I attacked Dawkins's book on God because I think he is theologically illiterate.

With fiction, you can talk about plot, character and narrative, whereas a poem brings home the fact that everything that happens in a work of literature happens in terms of language. And this is daunting stuff to deal with.

I value my Catholic background very much. It taught me not to be afraid of rigorous thought, for one thing.

Theology, however implausible many of its truth claims, is one of the most ambitious theoretical arenas left in an increasingly specialized world

You can tell that the capitalist system is in trouble when people start talking about capitalism.

It is true that too much belief can be bad for your health.

The political currents that topped the global agenda in the late 20th century - revolutionary nationalism, feminism and ethnic struggle - place culture at their heart.