Foreword Sir James MacMillan; Introduction George Parsons and Robert Sholl; 1. The struggle with conviction: a trio of string quartets Arnold Whittall; 2. Conflicting modernities and a modernity of conflict in James MacMillan's The World's Ransoming George Parsons; 3. In Memoriam: James MacMillan's violin concerto as modernist lament Chelle Stearns; 4. Reincarnating 'The Tryst': the endurance of a simple love song Dominic Wells; 5. Exquisite violence: imagery, embodiment and transformation in MacMillan Robert Sholl; 6. Making the familiar as unfamiliar: MacMillan's St Luke Passion Jeremy S. Begbie; 7. MacMillan's 'mission' and the Passion settings Richard E. McGregor; 8. A cluster of gathering shadows: exposition and exegesis in Seven Last Words from the Cross Andrew Shenton; 9. James MacMillan's The Sun Danced: Mary, miracle, and mysticism Peter Bannister; 10. 'Shrouded in doubts and fears': the liturgical music of James MacMillan Phillip Cooke; 11. Containing chaos? Aspects of medieval liturgy in James MacMillan's Visitatio Sepulchri Lisa Colton.