"Mystical Paths" by Susan Howatch

This is the 5th book in the "Church of England" series.  This one goes beyond your everyday run-of-the-mill problems, and gets into some very heavy stuff.  Some of the areas it deals with are very controversial within the church, but it gives lots of food for thought.  Bottom line--play with fire, and you WILL get burned!  Pride goes before a fall, etc, etc.

Memorable characters include:

Nicholas Darrow

• "Staggering out into the diesel fumes of Parliament Square I leant against the railings by St. Margaret's church.  Big Ben was chiming.  After a while I realised I was by the tube station but I had no memory of getting there.  Nearby was a shop defying the Sunday trading law by selling tourist junk.  Hardly knowing what I was doing I bought an ice-cream, but as soon as I sank my teeth into the flavorless white mess the chill jolted me back to normality.  It was as if I had finally got the stopper back on a bottle of sewage after I had opened it in the belief that it contained perfume."

Lewis Hall

• " Wait."  Lewis paused in his task of playing midwife to the truth and sought to calm me down.  When I was silent he said mildly: "That Gnostic shorthand of yours makes it sound as if you're describing something uniquely sinister, but before you die of fright let me at least make some attempt to cut your nightmare down to size.  Isn't this situation really rather commonplace?"