PHOTO: COPTIC ORTHODOX CHURCH, ST ATHANASIUS’ MONASTERY
The Coptic Orthodox Church in Britain and Ireland makes its mark 6
COLUMNS
Christopher Howse’s Notebook ‘The archbishop tugged the king’s mantle at the knee. No one called that a tender moment’ /9
Patrick Hudson ‘It didn’t make much practical difference whether we spoke or not – he’s still the King’ / 13
REGULARS Letters 14 The Living Spirit 15 Word from the Cloisters 16 Puzzles 16
CONTENTS 13 MAY 2023 // VOL. 277 NO. 9502
FEATURES
4 / God’s Englishman
A collection of Oliver Cromwell’s writings only adds to the paradoxes in the life of one of the most controversial figures in British and Irish history / BY JOHN MORRILL
6 / Called out of Egypt
The Coptic Orthodox Church is addressing the challenge of keeping the younger members of its diaspora committed / BY JOSEPH TULLOCH
8 / Living stones
Can funds be secured to repair and restore two much-loved churches in deprived areas of South Wales? / BY ELENA CURTI
10 / A gradual awakening In our sixth conversion story, a long-term agnostic recalls how, at his daughters’ baptism, he found himself wanting to take part in the rite with them / BY LEVI ROACH
12 / Encounter with the Jewish Jesus A Hungarian Jewish scholar who transformed our understanding of the historical
Jesus and influenced the Second Vatican Council / BY ALEXANDER FALUDY
NEWS
24 / The Church in the World / News briefing 25 / Superiors abused Sacred Heart nuns for decades
27 / View from Rome 28 / News from Britain and Ireland / News briefing 29 / ‘Errors of judgement’ made Byrne’s position untenable
COVER: PORTRAIT OF OLIVER CROMWELL (1599-1658) IN ARMOUR, AFTER SAMUEL COOPER, BASED ON WORK OF 1656, ALAMY/IAN DAGNALL
BOOKS / PAGE 17
Julia Langdon Johnson at 10: The Inside Story ANTHONY SELDON AND RAYMOND NEWELL John McGill A Pebble in the Throat: Growing Up Between Two Continents AASMAH MIR Brian Morton The Best Minds: A Story of Friendship, Madness and the Tragedy of Good Intentions JONATHAN ROSEN A.N. Wilson Spring crime
ARTS / PAGE 21 Exhibition Lavinia Fontana JOANNA MOORHEAD Theatre The Motive and the Cue; Dixon and Daughters MARK LAWSON Exhibition Those Who Pray: Monastic Communities in Medieval Europe MICHAEL CARTER Radio Great Lives: Sir Edmund Coke D.J. TAYLOR
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13 MAY 2023 | THE TABLET | 3
