By Josefina Gori.

One thing you can be sure of, it is never dull to write about Grenville C Gilbert.

You know he has inspired many of my articles for this paper, either because of his voluntary work, his poems written at particular celebrations of the Royal family, his role as both a server and churchwarden of our parish church in Ottery, his theological and law studies, his 30 years of work in local government, to the point that once I called him "polyphacetic Grenville".

With the publication of his latest book, "Even More Honest to God," my curiosity returned to my writing. I contacted Grenville to learn more about what had inspired the man who openly says that "being rejected for the priesthood was a blessing."

"I sometimes think in terms of 'baby and bathwater'. In our secular society, people are abandoning the Christian religion as being anachronistic and meaningless in today's scientific, rationalistic and consumerist world. Churchgoing has been on the decline since the 'hell on earth' that was World War I. It continues to decline, despite hopeless attempts to stop the rot. So, out goes the bathwater, baby and all. But Christianity still has something meaningful to say to us all. That something is about love being the way to life. I agree that beliefs in dogma, the practice of meaningless rituals and the reciting of ancient creeds are mindless Church activities. However, in my view, Jesus was never about these things; they are just tools for the rich and powerful Church down through the ages. Jesus, in my view, was about love for one's neighbour and love, even for one's enemies. Christianity is a way of life, a way to life; it is not about belief. Naughtily, I often say' believe what you like, just love one another!' After all, even the Bible says that God is love. So, my poems are about the living baby and not the useless bathwater. Of course, it would need a revolution in the Church to change things but that will never happen; it is too concerned with saving people from their sins, not realising that love cancels out sin because it is unconditional and non-judgemental."

As stated in the book's backpiece, Even More Honest to God is a thought-provoking exploration that applies about the latest scientific, linguistic, and theological thinking to our understanding of the human construct we call "God." It sees God move from being a creator "ex nihilo" (out of nothing) to a God that is love, creating continuously "ex amore" (out of love).

In the book's introduction, Grenville writes, "It is a continuation of this effort to understand the activity of ascribing meaning to existence. It remains an interesting activity, albeit a questionable one." Grenville also recognises that "one of the things that make him continue searching is the existence of apparent order."

Many of the poems in the book originated during the lockdown and COVID restrictions when Grenville wondered "about the havoc an almost invisible little virus could cause” and questioned if "we had seen the end of hard times or if another variant will emerge."

After reading Grenville's latest book, you will feel inspired by his unwavering dedication to his lifetime ambition. His journey, which began almost four decades ago and was virtually abandoned during his university years, continued with many twists and turns and culminated in this book. Sadly, as mentioned in the book, "the church has never caught up"- as Grenville did- "when honesty has never been as important as now, as we face climatic annihilation."

The book, a testament to Grenville’s lifelong exploration of Christianity and profound insights, is now available at The Curious Otter bookshop in Ottery St Mary, Tel: 01404 814469.

Look for the James Webb Space Telescope picture on the book cover, and be ready to be immersed in a universe of ideas masterfully presented by one of our most popular local authors.