The history of English literature is a curious thing. And one especially odd thing about it is it contains so … More

(This extended post is a broad, top-level survey, adapted from a lecture given at Moscow State Linguistic University. Other posts … More

It is an extraordinary thing. For the vast majority of the human race, the existence of the supernatural is something … More

A newspaper front page is, in essence, a religious object. Of course that isn’t what we think we’re buying. But … More

What are the most important questions in your life? (This is an extended post!) Do you identify with this? The … More

What are we living ‘for’? Where are we wanting to go, what is there worth doing? ‘Are we not wandering through … More

`There are altogether no moral facts… Morality is merely an interpretation of certain phenomena – more precisely, a misinterpretation…’ – … More

`There are no facts’? ‘What about these conventions of language? Are they really the products of knowledge, of the sense … More

‘Maybe there’s a God, maybe there isn’t. It doesn’t matter much.’ But as we’ve seen, it does matter. And the … More

Among C S Lewis’ many great books are some superb fictions. A favourite of mine is Voyage to Venus, also … More

Early in the new millennium, our western culture feels, as Thomas Hardy suggested, like a cemetery of dreams. And the … More

In the last post we’ve begun looking at how the dreams have died in our western culture – and at … More