The Spirit and the Flesh

Paul Thompson, a lapsed Catholic, is departing for a weekend in Amsterdam with his university housemates – Roger, a non-religious liberal interested in pleasure seeking, and Sean, a theology student and Catholic with strong religious convictions. An unlikely group, they nevertheless head to the pubs and restaurants of Amsterdam, arguing and debating life’s deepest moral and spiritual issues along the way.

As the conversation winds through the vivid setting of Amsterdam, Paul finds himself intellectually moved closer to his faith as the other two discuss. When a moral temptation is thrown into his path, Paul is left to his own internal debate: listen to an angel or a demon? Submit to the spirit or the flesh?

T. J. Dias presents a heated, fiery clash of opposing worldviews in this unique, thought-provoking novel. 

T. J. Dias was born in Leicester and attended Leicester University, studying Economic and Social History. In the first half of 1998, he spent a term at Leiden University in the Netherlands, becoming familiar with the city of Amsterdam where his debut is set. He is also a born-again Catholic, holding strict, orthodox views.