Known to the senses - Martin Warner

North Atlantic culture is spiritually depressed, with the consequence that our senses have become dulled, says Warner. They no longer function as sentinels to the presence of God.

Drawing heavily on Denys Turner's influential book, The Darkness of God, Warner explores how recovery of the deliberate use or non-use of our five senses might enable us to grasp something of the astonishment about God that inspired people like Augustine and the author of The Cloud of Unknowing to write in terms of what we now describe as mystical.

Warner links the senses with the liturgical celebration of the Lord's passion in Holy Week. Participation in the passion through reference to our senses can be a means of preparing for Holy Week, reflection on the nature of worship, assessing the evangelistic communication of the liturgy. Warner also examines the interaction of contemporary Christian experience with an older, Christian culture. Each chapter has a resource section with prompts for further discussion on the book's themes.

Martin Warner is now Canon Pastor of St. Paul's Cathedral in London. He was formerly Administrator of the Shrine at Wahsingham.