The Guardian: Visited by revelation

Lila: '“A question is more spacious than a statement,” she once wrote, “far better suited to expressing wonder.” Her questioning books express wonder: they are enlightening, in the best sense, passionately contesting our facile, recycled understanding of ourselves and of our world. The one thing Robinson can be counted on to resist is received wisdom. At the end of an essay called “Psalm Eight”, she wrote that we all “exist in relation to experience, if we attend to it and if its plainness does not disguise it from us, as if we were visited by revelation”.' Sarah Churchwell on Marilynne Robinson.

Stations of the Cross: 'The inexpressibly painful story of Maria (Lea van Acken) is structured in an ingenious parallel with the stations of the cross (that is, the traditional scenes associated with Christ carrying his cross to the crucifixion) and filmed in mostly static tableaux, beginning with a confirmation class whose composition recalls depictions of the last supper.' Review by Peter Bradshaw.

The Documentary: Sister Aimee: 'McPherson founded her own church in 1923, which was “built more like a theatre with an orchestra pit at the front,” according to biographer Matthew Sutton. She would take to the stage and enact Bible stories which had the production values of a Broadway musical.' Review by Priya Elan.

P. D. James: 'Her books always contained at least one religious character, a sign of her devotion to Anglicanism. This gave way to much discussion in her stories about the nature of good and evil, with Dalgliesh, the son of a vicar, often leading the way.' Obituary.

Gist Is: 'Harry was raised a Christian, and came out aged 19. Friends and family were supportive; reaction from the broader church community was mixed. “I was leading a youth group, and I was asked not to carry on there.” He laughs, hollowly. “Still got my back up about it.” Attempting to clear the air, he and Tim met with group leaders, assuming responsible adults could be reasoned with. “But they were really horrible. You found some people held on to scripture so tightly, because that was what they built everything on. But then there were others, just as devout, who were almost excited by vagueness. They weren’t tied to the letters, the lines, but the sentiment. Their support was invaluable to me.”' Interview with Adult Jazz.

William Blake: '... I discovered what I believed in. My mind and my body reacted to certain lines from the Songs of Innocence and of Experience, from The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, from “Auguries of Innocence”, from Europe, from America with the joyful immediacy of a flame leaping to meet a gas jet. What these things meant I didn’t quite know then, and I’m not sure I fully know now. There was no sober period of reflection, consideration, comparison, analysis: I didn’t have to work anything out. I knew they were true in the way I knew that I was alive. I had stumbled into a country in which I was not a stranger, whose language I spoke by instinct, whose habits and customs fitted me like my own skin.' Philip Pullman on the poetry of Blake.

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Adult Jazz - Hum.

A special rapport with writers and actors

Local colleague, Fr. Gareth Jones, has posted regarding the Memorial Requiem of Prebendary Gerard Irvine at St Matthew's, Westminster last Saturday.

Irvine was a priest with a special ministry to writers, actors and politicians as these extracts from obituaries demonstrate:

"Irvine had a special rapport with writers and actors, many of whom recognised beneath his charm, hospitality and friendship a wisdom derived from his deep devotion to God. Iris Murdoch, PD James and AN Wilson were among these, as was Tony Warren, the inventor of Coronation Street, and Barry Humphries, the creator of Dame Edna Everage.

Politicians also responded to his lovable character. Harold and Mary Wilson valued him as a near neighbour when they were living in Lord North Street, during the refurbishment of 10 Downing Street. Tom Driberg had a room in the clergy house for several years, and the Labour MP Frank Field was another close friend. Several spies are said to have called in from time to time. Yet there was always space for the hungry and the homeless." Obituary in the Daily Telegraph

"He had the secret of being lovable, and of loving other people, across the social scale. His friendships ranged from spies and politicians – Maurice Oldfield, Harold and Mary Wilson, Tom Driberg and Frank Field – to literary figures like Rose Macaulay, John Betjeman, Iris Murdoch, PD James and AN Wilson. There were also popular figures like Tony Warren, the inventor of Coronation Street, and the teenagers in his youth club at Holy Angels, Cranford (then a Nissen hut overflown by the planes from the new London Airport), some of whom were still in touch years later ...

No one knows all the details of his relationships with the leaders of politics and culture of the 20th century but perhaps Irvine's joyful and thoughtful face offered something important in an age of doubt.

Rose Macaulay wrote of him: "a clever young prophet, very good company too." "  Obituary from The Independent

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The Beatles - Paperback Writer.