On Prester John and Luddite Blogging

Prester John -- or Presbyter Iohannes -- was the benevolent Christian king of vast uncharted Oriental lands and a renowned fighter of barbarians. As presbyter, he was both priest and king, church and state; the ideal Christian monarch. His story is myth and his very existence is dubious, but I say all the better. Truth in all its glory is best contained in the splendid vessel of myth and tale, and this particular myth dreams of an ideal: the whole earth ruled benevolently by a unified catholic church and a religious state, one which has crushed and extirpated the ways and deeds of the barbarians.

Prester John fought valiantly against Islamic barbarians; while some of these are still with us, the most important foes we face today are the barbarians of Modernism (and its nascent cousin Post-Modernism), marauding Visigoths who proclaim that there is no God, that man is the measure of all, and that every motion, action, intention, and creation can be reduced to matter, laws, and time.

Now, this foul cadaver of reductionism is undoubtedly king and pontiff of the modern soul; the hope of confronting this beast and, unnoticed due to my insignificance, stick a knife into it and wear down its defenses, is the chief hope that leads me to begin this site. Of course, everything I write will not be spirito-cultural; but even that which is most light and least germane to "big issues" is part of the battle, for though the modernist loves hedonism he cannot stand the true mirth of the good life.

And so I -- and those who know me well know my ambivalence toward technology -- begin another website. I do not think this is a contradiction; no, I object more to the exaltation of technology than its mere existence. Culturally minded Christians know that most everything can be redeemed, and the Egyptians, as it were, can be spoiled. The Internet may mostly be a slough of moral degradation; all the more reason to begin working to change it.

Three cheers, then, for the good life that looks to God as author of all benefits, for the beauty and hurly-burly of myth, for the reunification of the Church, for the redemption of the state. And may God help me promote His cause in my weak voice, from my little insignificant corner. Who knows; those who dwell in insignificant corners may find that the walls behind them suddenly amplify their voices.