Christopher Holdsworth's own experience led him to become interested in the monastic tradition, and to spend much of his life in learning more about it as a mediaeval historian. In this book he presents aspects of that tradition which may be useful for Quakers. Starting from outward things, like stability, humility, obedience and the regular attendance at public worship, the author moves towards other sides of what the tradition calls the exploration of the heart, which he calls inner space: namely attentive reading of the Bible, and prayer. 'We, like Benedict's monks, need to let the whole of ourselves be irradiated with the Spirit, so that, in George Fox's memorable phrase, our lives preach.'

The essays in this book have as their theme Tradition and Change. They view institutions, groups and individuals responding and adjusting to changes in their world, whether in religious discipline or in the needs of government. They also explore the continuity of traditions in both ecclesiastical and secular society and trace how changes themselves crystallize into the traditions of the future. The topics chosen to illustrate this general theme reflect the wide interests of the honorand, whose publications, including her edition of the Ecclesiastical History of Orderic Vitalis, have illuminated the twin cultures of England and Normandy and their joint influence on European society in the eleventh, twelfth and thirteenth centuries.

A collaborative history of the Church in a large, diverse and interesting region of England by six historians, ranging from Celtic and Saxon times, through the middle ages, Reformation, rise of Nonconformity and the Victorian era, down to the present day and encompassing all the main Christian denominations.