Holy Tradition of Working: Passages from the Writings of Eric Gill

By Eric Gill and Eric Gill. Brian Keeble (Introductory Essay). Walter Shewring (Foreword)

Book Overview

Eric Gill (1882-1940) is well known as a sculptor, wood and stone carver, letter, engraver, typeface designer, and graphic artist. But he was also a radical religious and social philosopher-a Christian revolutionary-for whom "life was more than art," because it was the highest art, the art of being human. Thus his interests were never theoretical and his view of life was holistic, involving the whole person in a unity of art, work and spiritual values.

A convert to Catholicism in 1913, Gill brought to the movement of social and aesthetic renewal founded by Ruskin and William Morris a sensibility sharpened both by Non-conformism and by the enthusiastic acceptance of Thomism. After World War I, Gill helped create the Ditching Guild, and independent society of Roman Catholics bound together by common faith and common ideas about work and human society. In 1924, Gill moved with his family and a few friends, now under the rule of third-order Dominicans, to Capel-y-ffin, in South Wales. Here the task of integrating human work and religious life in a craft community continued, and here, too, Gill began to write, at first short pieces, then longer essays. In 1928, he moved back to Buckinghamshire, where he lived until his death.

A Holy Tradition of Working is an anthology drawn from the full prophetic range of Gill's concerns. The topics covered include: First Things; What is Man?; What is Art?; The Four Causes; Of Work and Responsibility; Of Beauty; Of Imagination; Property, Ownership and Holy Poverty; and A Vision of Normal Society. Brian Keeble writes "There can be no mistaking the directional impulse in Gill's thought; it is heavenward, Not so much a heaven 'up there' as one with a more local habitation; the kingdom of heaven within which is the kingdom proper to man, that is, man the maker, one who is uniquely fitted, being created in His image, to 'collaborate with God'..."

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1621386813
• ISBN13: 9781621386810
• Release Date: January 2021
• Publisher: Angelico Press
• Length: 154 Pages
• Weight: 0.45 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 5.5" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Dedicated and inspiring

If you know Gill only as a graphic artist and type designer, Gill's work is still worth knowing. There's more, though. His real passion for the unity of labor, art, and Christian life only comes through in writings like these. Buddhism's "Noble Eightfold Path" includes right mindfulness and right livelihood as aspects of the life that leads to enlightenment. Without actually referring to the Eastern tradition, Gill aligns those concepts closely with devout and communitarian Catholicism. If you accept that mankind was made in the image of God the creator, then acts of creation, within the bounds of human ability, become holy duty and responsibility. Then, as an echo of God's responsibility toward His creations, Gill phrases a person's life work as a responsibility toward the society in which s/he lives. This philosophy does not lend itself to sound bites. It exists as a huge whole, with many threads intertwined. Each strand, taken in isolation, doesn't sound like much. Woven together, they support each other and form a complex pattern. The fabric thus woven won't fit everyone - parts certainly don't work for me - but has a beauty about it that demands admiration. I recommend this book to anyone looking for meaning in life. Whether you agree with Gill or not, this points to a larger and fuller meaning than any other Western writer I know. -- wiredweird