From the Devil to God

A substantial collection of short prose (stories) with a markedly philosophical bias that follows on from 'A Visit to Hell' (1979) and signifies a rejection of the kind of Spenglerian pessimism that figured prominently in the latter title. Here things open-out towards a future in which God or godliness is the evolutionary outcome. Hence the title 'From the Devil to God', with implications that contrast the alpha-most of things with the omega-most or, at any rate, with what would be nearest to such a heavenly eventuality. However, the first piece in this collection, as might be supposed, is rather more alpha-stemming in its paradoxical accommodation of the flesh, and this despite the omega-oriented pretensions of its principal protagonist, who just happens to be a priest. The cover depicts one of John O'Loughlin's 'Square and Circle' paintings, which is intended to signify an alpha/omega dichotomy, whether or not the one leads, indirectly, to the other.