🐰 Down The Rabbit Hole 🕳️

“Of course we still have to contend, as the desert fathers had to, with the forms of evil endemic to the fallen human state. But, as a consequence of choices made by individuals and increasingly tolerated when not actively supported and subscribed to by society as a whole, we are now forced to live in society, if not in the world at large, according to forms that not only do not correspond in any way to the reality of the divine, human, or natural order, but are themselves actively and positively evil to a degree that goes far beyond the evil inevitably endemic to the fallen human state or that is a ‘natural’ consequence of the fall; for these forms in themselves represent and demand the violation of the divine, human, or natural order, and hence represent and demand a denial of God’s will. It is as if there has been a kind of second fall, one latent of course as a possibility in the original fall—in fact in human nature itself—but only actualized, first on the mental plane, in the thought of the 16th and 17th century pioneers of modern science (although the ground was prepared for them by certain defections in Christian theology itself), and then, as a consequence of this perversion of human thought, on its corresponding technological plane.”

~ Philip Sherrard, "The Desert Fathers And Ourselves"

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Greetings, dear newsletter subscriber,

Yesterday, I published the recording of a paper I presented at the 2025 Paideia Society Conference (an Orthodox Christian academic conference) entitled, "Was The Industrial Revolution a 'Second Fall'?": Revisiting Philip Sherrard's 'The Desert Fathers & Ourselves''." If you'd like, you can watch it HERE.

For those of you who read Paul Kingsnorth's Against the Machine, you may recall a number of references to the work of Philip Sherrard. You may also remember that I included one of Sherrard's books (The Rape of Man And Nature) in The How Did We Get Here? Reading List. Sherrard's book was the first one I read in the anti-Machine genre, and it had a profound effect on me when I read it decades ago.

When I was asked to present a paper at the Paideia Society Conference last summer, I knew that I wanted to revisit Sherrard's work; his article, "The Desert Fathers And Ourselves" seemed the perfect way to re-engage with his thought, and to encourage thoughtful Orthodox Christians to confront Sherrard's serious critique of modernity (and of aspects of the modern Orthodox Church).

If you have any interest in some of the theological and spiritual ramifications of Machine modernity from a traditional Christian perspective, I think you may appreciate my talk. A philosophy professor friend of mine honored me in his response to the paper: he wrote, "It reminds me of CS Lewis's paper, 'De Descriptione Temporum,' in an Orthodox key." I hope you will find it of interest!

Have a great weekend, and we'll see you again soon!

Warmly,

Herman

PS: If you'd like to read Philip Sherrard's original article, you can do so HERE.

PPS: I have received my pre-release copy of Martin Shaw's new book Liturgies of the Wild, and we are looking at recording a conversation in a few weeks' time, after he returns from his book tour!