Christian faith is about sustaining faith in face of the knowledge and reality of death, says Simon Barrow. The feasts of All Saints and All Souls put us in solidarity with a host of people who have struggled to see right prevail.

Perhaps the UK's best known twentieth century evangelical representative, a former chaplain to the Queen, has announced he is retiring. John Stott has been a major voice in world Christianity and a big influence in his own Anglican church.