CHRISTOPHER Scott, a retired priest in the Diocese of Truro, and one time Rector of Bude and Marhamchurch, has recently written a book of meditations on faith, as he puts it ‘for the long haul’.

Published by SLG Press, Oxford, the book carries the title: Unknowing and Astonishment.

The front cover depicts the icon of Christ the Saviour by Rublev, displayed in the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow. We are presented here, suggests Canon Scott, with a prominent theme of this book, that there is a hiddenness, that faith is frequently an ‘unknowing of God, before it is a knowing of God in Christ’

This short work seeks to highlight a much neglected ingredient of Christian spirituality, especially in the Western churches. Variously described as the desert tradition, or the way of unknowing, here is an approach which offers sustenance to those who are wearied by an often patronising and adolescent approach to faith.

Canon Scott said: “Too readily God is domesticated into little more than a projection of our own hopes and ambitions. The suggestion here is that once the first flush of enthusiasm has faded, we need a theology that is adequate for the long haul, and which continues to unfold and illuminate our experience of life in times of aridity, or when God is seemingly absent.”

Canon Scott engages with the writings of Christian teachers through the ages, many of which he recorded in the commonplace book he has maintained over the past 45 years. But he also draws upon the witness to human and religious experience in a number of more recent novelists, including William Brodwick, Salley Vickers, Graham Greene, CS Lewis and Andrew Miller.

The chapter headings also convey a flavour of the riches included in this volume: Gates of Mystery, Experiencing our own existence, Living with absurdity, The imagination of our hearts, Worship as revelation.

A spokesman said: “In all this the author seeks to lead us beyond a managerial model of the church, and to discover in worship, not something laid on as a pick-me-up up, but as the way of participating in something that is already happening in heaven, and now in Christ made available to us on earth. The publisher and the author hope you will find this a good investment!”

The book is available for £12.99 from Spencer Thorn Bookshop in Bude, online at www.spencer-thorn.co.uk or direct from the publisher at [email protected]