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In The Steps Of St. Paul
In the Steps of St. Paul dazzlingly retraces the apostle's famed journey of faith through Israel, Greece, and Italy, using the Bible itself as a guide. With an ear for good stories and an eye alert to detail, Morton creates a compulsively readable narrative that will satisfy the most curious traveler as well as the most informed and passionate reader of the Bible.
440 pages, Hardcover
First published November 30, 1936
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124 people want to read
About the author
H.V. Morton
113 books50 followersHenry Canova Vollam (H.V.) Morton, FRSL, was a journalist and pioneering travel writer from Lancashire, England, best known for his prolific and popular books on Britain and the Holy Land. He first achieved fame in 1923 when, while working for the Daily Express, he scooped the official Times correspondent during the coverage of the opening of the Tomb of Tutankhamon by Howard Carter in Egypt.
In the late 1940s he moved to South Africa, settling near Cape Town in Somerset West and became a South African citizen.
In the late 1940s he moved to South Africa, settling near Cape Town in Somerset West and became a South African citizen.
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
February 27, 2025
Rereading again at bedtime. I love Morton's writing so much, the way he paints pictures and weaves his thoughts in among them. Original review below.
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Simply fantastic. I am a H.V. Morton fan anyway. He had such a knack for drawing one into the past while talking about how it turned into his present time ... and he wrote long enough ago that his "current times" are a look into the past for us.
In this case, we see where St. Paul traveled through fairly modern eyes but while those places were still (I have a feeling) fairly close to what they would have been like long, long ago. At least in most cases. One understands that Rome stands still for no one following St. Paul.
Morton was a very engaging writer and he put me enough into St. Paul's life, especially at the end that I was actually crying over his last letter to Timothy. Actual tears. Now, that is a good travel writer.
Whether one is Christian or not, the look at ancient life and travel is often eye opening and it gives really fascinating glimpses into Turkey as it changed into a more European-style country under Ataturk. This is a simply wonderful book and I cannot recommend it highly enough.
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Simply fantastic. I am a H.V. Morton fan anyway. He had such a knack for drawing one into the past while talking about how it turned into his present time ... and he wrote long enough ago that his "current times" are a look into the past for us.
In this case, we see where St. Paul traveled through fairly modern eyes but while those places were still (I have a feeling) fairly close to what they would have been like long, long ago. At least in most cases. One understands that Rome stands still for no one following St. Paul.
Morton was a very engaging writer and he put me enough into St. Paul's life, especially at the end that I was actually crying over his last letter to Timothy. Actual tears. Now, that is a good travel writer.
Whether one is Christian or not, the look at ancient life and travel is often eye opening and it gives really fascinating glimpses into Turkey as it changed into a more European-style country under Ataturk. This is a simply wonderful book and I cannot recommend it highly enough.
June 11, 2018
This is the fastest I've read a book this fat. Morton makes a fascinating journey through the 1930's Holy Land, Asia Minor, Cyprus, Crete, Malta and Italy, following in the tracks of the Apostle S. Paul, discovering modern cultures and attempting to trace the ancient features they may have taken in. Constantly on the look out for signs of the first-century Roman cities and ports that S. Paul and his contemporaries knew, he has created an informative and entertaining read, something I would go through repeatedly. I could learn more history from a book like this, than from years of secondary school.
November 8, 2013
I was introduced to Morton a few years ago with the purchase of In Search of London from a thrift store and was instantly enamored. He is a travel writer from the early to mid twentieth century and his writing is a rich blend of not only travel information, but history and his own experiences, bringing a unique perspective on a vanishing world. This book was an even better read, perhaps because of the subject matter, but also enriched by adding a narrative of Paul's own journey as Morton is on his own. All in all, outstanding. I am looking forward to a leisure reading of his companion book In the Steps of the Master.
December 18, 2007
"The master of the genre- often immitated but never matched." Jan Morris
April 17, 2020
Very interesting , and the author's journey was amazingly descriptive . His accounts about the Apostle Paul , were accurate as well . The tiny font and age of the book , though , made for some challenging times . However , additional brighter lights helped .
May 26, 2012
Very much enjoyed this. I haven't read any travel writing before, from any era, and unlike when reading a novel (must get to the end!) I found myself reading slowly to eke out the pleasure. His descriptions of approaching places from the sea are absolutely wonderful, and of course timeless: whereas his opinions on Turkey in the 1930's offer the extra interest of being historical documents for us now. I also felt I understood St Paul rather better seeing him through Morton's eyes.
And the best thing is, he wrote so much! So many to look forward to, now!
And the best thing is, he wrote so much! So many to look forward to, now!
December 30, 2020
Amongst all the misery caused by Covid, not being able to travel seems a comparatively trivial hardship, but we Australians are great travellers, and I've got very itchy feet. Reading travel books seems like pouring salt on the wound, but In the Steps of St Paul is painless. Published not far off a century ago in October 1936, it's about a lost world anyway. The contemporary Middle East bears no resemblance to the places HVM visited, and travel there is fraught with complexities. One can't read HVM's introduction without a wry smile...
Though I've been a member of the H.V.Morton Society for years, have read several of his travel books and collected many more, I've never read a biography of HVM so I don't know if he was religious or not. But as it says at Who is H V Morton? he had a lifelong passion for archaeology and ancient history, and it was the brilliance of his eye witness account for the Daily Express of the opening of the tomb of Tutankhamun in 1923 which made his name as a journalist. It makes sense that retracing the journeys of St Paul would have made a fascinating quest, especially at a time when so many ancient sites of Christian religious significance were unknown to most people. And though some of what he writes would now offend modern sensibilities, I can understand his scathing contempt about the destruction of ancient monuments and artefacts because of religious intolerance. I imagine he would have been livid to witness the looting of Baghdad museum during the 2003 American invasion of Iraq too.
In the course of four journeys, HVM visited Palestine (then under British administration, which — being an imperialist — HVM thinks is a good thing), Syria, Turkey, Macedonia, Greece, the islands of Cyprus, Malta, Rhodes and the City of Rome. It all takes place before the age of mass tourism, and he travels by boat, train, hired car, a sand-cart and on foot. His eye for detail is prodigious, and his pen-portraits of the people he meets make them unforgettable. The photo at left is of Father John, who presides over what remains of the Church of St Paul at Caesarea, described as a squalid collection of houses and a mass of ruined walls where little was left of the thriving Roman city but fallen stones and the neglected remains of a Roman theatre. As HVM explores the area with his hospitable guides, a horseman topped a rise of ground...
It turns out that it's Father John, who had seen a hare in the corn and hoped to catch it to serve to the Bishop of Caesarea who was coming to stay with him, despite the fact that there is no congregation at Caesarea because there were no Christians. Father John holds Sunday Service entirely alone. The reader can sense HVM's pity and dismay when he writes that it was the most pathetically poor little church he'd ever seen, and it was also the only Greek church he'd ever seen without an ikonostasis. And when he sees Father John's distress about the desecration of the holy vault below the church — said to be the prison of St Paul — he subsequently intervenes. He writes to the Palestine Government requesting that a competent antiquary be sent to inspect the building and is pleased to report that pending the purchase of the vault by the Greek Orthodox Church, steps have been taken to prevent it being used as a stable for donkeys and mules by the farmers who had bought it!
The book is full of fascinating snippets like this.
To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2020/12/31/i...
The modern traveller who takes the Acts of the Apostles as his guide-book, as I have done, journeys into a part of the world which once enjoyed the unity of the Roman Empire and is now divided among many nations. Where he is held up at national frontiers, to pass onward under a different flag and among men who speak under a different tongue, St Paul moved forward over a Roman road, speaking Greek all the time.
It follows, therefore, that travel was easier for St. Paul than for those who follow him, for the great commercial highways along which he moved, and the famous ports from whose harbours he sailed, are no longer the main highways of the world. What was to St. Paul a progress along the best-known roads of the Roman Empire, becomes, to the modern traveller, a series of explorations from the beaten track. The harbour of Antioch is desolate, and Ephesus is a nesting-place for the stork.
Though I've been a member of the H.V.Morton Society for years, have read several of his travel books and collected many more, I've never read a biography of HVM so I don't know if he was religious or not. But as it says at Who is H V Morton? he had a lifelong passion for archaeology and ancient history, and it was the brilliance of his eye witness account for the Daily Express of the opening of the tomb of Tutankhamun in 1923 which made his name as a journalist. It makes sense that retracing the journeys of St Paul would have made a fascinating quest, especially at a time when so many ancient sites of Christian religious significance were unknown to most people. And though some of what he writes would now offend modern sensibilities, I can understand his scathing contempt about the destruction of ancient monuments and artefacts because of religious intolerance. I imagine he would have been livid to witness the looting of Baghdad museum during the 2003 American invasion of Iraq too.
In the course of four journeys, HVM visited Palestine (then under British administration, which — being an imperialist — HVM thinks is a good thing), Syria, Turkey, Macedonia, Greece, the islands of Cyprus, Malta, Rhodes and the City of Rome. It all takes place before the age of mass tourism, and he travels by boat, train, hired car, a sand-cart and on foot. His eye for detail is prodigious, and his pen-portraits of the people he meets make them unforgettable. The photo at left is of Father John, who presides over what remains of the Church of St Paul at Caesarea, described as a squalid collection of houses and a mass of ruined walls where little was left of the thriving Roman city but fallen stones and the neglected remains of a Roman theatre. As HVM explores the area with his hospitable guides, a horseman topped a rise of ground...
He sat in an Arab saddle and his bridle was a single strand of rope. He wore a pair of striped trousers which had once, in some inconceivable past, belonged to a morning coat. His grey shirt was open at the neck and his feet in Arab slippers were thrust into bucket stirrups. He carried a shot-gun slung across his back. But the most remarkable thing about him was his face, which was as dark as an Arab's. It was a lean, brown face, with the straight nose seen in classical sculpture. His beard grew away from the lips and stood out crisply. His hair was looped up at the back in a gigantic knot that would, if unbound, have fallen below his waist. This impressive person came riding towards us, an odd mixture of brigand and saint. (p. 358)
It turns out that it's Father John, who had seen a hare in the corn and hoped to catch it to serve to the Bishop of Caesarea who was coming to stay with him, despite the fact that there is no congregation at Caesarea because there were no Christians. Father John holds Sunday Service entirely alone. The reader can sense HVM's pity and dismay when he writes that it was the most pathetically poor little church he'd ever seen, and it was also the only Greek church he'd ever seen without an ikonostasis. And when he sees Father John's distress about the desecration of the holy vault below the church — said to be the prison of St Paul — he subsequently intervenes. He writes to the Palestine Government requesting that a competent antiquary be sent to inspect the building and is pleased to report that pending the purchase of the vault by the Greek Orthodox Church, steps have been taken to prevent it being used as a stable for donkeys and mules by the farmers who had bought it!
The book is full of fascinating snippets like this.
To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2020/12/31/i...
April 18, 2025
Morton blends history, folklore, and personal travel recount into a jealousy-inspiring tour of Greece, Turkey, the Levant, and Rome. Whilst this is useless as a travel guide for modern audiences, Morton evokes a time just past, where ruins lie unexcavated and locals tell tall local myths to the rare visitor.
It is impossible for us to have the largely casual contact Morton had with ancient artefacts, and the untouched parochialism of all the places Morton visits is now lost, yet this is still an engaging book à la Pausanias and the ‘Description of Greece’.
It is impossible for us to have the largely casual contact Morton had with ancient artefacts, and the untouched parochialism of all the places Morton visits is now lost, yet this is still an engaging book à la Pausanias and the ‘Description of Greece’.
June 22, 2013
(a comment, not review)
This one is a true pleasure. What appeals to me about this is that we're reading two histories at once. As Morton recounts stories of the classical and biblical eras, he is also giving a contemporary account of a world that has entirely vanished. From an angle, considering the time this book is originally written, we're already too much into the future and so the scenes he shows us and those pass through our either sides are almost not in existence anymore.
This one is a true pleasure. What appeals to me about this is that we're reading two histories at once. As Morton recounts stories of the classical and biblical eras, he is also giving a contemporary account of a world that has entirely vanished. From an angle, considering the time this book is originally written, we're already too much into the future and so the scenes he shows us and those pass through our either sides are almost not in existence anymore.
July 25, 2011
I read this in step with a sermon series on the book of Acts at my church. Fascinating book! Morton follows the steps of Paul around the eastern Mediterranean, offering part travel journal and part Biblical commentary. He's a great writer. It was written in the 1930s, when that part of the world was a very different place.
January 20, 2008
Fascinating tales of places I visited in 05 - could walk with him in his steps as he narrated these places.
January 10, 2016
Really enjoyed this and other early H. V. Morton. Much of the world hadn't changed much in centuries when he traveled and wrote about it.
January 12, 2024
Imagine in a patchy grassland lie some relics of the past without plaques and road signs with which even the least touristy places today are studded and scenery calcified. The new configuration is just boring. Morton’s books always give me secondhand tranquillity that used to be possible when travel was still uncommon. To ask for this is nothing like feeling holier than thou, it is a sign of miserable ordinariness, of our daily life.
Is H.V. Morton religious? Little is in doubt that in 1936, toward finishing this copy of the first edition, he was pretty devout. Wouldn’t I think someone who had embarked on a pilgrimage was not wholeheartedly committing to its religion. It is worth noting that he quoted at times derisive remarks on the Apostolic age by Sir William Ramsay, interestingly, who converted to Christian in his last moments. So the answer being entirely clear is one thing; whether or not a change would soon take place or was taking place, I have no way to find out.
Keeping this in mind, I am glad to say I never found the book preachy. Neither was it meant to inculcate the gospels to the non-believers. To be sure, one can be reasonably put off by the exchange between Morton and his guide, Hassan, a proud modern Turk: ‘Perhaps someday you will become logical and accept Christmas.’ Alas, too absorbed by the Gentile mission. Had this religion adopted the notion of reincarnation as its Indo-European cousin, Morton might have had to double down on his passion.
Any other value lies in it besides a pilgrimage guide? It is not dissimilar to the preference of a travelogue over a travel guide. The thirst of a soon-to-depart will not be quenched by directions, ratings and opening hours, because it is not hunger they’re combating. In Morton’s books, I seek for knowledge nil for use, routes out of date, and business none of mine.
(a star was struck for the thin yet distasteful antisemitism ferreting around)
Is H.V. Morton religious? Little is in doubt that in 1936, toward finishing this copy of the first edition, he was pretty devout. Wouldn’t I think someone who had embarked on a pilgrimage was not wholeheartedly committing to its religion. It is worth noting that he quoted at times derisive remarks on the Apostolic age by Sir William Ramsay, interestingly, who converted to Christian in his last moments. So the answer being entirely clear is one thing; whether or not a change would soon take place or was taking place, I have no way to find out.
Keeping this in mind, I am glad to say I never found the book preachy. Neither was it meant to inculcate the gospels to the non-believers. To be sure, one can be reasonably put off by the exchange between Morton and his guide, Hassan, a proud modern Turk: ‘Perhaps someday you will become logical and accept Christmas.’ Alas, too absorbed by the Gentile mission. Had this religion adopted the notion of reincarnation as its Indo-European cousin, Morton might have had to double down on his passion.
Any other value lies in it besides a pilgrimage guide? It is not dissimilar to the preference of a travelogue over a travel guide. The thirst of a soon-to-depart will not be quenched by directions, ratings and opening hours, because it is not hunger they’re combating. In Morton’s books, I seek for knowledge nil for use, routes out of date, and business none of mine.
(a star was struck for the thin yet distasteful antisemitism ferreting around)
May 6, 2025
I loved this book. It is a classic. I found it randomly while clearing out the bookshelves prior to moving. It came from my late husband’s family, which is curious as they were not particularly religious.
The era Morton was writing in was pre-WW2, before the tech revolution, before the dominance of the car,before global travel was such a thing. And before the creation of the State of Israel, with all the problems that has brought to the Levant. It seems to be a golden, more innocent age to me now. Morton was a journalist, so writes with an ease of understanding, in that the vistas he recreates are easy to understand, but they are charged with the poetic. This differs from ‘A Time of Gifts’ by Patric Leigh Fermor,’ where I kept leaping for the dictionary to find out what a word meant. In this case, I kept leaping for my smartphone to see ‘was it still there?’ In the intervening 90 years a lot of the wild, abandoned places he visited have been excavated.
And in amongst this my appreciation for St Paul and the work he did grew exponentially. All those maps often to be found in the back of the Bible were a tad boring. But this book made St Paul, his world and his work, come alive.
Great stuff. I will now look out the companion volume: ‘In the Steps of the Master.’
The era Morton was writing in was pre-WW2, before the tech revolution, before the dominance of the car,before global travel was such a thing. And before the creation of the State of Israel, with all the problems that has brought to the Levant. It seems to be a golden, more innocent age to me now. Morton was a journalist, so writes with an ease of understanding, in that the vistas he recreates are easy to understand, but they are charged with the poetic. This differs from ‘A Time of Gifts’ by Patric Leigh Fermor,’ where I kept leaping for the dictionary to find out what a word meant. In this case, I kept leaping for my smartphone to see ‘was it still there?’ In the intervening 90 years a lot of the wild, abandoned places he visited have been excavated.
And in amongst this my appreciation for St Paul and the work he did grew exponentially. All those maps often to be found in the back of the Bible were a tad boring. But this book made St Paul, his world and his work, come alive.
Great stuff. I will now look out the companion volume: ‘In the Steps of the Master.’
November 28, 2024
This is a strangely wonderful book. Taking both Acts of the Apostles and the letters ascribed to St Paul literally (I don't think there's a serious scholar who thinks, for instance Titus, Timothy and Ephesians are written by St Paul), Morton takes pious trips around the Mediterranean encountering interesting people along the way.
Leaving aside the 1930s racialist generalisations, what is so wonderful about this book is the ease of travel available to a well-off gentleman from the UK: I am looking at his itinerary and thinking even the first bit, from Jerusalem to Damascus, would be impossible now: so much of where he goes is now at war, or under military dictatorship.
The only problem he encounters is with a slightly pushy official from the newly-established Turkish Republic (he is clearly a big fan of Attaturk), and everyone lives in harmony with themselves and nature. This is, in places, wilfully blind, because he arrives in Rome after the Lateran Treaty and fails to notice fascism.
But this has the sort of joy about it that the travel writing of Patrick Leigh Fermor has, and of around the same time. Innocent and lovely.
Leaving aside the 1930s racialist generalisations, what is so wonderful about this book is the ease of travel available to a well-off gentleman from the UK: I am looking at his itinerary and thinking even the first bit, from Jerusalem to Damascus, would be impossible now: so much of where he goes is now at war, or under military dictatorship.
The only problem he encounters is with a slightly pushy official from the newly-established Turkish Republic (he is clearly a big fan of Attaturk), and everyone lives in harmony with themselves and nature. This is, in places, wilfully blind, because he arrives in Rome after the Lateran Treaty and fails to notice fascism.
But this has the sort of joy about it that the travel writing of Patrick Leigh Fermor has, and of around the same time. Innocent and lovely.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews