Living With Honour is a provocative and uncompromising exploration of how Paganism can provide the philosophical guidance to live honourably in a twenty-first Western society. It covers the history of Paganism, its undercurrents of anarchy, heresy, environmentalism and animism, finding its place within the history of Western philosophy. It addresses key moral issues from that animistic perspective, beginning with the foundation of human relationships and attitudes towards the Other, and explores the factors that hinder ethical action. It is a comprehensive guide to moral living from a Pagan perspective.
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This is an excellent pioneering work, erudite, courageous and imaginative, that provides a new kind of ethics, linked to a newly appeared complex of religions, which are founded on some very old human truths. --Professor Ronald Hutton, world expert on paganism and author of The Triumph of the Moon and many other titles.
This is a lively, sensible and careful attempt to make sense of some very confusing, and yet important, areas of modern thought. I particularly like the clear style and the attention that the author gives to parts of the historical background which are usually misunderstood. The book should interest a wide audience. --Mary Midgley, philosopher, author of Science as Salvation and many other works.
This is a lively, sensible and careful attempt to make sense of some very confusing, and yet important, areas of modern thought. I particularly like the clear style and the attention that the author gives to parts of the historical background which are usually misunderstood. The book should interest a wide audience. --Mary Midgley, philosopher, author of Science as Salvation and many other works.
About the Author
Emma Restall Orr (aka Bobcat) is one of the most well-known Druids worldwide. She worked for the Order of Bards Ovates and Druids, was Joint Chief of the British Druid Order, and in 2002 created the international Druid Network. In 2004, she founded Honouring the Ancient Dead, which advocates with heritage organisations around the issue of ancient and Pagan British human remains. She is a practicing priest and teacher, regularly lectures at universities and within the Pagan community, and works as a media spokesperson for Druidry.
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29 of 33 people found the following review helpful
By Greycat
Format:Paperback
My first thought on stepping into 'Living with Honour' was that so many contemporary members of pagan society are NOT going to like this book. It is indeed sorely needed, as it challenges the current trend for woolly thinking and blindly following 'tradition' (spiritual, political and social). It demands from the first that any readers WILL pay attention and relate the questions being asked to their own situations, in order that they may truly live with honour, plotting an honest and unique path through the tangles of modern life.
Without going into too much unnecessary academic detail, the book takes us on a journey through traditional modes of thinking, so ingrained that we don't even notice them but which are instantly familiar. The reader is inspired to ask themselves why they hold their beliefs, from everyday issues to deep fundamental philosophies of life. Pagan 'traditions' (old and new) are naturally a yardstick, but the need to question is paramount, to investigate in a manner that should be familiar from Bobcat's previous work, but which is easy to forget when stuck in a 'normal' 21st century environment.
It takes time to absorb - regular pauses are necessary during reading, to go away, consider, sometimes come to realizations, and then continue. So much is contained in these pages, that a second reading is already on the cards!
Emma's Paganism demands to be lived, with all of its pitfalls and promise. It is not light and easy, but can be dark, bloody and difficult - but then, so is life. While her previous works were guidebooks, this takes the next step, asking the hard questions that must be addressed if we are to live in a truly 'pagan' way, with everything that entails. As representatives of our beliefs, and so of our own selves, ancestors and land, we cannot live by blinding obeying as we are told. We make our ethics, and this book gives us the equipment with which to do so.
Is it worth it? Absolutely.
Without going into too much unnecessary academic detail, the book takes us on a journey through traditional modes of thinking, so ingrained that we don't even notice them but which are instantly familiar. The reader is inspired to ask themselves why they hold their beliefs, from everyday issues to deep fundamental philosophies of life. Pagan 'traditions' (old and new) are naturally a yardstick, but the need to question is paramount, to investigate in a manner that should be familiar from Bobcat's previous work, but which is easy to forget when stuck in a 'normal' 21st century environment.
It takes time to absorb - regular pauses are necessary during reading, to go away, consider, sometimes come to realizations, and then continue. So much is contained in these pages, that a second reading is already on the cards!
Emma's Paganism demands to be lived, with all of its pitfalls and promise. It is not light and easy, but can be dark, bloody and difficult - but then, so is life. While her previous works were guidebooks, this takes the next step, asking the hard questions that must be addressed if we are to live in a truly 'pagan' way, with everything that entails. As representatives of our beliefs, and so of our own selves, ancestors and land, we cannot live by blinding obeying as we are told. We make our ethics, and this book gives us the equipment with which to do so.
Is it worth it? Absolutely.
20 of 23 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The subject of ethics reaches deeply into our experience of being human. It is messy, gluey, inescapable and a fundamental fact of life. Its challenge is both simple and complicated: On what basis do we make our decisions?
Emma Restall Orr has broken new ground as the first author to dissect, examine and critically position natural Pagan ethics within its broader cultural and philosophical context. Scholarly and comprehensive in its depth of examination, the author adeptly navigates through the rich heritage of influential philosophers and thinkers whose work has sculpted and continues to shape our understanding of nature, reason, humanity and relationship. From Immanuel Kant to Arthur Schopenhauer, Peter Singer, and many more, each thinker provides a touchstone for exploring how a sensitive relationship with nature can form the basis of a Pagan ethics.
The book tackles some difficult questions and dilemmas: How does the nature-revering Pagan, grounded firmly in their philosophy, respond to issues such as abortion, euthanasia, or animal exploitation? How have we formed an understanding of consciousness, freedom, sanctity, responsibility, and how are these expressed in the way we live? Faced with global environmental crises, how can we craft our nature-based values into sustainable relationships that form an intelligent and effective response to the problems?
Restall Orr may come across as authoritative at times, and readers should prepare to have their assumptions challenged. This is not a comfortable book. It is intentionally provocative, deeply questioning, and essentially motivating. It expertly addresses a gaping hole in the Pagan literature, and as such, its significance should not be underestimated.
For the practitioner, this book asks: What does 'walking the talk' really look like? And, importantly, are you ready for it? Though of certain interest to scholars and academics, this is a crucial read for every nature-honouring Pagan committed to a critical reflexivity of their Craft.
Honest, courageous, wholly necessary, and probably one of the most important texts on modern Paganism to come out of the 21st century. This book carries enough bite to stir us all into wakefulness.
Emma Restall Orr has broken new ground as the first author to dissect, examine and critically position natural Pagan ethics within its broader cultural and philosophical context. Scholarly and comprehensive in its depth of examination, the author adeptly navigates through the rich heritage of influential philosophers and thinkers whose work has sculpted and continues to shape our understanding of nature, reason, humanity and relationship. From Immanuel Kant to Arthur Schopenhauer, Peter Singer, and many more, each thinker provides a touchstone for exploring how a sensitive relationship with nature can form the basis of a Pagan ethics.
The book tackles some difficult questions and dilemmas: How does the nature-revering Pagan, grounded firmly in their philosophy, respond to issues such as abortion, euthanasia, or animal exploitation? How have we formed an understanding of consciousness, freedom, sanctity, responsibility, and how are these expressed in the way we live? Faced with global environmental crises, how can we craft our nature-based values into sustainable relationships that form an intelligent and effective response to the problems?
Restall Orr may come across as authoritative at times, and readers should prepare to have their assumptions challenged. This is not a comfortable book. It is intentionally provocative, deeply questioning, and essentially motivating. It expertly addresses a gaping hole in the Pagan literature, and as such, its significance should not be underestimated.
For the practitioner, this book asks: What does 'walking the talk' really look like? And, importantly, are you ready for it? Though of certain interest to scholars and academics, this is a crucial read for every nature-honouring Pagan committed to a critical reflexivity of their Craft.
Honest, courageous, wholly necessary, and probably one of the most important texts on modern Paganism to come out of the 21st century. This book carries enough bite to stir us all into wakefulness.
20 of 23 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
If you're looking for a book that tells you how to be a Pagan, which postures to strike and which attitudes to engender then look elsewhere. This book is a passionate discussion on the nature of what constitutes true ethical authenticity. Restall Orr achieves a remarkable balance in the book. Firstly it is probably the best work on Pagan Ethics around and as such should feature on the shelves of university and college libraries. Secondly, through well rehearsed analysis and intriguing discussion it subverts many of the well-informed notions and traditions that feed into the modern Western ethical experience. Thirdly the book manages to touch a personal nerve. If you think you're a fairly OK person leading a responsible and morally commendable life prepare to be challenged!
If you're looking for a work that sits broadly within the Western ethical religious and cultural milieu but which subverts the accepted and cuts away at cultural accretion this is the book you're looking for. Read it, delight in it and learn from it.
If you're looking for a work that sits broadly within the Western ethical religious and cultural milieu but which subverts the accepted and cuts away at cultural accretion this is the book you're looking for. Read it, delight in it and learn from it.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
1.0 out of 5 stars
Just a few inconsistencies..
This book is preachy and heavy going and her arguments on a few issues are pretty inconsistent, particularly vegetarianism. Read more
Published 8 months ago by EnglishRose
3.0 out of 5 stars
Coping with horror
The Author declares herself as prejudiced and having a non-philosophical background at the start of the book, a trick which provides her the chance use to use... Read more
Published 14 months ago by hingin pete
5.0 out of 5 stars
Book Review on Living With Honour
Awens to All:
In September 2010, I got hold of a Book by the Druid Network's High Priestess Emma "Bobcat" Restall Orr called "Living With Honour, A Pagan Ethics" and... Read more
In September 2010, I got hold of a Book by the Druid Network's High Priestess Emma "Bobcat" Restall Orr called "Living With Honour, A Pagan Ethics" and... Read more
Published 15 months ago by TheDruid-3X3
5.0 out of 5 stars
Very good, with one minor weakness
It's an excellent book, thought-provoking and well reasoned for the most part. I was disappointed with her argument on vegetarianism, though. Read more
Published 15 months ago by Ysgawen
5.0 out of 5 stars
excellent read
Living with honour is one of the best pagan books I have read. Extremely thought provoking. Well written. One of those books I know I will pick up and read again.
Published 17 months ago by joolz darling
4.0 out of 5 stars
Heavy going but worthwhile
As a relative newbie to the pagan paths I've been reading around the subject.
I have to say that I found this book quite heavy going - in fact I couldn't read more than... Read more
I have to say that I found this book quite heavy going - in fact I couldn't read more than... Read more
Published on 2 July 2010 by Kevin McIlroy
2.0 out of 5 stars
A wasted opportunity
Emma Restall-Orr (ERO) is a wonderful ambassador for the pagan community and has devoted a lot of hard work to our community. Without her, much which we depend on wouldn't happen. Read more
Published on 4 Jun 2010 by Marcus G
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fantastic book
An outstanding book! I purchased this as I thought I had mislaid my original copy. I found the original, so this copy has been passed on to a good friend who will, I hope, get as... Read more
Published on 11 Dec 2009 by M. J. Stygal
5.0 out of 5 stars
long awaited book for druids and pagan's.
This is a long awaited book for druids and pagans. For those who are weekend pagans and those that are the pink and fluffy variety..... Read more
Published on 21 Oct 2008 by johno
5.0 out of 5 stars
'Courageous, breathtaking & beautiful!'
Living with Honour is a courageous attempt to deliver something that has not been offered by a pagan author before... Read more
Published on 14 Oct 2008 by Mark T - Wizard
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