The worries many people have about the Church of England and its future are not confined to the most hotly debated in Synod. C.H. Sisson does not to have answers. What he does, in essays, meditations, poems and polemics which range over more than four decades, is to touch on a variety of matters - from current arguments about the language of the liturgy to political relationships. To all this he brings a long-standing interest in the history and literature of the church as well as in its current doings. His approach is not academic: he sees parish affairs as churchgoer, non-churchgoer and ex-churchwarden, and church government in the light of his experience in Whitehall and abroad. Above all the book is the work of a poet, translator and critic for whom language is a matter of contemporary concern.