Celebrations to mark the 1300th anniversary of ‘the book that made Britain’ (The Sunday Times) have brought fresh interest to the Lindisfarne Gospels which contain the earliest surviving translation of the Gospels into the English language. In this book, Ray Simpson navigates through various traditions – Irish, Pictish, Saxon, Roman, Coptic and Byzantine, weaving together the story and significance of the Lindisfarne Gospels with contemporary user-friendly reflections and resources. His unique insights offer an approach to our multicultural world, and churches will value the new liturgical material that celebrates the Gospels and the distinctive national Church they helped to birth. ‘We must surely expect to find among churches Caribbean bands and African chant, Byzantine iconography and Muslim-style prayer, western pop music . . . We must not despise or distance these different expressions; rather, like the Lindisfarne Gospels, we must weave them together in a glorious and attractive tapestry.’~ Ray Simpson
