Some Quick Announcements
An award, my gratitude for the past two years, my plans for the year ahead...
1. My book You Are Gods (University of Notre Dame Press) has won the Gold Medal for the Religion division of the 2022 INDIES Book of the Year Award. (Come to think of it, my previous book with UNDP, Theological Territories, won the same award two years ago; I am beginning to think that this is a fortunate association.) For anyone interested in learning what You Are Gods is about, I recommend the review by Edward Feser, which can be found... (just kidding). Perhaps this recorded conversation, featuring the redoubtable John Milbank, would be a better introduction.
2. As of five days ago, Leaves in the Wind has entered into its third year of existence. Once again, my deep thanks to all my subscribers for making it possible for me to write in the way I like to write. One of the basic pieces of advice that Substack offers to every writer who uses its platform is that he or she should ideally confine his or her publication to a specific topic (baking, UFOs, folk music, extremist politics, pet-grooming—that sort of thing), since that as a rule is what attracts subscriptions. Obviously, I have done precisely the opposite; I have never wanted to write about one thing and one thing only, even if I could make money by doing so, because I simply do not have that kind of mind. I have tried to make a virtue out of my tendency toward wandering attention, since I really have no discretion in the matter; it will wander whether I want it to do so or not. And you good and gracious souls allow me to flatter myself I have succeeded—at least, well enough to have retained your good will.
3. I have plans for the year ahead, only a few of which are particularly wicked. At the moment, admittedly, I am clearing away certain large unfinished projects from my desk; but, as the horizon ahead grows clearer, so do my ambitions for Leaves. Certain features will continue, of course—“Books for a Very Long Journey,” “Music for a While,” “Thoughts In and Out of Season”—and I will return to recording conversations with all sorts of interesting and exotic persons. I also, however, have plans for extended series on a great number of topics—religious, philosophical, literary, and political—including one on early Christian cosmology, one on mind in nature, one on ghost stories, one on a future Christian politics, one on Vedantic Christology, one on the post-mechanistic life-sciences, and one on children’s literature and mysticism. But that is only the beginning….
I can’t speak for any other subscriber, but this substack has been a true treasure, and I am glad to see that it will continue. Whoever convinced you to start this deserves a bottle of fine wine and 2 box seats to a home game at Camden Yards.
If I may be blunt, I understand it to be sometimes customary (if not common) for writers (such as yourself) to have ‘fans’, people who are interested in ‘the man’ as much as that man’s work; and whilst I deeply admire your work for a great many and varied reasons, I appreciate this substack for reasons beyond just ‘you’ writing it - with that sublime prose accompanied by that vivacious voice.
Here, I have not just been allowed to educate myself about a great many things with which you have written on, but I’ve also learned from a great many others as well (guests you’ve had on, other writers you’ve referenced, and especially the thoughtful comments of many of the fellow readers here).
Quite simply, Mr. DBH, sir, you’ve created a wonderful intellectual and spiritual world (some might say, of Emerald 😉) with this substack, and anyone who stumbles (or valiantly marches!) into this Emerald World may hear ‘Voices’ 😉 which provide a true and sincere comfort, education, and illumination. Here, there is much to feast on and be nourished.
Because of this and more, we are all the better off for this substack, and I am glad that you are as excited for its future as we (the readers) are.
Now if only the O’s can go all the way. Then, this (and that) will be Heaven on Earth.
Can I request that "post-mechanistic life-sciences" be moved to the head of the list? I need that now.