Delighted to read by chance (except that, as Donald Nicholl said, there are no chances) this piece on Donald. I was privileged to meet him, and he remains one of the truly great people I have met. The essays in The Beatitude of Truth are outstandingly good and characteristic of him, and they continue to inspire me and prod me out of my easy compromises with untruth. The terrible picture of the Man of Steel is a stark warning, especially when we see such people active even in the Christian Church, wearing the mask of guardians of righteousness. If this article persuades others to read Donald, I shall be thrilled. Archbishop Rowan Williams, someone else who reveres Donald, said to me of him, "I never knew him to put a foot wrong".

Thank you for the article and the comment. Donald Nichol was a wonderful human being and an inspiring Christian. I knew him but briefly through two retreats I attended which he led. The first was at Ammerdown Conference Centre, Radstock, Bath, UK. The theme was "Holiness." I didn't know anything about him and on first sight I thought he was a priest or a monk - tall, bearded, gaunt, large eyed and with an aura of the numinous. He struck me as a man who said his prayers. He spoke without a note and, for me, embodied all that the spoke of. His slim volume "Holiness" is one of the few works I return to. His custom was to say his prayers, on a mat, outdoors as dawn was breaking. Great scholar and reader that he was he made a pact with himself when he went to Tantur as Director to read no books (it would be a distraction) but learn from people. He also said that if it came to the point of choosing between the Jewish view or the Palestinian view then he had reached the time to leave. At times of depression he would look at the faces of holy people he kept in his study as a source of inspiration. At such times I look at a picture of Donald.