Credo

For many years I read authors who dealt with religious questions. I immersed myself in the novels and short stories of Dostoevsky and Tolstoy, and was fascinated by philosophers such as Kierkegaard and Wittgenstein. My academic research led me via Samuel Beckett to Dante and Thomas a Kempis. And I felt an affinity with artists, composers, and filmmakers who evoked religious experiences and concerns in their work: the paintings and letters of Vincent Van Gogh, the recordings of John Coltrane and Arvo Pärt, and the films of Terrence Malick.

Reading Thomas Merton’s The Seven Storey Mountain in the spring of 2017 was a clarifying moment. The book is a memoir of religious conversion, and offers a rich account of one individual’s journey towards faith. It affected me profoundly. I related to Merton’s descriptions of the twentieth-century world that surrounded him, his abiding interest in literature and philosophy, and his gradual awakening to faith as an actively lived practice. It prompted me to listen more closely to my feelings and attitudes towards religious belief, and to find out more about the Catholic Church.

On 7 June 2017, I decided to change the way I was living. I began an attempt to live according to values of simplicity, humility, and compassion for others. I decided to leave my career in academia; started following a healthier diet; gave away most of my possessions; and I became a volunteer for local charitable organisations.

Shortly after 7 June 2019, I began to feel drawn towards religious life, specifically the life of the Catholic Church. I decided to seek out instruction from a parish priest. I was Confirmed on 27 September 2020.

I continue to strive towards a simple life lived in the service of others.

Holy Week 2021, Cardiff

Selected Reading

The following list comprises books that I have read or consulted over the last few years. While most of the volumes focus on the Roman Catholic faith, there are also titles from Jewish, Orthodox, and Protestant authors that I have found helpful and insightful. A few of these books have become like companions, treasured favourites that I refer to on a regular basis, whereas others have been helpful in clarifying my own thoughts on a particular subject area.

If you are interested in any of the books listed, or have any recommendations of your own along similar threads, feel free to get in touch with me via the contact page.

The New Oxford Annotated Bible with Apocrypha (NRSV)
The Navarre Bible (10 volumes)
The Divine Office
The Daily Missal
The Catechism of the Catholic Church
A Year With the Catechism
Butler’s Lives of the Saints (1990s edition) (12 volumes)
The Philokalia (4 volumes)
The Art of Prayer: An Orthodox Anthology
The Harper Collins Encyclopaedia of Catholicism, ed. Richard P. McBrien
The Oxford Bible Commentary (eds. Barton and Muddiman)
The Desert Fathers: Sayings of the Desert Fathers
Early Christian Writings: The Apostolic Fathers
Early Christian Lives (ed. Carolinne White)
Sacra Pagina: The Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John; Acts of the Apostles
Anonymous, The Cloud of Unknowing and Other Works
Anonymous, The Way of a Pilgrim & The Pilgrim Continues His Way
Anonymous, The Hermitage Within: Spirituality of the Desert by a Monk
Aristotle, The Nicomachean Ethics
Aristotle, The Metaphysics
Aristotle, The Politics
Aristotle, Poetics
St Thomas Aquinas, Selected Writings
Arrupe, Pedro, One Jesuit’s Spiritual Journey
St Augustine, Confessions
St Augustine, City of God
St Augustine, Expositions on the Psalms
St Augustine, Faith, Hope, and Charity
Balthasar, Hans Urs von, Prayer
Balthasar, Hans Urs von, The Glory of the Lord (III): Studies in Theological Style: Late Style
Balthasar, Hans Urs von, The Christian and Anxiety
Barron, Robert, Catholicism
Barron, Robert, Thomas Aquinas: Spiritual Master
Bloom, Anthony, Beginning to Pray
Bloom, Anthony and Georges Lefebvre, Courage to Pray
St Benedict, The Rule of Saint Benedict
Pope Benedict XVI, Introduction to Christianity
Pope Benedict XVI, Milestones
Pope Benedict XVI, The Spirit of the Liturgy
Pope Benedict XVI, A School of Prayer
Pope Benedict XVI, Seek That Which is Above
Pope Benedict XVI, God is Love: Deus Caritas Est
Pope Benedict XVI, Charity in Truth: Caritas in Veritate
Pope Benedict XVI, The God of Christ: Meditations on the Triune God
Pope Benedict XVI, Jesus of Nazareth: The Infancy Narratives
Pope Benedict XVI, Jesus of Nazareth: From the Baptism in the Jordan to the Transfiguration
Pope Benedict XVI, Jesus of Nazareth: From the Entrance into Jerusalem to the Resurrection
Pope Benedict XVI, Jesus, the Apostles and the Early Church
Pope Benedict XVI, Journey to Easter
Pope Benedict XVI, The Legacy of John Paul II
Pope Benedict XVI, Saint Paul
Pope Benedict XVI, The Church Fathers: From Clement of Rome to Augustine
Pope Benedict XVI, Church Fathers and Teachers: From Leo the Great to Peter Lombard
Pope Benedict XVI, Holy Men and Women from the Middle Ages and Beyond
Pope Benedict XVI & Peter Seewald, Salt of the Earth
Pope Benedict XVI & Peter Seewald, God and the World
Pope Benedict XVI & Peter Seewald, Light of the World
Pope Benedict XVI & Peter Seewald, Last Testament
Bernanos, Georges, The Diary of a Country Priest
Blake, William, Poems and Prophecies
Bokenkotter, Thomas S., A Concise History of the Catholic Church
St Bonaventure, Works of Bonaventure
Bouteneff, Peter C., Arvo Pärt: Out of Silence
Bouteneff, Vera, Father Arseny: Priest, Prisoner, and Spiritual Father
Brodrick, James, Saint Ignatius Loyola: The Pilgrim Years 1491-1538
Brown, Raymond E., The Birth of the Messiah
Brown, Raymond E., The Death of the Messiah
Brown, Raymond E., An Introduction to the New Testament
Cardijn, Joseph, Laypeople Into Action
Cassian, John: The Institutes and The Conferences
Cather, Willa, Death Comes for the Archbishop
Caussade, Jean Pierre de, Abandonment to Divine Providence
Chadwick, Henry, Augustine of Hippo: A Life
Chesterton, G.K., St Thomas Aquinas: The Dumb Ox
Chesterton, G.K., St Francis of Assisi
Ciszek, Walter J., He Leadeth Me
Climacus, John, The Ladder of Divine Ascent
Colliander, Tito, The Way of the Ascetics
Coppleston, F.C., Aquinas: An Introduction to the Life and Work of the Great Medieval Thinker
Cummings, Charles, Monastic Practices
Dante Alighieri, Commedia (Inferno, Purgatorio, Paradiso)
David Totah, Mary, The Joy of God
David Totah, Mary, Deepening Prayer
David Totah, Mary, Christian Fasting
Day, Dorothy, The Long Loneliness
Day, Dorothy, On Pilgrimage
Day, Dorothy, From Union Square to Rome
Day, Dorothy, Loaves and Fishes
Day, Dorothy, Thérèse
Day, Dorothy, Diaries
Day, Dorothy, Letters
Delp, Alfred, Advent of the Heart: Seasonal Sermons and Prison Writings, 1941-1944
Diat, Nicolas, A Time To Die: Monks On The Threshold Of Eternal Life
Dostoevsky, Feodor, Poor Folk and Other Stories
Dostoevsky, Feodor, The Gambler and Other Stories
Dostoevsky, Feodor, The Double
Dostoevsky, Feodor, Netochka Nezvanova
Dostoevsky, Feodor, The Village of Stepanchikovo
Dostoevsky, Feodor, Notes from a Dead House
Dostoevsky, Feodor, Notes from the Underground
Dostoevsky, Feodor, Crime and Punishment
Dostoevsky, Feodor, The Idiot
Dostoevsky, Feodor, The Adolescent (Raw Youth)
Dostoevsky, Feodor, The Brothers Karamazov
Driscoll, Jeremy, A Monk’s Alphabet
Meister Eckhart, Selected Writings
Elie, Paul, The Life You Save May Be Your Own: An American Pilgrimage
Ellsberg, Robert, ed. Charles de Foucauld (selected writings)
Ellsberg, Robert, The Saints’ Guide to Happiness: Everyday Wisdom from the Lives of the Saints
Esolen, Anthony, The Beauty of the Word: A Running Commentary on the Roman Missal
Evagrius, Talking Back
Evagrius, The Praktikos and Chapters on Prayer
Eusebius, The History of the Church
Fermor, Patrick Leigh, A Time to Keep Silence
Feser, Edward, Five Proofs of the Existence of God
Feser, Edward, Aquinas: A Beginner’s Guide
Foucauld, Charles de, Selected Writings
Pope Francis and Sergio Rubin, Pope Francis : Conversations with Jorge Bergoglio
Pope Francis and Abraham Skorka, On Heaven and Earth
Frank, Joseph, Dostoevsky
Preminger, Marion Mill, The Sands of Tamanrasset: The Story of Charles de Foucauld
Gilson, Etienne, The Spirit of Mediaeval Philosophy
Grant, Michael, Saint Peter: A Biography
Gray, Tim and Jeff Cavins, Walking with God: A Journey Through the Bible
Green, Julien, God’s Fool: The Life and Times of Francis of Assisi
St Gregory the Great, Pastoral Care
Guardini, Romano, The End of the Modern World
Guardini, Romano, The Lord
Guardini, Romano, Living the Drama of Faith
Guardini, Romano, The Conversion of Augustine
Guardini, Romano, The Human Experience: Essays on Providence, Melancholy, Community & Freedom
Guardini, Romano, The Rosary of Our Lady
Guardini, Romano, The Lord’s Prayer
Guardini, Romano, Meditations on the Christ
Guardini, Romano, Learning the Virtues
Guardini, Romano, The Art of Praying
Guardini, Romano, Meditations Before Mass
Guardini, Romano, Eternal Life
Guardini, Romano, The Spirit of the Liturgy
Hahn, Scott, Consuming the Word: The New Testament and the Eucharist in the Early Church
Hahn, Scott, The Creed: Professing the Faith Through the Ages
Hanh, Scott, Hail, Holy Queen
Hahn, Scott, Ignatius Catholic Study Bible: New Testament
Hahn, Scott, The Fourth Cup: Unveiling the Mystery of the Last Supper and the Cross
Hanh, Scott, The Last Supper
Hahn, Scott, Reasons to Believe
Hahn, Scott, Rome, Sweet Rome
Hahn, Scott, Signs of Life
Hardy, Richard P., John of the Cross: Man and Mystic
Holman, Susan R., On Fasting and Feasts: Saint Basil the Great
Saint Ignatius of Loyola, Personal Writings
Pope John XXIII, The Journal of a Soul
St John of the Cross, Collected Works
St John Paul II, A Sign of Contradiction
St John Paul II, A Year with John Paul II: Daily Meditations from His Writings and Prayers
St John Paul II, Crossing the Threshold of Hope
St John Paul II, Faith According to St. John of the Cross
St John Paul II, Gift and Mystery
St John Paul II, Go in Peace: A Gift of Enduring Love
St John Paul II, In My Own Words
St John Paul II, On the Meaning of Human Suffering
St John Paul II, Memory and Identity
St John Paul II, The Place Within: The Poetry of Pope John Paul II
St John Paul II, Psalms and Canticles: Meditations and Catechesis on the Psalms and Canticles of Morning Prayer
St John Paul II, Rise, Let Us Be on Our Way
St John Paul II, Rosarium Virginis Mariae
St John Paul II, Teachings for an Unbelieving World
St John Paul II, Way to Christ: Spiritual Exercises
St John Paul II, The Wisdom of John Paul II: The Pope on Life’s Most Vital Questions
Ker, Ian, John Henry Newman: A Biography
Ker, Ian, Mere Catholicism
Kierkegaard, Søren, Fear and Trembling
Kierkegaard, Søren, Either/Or
Kierkegaard, Søren, The Sickness Unto Death
Kierkegaard, Søren, Journals and Papers
Klein, Peter, The Catholic Source Book
Kreeft, Peter, Wisdom of the Psalms
Kreeft, Peter, Catholic Christianity
Kreeft, Peter, The Journey
Kreeft, Peter, Handbook of Catholic Apologetics
Kreeft, Peter, You Can Understand the Bible
Kreeft, Peter, Summa of the Summa
Küng, Hans, Credo: The Apostle’s Creed Explained for Today
Laird, Martin, Into the Silent Land
Laird, Martin, A Sunlit Absence
Laird, Martin, An Ocean of Light
Brother Lawrence, The Practice of the Presence of God
Leon-Dufour, Xavier, Dictionary of Biblical Theology
Leon-Dufour, Xavier, To Act According to the Gospel
Lubac, Henri de, The Drama of Atheist Humanism
Lubac, Henri de, Catholicism: Christ and the Common Destiny of Man
Julian of Norwich, Revelations of Divine Love
Lewis, C.S., The Abolition of Man
Lewis, C.S., The Great Divorce
Lewis, C.S., A Grief Observed
Lewis, C.S., Mere Christianity
Lewis, C.S., Miracles
Lewis, C.S., The Problem of Pain
Lewis, C.S., Reflections on the Psalms
Lewis, C.S., The Screwtape Letters
Lewis, C.S., Surprised by Joy
Thomas a Kempis, The Imitation of Christ
McCaffrey, James, The Way of the Carmelites: A Prayer Journey Through Lent
McColman, Carl, Befriending Silence: Encountering the Gifts of Cistercian Spirituality
McGuinnis, M. W., Wisdom of Benedictine Elders: Thirty of America’s Oldest Monks and Nuns Share Their Lives’ Greatest Lessons
McInery, Ralph, The Very Rich Hours of Jacques Maritain: A Spiritual Life
Maguire, Nancy Klein, An Infinity of Little Hours: The Trial of Faith of Five Young Men in the Western World’s Most Austere Monastic Order
Markides, Kyriacos C, The Mountain of Silence
Martin, James, Learning to Pray
Martin, James, Between Heaven and Mirth
Martin, James, Building a Bridge: How the Catholic Church and the LGBT Community Can Enter into a Relationship of Respect, Compassion, and Sensitivity
Martin, James, In Good Company
Martin, James, Jesus: A Pilgrimage
Martin, James, My Life with the Saints
Martin, James, A Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything
Martin, Ralph, The Fulfillment of All Desire
Maritain, Jacques, Art and Scholasticism
Maritain, Jacques, An Introduction to Philosophy
Maritain, Raïssa, The Journal of Raïssa Maritain
Matthew, Iain, The Impact of God: Soundings from St John of the Cross
St Maximus the Confessor, The Ascetic Life
St Maximus the Confessor, The Four Centuries on Charity
Merton, Thomas, The Seven Storey Mountain
Merton, Thomas, Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander
Merton, Thomas, The Inner Experience
Merton, Thomas, New Seeds of Contemplation
Merton, Thomas, The Sign of Jonas
Merton, Thomas, No Man Is An Island
Merton, Thomas, The Wisdom of the Desert
Merton, Thomas, Monastic Journey
Merton, Thomas, Seeds
Merton, Thomas, Life and Holiness
Merton, Thomas, Journals (7 vols.)
Merton, Thomas, Letters (5 vols.)
Merton, Thomas, Selected Essays
Metz, Johannes Baptist, Poverty of Spirit
Miles, Margaret R., Fullness of Life: Historical Foundations for a New Asceticism
Murphy, Charles M., The Spirituality of Fasting
Murphy-O’Connor, Jerome, Paul: His Story
Navone, John J., Triumph Through Failure: A Theology of the Cross
St Philip Neri, If God Be With Us: The Maxims of St. Philip Neri
St John Henry Newman, Apologia Pro Vita Sua
Norris, Kathleen, The Cloister Walk
Norris, Kathleen, Acedia & Me
Nouwen, Henri, The Genesee Diary
Nouwen, Henri, The Way of the Heart: The Spirituality of the Desert Fathers and Mothers
Nouwen, Henri, Intimacy
Nouwen, Henri, The Selfless Way of Christ: Downward Mobility and the Spiritual Life
Nouwen, Henri, Discernment
Nouwen, Henri, Sabbatical Journey
Obbard, Elizabeth Ruth, To Live is to Pray: Introduction to Carmelite Spirituality
O’Connor, Flannery, Collected Stories
O’Connor, Gary, Universal Father: A Life of John Paul II
O’Keefe, Mark, Learned, Experienced, and Discerning: St. Teresa of Avila and St. John of the Cross on Spiritual Direction
Pärt, Arvo, Conversations with Arvo Pärt
Pascal, Blaise, Pensées
Pasternak, Boris, Dr Zhivago
Perata, David D., The Orchards of Perseverance: Conversations with Trappist Monks about God, Their Lives, and the World
Percy, Walker, The Moviegoer
Pitre, Brant, The Case for Jesus
Pitre, Brant, A Catholic Introduction to the Bible: The Old Testament
Pitre, Brant, Introduction to the Spiritual Life
Pitre, Brant, Jesus the Bridegroom
Pitre, Brant, Jesus and the Jewish Roots of the Eucharist: Unlocking the Secrets of the Last Supper
Pitre, Brant, Jesus and the Jewish Roots of Mary: Unveiling the Mother of the Messiah
Priest, A, Report from Calabria: A Season with the Carthusian Monks
Quenon, Paul, In Praise of the Useless Life: A Monk’s Memoir
Ripatrizone, Nick, Longing for an Absent God: Faith and Doubt in Great American Fiction
Robinson, Jonathan, In No Strange Land: The Embodied Mysticism of St Philip Neri
Robinson, Marilynne, Gilead
Robinson, Marilynne, Home
Robinson, Marilynne, Lila
Robinson, Marilynne, Absence of Mind
Robinson, Marilynne, When I Was a Child I Read Books
Robinson, Marilynne, The Givenness of Things
Rogers, Byron, The Man Who Went Into The West: The Life of R.S. Thomas
Rolheiser, Ronald, Against an Infinite Horizon
Rolheiser, Ronald, Holy Longing
Rolheiser, Ronald, Sacred Fire
St Francis de Sales, Introduction to the Devout Life
Scaperlanda, Maraia Ruiz, Edith Stein
Sheen, Fulton J., Life of Christ
Sheen, Fulton J., Your Life is Worth Living
St Sophrony the Athonite, Saint Silouan the Athonite
St Teresa of Avila, The Life of Saint Teresa of Avila by Herself
St Teresa of Avila, Teresa of Avila: The Book of My Life
St Teresa of Avila, The Way of Perfection
St Teresa of Avila, The Interior Castle
St Thérèse of Lisieux, The Autobiography of St Thérèse of Lisieux
Mother Teresa, A Simple Path
Smiljanic, Ana, ed., Our Thoughts Determine Our Lives: The Life and Teachings of Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica
Taylor, Richard, How to Read a Church
Theophan the Recluse, The Spiritual Life
Theophan the Recluse, The Path to Salvation
Theophan the Recluse, Kindling the Divine Spark: Teachings on How to Preserve Spiritual Zeal
Thomas, R.S., Collected Poems 1945-1990
Tikhon, Archimandrite, Everyday Saints and Other Stories
Tolstoy, Leo, Childhood
Tolstoy, Leo, Boyhood
Tolstoy, Leo, Youth
Tolstoy, Leo, The Cossacks
Tolstoy, Leo, War and Peace
Tolstoy, Leo, Anna Karenina
Tolstoy, Leo, A Confession and Other Religious Writings
Tolstoy, Leo, Collected Short Stories
Tolstoy, Leo, Diaries (2 volumes)
Tolstoy, Leo, Letters (2 volumes)
Towey, Anthony, An Introduction to Christian Theology
Tranströmer, Thomas, New Collected Poems
Treece, Patricia, A Man for Others: Maximilian Kolbe Saint of Auschwitz in the words of those who knew him
Van Gogh, Vincent, The Letters of Vincent Van Gogh
Vogüé, Adalbert de, To Love Fasting: The Monastic Experience
Waal, Esther de, Seeking God: The Way of St Benedict
Wansbrough, Henry, The Sunday Word
Wansbrough, Henry, Introduction to the New Testament
Wansbrough, Henry, The Psalms: A Commentary for Prayer and Reflection
Wansbrough, Henry, A Year with the Bible
Wansbrough, Henry, The Bible: A Reader’s Guide
Ware, Kallistos, The Orthodox Way
Ware, Kallistos, The Orthodox Church: An Introduction to Eastern Christianity
Ware, Kallistos, The Power of the Name
Weigel, George, Witness to Hope: The Biography of Pope John Paul II
Weigel, George, Lessons in Hope: My Unexpected Life with St John Paul II
Williams, Rowan, Being Christian
Williams, Rowan, The Way of St. Benedict
Williams, Rowan, Dostoevsky
(Wittgenstein), Portraits of Wittgenstein
Wright, N.T., The New Testament in its World: An Introduction to the History, Literature and Theology of the First Christians
Wright, N.T., Paul

Selected Listening

The music of Arvo Pärt, John Coltrane, Beethoven, Mozart, and Bach

Selected Viewing

The films of Terrence Malick and Andrei Tarkovsky