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Leaving Alexandria

A Memoir of Faith and Doubt

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Leaving Alexandria

By: Richard Holloway
Narrated by: Richard Holloway
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Winner of the PEN/Ackerley Prize 2013.

The acclaimed writer, respected thinker and outspoken former bishop Richard Holloway recounts a life defined by the biggest questions: Who am I? And what is God?

At fourteen, Richard Holloway left his home in the Vale of Leven, north of Glasgow, and travelled hundreds of miles to be educated and trained for the priesthood by a religious order in an English monastery. By twenty-five he had been ordained and was working in the slums of Glasgow. Throughout the following forty years, Richard touched the lives of many people in the Church and in the wider community. But behind his confident public face lay a restless, unquiet heart and a constantly searching mind.

In his long-awaited memoir, Richard seeks to explain how, after many crises of faith, he finally and painfully left the Church. It is a wise, poetic and fiercely honest book.

©2012 Richard Holloway Christian Living Christianity Memoir Heartfelt
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Critic reviews

"At a time when the world has urgently needed wise and compassionate leadership, this poignant memoir, written with the integrity, intelligence and wit that we expect from Richard Holloway, lays bare the ludicrous and entirely unnecessary mess we have made of religion"
"Leaving Alexandria is many things. It is a compelling account of a journey through life, told with great frankness; it is a subtle reflection on what it means to live in an imperfect and puzzling world; and it is a highly readable insight into one of the most humane and engaged minds of our times. It is, quite simply, a wonderful book" (Alexander McCall Smith)
"Richard Holloway's memoir is endlessly vivid and fascinating. It's the record of a mind too large, too curious and far too generous to be confined within any single religious denomination. His account of how a passionate, intelligent boy grew out of a poor and deprived background without ever losing touch with the humane values it gave him, will be a delight and inspiration to believers, non-believers, and ex-believers alike" (Philip Pullman)
"An enlightening walk through a life that encompasses West Africa, the Gorbals, rent strikes, the divided self and the question of grace" (Mark Cousins)
"Exceptional...it is rare to find someone in whom intellectual and emotional intelligence combine so movingly" (Maggie Ferguson)
"Nobody could fail to be intensely moved by the final chapters of his memoir . . . a deeply lovable man; and what a wonderful book he has written" (Mary Warnock)
"Leaving Alexandria gives a profound sense of the benefits, as well as the difficulties, that accrue from taking a zigzag path through life . . . it summarises an argument that a lot of people will find sympathetic, as well as compelling" (Andrew Motion)
"Captures the bewildering range of churches within the Church . . . Holloway certainly throws down the gauntlet - with a quiet, elegiac passion - to Christians who arm themselves in certainty . . . They should read this wide, erudite book as a matter of urgency" (David Robson)
"This book offers quite unique insights into a troubled, contemporary religious mind. It also reminds us that, in Richard Holloway, Episcopal Edinburgh may have lost a thoughtful bishop but Scotland gained a unique social critic and commentator" (Alex Wood)
"This is a portrait of a formerly devoted Christian who, by confessing his faults and doubts to us, becomes exemplary, an Everyman, and a guide to how we too might lose faith without sacrificing our souls" (Alain de Botton)
"This is a deeply moving and disturbing biography. Holloway, is a confident author, assured when recreating both the past and the feelings that moments evoked...A writer capable of considerable brilliance, an intellectual who can provoke thought, a genuinely good man trying to be better"
All stars
Most relevant
An exceptional book. If you are interested in Anglo Catholicism and the dreadful knots and schisms it has experienced over the last thirty or forty years, Richard Holloway's account of his life within the church and the politics of religion is fascinating.

The tragedy of the 1998 Lambeth Conference, the decisions and divisions which resulted from that date, are laid bare and the church is seen in all its arrogance.

Richard Holloway reads his own book bravely, sings and recites poetry - lays himself bare to the reader/listener.

For anyone who has questioned his/her own faith, admired religious men and women for their dedication but worried about whether they also have crises of faith along the way, for believers and sceptics alike, this book illustrates and discusses the decisions we make in life and the trials and consequences we inevitably face.

An honest and moving memoir

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A candid personal account of the journey from the backwater of the Vale of Leven and St Mungo's to Primus of the Episcopal Church in Scotland. Struggling out loud and verbalising what we mostly keep hidden. Leaving "no thought unpublished" Richard's refreshing candour reveals an honest faithful heart to the listener, delivered in melodic tones. Very thought provoking for those with faith and none! A prophet, rejected at the time, whose church has gone on to embrace much of what he was castigated for. Let's hope it continues the journey of discovery and love that he espoused here.

Frank & Honest

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In his own words Richard Holloway relates the story of his life from a humble background in the Vale of Leven in the West of Scotland through different callings both here and abroad to his final appointment as Primus of the Episcopal church in Scotland.

It is a highly personal story as he tells of his innermost feelings with no holds barred. I am sorry to hear of how tormented he has been by his struggles over his religious faith, but interested how his beliefs have evolved and mellowed over his life. He stands out as a humane and caring man who has dedicated his life to helping others, not least LGBT community for whom he has been a courageous supporter, and for others also shunned by religious people who stick rigidly to what they see as the immutable doctrines of faith as set down in the bible. As a non-believer I cheer his arguments demonstrating the irrationality and illogicality of some of these doctrines, however his questioning of these tenets of faith often got him in hot water and released some vicious responses that I imagine would have appalled Jesus

A most interesting and thought-provoking book for both those with and without religious faith.

Read excellently (and at times sung!) by the author the narrative seems even more personal and moving.

An admirable man’s struggle with his faith

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Having recently read with great interest Richard Holloway's Waiting for the Last Bus and Loves and Doubts, I was keen to listen to this autobiographical memoir read by the man himself. I loved it - for it's warm humanism, it's honest criticisms of religion and it's institutions, and its fascinating tale of a journey from faith to doubt that is always filled with compassion for his fellow man. Richard's reading of his own memoir is superb and often moving. I look forward to reading more of his books.

A wonderful memoir, beautifully read

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If you want to read or listen to a book that tips you over the edge of what you believe, this is an honest account of the inside of being a priest.

How far the church and religion has come from the original Jesus.

I love this mans books. Have also listened to A Little History of Religion. They have confirmed what I experienced and why I can no longer worship in any kind of church. Give me the green fields and nature and there I will find God.

Fascinating and inspiring

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