Romans made their final successful assault on the fortress. Again, I was overwhelmed by the sense of being in touch over the centuries with something very human, private and personal. Tese two books help


us to rediscover the ‘Life aſter Death’ that was the story of the body of St Cuthbert. David Willem originally intended his book to be a travel book. It would trace the journey taken by the monks who had fled Lindisfarne, following the deadly raids by the Vikings, in order to protect the miraculously uncorrupt corpse of their former bishop. Teir journey ended at what we now know as Durham. However, as he read of the six


occasions when the coffin was opened between 698 and 1899, this book took on a new form. Every time the coffin was opened at least one account of what was found was writen down. Not all of them are sympathetic. Protestant detractors of veneration of the saints give their own slant on the subject! For the first time this volume brings


into a single set of covers these records. Willem starts his book with an account of the last months of the life and the death of Cuthbert. He has an engaging and easy-to-read style that is almost that of a novel in parts. As my mother would have said, ‘He paints good pictures with words!’ I commend this book to those who are new to the story of Cuthbert, both before and aſter his death, as well as those who are familiar with the material, but would welcome a chance to see it presented in a concise and dynamic manner. Lionel Green, whose material for


Building St Cuthbert’s Shrine has been edited, following his death, by Peter


Hopkins and other friends, comes at the subject of Cuthbert from quite another angle. He concentrates on the construction of the saint’s shrine and the cathedral that houses it. His main task is to bring to light the


role of Prior Turgot, Prior of Durham. Without his tenacity and skills it might well have never been completed. Many


22 ■ newdirections ■ June 2014


of us are familiar with the role of Bishop Flambard and other luminaries involved in the story of Durham, but I, for one, was unaware of the importance of Prior Turgot in the story. What made this a


tremendous read for me was the way in which Lionel Green takes us back to Anglo-Saxon England to put Cuthbert in context. Ten he reminds us of


the


dramatic effect the Norman Conquest had on the Church as well as the nation. He also helps us see the influence the Scandinavian churches had


on English


Christianity. By painting this bigger


picture Green helps us to fit the construction of the shrine and cathedral into the wider life of Church and people in our land. Told through the life of one man, whose personal history is so fascinating (for starters, he ended up at Durham aſter being shipwrecked


while


returning from Norway!), the centuries are spanned and what could be dry history is brought to life. Again, I heartily commend this book


to anyone interested in Cuthbert and Durham. Te two read together are a feast! George Nairn-Briggs


A SILENT MELODY An Experience of Contemporary Spiritual Life Shirley du Boulay DLT, 228pp, pbk 978 0232530742, £12.99


Tis personal memoir of spiritual formation stretching back to the Sixties served for me as aide memoire so I found something of a reflection of my own soul in its mirror. Te last half-century has seen the decline of Christianity in our land, a greater sense of the other faiths alongside which it stands, and the rise of


many movements


in spirituality.


Trough her production of religious programmes for the BBC Shirley du Boulay has chronicled much of this, notably through encounter with the Beatles when they met Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, through her own struggle to be a Roman Catholic and the commitment to interfaith engagement that has


served her spiritual


development. I valued her story despite its


conclusion – she is no longer a church member – and the insight she provides in a well-writen book. Tis insight came to me esecially from her expanding on Christian figures of whom she has writen biographies: Cicely Saunders, Teresa of Avila, Desmond Tutu, Bede Griffiths


and


Abhishikthananda. From these and many others she provides inspiration as she recounts her spiritual journey. Tis journey has a key stage post in her marriage to former Roman Catholic priest


and devout


Christian John Harriot. Te author starts by


dismissing what she calls ‘Anglican


vague broadmindedness’ but


ends with a position that is very much broader! Her main struggle is with the variety of faiths, their evident spiritual fruitfulness and how that challenges obedience to one of them. ‘I cannot give myself heart and soul to one tradition to the exclusion of others’. In arriving for now at that conclusion, Shirley du Boulay sounds typical of many thoughtful folk whose drawing in of wisdom across spiritual traditions erodes their original rooting. Zen meditation remains her spiritual base, building from her earlier sense that meditation is ‘the most direct route to God’, a phrase that challenged me in its subjectivity. A Silent Melody contains quotations


from Gregory of Nazianzen, Tomas Traherne and others on the ultimate unknowability of God and how spiritual seekers can be united in such ‘faith’. Tough I am commited to what I would call the other side of this – God’s


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