This is the editorial from the T4CG Newsletter, Michaelmas 2024. To view the full newsletter, click here
Defending Humanity
Dear Friends
Welcome to the Michaelmas edition of the T4CG Newsletter.
As the days shorten and the leaves start to fall, many churches celebrate the autumnal feast of St Michael the Archangel. In medieval tradition, among his other serious responsibilities, St Michael was the heavenly warrior against the forces of evil. In our own time, we can draw strength from this great defender against the dark.
There’s no avoiding it, no one can deny the scale of the unravelling any longer. What will emerge next we cannot know. It may be an intensification of the emerging technocratic, ideological paradigm, with its symptoms of loneliness, division and poverty in all its forms. Or perhaps a road will open up to the renewal of the human spirit and the rebuilding of our civic life. This largely depends on us, on how well we can realign ourselves with God and with each other.
The malaise is underpinned by a philosophy that undermines the meaning of being human. This philosophy has been around for centuries, but its destructive force has accelerated in recent decades. It has impacted the human person in multiple ways – social, moral, cultural, spiritual and economic. The challenge before us is immense. Solutions will not come from an overwhelmingly corrupt, lost and disconnected political class.
But as the chaos accelerates, a parallel spiritual longing deepens. There is a yearning for truth, a desire for God. More and more people are exploring. Yet many churches are uncertain how to respond. Perhaps paradoxically it is the great traditions that often resonate most among spiritual searchers. Ancient practices of prayer, lectio divina, stories of the saints, pilgrimage, music, acts of kindness – the well of our inheritance is deep. But how can those most in need of divine truth find it? Society has become so fragmented and people are often so isolated, that they are estranged from realities outside their own experience.
Our modern systems have devastated so many of our relationships. Trust is breaking down. As the Catholic theologian Luigino Bruni says, “the market gives birth to and fosters its own sense of being human… it engenders the promise of interpersonal relationships without the ‘wound’ of the other”. But equally, we should not place our faith in the state to defend us against corporate power: these two pharaonic forces have become closely enmeshed.
Karl Polanyi, the Austro-Hungarian economic historian and politician, said that the fascist spirit aims first “to destroy democratic parties, organisations, and institutions in society” and then attempts “to change the nature of human consciousness itself.” A Jewish convert to Christianity, his insight was that “the Corporative State is a condition of things in which there is no conscious will or purpose of the individual concerning the community, nor a corresponding responsibility of the individual for his share in it.” These days, there is great potential for seduction as we benefit from the system: we must not be tempted into participating in our own subordination.
Christianity is the enemy of this malign spirit. The American farmer-philosopher, Wendell Berry, says we should be looking to God and to each other rather than to the state or to the corporation, to which we have already outsourced far too much. By listening to the Holy Spirit and to our neighbours, a light appears in the darkness, and we find Jesus walking with us.
By celebrating the holiness of life and by standing in solidarity with the poor and vulnerable, we rehumanise our life together. By making things together, by doing things together, by borrowing from each other, by celebrating and mourning together, we bridge our differences and defy the forces that dominate and divide. We must make everything we do an occasion for communion.
The saints are there to help us too. Properly understood, they transcend all party politics. By avoiding them for fear of being misunderstood, we enable their crass weaponisation by nationalists claiming to be Christian. So in a spirit of humility this Michaelmas, we should not shy away from asking St Michael “to defend us in battle, defend us in the struggle against the principalities and powers, against the rulers of this world of darkness, against the spirits of evil in high places.”
In this edition, you’ll find resources that we hope can be of encouragement to you. You won’t want to miss our Leaving Egypt podcast conversation with Paul Kingsnorth on the church in the age of the machine. I am also delighted to share a story by Colin Miller about personalism and the Catholic Worker tradition, and another by me about my conversation with Harvey Kwiyani and spiritual poverty in the West. There is also an important essay by Sohrab Ahmari about the relationship between the church and workers. You will also find a report on our recent event on Christian social action featuring Jon Kuhrt, and an article for teachers by my colleague Jo Stow on the art of being a good neighbour.
Finally, in the full version of this newsletter you’ll see some recommended books and in our signs of the times section, you’ll find an extended selection of articles from across the media to help you navigate the complexities of the present moment.
Wishing you every blessing
Jenny Sinclair, and the Together for the Common Good team
This is just the editorial from the T4CG Newsletter, Michaelmas 2024. To view version click here