We have by stages become disconnected from nature, from the seasons, from the once routine ways we interacted with the land, and this disconnection is undoubtedly bound up with manifold disorders of our time and their ever worsening social consequences. In response, Sebastian Morello undertakes to re-induct us into the natural world. In reflections on our contemporary condition that are as humorous as they are devastating, he leads us from hilltop hiking to deer stalking, from archery to mushroom hunting, and much else besides. Along the way, we encounter both nature’s beauty and its ferocity. As much a guide to outdoorsmanship as a philosophical examination of the challenges we face amid the rise of the technological age, Woodland Philosophy maps out an escape from virtual reality and back to the natural world, to God’s creation, wherein—as we discover—we stand in the nave of a vast cosmic cathedral.
Praise
“No other living philosopher could have written this book. Sebastian Morello has produced a modern-day classic, a small miracle, really. Woodland Philosophy weaves together a deep philosophical account with an even deeper immersion in the truth, goodness, and beauty of the natural world, which earlier Christians often spoke of as God’s other book of revelation.”—ROBERT ROYAL, president of the Faith & Reason Institute and author of The Martyrs of the New Millennium
“Fieldsports, for Sebastian Morello, are ‘a kind of prayer.’ In Woodland Philosophy he provides a lucid, thrilling exploration of the intimate links between man the hunter, God, and the natural world.”—CHARLIE PYE-SMITH, author of Rural Wrongs and Land of Plenty
“Restoring us to what lives, breathes, suffers, and rises like steam against a backdrop of morning dew, Sebastian Morello’s Woodland Philosophy is a paean to all that bleeds in the name of the Divine.”—NINA POWER, author of What Do Men Want?: Masculinity and Its Discontents
“Morello’s is a rare but vital voice exploring and explaining why our initiation into the countryside and all that that involves—especially, and provocatively, fieldsports—integrates us into the cycles of the cosmos and nurtures our capacity for belief and belonging.”—GAVIN ASHENDEN, Associate Editor of the Catholic Herald
“Sebastian Morello is fast becoming my favorite living conservative writer. Woodland Philosophy is a compelling call for a return to nature, where reality outfoxes the abstract.”—TIM STANLEY, Leader Writer at The Telegraph
About the Author
SEBASTIAN MORELLO is a philosopher in the Western intellectual and spiritual tradition, focusing on classical realism, political traditionalism, philosophy of science, ecological ethics, and mysticism. He is the author of numerous books and his writing has been featured in many journals, both academic and popular.
