By Way of the Heart

Mark Oakley is one of the most distinctive, intelligent and refreshing voices in the Church of England, always illuminating, never stale or second-hand. – Rowan WilliamsIn the introduction to this book, Mark Oakley asserts that ‘words of faith should “quicken”, be acrobatic and sprightly’. Throughout this brilliant collection, his words are precisely this. They open windows into new thoughts as well as summoning us into deeper reflection. It is a treasure chest of profound thinking, beautifully expressed. I can’t recommend it enough. – Paula GooderThis is more than a collection of sermons, it is an act of ministry to a church longing to remember why it exists. With this book, Mark Oakley has given us a glimpse of why the good news is indeed, good. It is both effortlessly poetic and deeply pastoral and for this I am grateful. – Nadia Bolz-WeberA sermon is a little window: a window through which one peers at the world in the company of a text. In Mark Oakley’s deft practice, that little window has a window seat, and he invites us to sit and share. Taking a biblical text, he opens up the imagination, explores the text and, in so doing, explores the story of a life — his own, or a poet’s, or a person he met on a bus, or a person he read about, the one person, the everyperson. Learned, conversational, openhearted and peppered with a love of language as deep as his love for God, these are sermons that invite the reader into a richer life. – Pádraig Ó TuamaClear and accessible, learned and sensitive, faithful and alert, and perhaps uniquely alive to the possibilities and peculiarities of the English language, I could hear him preach every day. – Richard ColesThe best sermoniser I have ever heard. – Sir Andrew Motion

Mark Oakley is Dean of St John’s College Cambridge. Formerly Canon Chancellor of St Paul’s Cathedral, he is a Visiting Lecturer in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies, Kings College London; Visiting Scholar at Sarum College, and a Deputy Priest in Ordinary to HM the Queen. He is an Ambassador for StopHate UK, Patron of Tell MAMA (supporting those affected by anti-Muslim hate crime) and a Trustee of the Civil Liberties Trust.