Anyone can be self-educated if they find the loose end of something to care about passionately. Francis Spufford careeducateend Change image and share on social
The emotions that sustain religious belief are all, in fact, deeply ordinary and deeply recognisable to anybody who has ever made their way across the common ground of human experience as an adult. Francis Spufford adultbeliefcommon Change image and share on social
If you based your knowledge of the human species exclusively on adverts, you'd think that the normal condition of humanity was to be a good-looking single person between 20 and 35, with excellent muscle-definition and/or an excellent figure, and a large disposable income. Francis Spufford advertbasecondition share on social
What I absolutely want is to suggest that before it's anything else, redemption is God mending the bicycle of our souls; God bringing out the puncture repair kit, re-inflating the tires, taking off the rust, making us roadworthy once more. Not so that we can take flight into ecstasy, but so that we can do the next needful mile of our lives. Francis Spufford absolutelybicyclebring share on social
Belief demands that you dispense with illusion after illusion, while contemporary common sense requires continual, fluffy pretending - pretending that might as well be systematic, it's so thoroughly incentivised by our culture. Francis Spufford beliefcommoncontemporary share on social
Emotions can certainly be misleading: they can fool you into believing stuff that is definitely, demonstrably untrue. Francis Spufford believedemonstrablyemotion Change image and share on social
In a hundred years, Christianity will have mutated into something utterly unpredictable which, nevertheless, we'd recognize immediately. And same-sex marriage will be one of the fine old God-given traditions that conservatives leap to defend. Francis Spufford christianityconservativedefend share on social
Libraries are public treasuries. They're ways in which well-meaning societies leave the wealth of the past arranged A to Z so that anyone walking past can find it. Francis Spufford arrangefindleave Change image and share on social
Self-awareness is not the same thing as self-approval, any more than imagination is the same thing as day-dreaming. Francis Spufford approvalawarenessday Change image and share on social
It's true that when Christianity is socially powerful, faith can look from the outside as if it is mainly a matter of membership, of participation in the vast synchronised swim of institutions. Francis Spufford christianityfaithinstitution Change image and share on social