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'The quest for authenticity has been a hallmark of Guli's journey since she arrived in this country as a refugee forty years ago... She has an extraordinary ability to hear the music not only of the soul but of the future, and emboldens us to dance to it today.'
BISHOP ROBERT ATWELL
When it comes to inhabiting life fully, Mary is surely one of our greatest role models. 'My soul magnifies the Lord,' she sings in the Magnificat. Her spirited response to the Angel Gabriel's announcement that she is to bear the son of God is rich in nuance, contradiction and paradox.
These very characteristics inspire Bishop Guli to make connections between the themes of Advent and her own experiences - and to invite us to do the same.
Bishop Guli's forced exile from her homeland has echoes of the flight into Egypt; the murder of her brother Bahram during the Iranian Revolution of the slaughter of the innocents. She writes intriguingly of how angels continue speaking to us today; how fear can prevent us from living well in the present; how pain and loss can be transformed by the power of beauty.
Deepening its resonance, each chapter is linked to a piece of music, prompting us to consider: what are the enduring melodies that sustain us as the vibrant stories of our lives unfold?
— Jane Williams, McDonald Professor in Christian Theology at St Mellitus College on LISTENING TO THE M
"A deeply personal and poignant accompaniment to Advent, this book is a balm to the soul. Bishop Guli leads us on a journey of music and Scripture with a multi-layered depth that provides room for both questioning and a lasting hope."
— Arun Arora, Bishop of Kirkstall on LISTENING TO THE MUSIC OF THE SOUL
"The quest for authenticity has been a hallmark of Guli's journey since she arrived in this country as a refugee forty years ago. She enters with tenderness the places "where beauty and pain reside together and where we encounter God." She has an extraordinary ability to hear the music not only of the soul but of the future, and emboldens us to dance to it today."
— Robert Atwell, former Bishop of Exeter on LISTENING TO THE MUSIC OF THE SOUL
"This beautiful book is infused with explorations into identity, belonging, and worth - as any book to be read through Advent should be. The Advent desire to be touched back into life, a call to be drawn to the native tranquillity of the soul, is given a textual music here. To read it is to find yourself wanting to listen with a refreshed depth worthy of the gift of life."
— Mark Oakley, Dean of Southwark on LISTENING TO THE MUSIC OF THE SOUL
"Running through the book is the author's insistence that black-and-white solutions can never do justice to the reality of human experience and to the depth of God’s love. In faith... we are often searching for clarity and simplicity, but we cannot find it without first engaging with the mysterious and the complex." Listening to the Music of the Soul will be a congenial companion through the coming season of darkness and light, judgement and hope... The book may be personal, but it touches on public issues: the global refugee crisis, the domestic housing problem and, quite pointedly, the situation in Gaza, "where the international community is largely turning a blind eye and continuing to provide arms to Israel".
— The Revd Philip Welsh, CHURCH TIMES
'She was speaking at her official bishop's residence in the Essex village of Margaretting before the publication of her book for Advent, called Listening to the Music of the Soul' and 'Her book notes, however, that the Church of England must get used to being "Smaller, less influential and more marginal" and warned against targets that "heap pressure on clergy and congregations to grow and increase in size". She said churches should simply be encouraged to be "places of resonance where the weary find rest and refreshment"'
— The Times
1. The Magnificat
2. Flight
3. Violence
4. Angels
5. Fear and hope
6. Reconciliation
7. Silence and darkness
8. Light and space
Epilogue