Photo of entrance to the Plough and Harrow Hotel
AFTER CANCELED
flights due to storms in Chicago and over 24
hours of travel, I finally landed in London. After navigating my way onto the London Tube, I caught my first views of
London and then boarded a train to arrive in Birmingham on the early afternoon of
July 30. I checked into the Plough and Harrow Hotel, an 18th
century house turned hotel whose claim to fame is displayed prominently at the
entrance: “J. R. R. Tolkien, author of The
Lord of the Rings
, Stayed Here June 1916.”
After dropping my luggage off in my room, I immediately
began wandering the streets, as is my custom when I’m in a new city.
Unfortunately, my wandering this time happened to be on a rainy day. So by the
time I found a pub to read in, I was cold and drenched. But a pint and a pen
with a good book always redeems a rainy day (even when drenched to the bones, as I learned on this occasion).
This trip to England was sheer gift. It was made possible by
an Eighth Day Member. A few weeks after our ninth annual Eighth Day Symposium (“Eros
& the Mystery of God: On the Body, Sex & Asceticism”), a supporter contacted
me with an admonition to attend Scrutopia, a summer school that offers a ten-day immersion experience in the philosophy and outlook of Sir Roger Scruton (a British writer and philosopher who specializes in aesthetics, political philosophy, and traditional conservatism). But it wasn’t just an admonition.
Convinced that cross fertilization between Eighth Day Institute and Scrutopia
would be beneficial to both parties, it was a generous offer to cover travel and
tuition expenses.
I have to confess that although I knew who Roger Scruton
was, primarily from my time working at Eighth Day Books, I had never read him.
When Eighth Day folks learned I was attending Scrutopia, which was confirmed
(and announced) right before the controversy erupted over Scruton’s interview with
the New Statesman
(this initially led to Scruton being dismissed as chairman of
the Building Better, Building Beautiful commission, but ultimately led to an
apology from the New Statesman
for tweets that misrepresented Scruton’s views),
people began sending me controversy-related pieces by Scruton and others. I took a cursory
glance at those materials and was intrigued. And I purchased some of his books in preparation for the trip, which I also took cursory glimpses into. But I didn’t really
read Scruton until this first day in England, when I serendipitously landed in
The Craven Arms, a pub built for Holder’s Brewery back in the early twentieth
century.
Over a dark ale, and then a cider for my friend Shailesh, I finally
dug into Scruton. I began with a small collection of essays which Scruton describes as the fruit
of a decade of his “engagement with the public culture of Britain and America”: Confessions of a Heretic: Selected Essays.
I read the entire book in one sitting. And I was not disappointed. I understood
why an Eighth Day Member would want me to attend Scrutopia. Our interests and
concerns are indeed similar. As I read, I felt like I already knew Scruton.
The wide range of his interests can be seen in the table of
contents:
1. Faking It (as a teaser, click here for the
conclusion of this chapter
on beauty, form, and redemption as the sources of
art with real and lasting appeal)
2. Loving Animals
3. Governing Rightly
4. Dancing Properly
5. Building to Last
6. Effing the Ineffable
7. Hiding behind the Screen
8. Mourning our Losses: Reflections on Strauss’s
Metamorphosen
9. Branding the Bottle
10. Dying
in Time
11. Conserving
Nature
12. Defending
the West
If Eighth Day Institute were to ever organize a pilgrimage
to England, it would include a visit to Scrutopia. And it would require the
reading of this book as an introduction to the work of Sir Roger Scruton. If
any of you have any interest in such a venture, let me know. The doors are open
at Scrutopia…I have already confirmed that.
After finally reading Scruton, and a bonus morning mass at
the Birmingham Oratory (an English Catholic religious community founded by
Blessed John Henry Newman; this is another story to be told in a future piece…OK,
I’m going to have to make this post the first in a series reflecting on
England, Scruton, et al), I
boarded another train to make my way to Scrutopia at the Royal
Agricultural University in Cirencester. I spent ten days there, occupied in the mornings with lectures on the philosophy and literature of Sir Roger Scruton, and then in the afternoon taking group excursions to pre-historic
(Stonehenge), ancient (Roman villas), and medieval (cathedrals) sites. In
the evenings, in good Eighth Day style, new friendships were forged over food and wine. In the next
Director’s Desk I’ll tell you more about those ten days and the important work of Sir Roger Scruton.
In the meantime, and in conclusion, as we move into October
and begin to think about our fifth annual Inklings Oktoberfest, your October
challenge is three-fold:
1. Read something by an Inkling, preferably an entire
book, but at least one chapter or a story or poem.
2. Share your favorite
quote or passage on our EDI Facebook page (I’ll make a post inviting folks to
share) or email it directly to me and I’ll post it for you.
3. Read the conclusion to Sir Roger Scruton's essay "Faking It"
in his Confessions of a Heretic
and consider purchasing a copy from Eighth Day Books.
Erin Doom
is the founder and director of Eighth Day Institute. He lives in Wichita, KS with his wife Christiane and their four children, Caleb Michael, Hannah Elizabeth, Elijah Blaise, and Esther Ruth.
