The enduring fascination of the life of Eric Liddell is remarkable. It is remarkable because he was in many respects an ordinary soul. It is remarkable no doubt also because the lifestyle and faith that he espoused cannot be said to be popular or even well-understood in our sceptical and secular age. Most people would blink in genuine amazement at a man who sought seriously to live by the Bible and devote himself to the spread of its message. It seems outdated to so many; a curio; a vestige of a past age; a ‘distant enchantment’ – or perhaps nostalgia – for an era irretrievably lost, and yet – there is the fascination concerning someone who seemed so guileless, yet so assured.

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