I just finished re-reading my copy of Terry Pratchett’s Small Gods. It is a humrous look at belief, religion, and what happens when it all goes horribly wrong. The story focuses on the Great God Om, and his companion the eighth prophet Brutha. Om is not so great anymore for a very simple reason, everyone thinks that they believe in him, but in reality they don’t. The story is about how Om gets his umph back – and becomes great again. But, its not that simple.

The story is humorous – its Pratchett’s style. But what I found rather ingeneous is how it looks under the rocks of “religion” – fundamentalism, power, money, manipulation, as well as straight forward real honest belief – forcing you to reflect on these things, perhaps from a slightly different (and admittedly irreverent) angle.

Small Gods is not a new book – its been around for a while – but it is one of those books that could very well benefit OC/IC folk because we’ve all seen incarnations of the Deacon Vorbis (a.k.a. “Lord Vorbis”), we’ve all seen individuals in our communities who, because of the nature of belief, how it can, and does “shift” people no longer believe in the God and his teaching, rather in the “structure” of faith, and its mechanisms. But we’ve also seen reflections of Brutha, the simple monk who just wants to tend his garden, but whose calling, and his gift of directness, and openess, takes him down a different path.

“Alternatively, if one denomination unexpectedly adopts an aggressive policy of buying shares in another, then the resulting volatility will make it hard accurately to assess the underlying reality.”

Mark Vernon’s essay in the Guardian Online playing with the imagery of possible parallels between the language, dynamic, and psychology of the eddies of spiritual and religious flux is a fun read – and given the often unstable nature of the Indie climate – rather thought provoking.

Siobhan’s newest book, the product of her Phd work, is of interest to “Indie-philes” as it is a historical exploration of the links between Western esoteric Christianity and the Independent Catholic movement.

Priests, Gnostics & Magicians traces two particular streams of esoteric links in the indie movement, first the link with French Gnostic movements, Martinism in particular, and second, the link between Theosophy, and the emergence of the Liberal Catholic tradition.

It’s worth noting that “esoteric” ideas and movements are not particular to the indie community but pre-existed us in both the Roman Catholic, and Protestant traditions. One of the earliest attempts at deciphering Heiroglyphs, for example, was heavily influenced by esoteric ideas. John Dee, Elizabeth I’s astrologer & diviner (curious at a time when religion, in particular the “Christian” religion was a political hot button issue in England and in Europe generally) as well as Newton were of a heavy esoteric bent.

You can grab a copy of Siobhan’s book at Amazon by clicking here. A link will also appear on our kiosk page very soon.

Huw had a great idea which I think is worth sharing/exploring – and that is trying to “source” sources of incense locally. He listed a few aromatic herbs like sage & juniper which are easy to grow. But I’d be curious – any other ideas?

I’m going to go rummaging around my garden & herb beds tomorrow to see what I can come up with for liturgy! This should be fun.

This article by David Gibson of Politics Daily is well worth a read. He explores some of the reasons why Gay men in particular are “more” religiously invovled than their Straight brethren. Some of the conclusions drawn by one of the studies done by sociologist Darren E. Sherkat are laughably funny, but the piece overall has some points well worth reflecting on.

I’m listening to the newest edition of the ISM Network, a project of Mother Cait in Pennsylvania – another example of neat projects by indie folk – very cool. Over the past two weeks I’ve been listening snips of various episodes – the variety of topics and the thoughfulness of the participants has really been a joy.

If I’m reading the specs correctly – Mo. Cait puts out an edition once a week at 11pm Eastern Time – if you are out of that time zone, or not a night owl, each episode is archived so you can listen at your convenience.

If you have not already, go have a look at Huw’s post on Peace & Justice, you’ll not regret it.

After many months of indecision I have finally published my MA thesis on the emergence of the Virgin Mary as a figure of female asceticism in the third and fourth centuries. You can pick up a copy by clicking here.

Primarily through the writings of Origen and Athanasius I trace the development of the image of Mary from a young virgin to the paragon of female asceticism.

If you are interested in early developments in the image of Mary, or early ideas behind asceticism (and early monasticicsm) you might be interested in this essay.

Trying to get back into the “discipline” of regular posting – this morning stumbled across this from Religion & Ethics News Weekly – describing an effort to recover, and restore the wealth of manuscripts, history, and artefacts in Indian Christianity. The video and related links are well worth viewing.

It is worth mentioning here that when – in the video – they mention the Portuguese effect on Indian Christianity in the 16th century – this has a direct link to our OC/IC history – more on this, another time however – as I’m off to lunch.

There’s a great exhibit now on at the Petit Palais in Paris on the history and art of Mt. Athos. The collection includes documents detailing the development of the Holy Mountain as an autonomous region of Greece, icons, liturgical items, and jewlery. Sadly the website (here) does not offer much in terms of information and images about the exhibit.

It is also worth mentioning that the permanent collection of the Petit Palais includes a substantive collection of icons from various regions – and is well worth a look.

While you’re there – have lunch at the cafe – unlike museum cafe’s here in the UK the food is rather good, and the view onto the garden is lovely.