118 Comments
Comment deleted
Expand full comment

So pleased to have discovered you and your Abbey.

Expand full comment

Great start, looking forward to the journey.

Expand full comment

I’m glad you haven’t burned the pens. Maybe one day you can beat them into pruning hooks.

Expand full comment

Darn. Things like this are what keep me in the matrix! Oh, well...

Expand full comment

Thank you Paul for giving this a go. Your efforts, your words are more helpful than you may realize. It is no accident that you are unable to turn away “quietly.” You seem to be a warrior at heart and such a God given spirit will not and cannot rest completely until it’s appointed time. I think of the gifted American Civil War general Stonewall Jackson, who’s last reported words, upon being mortally wounded, were “Let us go over, and sit in the shade of the trees.“ This his spirit was able to say only when his part in a horrific “maelstrom” was finished. One FAR bigger than he, his motives, his desires or any singular ability to “change the world.” I hope you can accept such a comparison as such men, because of the “side” on which they fought, are now totally cancelled and their complexities as human beings within a specific time and place largely ignored and deemed unworthy of any hearing. I myself am only recently learning how to “break bread with the dead” and give a more careful and kind and merciful, as you say, listen before “speaking.” I’m often finding it a humbling education. You also help me to listen to some things to which I have been deaf.

At any rate, Godspeed to you in this endeavor and as an Orthodox inquirer myself, I will keep you and your family in my prayers.

Expand full comment

I'm very excited by your project. Thank you, Mr. Kingsnorth.

Expand full comment

Your writing is a gift. I am so glad you are writing again and that you have found Christ.

Expand full comment

Your words in this piece express what I haven’t been able to articulate well so thank you for this.

Expand full comment

Let it be so. Grateful for your writing, thoughts, and imagination. They have been such an aid to me as I walk through this strange age, and I’m certain they will continue to be for many until we reach that age without end.

Expand full comment
Apr 11, 2021Liked by Paul Kingsnorth

Many thanks for this rich piece. Much to ponder on. I look forward to more. I discovered your writings only recently through Rod Dreher's blogs. I saw a video of a recent interview you gave on which you touched on 'Techno-gnosticism' and the destruction of so much of England and was reminded of C.S. Lewis's 'That hideous strength' the third novel of his science-fiction trilogy first published in 1945.. It treats fictionally many of the themes in his prophetic 'The Abolition of Man'. I must have first read the novel 30 years ago and thought it a bit OTT then but now it just seems so prescient, even to the evil genius whose brain is kept alive after his guillotining. If you don't know it already I'd recommend it.

I'd also like to welcome you as a Christian.

Expand full comment

Thank you and welcome to the machine (ending!)

Expand full comment

Interesting that you mention the Situationists. Over Lent I became convinced that a form of Christian Situationism was kind-of vital right now. Exactly how one would go about forming a collective to do it is an open question. If anyone reading this fancies it, buzz me?

Expand full comment

Am a long running fan of your work, Paul, and just became a subscriber- thanks so much for starting this series of essays. I'm also a longtime fan of independent journalism and magazines, and as an American from Tennessee, want to keep the tradition of periodicals and freedom of the press that my country was a forerunner of, even if in an online format.

One question: since the whole idea of this subscription system is to make sure you have some income, what are the guidelines on sharing pieces or an entirety of one of your essays? I would certainly understand if it needs to be totally under wraps for non-subscribers.

Expand full comment

Thank you! Keep writing....

Expand full comment

Looking forward to reading your essays Paul. :)

Expand full comment