Numinous Machines

Rudolf Otto coined the term numinous to refer to the primal experience of the holy. When captured and articulated, the numinous is the basis of religion and culture. But in our age of religious unbelief and cultural decline, where do we find the numinous sources of spiritual and cultural renewal? According to Christopher Pankhurst's Numinous Machines, the answer is all around us -- along the margins and even in the dregs of modern culture -- if only we have eyes to see.

Numinous Machines collects thirteen essays and four short stories in which Christopher Pankhurst descrys the numinous from a number of different angles--philosophy, religion, Traditionalism, magic, visual art, classical and popular music, contemporary literature, and even the spirit of place. Pankhurst uses such figures as Spengler, Wagner, Nietzsche, Sibelius, Giacinto Scelsi, James MacMillan, Damien Hirst, Alan Garner, David Myatt, Aleister Crowley, Ananda Coomaraswamy, and even Derrida and Stephen King to open our minds and sharpen our discernment.

Numinous Machines establishes Christopher Pankhurst as one of the leading theorists and critics of the New Right.