If It Is True That We Need

Imagine Someone Holding Forth On Biology Whose Only Knowledge Of The Subject Is 'the Book Of British Birds,' And You Have A Rough Idea Of What It Feels Like To Read Richard Dawkins On Theology.

Like The Rest Of Us, Tom Paulin Is A Bundle Of Contradictions. At Its Finest, His Work Is Brave, Adventurous, Original And Wonderfully Idiosyncratic.

Theology, However Implausible Many Of Its Truth Claims, Is One Of The Most Ambitious Theoretical Arenas Left In An Increasingly Specialized World

Most Students Of Literature Can Pick Apart A Metaphor Or Spot An Ethnic Stereotype, But Not Many Of Them Can Say Things Like: 'the Poem's Sardonic Tone Is Curiously At Odds With Its Plodding Syntax.

Being Brought Up In A Culture Is A Matter Of Learning Appropriate Forms Of Feeling As Much As Particular Ways Of Thinking.