The Collage of God is truly a contemporary spiritual classic. First
published in 2001 it has sold many thousands of copies and was praised
by Andrew Motion, Rowan Williams, Wendy Cope and received many
favourable reviews.
While training for the priesthood, a stint with a hospital chaplaincy
team brought Mark face to face with a depth of suffering that blew his
young, confident faith apart. Years later he was still picking up the
pieces, but they began to show an entirely different picture of where
and how God could be found. The Collage of God is for all who find it
difficult to reconcile the realities of life with easy and comfortable
notions about faith. In imaginative and beautiful language, and
illuminated by many quotes from modern writers and poets, Mark Oakley
reconstructs faith as a collage of traditions and texts, the myriad
experiences of living, imagination, silence and prayer by which we
respond to the grace of God revealed in fragile lives.