Stephen Haskell was born in 1931, and lives in south-east London. After obtaining first class honours in Classics and English from Cambridge University, he received an MA in Christian Spirituality from Heythrop College. He has two daughters and a stepdaughter. Most of his working life has been spent in teaching.

His first book, The Pursuit of Holiness, available from St Pauls Publishing, appeared in 2016 with an introduction by Rowan Williams, who called it "a treasure of wisdom and insight". His following book, An Introduction to Christian Spirituality, took a close look at what it takes to be a Christian, including chapters on Faith, Hope and Charity, and how much reliance should be placed on conscience.

In the present work, like its predecessor available from all good bookshops and on Amazon, Haskell bases himself on what St Paul has to say about charity in 1 Corinthians 13, and emphasises that it is the one essential virtue required of all Christians regardless of their denomination, and that it has to be practised constantly. A common theme linking all three books is that it is by charity, and charity alone, that we shall be saved, and that this is the path that lay Christians, for whom he is mainly writing, should follow if they wish to attain union with God.

The image on the front, by Zvonimir Atletic, represents the Crucifixion, and is taken from Prem Dan, one of the houses established by Mother Teresa and run by the Missionaries of Charity in Kolkata, India.