reins again (having served a previous stint in post) with the 262nd issue, back in July 2017. Forty issues and nearly [...]

Sometimes what you see isn’t all it seems. At first sight, the tower of Beetley church (Norfolk) looks 14th century; in fact, a number of people in the early 16th century left money for the tower, with one will of [...]

Art   Thomas Becket  – murder and the making of a saint   In his fine work, ‘Through the eye of a needle: Wealth, the Fall of Rome and the making of Christianity in the West, 350-550 AD,’ Peter Brown [...]

Christopher Smith has been reading the letters pages   Years ago, when I was a bishop’s chaplain, a great long document used to be faxed out every morning from, I suppose, Church House Westminster, with the day’s press cuttings in [...]

As the long summer approaches many people had hoped that the Coronavirus legislation would have been lifted and our lives might have returned to some semblance of normality. As New Directions goes to press the lockdown has been extended for [...]