In the Shadow of St. Paul's Cathedral

In the Shadow of St. Paul's Cathedral

Author: Margaret Willes

Publisher: Yale University Press

Published: 2022-01-01

Total Pages: 324

ISBN-13: 0300249837

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The extraordinary story of St. Paul's Churchyard--the area of London that was a center of social and intellectual life for more than a millennium St. Paul's Cathedral stands at the heart of London, an enduring symbol of the city. Less well known is the neighborhood at its base that hummed with life for over a thousand years, becoming a theater for debate and protest, knowledge and gossip. For the first time Margaret Willes tells the full story of the area. She explores the dramatic religious debates at Paul's Cross, the bookshops where Shakespeare came in search of inspiration, and the theater where boy actors performed plays by leading dramatists. After the Great Fire of 1666, the Churchyard became the center of the English literary world, its bookshops nestling among establishments offering luxury goods. This remarkable community came to an abrupt end with the Blitz. First the soaring spire of Old St. Paul's and then Wren's splendid Baroque dome had dominated the area, but now the vibrant secular society that had lived in their shadow was no more.


St Paul's Cathedral Before Wren

St Paul's Cathedral Before Wren

Author: John Schofield

Publisher: Historic England Publishing

Published: 2011

Total Pages: 386

ISBN-13: 9781848020566

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This is the first ever comprehensive account of the archaeology and history of the cathedral and its churchyard from Roman times up to the construction of the Wren building. The cathedrals which preceded that of Wren come to the surface again, and we can appreciate the cultural and religiousimportance of St Paul's over more than 1000 years.


The Case for God

The Case for God

Author: Karen Armstrong

Publisher: Anchor

Published: 2009-09-22

Total Pages: 433

ISBN-13: 0307272923

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NATIONAL BESTSELLER • A nuanced exploration of the role of religion in our lives, drawing on insights of the past to build a faith for our dangerously polarized age—from the New York Times bestselling author of The History of God Moving from the Paleolithic age to the present, Karen Armstrong details the great lengths to which humankind has gone in order to experience a sacred reality that it called by many names, such as God, Brahman, Nirvana, Allah, or Dao. Focusing especially on Christianity but including Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Chinese spiritualities, Armstrong examines the diminished impulse toward religion in our own time, when a significant number of people either want nothing to do with God or question the efficacy of faith. Why has God become unbelievable? Why is it that atheists and theists alike now think and speak about God in a way that veers so profoundly from the thinking of our ancestors? Answering these questions with the same depth of knowledge and profound insight that have marked all her acclaimed books, Armstrong makes clear how the changing face of the world has necessarily changed the importance of religion at both the societal and the individual level. Yet she cautions us that religion was never supposed to provide answers that lie within the competence of human reason; that, she says, is the role of logos. The task of religion is “to help us live creatively, peacefully, and even joyously with realities for which there are no easy explanations.” She emphasizes, too, that religion will not work automatically. It is, she says, a practical discipline: its insights are derived not from abstract speculation but from “dedicated intellectual endeavor” and a “compassionate lifestyle that enables us to break out of the prism of selfhood.”


Paddington at St Paul’s

Paddington at St Paul’s

Author: Michael Bond

Publisher: HarperCollins UK

Published: 2018-05-31

Total Pages: 34

ISBN-13: 0008272069

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A funny picture book about Paddington, the beloved, classic bear from darkest Peru – now a major movie star!


Murder in St Paul's

Murder in St Paul's

Author: Richard Dale

Publisher: Troubador Publishing Ltd

Published: 2019-06-25

Total Pages: 376

ISBN-13: 1838590455

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In 1514 a respected London Merchant, Richard Hunne, was found hanging in Old St Paul’s Cathedral. Whether it was murder or suicide was hotly debated but popular opinion, endorsed more recently by many historians, pointed to foul play by church officials. Around this central mystery, Dale has woven a story of murder, church politics and forbidden texts in turbulent pre-Reformation London. Hunne’s widow, Anne, takes centre stage in this narrative as she attempts to solve and avenge the death of her husband. Her search for the truth will take her to Germany and Martin Luther’s revolt against the authority of the church, and up against powerful figures such as the English Lord Chancellor, Thomas More. She becomes involved in the new illicit trade of printing religious texts, and will suffer both imprisonment and the danger of execution. She is helped by her lover, a German Hansa merchant, and through her adventures she will move closer to, and finally solve, the brutal killing of her husband - a crime that has baffled historians ever since the body was first found hanging in St Paul’s.