Vicar Releases Gripping New Book about the History, Significance and Uses of the Swastika

The Reverend Stephen Taylor is the author of this intriguing study about one of the world’s most despised symbols during and following World War II. After four decades of research, he shares the wealth of information that he has gathered about a universal symbol that many cultures have regarded as a powerful good luck emblem, in some cases for millennia. Despite its adoption by Adolph Hitler in the 1930s, it has retained its aura of beneficence in many Eastern cultures. Stephen Taylor has attempted to restore a balanced appreciation of this geometric device. Although the Swastika may never be restored to its true meaning, he demonstrates its benign origins and lengthy earlier history, whilst still acknowledging its use as a symbol of hatred. This compelling book is rich throughout with fascinating illustrations of this geometric form as it has been used in diverse contexts across the world.

When most people see an image of the Swastika or Fylfot cross, they automatically associate it with Nazi Germany, dictatorship and cruelty and yet this symbol has existed in a variety of forms since time immemorial. In a previous publication, Stephen Taylor covered the use of the Fylfot cross in a variety of ecclesiastical contexts in Western Europe, from the Roman catacombs up to more recent times. The current volume examines the evidence in more depth within the British Isles over many centuries.

The scholarly sectors of society might regard this work as an academic masterpiece, but Stephen Taylor has managed to create a readable and absorbing study that will appeal to a much wider audience and will open readers’ minds to a greater appreciation of this historical symbol.

Each chapter engages the reader’s interest and addresses issues such as the occult world, native mythology, churches, art, books, heraldry, mathematics, stones and a plethora of other places and situations where the Fylfot cross has been discovered and displayed.

Stephen Taylor’s interest in the Fylfot cross was originally ignited in the early 1960s whilst he was on ordination retreat at Pleshey, Essex. When exploring the local countryside, he discovered a little church that harboured the inscription of five Swastikas in the stonework of the porch. Although the church guidebook mentioned their link with the catacombs of San Callisto in Rome, it provided no further information. Hence began Stephen Taylor’s research. 40 years later, he had amassed a wealth of extraordinary information that forms the foundations for this remarkable book.

Rt. Revd John Perry, Bishop of Chelmsford said, “We are delighted that it has been possible for Stephen Taylor to carry out research into the highly unusual Fylfot-Crosses that occur here, carved, it is thought, in the first half of the twelfth century. His work incorporates extensive study of the history of this style of cross, and looks at the use of the Fylfot-Crosses from earliest times to the present day, touching on its use in both Christian and non-Christian cultures alike.”

The Right Reverend John B. Taylor, KCVO and sometime Bishop of St Albans added,
“The Fylfot File is a work of extraordinary erudition which will fascinate and intrigue all who enjoy rare by-paths of learning. Stephen Taylor is to be commended for the way he leads the reader into his subject and beyond it to distant and little-trodden parts of the British Isles.”

For further information and details on how to purchase a copy of the book, please contact:

Dr Kal Karim
Perfect Publishers Ltd
23 Maitland Avenue
Cambridge
CB4 1TA
Tel: + 44 (0) 1223 424422
Fax: + 44 (0) 1223 424414
Email: kal@perfectpublishers.co.uk
http://www.perfectpublishers.co.uk

or:

Stephen Taylor
15 Church Close
Whittlesford
Cambridge
CB2 4NY
Tel: + 44 (0) 1223 830461
Email: stephen.taylor1935@tiscali.co.uk