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The book is certainly thought-provoking. And what is God? As the coders might say, you'd be hard-put to read a more open-source account of a public and religious life. Apr 02, Rebecca rated it it was amazing Shelves: theology-religions , best-of , get-free-bookshop , memoirs , absolute- favorites. He was never able to come to a positive statement of belief, or trust and thus relied on the experience of an absence. The book has humour, lots of it, particularly when writing about sexuality and intimate human encounters. Aug 31, JanGlen rated it really liked it. The fundamental difficulty is that all religious systems and the claims they make for themselves are as fragile - and sometimes as beautiful - as the floating villages of the South China Sea. Want an ad-free experience? He glimpses some sort of something in the absence of what he previously thought of as present, but nothing can be formulated about that absence because the moment that is done one is in danger of forming some sort of dogma and by that, dread of dread one might become similar to an evangelical. Sort order. Worth reading, I think, because of who Holloway is and his influence on Anglicanism and his recent writings on morality without God which I am yet to read. The biggest source of division among Christians? On bended knee we must come and return to a past that never existed to pay homage. If we need to find a guide to a world resacralising before our eyes, we may need to look elsewhere than to this corporeal, complex, all-too-human wanderer. What is clear is that this has been a life of questions and self doubt. Hostility is never right, and something that a pacifist like me would never endorse. His interpretation of the parable of the Good Samaritan alone is worth reading his book, but he drops knowledge and beauty on almost every page. Before he was 14, when he went to board at Kelham, the Anglican seminary in the Midlands that prepared boys for the priesthood, he had experienced the "latency" of landscape. Richard Holloway is a significant person to read and his journey away from Christianity is an important and interesting one. Richard Holloway is a significant person to read and his journey away from Christianity is an important and interesting one. First on the hate list, China, second, Russia, next up the rest of the world. Jul 30, Jan rated it really liked it. More from The Irish Times Books. View 1 comment. Log in. The writing is sometimes poetic and profound. Yet what's deeply affecting about this memoir is the distinct suspicion that his faith has been to pun as badly as the Bish himself a hollow way, all along. War: A wide-ranging, readable history of armed conflict. It is a hugely entertaining memoir, and an informative one, so informative it often left me tangled like a kite in the countless branches of organized religion's genealogical tree. And how can a man live with the tension between public faith and private doubt? True to who he is now and compassionate towards who he was. At the end of the book, when he considers what may be the most important lesson he has learned from his life, Holloway mounts a more fundamental challenge to Christianity than any that has been posed by the so-called new atheists. When Richard Holloway resigned as bishop of Edinburgh in , he was turning his back on an institution that had shaped him since he was 14, when he left his home in a small town in the west of Scotland called Alexandria, for Kelham Hall, an Anglican theological seminary in the Midlands that trained boys from impoverished backgrounds for life in holy orders. He asked me what I wanted him to write in the flyleaf, I said that book you were talking about earlier, Andre Schwarz-Bart, The Last of the Just because I wanted to read it. Most popular. Was it a way to apologize to those people he offended? At the time, he writes, it never occurred to him that he might end up in the priesthood. At times there is too much overthinking and self criticism which has obviously proved a burden to the Author throughout his life. The latest example is Trumpism, a back to the wall beleaguered party that triumphs against all the odds. What he came to hate about the church is its insistence on rules, which turns it to cruelty, not pity. He would methodically smoke his pipe while I would sip on a glass of Scotch whisky, and I would then pour out the contents of my soul to his listening ear, an ear that has most likely absorbed the existential frustrations of thousands. So check it out, but for me, I was hoping for a much more subversive and engaging piece of writing. Apr 08, Lynda rated it really liked it Shelves: biography. I count this book as a true blessing and I shall be re-reading it soon. Leaving Alexandria: A Memoir of Faith and Doubt Writer

Clearly Holloway connects with the places and people of his life but I didn't find his writing at all engaging. May 31, Alex Livingston rated it it was amazing. I think it will be quite reassuring for many people to realise that anyone, no matter how confident they appear, no matter how high a position they have achieved in their working lives, can be plagued with self-doubt and confusion. Having still at least a different view of the Bible and of what Christianity is about it grieves me a little that Holloway could not endorse Christianity in just a little more orthodox form. On bended knee we must come and return to a past that never existed to pay homage. Apr 02, Rebecca rated it it was amazing Shelves: theology-religions , best-of , get-free-bookshop , memoirs , absolute-favorites. A parable he frequently uses is the parable of the blind man and the elephant. It allows our most engaged readers to debate the big issues, share their own experiences, discuss real-world solutions, and more. Heroes coming in at the end with noble stoicism, to win the day for those who need help. Need another excuse to treat yourself to a new book this week? Create a commenting name to join the debate Submit. It was during years spent in Africa in the late s, working as secretary to the newly appointed bishop of Accra, that he came to realise "what a disappointment I must be to God". And he gives him a new family and even greater wealth. Feb 29, James rated it it was amazing. Open Preview See a Problem? Welcome back. There is great wisdom here — for anyone, Christian or atheist. Takes big balls to do this and Holloway obviously has them. May 01, Caroline rated it it was amazing Shelves: 5-star-books , spirituality. A fascinating life and a lot to think about. And an agnostic believe in both view. Leaving Alexandria: A Memoir of Faith and Doubt Reviews

He sees the Bible more as a great work of art, full of wonderful ideas and stories, but not to be interpreted literally. Want to Read Currently Reading Read. Stay in touch Subscribe to our newsletter Read our blog Become a member Come to an event. Wisdom often takes a lifetime. I would never work for an organization that exercised hate crimes against women and gays: why would I look twice at the church? I learned about Akedia, or "The Doom," a phenomenon surely as familiar to writers' communities as religious ones; how evangelists pimp for God my term ; how the opposite of faith is not doubt but certainty, and why believing and atheism are hypotheses and not about certainty he says believing is fragile, insane and lovely all at once in the way it requires a leap of faith ; the value of confession, even for nonbelievers; and the reason nonbelievers can sing Christmas carols about the coming of God in human form with impunity it has to do with "God in his cradle lies," where the cradle is a metaphor for our imagination, for hope. Books are holy things. Don't have an account? The Book Club Weekly See a sample. Vulnerable, h I loved this book. Share this book share High resolution cover picture Preview this book books View book rights notepad. Describing one of several spells in the US where he met his wife , he recalls serving as rector in an elegant part of Boston, where he "got used to gay couples coming to see me to discuss their flagging sex lives, though I doubt if I was ever much help at restoring their early ardour for one another". And how can a person live with the tension between public faith and private doubt? We've got you covered with the buzziest new releases of the day. I was very keen to read this memoir because I had unanswered questions of Richard Holloway, so having read it, I am pleased to say that my questions most of them are answered. His insight in to the positive attributes of Christianity and his conclusions regarding his inability to stay within the confines of an organized religion that defeats these attributes by its dogmatic, hypocritical structure, rang true to me on many As a person who has had a drastic change in my spiritual direction since my childhood, I found this to be an interesting memoir of an individual who struggled with doubt throughout his religious education and his calling as a priest and then Bishop. But doubt really is able to tear a person a part and make that person say farewell, not only to Alexandria, but also to the Christian God. His adoption of a Franciscan-style "preferential option for the poor" badly disrupted his family's nightly table, seating every stray member of the walking wounded from Edinburgh's unforgiving streets. It was fascinating to read about how a wee boy from the tenements of Glasgow ended up becoming one of the top clergymen in Scotland and equally fascinating to hear about how he wrestled with his doubts, eventually becoming agnostic or 'post religionist' as he has sometimes referred to himself. Shopping Basket. I attributed this to Rumi, but I may be wrong. And they were right, but it took three blows of the axe, making her suffer first. There was too much religion and not enough family, but again the clue is in the title. First on the hate list, China, second, Russia, next up the rest of the world. Recognise that sex has the potential to hurt and devastate, as well as the capacity to thrill. Not many former Bishops would include this observation on being insulted by a fellow bishop who was virulently opposed to gay marriage and women's ordination in a lavatory, "I resisted the impulse to deck him and left him to go on pissing his wormwood and gall into the Queen's urinal". Looking back, he suggests the search might have been misjudged. In fact he thinks that ethics should be completely separate from religion. When Richard Holloway resigned as bishop of Edinburgh in , he was turning his back on an institution that had shaped him since he was 14, when he left his home in a small town in the west of Scotland called Alexandria, for Kelham Hall, an Anglican theological seminary in the Midlands that trained boys from impoverished backgrounds for life in holy orders. Perhaps a blessed mystery. The other force acting upon Holloway's careering life-path is an unquestionably serious brooding upon the nature of religious experience and meaning. He makes the point that no loving God would want anyone to commit evil to show obedience to Him, and justifying such behaviour through the bible or any other human based authority cannot be right. For many years, he seems to have felt that he simply wasn't up to the vocation he had undertaken. A tautology that is rarely taught. Care to do the insane and lovely thing? From this, word becomes work, theology becomes action. The second was culpable, even then. Peppered with prose and poetry, the book underlines a profound love of literature. Aug 31, JanGlen rated it really liked it. The attitude of the church towards women and homosexuals, which Holloway in the end could stand no more, illustrates the way the supposed rules drive out love. As a person who has had a drastic change in my spiritual direction since my childhood, I found this to be an interesting memoir of an individual who struggled with doubt throughout his religious education and his calling as a priest and then Bishop. But God is good to Job. To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up. Maybe that was a little harsh, but on some level it appears to be true. Actually, when it comes to the divine, he takes a fully mystical stance recognisable possibly in Gregory of Nyssa, but more similar to that of Julian of Norwich and Meister Eckhart in that Holloway speaks of the absence of God about that nothing can be said. Throughout the following forty years, Richard touched the lives of many people in the Church and in the wider community.

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Yet, all along, he had what he describes as "that wee man" - his reflective, questioning alter ego - perched on his shoulder. Trivia About Leaving Alexandri We've got you covered with the buzziest new releases of the day. However, it's the book's quiet, questioning wisdom and Holloway's struggle with faith and doubt that will stay with me. I remember what I said when Richard Holloway resigned his position in the Church. Again and again he confesses that as a churchman he was playing a role he A former Bishop of Edinburgh, Holloway is often harsh on himself in this brutally honest memoir. Book reviews. Describing one of several spells in the US where he met his wife , he recalls serving as rector in an elegant part of Boston, where he "got used to gay couples coming to see me to discuss their flagging sex lives, though I doubt if I was ever much help at restoring their early ardour for one another". Holloway is a skilled writer of theology, the author of 27 books that chronicle his own spiritual journey, from the certainty of Let God Arise to the radical openness of Doubts and Loves Holloway is committed to ethical behaviour and to compassion towards the poor and outcast, but he no longer thinks human goodness needs to be motivated by religion. Peppered with prose and poetry, the book underlines a profound love of literature. This failure has had a profound effect on religion, producing the finally intolerable tension between pretending to believe a narrative to be factually true and understanding the meaning of that narrative, the truth that it contains, without denying that it is the product of imagination. This is a haunting and evocative appraisal of one man's spiritual journey, but it a also a reflection on modern Christianity. He was particularly upset about the approach of conservative Christians towards biblical concepts which he feels are completely out of kilter with 21st century ideas, eg attitudes towards toward gay people and the inequality of women as shown in the struggles for the ordination for women. The latest example is Trumpism, a back to the wall beleaguered party that triumphs against all the odds. The book is packed with references to poems and books which enrich it greatly and illuminate Holloway's thinking. Sort order. He does not tell us what he said to George Carey, then Archbishop of Canterbury, when he, visiting Holloway's patch, publicly uttered a fatwa on the recently published Godless Morality. There are regrets and sadness in his story, but there is also beauty — the beauty of a life unfolding. Why is the Church, which claims to be the instrument of God's love, so prone to cruelty and condemnation? The Church has made an appalling mess of religion and in consequence has put off generations who now lack any spiritual comfort. Shopping Special offers Information for shoppers. Richard "buys the ticket and starts the God game", or watches himself "playing the new game" of liberation theology in a poor parish; he adopts Nietzsche's conception of fate as a poker hand. He tells us only that he was "not pleased". The opposite of faith is not doubt, it is certainty. Go on, with your god-like powers, use that line from The Life of Brian. It doesn't give answers but explores different thought processes and uses poetry to enhance the narrative. But to his many admirers, Holloway will always be on the side of the angels. Later on he talks about his awareness of how church congregations are falling, and being concerned about his livelihood. It was a slow read but one I kept being drawn back to. Thanks for telling us about the problem. But even Gods have uncertainties, moments of doubt. It traces his journey from a passion for religion and the monastic life, to his eventual disillusion both with the church and with himself and his aspirations. Sign In. Each clutches a trunk, an ear, a leg and describes what they feel and what they see. Richard Holloway is a prolific author. In his years as a priest Richard touched many lives, but behind his confident public face lay a mind troubled by questions. At the end of the book, when he considers what may be the most important lesson he has learned from his life, Holloway mounts a more fundamental challenge to Christianity than any that has been posed by the so-called new atheists. The first was their ignorance of the origins of the universe. Friend Reviews. A man fell among thieves who left him naked and unconscious on a dangerous and deserted road. Richard Holloway is a significant person to read and his journey away from Christianity is an important and interesting one. His carnality feeds directly into his theology. He stops torturing him. Cancel Flag comment. A fine book from an admirable clergyman by the skin of his teeth which recounts his journey from what seems to me to be a tenuous faith to doubt. He's the kind of man I'd love to buy a nice glass of the good stuff and listen to for hours. 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