Richard Holloway – författare

Now in his ninth decade, former Bishop of Edinburgh Richard Holloway has spent a lifetime at the bedsides of the dying, guiding countless men and women towards peaceful deaths. A positive and profound exploration of the many important lessons we can learn, this is also a stirring plea to reacquaint ourselves with death. Doing so gives us the chance to think about the meaning of life itself; and can mean the difference between ordinary sorrow and unbearable regret at the end.Radical, joyful and moving, Waiting for the Last Bus is an invitation to reconsider life's greatest mystery by one of the most important and beloved religious leaders of our time.

“For readers in search of a thoughtful, thorough, and approachable survey of the history of religion, this book is an excellent place to start.”—Booklist  Written for those with faith and for those without—and especially for younger readers—A Little History of Religion sweeps us through the story of religion in our world, from the dawn of religious belief to the present  An emphathetic yet discerning guide to the enduring importance of faith, Richard Holloway introduces us to the history and beliefs of the major world religions—Judaism, Islam, Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism. He also explores where religious belief comes from; the search for meaning through the ages; how differences in belief sometimes lead to hostility and violence; what is a sect and what is a cult; and much more. Throughout, Holloway encourages curiosity and tolerance, accentuates nuance and mystery, and calmly restores a sense of the value of faith.

A rich and inclusive history of belief, from humanity's earliest days to our own times  Religion is distinctly human. We can’t help wondering about where we come from and why we are here. Did some all-powerful being make the universe? When we die, is there anything else to come? And what will it be like? Questions like these have occupied human minds across the ages. In our search for answers, we have come up with different stories.  Richard Holloway tells the history of the major religions from the dawn of belief to the twenty-first century. Ranging far beyond Judaism, Islam, Christianity, Buddhism and Hinduism, he writes for those with faith and those without, and for those who might be making up their minds.  Little Histories – Inspiring Guides for Curious Minds

Adventures in the Aid Trade takes us on a fascinating journey through 40 years of work at the coalface of international development. Drawing on his experiences from long periods in the field, the author reflects on what has worked, what has not and why, and considers how these experiences relate to students and practitioners today.Looking beyond high-level policy matters and international relations, this book focuses instead on the author’s actual experiences in the field and the inspired local people he encountered. The narrative traces how these people, working through their own organisations, make a difference to the lives of their contemporaries, and learn how to generate the income to do it. Chapters draw on the author’s experiences of working with local practitioners from 40 countries across sub-Saharan Africa, the Caribbean, South, South East and Central Asia, and the South Pacific. Peppered with lively stories and anecdotes, Adventures in the Aid Trade provides valuable lessons from the shifting aid landscape and reflects on where the industry is likely to go next.Whether you are a current development practitioner or a student just starting out in your understanding of the development and humanitarian sectors, this book provides an invaluable snapshot of the world of civil society organisations, governance and the voluntary sector, and the lived lives of ordinary people in extraordinary times.

Adventures in the Aid Trade takes us on a fascinating journey through 40 years of work at the coalface of international development. Drawing on his experiences from long periods in the field, the author reflects on what has worked, what has not and why, and considers how these experiences relate to students and practitioners today.Looking beyond high-level policy matters and international relations, this book focuses instead on the author’s actual experiences in the field and the inspired local people he encountered. The narrative traces how these people, working through their own organisations, make a difference to the lives of their contemporaries, and learn how to generate the income to do it. Chapters draw on the author’s experiences of working with local practitioners from 40 countries across sub-Saharan Africa, the Caribbean, South, South East and Central Asia, and the South Pacific. Peppered with lively stories and anecdotes, Adventures in the Aid Trade provides valuable lessons from the shifting aid landscape and reflects on where the industry is likely to go next.Whether you are a current development practitioner or a student just starting out in your understanding of the development and humanitarian sectors, this book provides an invaluable snapshot of the world of civil society organisations, governance and the voluntary sector, and the lived lives of ordinary people in extraordinary times.

The How to Read series provides a context and an explanation that will facilitate and enrich your understanding of texts vital to the canon. These books use excerpts from the major texts to explain essential topics, such as the definition and role of God in the Bible, the most influential book in human history.The trouble with reading the Bible is that it claims to be God’s autobiography; so the first thing readers must do is decide what they understand about God and how they are going to interpret his role in the rambling library of books that claims his authorship. Richard Holloway offers a usefully dialectical approach to this central question that will allow unbelievers as well as believers to profit from a study of the most influential book in human history.

The absolutely poor, who are mostly rural people, are a large part of the developing world's population and their numbers are growing. Government development programmes, aided by the big donors, have made the poor poorer and have rendered them more powerless in relation to the rest of society. They have done this by sustaining and reinforcing existing exploitative economic, social and political structures.Yet people's movements. religious organizations, voluntary groups, universities and so on have often devised 'alternative' development strategies whose programmes are specifically intended to empower the powerless and selectively enrich the poorest. These groups lack the funds and the political punch to make much more than a dent in the situation.This book brings together some of these workers from the South who describe the problems and provide the answers. They are a challenge to the received 'wisdom' of the North.Originally published in 1989

Is the art of preaching dead? This book belongs to a series of works which intend to show that, far from being moribund, the tradition of preaching is alive and well. Included in this text are readings on seasons in the Christian year, saints and occasions (including ordination of first women to the priesthood in the Scottish Episcopal Chruch), as well as a practical epilogue on preaching.

Provides an excellent conceptual framework for the various approaches to resource mobilization.'Paiboon Wattanasiritham, Director General, Chief Executive Officer, Government Savings Bank, ThailandA clear and practical guide aimed at the managers of civil society organizations, including non-governmental organizations, citizens' movements, co-operatives, trade unions and other grass-roots organizations primarily in developing countries, on how to mobilize funds and other resources and in doing so become financially self-reliant. The author examines numerous and varied options, covering earned income, local foundations, governmental sources, foreign agencies, the corporate sector, microcredit, the internet and social investments, setting these within a strategic overview of planning and management effectiveness.

'Full of human wisdom, this is a psychologically acute and absorbing approach to a very important subject' PHILIP PULLMANIn this inspiring work, Richard Holloway tackles the great theme of forgiveness. One of the most important books on this essential topic, On Forgiveness draws on the great philosophers and writers such as Frederick Nietzsche, Jacques Derrida and Nelson Mandela. Both timely and a timeless modern classic, On Forgiveness is a pertinent and fascinating discourse on how forgiveness works, where it came from and how the need to embrace it is greater than ever if we are to free ourselves from the binds of the past.

If the use of God in a moral debate raises more problems than it solves, is it better to leave God out of the argument altogether and find strong human reasons for the rules we live by? Godless Morality is a refreshing, courageous and human-centred justification for contemporary morality.

In this passionate and heartfelt book, Richard Holloway interrogates the traditional ways of understanding the Bible. In doing so he demonstrates the power of the great Christian stories as they apply today, away from their sometimes antiquated settings, providing a blueprint which takes the core teachings of the Christian past and invigorates them with renewed power for today's world.

Spirituality, like morality, has historically been tied to religion - and yet it is possible for one to exist without the other. In this meditative and highly personal account, Richard Holloway considers the nature of the spiritual, and what it means to live with the inevitability of death.Both celebration of the possibilities that life affords and an examination of how doubts and fears too often paralyse, especially as we age, Looking in the Distance is an inspiration, told with the compassion and good humour characteristic of its author.

Winner of the PEN/Ackerley Prize 2013.At the tender age of fourteen, Richard Holloway left his home town of Alexandria, north of Glasgow, and travelled hundreds of miles to be educated and trained for the priesthood at an English monastery. By the age of twenty-five he had been ordained and was working in the slums of Glasgow. Through the forty years that followed, Richard touched the lives of many people as he rose to one of the highest positions in the Anglican Church. But behind his confident public faith lay a restless heart and an inquisitive mind. Poignant, wise and fiercely honest, Leaving Alexandria is a remarkable memoir of a life defined by faith but plagued by doubt.

Throughout history we have told ourselves stories to try and make sense of our place in the universe. Richard Holloway takes us on a personal, scientific and philosophical journey to explore what he believes the answers to the biggest of questions are. He examines what we know about the universe into which we are propelled at birth and from which we are expelled at death, the stories we have told about where we come from, and the stories we tell to get through this muddling experience of life.Thought-provoking, revelatory, compassionate and playful, Stories We Tell Ourselves is a personal reckoning with life's mysteries by one of the most important and beloved thinkers of our time.

Richard Holloway has been the archetypal 'turbulent priest'. Having risen to be the Primus (Head) of the Scottish Episcopal Church, he abandoned religion and ecclesiastical office to fight for the rights of minorities and to write a string of best selling books, most famously Leaving Alexandria. He also became Chairman of the Scottish Arts Council.In this, his last book, he reflects deeply on his life, most especially as a child of desperately poor parents in Dumbartonshire in Scotland. He tells the story of how he found faith but then abandoned Christian orthodoxy after leaving office as Head of the Scottish Episcopal Church, and discovered a new life as a writer, broadcaster, journalist and public intellectual.This book opens and ends with chapters of a philosophical kind in which he explains how he lost belief in a loving God and became true to himself.

Richard Holloway has been the archetypal 'turbulent priest'. Having risen to be the Primus (Head) of the Scottish Episcopal Church, he abandoned religion and ecclesiastical office to fight for the rights of minorities and to write a string of best selling books, most famously Leaving Alexandria. He also became Chairman of the Scottish Arts Council.In this, his last book, he reflects deeply on his life, most especially as a child of desperately poor parents in Dumbartonshire in Scotland. He tells the story of how he found faith but then abandoned Christian orthodoxy after leaving office as Head of the Scottish Episcopal Church, and discovered a new life as a writer, broadcaster, journalist and public intellectual.This book opens and ends with chapters of a philosophical kind in which he explains how he lost belief in a loving God and became true to himself.

In On Reflection Richard Holloway thinks back on some of the questions that have shaped his life. Here, then, are the big asks: is there a God? How can we forgive? Where does creativity come from? How can we face loss and death? How can we live a good life? And how do we find beauty in the world?To this cause he also recruits the help of poets, writers, musicians and artists, whose own wisdom can help us navigate life's challenges. To 'reflect on' can also mean to change your mind; a necessary facility in any well-lived life. And this leads us to more of our big asks: how do we change the world for the better? How do we heal divisions? How does a society move forward?In beautiful prose, and with care and joy, Richard Holloway offers his reflections on how a good life is one inspired by love and guided by knowledge.

In On Reflection Richard Holloway thinks back on some of the questions that have shaped his life, sharing the wisdom of poets, writers, musicians and artists he has encountered along the way.How can we forgive? Where does creativity come from? How can we face loss and death? How can we live a good life? How do we find beauty in the world and heal divisions? How does a society move forward? In beautiful prose, and with care and joy, Richard Holloway offers his reflections on how a good life is one inspired by love and guided by knowledge.

Richard Holloway is one of our most beloved public thinkers. Throughout his life he has turned to poets and writers to help answer the big questions, and for solace and guidance in the face of life's challenges. Now he shares those poems and words which have been his own guide, offered in the hope they will help us too.This is a book to turn to for inspiration, guidance and comfort. It offers lessons from those who, in Richard's words, 'know best how to listen and teach us to listen', all united by 'the sensual appeal of words, the pain and pleasure they impart'. It is a book to treasure.

The absolutely poor, who are mostly rural people, are a large part of the developing world's population and their numbers are growing. Government development programmes, aided by the big donors, have made the poor poorer and have rendered them more powerless in relation to the rest of society. They have done this by sustaining and reinforcing existing exploitative economic, social and political structures.Yet people's movements. religious organizations, voluntary groups, universities and so on have often devised 'alternative' development strategies whose programmes are specifically intended to empower the powerless and selectively enrich the poorest. These groups lack the funds and the political punch to make much more than a dent in the situation.This book brings together some of these workers from the South who describe the problems and provide the answers. They are a challenge to the received 'wisdom' of the North.Originally published in 1989