The Shadow Doctor – or is it Adrian Plass himself, in his inimitable way? – tantalises his characters – especially Jack, his young trainee partner. He also frequently leaves us readers in suspense as he delves off onto some unlikely sidetrack, which later turns out to be somehow relevant. The trick works. And, as a…
Silvanus is a young lad intent on becoming a man. When his God Aquila smiles on him, Silvanus finds a cave of precious gems. His dreams of buying a boat and fleeing his island home are that much closer! Instead, a series of events lead Silvanus to the bizarre old hermit, Cerbonius. His uncanny wisdom…
Another charming bit of rather harmless fun through the eyes of Mma Ramotswe, written in McCall Smith’s unique voice. The somewhat moralistic tone seems appropriate in the portrayed culture. The menfolk come off with a few scars, but that’s OK.
“Can we go to the adventure park?” My son had just arrived with his children, as they had no school that afternoon. I had offered to do something special with them. Carl’s suggestion was no surprise; he loved climbing. And Sheila loved whatever Carl did. “Let’s first have lunch,” I said. That might give me…
Winter 1959 in Jerusalem. Dem jungen Schmuel Asch gehts nicht gut. Seine Freundin hat ihn verlassen und sein Vater kann sein Studium nicht weiter finanzieren. Und doch wäre seine Diplomarbeit über Jesus aus Sicht der Juden von grosser Bedeutung. Seine These, Judas Ischariot sei keineswegs ein Verräter gewesen sondern im Gegenteil der treueste Verehrer von…
If you’re after the sort of flippant humour you might have come to expect from Adrian Plass, then The Shadow Doctor might disappoint you. But I doubt it. You’ll be surprised – and a little confused – by the Doctor’s mysterious encounters and baffling remarks, but you’ll gradually come to realise he has an unusual…
I recently attended a lecture (in German) by Hans-Ruedi Stadelmann, a retired astrophysicist cum theologian, on the subject of ‘A contemporary image of God?’
If you want the salutary facts – necessarily subjective but certainly typical – about what a refugee family experiences after arriving in Europe from a vastly different geographic and cultural background, this will fill you in.
I don’t know if I ever met my illustrious and rather enigmatic great uncle Stanley Le Rossignol. My mother often spoke of him and it was from him I inherited a collection of antique reference books, biographies, novels and religious texts dating back at least to 1859. Some show signs of appreciation and frequent use,…
Although this is a continuation of the complex relationships we have discovered in the earlier books of the series, it is a valid standalone story in its own right.
This is no pull-yourself-up-by-your-bootstraps, eight-days-to-Christian-maturity workbook! It doesn’t offer much in the way of answers. Rather, many soul-searching questions.
#ClimateStrike #Zürich Was that a nod from heaven that it rained … and rained in Zürich yesterday? It didn’t discourage 12,000 people – mainly school kids and young people, joining hundreds of thousands worldwide – to take to the streets. They protested against the thoughtless pollution which is disrupting the world’s climate and provoking extreme…