Living with Gods, people, places and worlds beyond by Jill Cook

This book was published alongside the British Museum’s eponymous exhibition, but as a slim volume, just over 60 pages This is essentially a picture book (which is not a criticism, I like pictures), with brief notes similar to the captions that would have gone alongside the objects in the actual exhibition. (I presume at more full blooded catalogue wasn’t produced to leave a suitable gap in the Market for Neil MacGregor to publish his 500 page book also associated with exhibition later this year).

I was sorry not to get the chance to go to the exhibition, as the engagement with belief as the starting point is unusual. The National Gallery in 2009 had an exhibition “The Sacred Made Real” on Spanish Religious Art and the British Museum in 2011 had an exhibition “Treasures of Heaven” which brought together various Medieval European Christian objects, both of these did explore belief to some extent, however my sense is that the starting point was a coherent group of artworks which just happened to be religious in origin. But with Living with Gods it is a completely diverse group of objects brought together only by the fact that they share a religious significance.

In the introduction Jill Cook writes “perhaps we should review the species name sapiens meaning wise or clever and consider the alternative Homo religious, the species that tries to adapt to the complexities of the world and our emotions by calling upon nonmaterial forces?” That is a bold statement, and as someone of faith an attractive one, but…

That “but” need a lot of unpacking.

The exhibition brings together a wide range of objects, and with them a wide range of beliefs, and as the British Museum absolutely should do, those beliefs are presented in a non-judgemental way. Within the book, and therefore I expect the exhibition, objects are not grouped by religion but by cross-cutting themes, sometimes to contrast different responses to the same issues, but more often drawing out the commonality of response across seemingly diverse religions.

Although I didn’t go to this exhibition, I did go to the other two I mentioned above and I found them challenging experiences because they were made up almost exclusively of objects of devotion, but objects removed from a devotional context. In some ways the “sensitive” treatment made it worse, for The Sacred Made Real many of the gallery spaces had been arranged in chapel like ways to help experience the art work in something like its original context. So should my response be to a historical artwork or to the Passion of Christ?

Of those objects not in the British Museum’s own collection the majority were on loan from the State Museum for the History of Religion, St Petersburg which has a “complicated” history as much of its collection came to it through the repression of religion within Soviet Russia. This means we are asked to engaged with the beliefs associated with the object despite the fact that the particular object in question might very literally have been ripped from the believer’s hands. While there is an exploration of the ways that the atheist states actually expresses many “religious” tendencies there didn’t seem to be an acknowledgement of the dark side of those regimes' role in supplying material for this exhibition.

I have recently written about the British Museum’s Regarding the Dead about how the Museum manages its holdings of Human Remains and there are many common, if unacknowledged, ethical issues, some of these religious objects could have than greater cultural power and significance than an individual’s Human Remains. Thinking back to the “Treasures of Heaven” exhibition, it included a significant number of Human Remains, as many of the objects were reliquaries in which their relic was still present. The key principle that Regarding the Dead upholds, ie Human Remains should never be treated as an object, was not manifest on my visit to “Treasures of Heaven”. It was a fascinating exhibition but left me with a deep sense of unease.

Clearly the format of this book (booklet?) did not allow the exploration of these issues. I am pleased that the British Museum has opened the can of worms, but I am not sure their response is completely successful.

Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett

This is just a note, in the interests of completeness, that I have recently read the play - noting many have spent great efforts trying to interpret it, and probably in so doing have missed the point.

Therefore I do not offer any particular thoughts, other than the fact that the puzzle of the play, possibly the human condition, is captured, but not explained, in these 3 lines...

Estragon: Well, shall we go?
Vladimir: Yes, let's go
[They do not move]

Songs of the Spirit by Megan Daffen

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Megan Daffen provides us with a fresh translation of the Psalms, paired a 2-3 page reflection. As with Sister Wendy’s The Art of Lent, while a “Lent” book other that the final days you could follow these reflections at any time of the year. I completely understand that labelling these a Lent book will boost sales because people are particularly looking for books for Lent, it is sad for those look outside of Lent are likely to be put off by that branding.

The range of emotions expressed in the Psalms are so rich, very truly all human life is there. Yet we often risk failing to see the wood for the trees – even where Psalms are a core part of liturgical life

In the reflections Daffen helps unlock them, in a range of ways, providing some of the historical context – when a Psalms is filled with rage at the injustice of the world she explains, as far as we are able, what the particular injustice was, but also, and perhaps more importantly, she sets the emotions of the Psalms in a contemporary context.

The Art of Lent by Sister Wendy

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This is a delightful little book, providing a Painting and a short reflection for each day of Lent (Sundays not included, of course). There are just enough words to draw you into the picture and really encounter it.

Although it is a Lent book, the week’s have themes such as Silence, Peace, Confidence, and therefore I think it could be useful at any time of the year, and indeed I think the reflections would be fully accessible to non-Christians.

Some of the Paintings are of Christian subjects, eg the Annunciation, however these probably make up a smaller proportion of the total than you would find in say the National Gallery. The choice of Hokusai’s The Great Wave for Ash Wednesday set the tone for that. It is only the final days, Maundy Thursday onwards, that directly reference the events of the day in the Christian calendar.

Out of Sorts by Sarah Bessey

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That there are 20 tabs in this book in indicative of the fact that I liked it!

For example she says…

“If our theology doesn’t shift and change over our lifetimes, then I have to wonder if we’re paying attention.”

“I had to learn that taking the Bible seriously doesn’t mean taking everything literally.” - I will save the rant about the Bible being too important to be taken literally, but if you ask nicely I can provide it offline.

In embracing questions she notes that Children question everything, but “They’re not asking to be cool or to push back on the establishment or to prove anyone wrong or to grind an axe or make a point… [they] ask because they want an answer.” I.e. we should never be afraid of questions…

And what are those questions… in response to an Old Testament story one of her children asks “Is God the bad guy in this one? Or the good guy?” The classical debate on the problem of evil expressed in a dozen words…

As the counter point to so much exuberance in the Church she says that she is “learning that it is okay to feel sad and to be angry, to long for rescue and redemption, to pray and shout and cry, to weep with those who weep.” A theme already notes by Kenda Creasy Dean, in so many Churches if you are sad you have no place.

The ability to speak of the criticality of faith, at the same time as being honest that the Church often is a barrier rather than an enabler of that faith is refreshing. Most Christian writers write from the starting point that the Church is a full and effective embodiment of the Kingdom of God. For those of us that have been damaged by the Church, it is really hard to take such writers seriously. Bessey offers us some balance...

Stations of the Soul by Joan Keogh

Copies can be ordered from Church House Bookshop...

I have an ongoing fascination with the Stations of the Cross, not just as a devotional practice but also as an artistic challenge. They require 14 imagines, working as a group and yet having individual integrity.

It was William Fairbanks Forest Stations, in the nave of Lincoln Cathedral, that got me hooked – they are a true masterpiece (or maybe masterpieces).

The booklet Stations of the Soul is perhaps unusual because both the imagines and the written reflections are provided by Joan Keogh.

Keogh has captured that balance of giving the Stations a common format but a distinct character – a welcome addition to a long tradition.

Waterfalls of Stars, My Ten Years on the Island of Skomer by Rosanne Alexander

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I found this book via a review in Planet Magazine, but I will be honest when it arrived at 350 pages of pretty small print I think I let out a sigh – was there really that much to say about 10 years spent on a tiny island? I share this because while I picked it up fairly reluctantly, having picked it up I found that I couldn’t put it down.

Rosanne’s arrival on the island is a bit of a scramble, including a shot gun wedding, and one is worried that this will turn out to be an epic of regret and frustration. But once on the island Rosanne rapidly falls in love with it.

She provides an account, a generally positive account, of isolation that is almost impossible today. They have no electricity, no phone, only brief radio communication via the Coastguard. Later wardens of Skomer now have electricity, connectivity. Does “keeping in touch” lessen or underscore the separation, possible loneliness – and does it provide a distraction from the deep connection with the island and its wildlife that was so central to the joy Rosanne found on the island.

There is a poetic quality to the descriptions of the island, the sea, the various animals, and the emotional responses Rosanne has to it all. She has real skill as a writer, the subject matter is rich but she draws you into its very heart.

She also has the lightness of touch to play on the humour of many situations, for example almost all the anecdotes involving Wellington the goat.

But throughout the account there are moments that will make you weep, such as the oil spills impact on the seals and sea birds, gut wrenching in the shared sense of helplessness, hopelessness. Or their recovery of the body of a drowned fisherman.

Alongside these are more intimate, but not less powerful, moments – when they have to re-home “The Raven”, an injured bird they had hoped to nurse back to health and a return to the wild, but it was not to be.

As they prepare his departure “He was extraordinarily quiet and well behaved as he was transferred to the small cage. Perhaps subdued would have been a better word. He was such an intelligent bird that I couldn’t help wondering how much he understood of what was happening.” and then “’Hello’ he said quietly, for the last time.” Hello was the only word The Raven had learned, that the moment of separation is marked with this incongruous word broke me. It probably doesn’t make sense quoted like this but in the flow of the account you are riding the ebb and flow of emotion with Rosanne.

And ultimately we come to their departure from Skomer, in a mirror to her arrival, it is forces beyond her control that determine the timing – she has time to say goodbye, but no choice over the need to say goodbye.

You are left with the sense of not having read about life on Skomer but having lived it. I don’t think there is high praise to give to a writer.