What We Talk about when We Talk about Faith

by Peter Stanford

'Journalism is an ephemeral business, but Stanford is one of those journalists whose output, as this collection demonstrates, stands the test of time.' Ted Harrison, former BBC religious affairs correspondent Peter Stanford has been interviewing people of faith during his thirty-five years as a journalist at national papers including the Daily Telegraph , the Independent and The Guardian , as well as for the church press. What fascinates him in such conversations is how creating a space to talk unguardedly about faith unlocks so much what shaped and continue to shape the public and private lives of high-profile names; how those values connect with the work they are best known for; and why they believe the search for faith makes them who they are. This collection of the best of his interviews - some with household names, others with those not so immediately familiar, but all people of achievement with a resonant story to tell - aims to lift the lid on a topic that has become increasingly marginalised in the public square of our increasingly secular and sceptical society, where to 'do God' can feel like breaking a taboo. Put together, the 44 subjects collectively demonstrate that, rather than being all about doctrine and dogma, there are as many ways of exploring faith as there are individuals currently doing it. These intriguing interviews with activists, writers and artists, politicians, rebels and those who have taken vows will appeal to committed believers, those on the fringes of faith, and those who look in from the outside with curiosity. Includes interviews with Sara Maitland | Sister Wendy Beckett | Delia Smith | The Revd Richard Coles | Dermot O'Leary | Cherie Blair | Archbishop Desmond Tutu | Bronwen Astor | Amos Oz | Nick Cave

256 pages, Hardcover

Published March 22, 2018

Reviews

[Andy Hickman · Rating 4 out of 5]

“What We Talk about when We Talk about Faith” by Peter Stanford

I didn’t expect this to be as engaging as it has turned out. Wonderfully breadth of interviewees to learn something about their worldviews. ****

Interesting:
Florence Li Tim-Oi (Hong Kong) was the first woman to be ordained to the priesthood in the Anglican Communion on 25 January 1944. (page 21)

“When God delivers a bunch of slaves out of bondage, is that a political or religious act?” – Desmond Tutu (page 146)

Tikkun Olam. A Jewish concept defined by acts of kindness performed to perfect or repair the world. The phrase is found in the Mishnah, a body of classical rabbinic teachings. It is often used when discussing issues of social policy, insuring a safeguard to those who may be at a disadvantage. (page 152)

And though she has been over the years appointed to sit on numerous Establishment bodies … she has never, she says, stopped thinking of herself as an outsider.
“I’ve realised, though, that you have to play it both ways if you are really going to change things. You have to be sufficiently trusted by the insiders that they don’t think you’re a complete nutcase, and you have to be enough of an outsider to be able to see the bigger picture.” - Britain’s first female rabbi, Julia Neuberger (page 157)

“I think of religion as I think of art. … rituals really make no sense unless we are interpreting them, doing them in some way, putting them into practice.” – Karen Armstrong (p175)

“To be gay and lesbian was to be a failure. The good gay people killed themselves. And the others were drug addicts and bums. There was no possibility for a life of integrity or respect.” – Gene Robinson (p180)

When asked to comment on how ‘our civilisation is gravely ill,’ Jon Sobrino SJ responded by saying although politicians and theologians and bishops are able to make significant changes, “There are more radical ways of purifying air. From below: The people who suffer so much in our world still want to live, still want to survive. They haven’t committed collective suicide. So, whether they know it or not, they are purifying the air for us.”
“Hope comes when I see love, when I see loving people trying it again. … It is love, in the final analysis, that can purify the air.” (p200)

Amos Oz is an Israeli writer, novelist, journalist, and intellectual. Oz is regarded as one of "Israel's most prolific writers and respected intellectuals", as The New York Times.
Oz lives in in his native Israel with his wife and three grown-up children, and has been a fierce critic of successive Israeli governments for failing to implement the ‘two-state solution’ in their conflict with Palestine. It is a course of action he has been advocating since 1967, when he served in an Israeli tank unit in the Six-Day war.” (p202)
“Some Israelis regard me as an Arab lover and that is a traitor in times of conflict. These are people who think in black and white. It is so hard not to think in black and white when you are stuck in a bloody, cruel and violent conflict.
I love Israel even at times when I don’t like it at all. And right now I don’t like it. for its politics, for its treatment of the Palestinians, for its record on civil rights, for the growing religious and national fundamentalism. So, if I wanted to feel comfortable, I’d be in a different line of business altogether. Being a writer cannot be comfortable.” (p204-5)

When Jimmy McGovern (writer of BBC TV series ‘Broken’, starring Sean Bean) was interviewed and asked what the ‘broken’ in the title of his new series refers to he said ‘no’ to the suggestions ‘broken Britain, ‘broken Church’, ‘broken priesthood’.
“It is the broken bread of the Eucharist. … It seems to me we should always associate the breaking of the bread with the breaking of the human body. And if that is not uppermost in our minds, then we are missing something. It’s more than breaking bread for ease of consumption. It is breaking to remind us of a broken body – Christ dying in rags.” (p221)
…

[Torzi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Took me a while to read as do a lot of academic/non-fiction texts. Really enjoyed the structure of numerous mini interviews as allowed for a wide myriad of explorations into what faith means for various people in different walks of life. Wonderful to see the illumination of the problems associated with the church yet in an objective manner that Stanford maintains clearly and effectively. It is predominantly Catholic in its scope so it would have been interesting to see extension beyond the Abrahamic religions - but I understand it’s a short text!

[Simon Fletcher · Rating 3 out of 5]

44 interviews with Catholics, Anglicans, believers and non believers about what faith is in today's society. An interesting and enjoyable read though there were times when I wished the interviews had been longer.

[Laura Gilmour · Rating 2 out of 5]

A fairly interesting read, but the blurb didn't mention that most of the accounts are drawn from Catholicism, which would've been useful to note beforehand. I was expecting a more rounded exploration.