Simon Peter Iredale was born in the UK but spent his early years in Australia. He returned to England in the 1970s with his parents and his education took him eventually to Cambridge University and then, for ordination training, to Oxford. In between, he spent three years teaching English as a Foreign Language in Paris and then in Cairo, Egypt. He was ordained as a priest in the Church of England, serving as a parish minister and a hospital and prison chaplain. He also has worked as a Senior Chaplain in the Royal Air Force.

His first book The Interior Mountain: Encountering God with the Desert Saints, published by Abingdon in 2000 was inspired by these visits and his reading in the spiritual works of the fourth and fifth centuries. On returning to England, he began training for ordination for the Church of England at Oxford and has served as a parish priest, a hospital and prison chaplain and, latterly, a senior chaplain for the Royal Air Force. He wrote Behold the Lamb of God for Abingdon in the Scriptures for the Church Seasons series. He holds a PhD in theology and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. He lives in the British Midlands with his wife, two children and a growing menagerie of animals.