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St Dunstan of Canterbury (909-88) was the central figure in the development of English church and society after the death of King Alfred. Douglas Dales traces Dunstan's life beginning with his education at the great monastery of Glastonbury of which he became abbot. He was a central figure at the court of the kings of Wessex but was banished, partly because of his hostility to the king's mistresses, and went to exile in Flanders. After his return he was appointed Archbishop of Canterbury. During the twenty-eight years of his primacy he carried out one of the major developments of the century, the reformation of the monasteries. The millennium of Dunstan's death provides an opportunity to examine him not merely as a prelate and royal advisor, but to see other aspects of his life: his skills as a craftsman caused him to be adopted as the patron saint of goldsmiths; some of his work as calligrapher and artist survives to this day; the coronation service which he drew up still lies at the heart of this service for English monarchs today; he was famed for his musical skills; above all, the sanctity of his name and the fame of his miracles kept Dunstan's memory alive. Douglas Dales' re-examination of the life and times of Dunstan sets his achievements against the social and religious background of the day, at a time when new forces were emerging that would shape the future of England and the English Church for centuries to come.

In general, Revelation studies continue to favour going outside or behind the text (in search of its context of origin, via the historical-critical paradigm) or, more recently, in front of the text (to investigate the book's reception history, past and present). To date, relatively little synchronic exegetical work inside the text has been undertaken, with the aim of understanding the text as we have it and on its own terms. To facilitate such work, narrative criticism has supplied some much-needed tools and methods, although these are mainly used to explore the mechanics of how a text 'works' via an examination of its moving parts. Campbell uses this methodology in a way that respects Revelation's narrative verve, adjusting and supplementing it so as to take account of the book's sophisticated thematic content. The result is a coherent and satisfying account of how Revelation's complex parts fit together into a meaningful whole. Throughout, the author is motivated by the conviction that the Church requires a biblical-theological appreciation of Revelation's story, developed from inside the text. This involves relating Revelation adequately to the rest of Christian Scripture - both to the Gospels and Epistles and to the Old Testament, to which it so frequently alludes.

The influence of Aldeburgh and the Suffolk Coast on the poet behind 'Peter Grimes'.

First published in 1930, Swallows and Amazons secured Arthur Ransome's reputation as one of the most influential children's authors of all time, yet prior to writing fiction he had had a turbulent career as a journalist and war correspondent in revolutionary Russia. In this refreshing account of Ransome's work, Alan Kennedy sets out to explain his enduring appeal, combining literary criticism with psychological expertise. Not only did Ransome apply a careful narrative theory to his works, his use of symbolism aligning them more with the modernist tradition than with the event-driven children's literature of contemporaries such as Richmal Crompton and Enid Blyton, but his novels are also more than usually autobiographical. This Kennedy ably demonstrates with reference to three particular challenges Ransome faced in a seriously conflicted life: his father's untimely death, his abandonment of his infant daughter in order to escape his catastrophic first marriage, and the innumerable compromises that kept him alive during his Russian exile. A Thoroughly Mischievous Person: The Other Arthur Ransome is the first study to tackle this matter systematically, giving casual and scholarly readers alike new insights into this fascinating figure.

An analysis of the debate over environmental ethics from an evangelical perspective, offering a guide for navigating the complexity of the problems and the diversity of views on offer.