Author Description

In his Foreword to God, Or Godswallop Lloyd Geering writes: I am often asked to read manuscripts and sometimes inwardly groan when another turns up. This one I read without stopping, not only because it is relatively brief and concise, but also because its honesty and freshness make it so alive. Many of its readers are likely to find it resonates with their own spiritual problems and dilemmas. At a time when some clergy are being painfully forced to acknowledge (at least to themselves) that they are atheists, here is an atheist of some fifty years standing who has found that atheism was not enough. Marian Barnes, although not conventionally religious in any conventional sense, is motivated by a concern for personal religious integrity - as well as a disinclination to be compromised or confused. In 1979 she challenged the Christian 'formula' funeral service, so often inappropriate and unhelpful. Most of the life-affirming funerals in New Zealand today could trace their lineage back to her initiative and the alternative approach she pioneered.Similarly motivated, she now seeks to make sense out of the confusing stance of many theologians, clergy and congregations, who reject the 'faith of their fathers', yet still believe in - well - that is the question