{"id":1103,"date":"2009-01-04T22:24:00","date_gmt":"2009-01-04T22:24:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=1103"},"modified":"2009-01-04T22:24:00","modified_gmt":"2009-01-04T22:24:00","slug":"review-living-with-honour-a-pagan-ethics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=1103","title":{"rendered":"Review: Living with Honour: A Pagan Ethics"},"content":{"rendered":"

Emma Restall Orr<\/a> is one of the leading figures of British Druidry, and her book Living With Honour: A Pagan Ethics<\/em><\/a> may be seen as an attempt for formalize the vaguely expressed ethical precepts (“If it harm none,” etc.) that characterize contemporary Paganism(s).<\/p>\n

Orr herself admits that “Paganism can appear fragmented ” but that its diversity of belief and approach “is not always helpful those trying to grasp comprehension from the outside” (11). (I think she means, “Comprehend it from the outside.)<\/p>\n

As have a number of other Pagan writers, she feels moved to act partly by social pressures. In order for Pagans and their concerns (e.g., “appropriate care of ancient monuments and artefacts”), “it is useful to be able to stand with one voice before the benches of a nation’s authority” (11).<\/p>\n

She wants to locate her ethics in nature<\/em>. This “nature” is primarily planetary as opposed to cosmic\u2014and she makes an argument about hurricanes and tsunamis that I would agree with completely: “The *Pagan acceptance of nature’s destructive power is not about resignation, but reverence.” You can have a relationship with planetary nature, but it is not all about you.<\/p>\n

Asterisk-Pagan is Orr’s special spelling for a Paganism with “a devotional reverence for nature” (35), and it is essentially countercultural and antinominan, mixed with a heavy dose of romantic tribalism.<\/p>\n

But the more I read Living with Honour<\/em>, the more I became aware of two huge omissions. One is Pagan philosophy. Orr knows that she does not want to return to a bloody, heroic duel-fighting “death before dishonor” type of tribal culture, as appealing as it looks from a distance of 2,500 years. So the book is not really rooted in the Northern European Iron Age<\/a> cultures, despite a couple of nods in that direction.<\/p>\n

Yet she almost completely ignores centuries of Pagan thought on ethics and philosophy from the Greco-Roman tradition!<\/p>\n

The Stoics get a paragraph or two, and Epicurus one sentence that demonstrates the common modern misunderstanding of his teaching<\/a>. The rest of the time, the reader is fed bits of the usual grumpy, depressed, and misogynistic 18th-20th-century gang: Schopenhauer<\/a>, Hegel<\/a>, Nietszche<\/a>. (I will make an exception for Emmanual L\u00e9vinas<\/a>, whose work has informed some other contemporary Pagan thought as well<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

The ancient philosophers ranged from the hardest of “hard polytheists” to skeptical materialists like Epicurus<\/a> to the “honor the gods and do your duty” attitude of the Roman Stoics<\/a>. And they had a great deal to say about living ethically<\/a> in friendship, in marriage, and in civic life–even when (as under the worst emperors) one was caught up in a corrupt governmental system.<\/p>\n

Why leave them out in favor of Schopenhauer, Martin Buber<\/a>, or A.J. Ayer<\/a>?<\/p>\n

By contrast, Orr’s book says much about cosmos<\/span> and “the Other” in an abstract sense, but neglects the polis<\/span>\u2014the world of civic and social relationships. That is the second omission.<\/p>\n

It may be that Orr finds participatory politics distasteful–“American democracy is acknowledged as a farce,” she proclaims (6)–and would rather limit her wants and watch badgers. (Doing so would be Epicurean in the truer sense.) She admits to a fondness for philosophical anarchism.<\/p>\n

But by neglecting the “political” (in the broadest sense of life in community) part of life, she has nothing to say on issues of rights and responsibilities, on how to be an engaged and “political” citizen.<\/p>\n

Indeed, she rejects “any idea of duty” (323). If I ever have to teach another 8 a.m. lecture class but would rather sleep, I will remember that I have no duty to the university or to my students. I can just send them a group email and tell them to read the book on their own.<\/p>\n

When Pagans (and *Pagans) come before “the benches of nation’s authority,” we need to make a simple case. Although a tiny religious minority, we will pull our weight. We do not ask for to be excused for our specialness, with sharia courts<\/a> and kicking everyone else out of the public swimming pool<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Unlike fundamentalists of various sorts, we do not fear academic learning–Pagans invented the academy<\/a>. And democracy. And Western philosophy.<\/p>\n

Many of us are willing to take up arms for our nation, and we support our warriors<\/a>. In all social realms, we are here, and we participate.<\/p>\n

Thus, while I find much to like in Living With Honour: A Pagan Ethics<\/em><\/a>–I do enjoy seeing intelligent writers wrestle with the issue of just what “nature religion” is–I cannot help but see it as crippled by its rejection of still-relevent Pagan ethical traditions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Emma Restall Orr is one of the leading figures of British Druidry, and her book Living With Honour: A Pagan Ethics may be seen as an attempt for formalize the vaguely expressed ethical precepts (“If it harm none,” etc.) that characterize contemporary Paganism(s). Orr herself admits that “Paganism can appear fragmented ” but that its […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[],"tags":[14,21,5,12],"class_list":["post-1103","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","tag-druidry","tag-england","tag-paganism","tag-writing"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6xQTg-hN","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1097,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=1097","url_meta":{"origin":1103,"position":0},"title":"Book Posts in the Works","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"December 17, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"I am spread a little thin these days, and the below-zero (F.) weather the last few days threw some complications my way too.Two book reviews are in the works. Here are the previews:\u2022 Stewart Farrar: Writer On A Broomstick, The Biography of Stewart Farrar by Elizabeth Guerra. Workmanlike biography of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Druidry\"","block_context":{"text":"Druidry","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=druidry"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":11916,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=11916","url_meta":{"origin":1103,"position":1},"title":"Is Contemporary Druidry an ‘Indigenous’ Religion?","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"November 30, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"I mentioned in yesterday's post my sadness at missing one of the Indigenous Religious Traditions sessions at the American Academy of Relligion's online annual meeting this year. (There is another one though). \"Indigenous\" is a word of power, like \"decolonize..\"((In the 1990s, every grad student in humanities wanted to \"foreground\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Britain\"","block_context":{"text":"Britain","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=britain"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":734,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=734","url_meta":{"origin":1103,"position":2},"title":"Druidry on YouTube","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"October 10, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Pagan instructional videos have actually been around since the late 1980s. Now it is the YouTube era, as Druid Ian Corrigan demonstrates. (Not counting clips from Charmed, of course.)If you understand Dutch, here is some news coverage. There is an English translation in the sidebar.Tags: Paganism, Druidry","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1292,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=1292","url_meta":{"origin":1103,"position":3},"title":"Canadian Pagan Conference Set for Guelph","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"January 25, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"News release:The Canadian National Pagan Conference brings together Canadian activists, clergy and scholars interested in the neo-Pagan and revived pagan religions in Canada. These include, but are not lmited to Goddess spirituality, Wicca, Asatru and the Heathen paths, Romuva, Druidry and the Afro-diasporic religions. A large part of the conference\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Canada\"","block_context":{"text":"Canada","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=canada"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3547,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=3547","url_meta":{"origin":1103,"position":4},"title":"Mall Ninjas of Pagandom","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"December 23, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Vengeful Druids poisoned Gerald Gardner because he was an oath-breaker -- did you know that? Probably not, because it never happened. I got this particular b.s. tossed by a Facebook friend (as opposed to an actual friend), a Druid from Kansas. I suggested that he might check one of Ronald\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Paganism\"","block_context":{"text":"Paganism","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=paganism"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1179,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=1179","url_meta":{"origin":1103,"position":5},"title":"Druidry and Made-up History","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"July 21, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Here is the YouTube trailer for a new documentary on British Druidry. Yes, that is Ronald Hutton at the beginning (long hair, glasses). 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