PHOTO: ALAMY/AP

James Baldwin abandoned churchgoing but remained a person of faith 8

COLUMN

Christopher Howse’s Notebook ‘I was revolted when at a birthday party I first ate a sandwich that had been kept in a fridge’ / 7

CONTENTS 7 OCTOBER 2023 // VOL. 277 NO. 9522

FEATURES

4 / A long and winding road Covid lockdowns revealed much about Britain – while the government often

fumbled, communities adapted swiftly to the crisis / BY DAVID VINCENT

6 / Postcards to Rome As laypeople, priests and bishops gather for the start of the Synod, we invited

Tablet readers from around the world to whisper a word in their ear

8 / Go tell it on the mountain Though James Baldwin broke with organised religion, he always remained a

preacher of the gospel of love and justice / BY GREG GARRETT

10 / The accidental father In the first of a new series exploring family life, the editor of The Tablet writes about

becoming a father for the first time in his seventh decade / BY BRENDAN WALSH

12 / Finding freedom

The Christian ideal of chastity is scoffed at, but a monk and bishop reminds us of

the beauty and subtlety of a lost language of wholeness / BY ERIK VARDEN

REGULARS Word from the Cloisters 15 Puzzles 15 Letters 16 The Living Spirit 17

NEWS

24 / The Church in the World / News briefing 25 / Cardinals publish dubia ahead of synod’s opening

27 / View from the synod 28 / News from Britain and Ireland / News briefing

29 / ‘Renew Church as our common home’

COVER: ROGER WAGNER, THE CRUCIFIXION, 1990. PRIVATE COLLECTION

ARTS / PAGE 18 Exhibition The Faith Museum, Bishop Auckland JOANNA MOORHEAD Theatre Pygmalion MARK LAWSON Cinema The Great Escaper ISABELLE GREY Ballet Don Quixote FÁTIMA NOLLÉN

BOOKS / PAGE 21

Richard Ingrams A Northern Wind: Britain 1962-65 DAV I D KYNASTON Christopher Bray Vienna: How the City of Ideas Created the Modern World RICHARD COCKETT Chris Nancollas Free For All: Why the NHS is Worth Saving GAVIN FRANCIS Ruth Gledhill The Nymph of Syracuse ALEXANDER LUCIE-SMITH

For more features, news, analysis and comment, visit www.thetablet.co.uk

7 OCTOBER 2023 | THE TABLET | 3