Heaven in Ordinary

"Jasper's love of poetry and admitted inability to escape that Christian faith which has taken hold of him, release insights personal and profound. Through the five poets he has selected, Jasper seeks a gentle divinity, present in the world, far away from the apparent crass ruthlessness and drive of the current Church." Rt Revd Robert A. Gillies, Formerly Bishop of Aberdeen and Orkney and Honorary Research Fellow in the University of Glasgow "Heaven in Ordinary takes us on an exhilarating reading journey into the heart of a territory that is at once endearingly familiar, and yet also astoundingly strange. This is an engaging, profound and moving book that is full of wonder. Like the poets and priests it celebrates, it is self-effacing and yet extraordinary." Heather Walton, Professor of Theology and Creative Practice, University of Glasgow "Professor Jasper calls in Ordinary a 'little book'. But, as you read, it dawns upon you that it is in fact a 'big book': in prose suffused by his love of words as living things, the author generously gives a searingly honest account of his lifelong love affair with poetry and particular poets. I cannot commend this book too warmly - it simply should be read for the love, insight, intelligence and more than occasional waspishness that grace and inform its pages." Rt Revd Dr Gregor Duncan, Bishop of Glasgow & Galloway a deeply convinced and convincing reading of poetry and religion in and for a secular age alison Jack, school of divinity, uni of edinburgh, literature & theology 0(0) june 2019 "The book is satisfying, beautifully and personally written, and so an excelent to the poets under consideration, and also to the whole topic of what makes poetry "religious"... It is Jasper's intensely personal engagement with the poets whom he loves that commends this book; it is a delightful read that tells of a long and thoughtful passion for the seriousness of the poet" Frances Ward, Theology N.º 123 Vol2 pp-149-151, 2020