Michael Martin's Blog, page 8

Smash the Technocracy

Sophiology is about as far away from the idea of a technocracy as is conceivable. In my book Transfiguration I discuss this polarity in terms of Sophia and Ahriman. Sophia, as anyone familiar with my books or this blog knows, is the handmaid and coworker of the Lord, revealed in scripture, among other places, in Proverbs 8 where she describes herself in intimate terms with him: “when he marked out the foundations of the earth, then I was beside him, like a master workman”(19-20) and in Luke 1 wh...

The Vulnerable and the Powerful

There are lots of ways in which one could describe the cultural metamorphoses of the past year. “The Year of Plague,” for example, or “The Rise of the Archons” (much more accurate than “The Great reset”) would be good choices, though I also find delight in calling it “The Revenge of the Nerd in the Pastel Sweater.” But I think the most accurate description would be to call this “The Time of the Vulnerable and the Powerful.”

That might seem pretty simple and straightforward, but it’s not. Since...

Adventures in Cloudbusting

Soon after its release in 1985, I bought a cassette copy of Kate Bush’s album Hounds of Love, which, as far as I’m concerned, remains her finest work. Bush had not really gained all that much popularity in the United States in any way comparable to the phenom she had been in England, but I heard the track “Running up that Hill (A Deal with God)” and was so struck by the thundering drums, ethereal Fairlight keyboard sounds, and the drenchingly emotional vocal that I plunked down the cash for the ...

Lady Day = Sophia Day

March 25th, as many people are no doubt aware, is the Feast of the Annunciation, known in much of the Anglosphere as Lady Day. It’s an important feast in the Christian year, marking, as it does, one of the quarters along with St. John’s Day, Michaelmas, and Christmas. The feast is so important that from early on in Christian history (6th century or thereabouts) the calendar year changed at Lady Day (and not on New Year’s Day) since the Annunciation recalibrated both history and time itself. It w...

Celtic Christianity and Sophiology

Celtic Christianity has haunted my soul since my early youth, from at least the time when at the age of eighteen I bought a Celtic cross from the gift shop of The Detroit Institute of Arts and which has hung about my neck for most of the intervening forty years. That cross was the seed. Over a decade later, my wife and I chose Claddagh rings as wedding bands—for one, because they were relatively inexpensive and we were poor, and, more importantly, because Celtic spirituality spoke to our souls i...

Sophiology, Food, Farming, and Evil

While I am happy to see Sophiology reaching a wider audience over the last few years (and David Bentley Hart’s sophiological sensibilities are definitely exposed in his new book, Roland in Moonlight) I am nevertheless concerned that it is often an intellectual exercise with which some become fascinated or intrigued at the expense of the engagement with the Real which is the true core of Sophiology. That engagement, as I have said many times, resides in an agapeic attention to the Creation and t...

Sophianic Economies

I was really looking forward to the new Dune movie. Not that I’m this giant Frank Herbert fan. I’ve only read the original book—the first time thirty years ago—but the trailer looked good. But apparently Covid can do what no sandworm could and defeated the launch of the film which has now been postponed from November 2020 to October 2021. So, since I couldn’t see the film, I read the book (I didn’t have a copy of it, but my son gave me one for Christmas).

One section of the book really struck ...

Rosicrucian (Sophiological) Medicine

Some people assume that, because I question some of the assumptions of this or that “medical expert” that I am somehow “anti-science.” I take great umbrage at such a charge. When people tell me to “follow the science,” my response is to tell them to “follow the scientists,” which often is synonymous with “follow the money.” Recent scientific history is absolutely crummy with compromised scientists pushing compromised science in the grand cabal that is the governmental-military-industrial-pharmac...

Dystopian Nonfiction

I have for a long time had an interest in dystopian fiction and film, and world events have made this interest in fantasy a lens for taking a hard look at our times. I assume this is not just for me. Who hasn’t thought of Brave New World or Nineteen-Eighty-Four over the past year? Isn’t our historical moment comparable to themes found in Terry Gilliam’s Brazil! or Twelve Monkeys, not to mention The Hunger Games or The Giver? We live in surreal times. Inhuman times.

Cormac McCarthy’s dystopic vi...

Christian Neo-Paganism’s Greatest Hits

Ever since childhood, I have been enthralled by music, especially in its traditional or folk idioms, poetry, God, and Nature. I’ve never grown out of this inclination, and music that combines all of these is that I hold dearest to my heart.

So, given my absolute delight in the music that combines these, here is my list of what I’m calling “Christian Neo-Paganism’s Greatest Hits.” Feel free to recommend others in the comments!

Summer Is Acumin In

Nothing beats a canon (or round) sung in Middle...