O Father, where art thou?
Literature still looks to the clergy for answers
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Rowan Williams
Rowan Williams is former Archbishop of Canterbury from 2002 to 2012, and a contributing writer to the New Statesman.
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The confessions of Pope Francis
Can Hope, his autobiographical meditations on migration, sexuality and war, assuage a Catholic church in crisis?
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The meaning of ecstasy
Simon Critchley’s On Mysticism shows how the language of religious rapture can help us teach us how to live.
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The fall of a Stuart spin doctor
The Duke of Buckingham served King James I better as a lover than a statesman – and his blunders…
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What the Tories did to us
The essay collection The Conservative Effect explores how theatrical short-termism and specious rhetoric defined 14 years of mis-rule.
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Shakespeare’s guide to living
A Freudian reading of the comedies and tragedies reveals how we can embrace life’s failures and reversals.
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What the Greeks teach us about suicide
The great tragedians’ writings on suffering, stigma and survival can help guide our own struggles with assisted dying.
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Byron’s war on tranquillity
A new biography reveals how the poet’s life of extremes was echoed by the hyperactive irony of his work.
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Lexicon of loss
The history of the elegy reveals how the poetry of grief has the power to trouble, console and unite.
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