iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

1. Joseph Conrad’s wonderful late novella, “The Shadow-Line”, written in 1915, is one of my favourites. A short thread on historical, psychologising and metaphysical readings of this important text.

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"Recipes are not what we need, nor do we need to be reassured – our need is to escape from meaninglessness." ~ René Girard

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Gaston Fessard's false ID, seized during WW2, when he was searched by Gestapo.

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Tim Howles @timhowles.bsky.social · 10/06/2026

"I think it is because I strive to be apolitical that I become supremely political." French Jesuit Gaston Fessard, 1935.

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This should be very good: "The Technocratic International: Experts and the Making of a World from Nowhere" Jan Eijking global.oup.com/academic/pro...

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Tim Howles @timhowles.bsky.social · 10/06/2026

“I seriously believe that Christianity is the only foundation of Socialism, and that a true Socialism is the necessary result of a sound Christianity.” F. D. Maurice, Tract on Christian Socialism, 1850

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Tim Howles @timhowles.bsky.social · 08/06/2026

If anyone is free in Oxford tomorrow, we have two places left for this lecture: "Bringing Rivers Back to Life: Indigenous Water Management in Mexico" - for those working in political ecology, geography, religion, ethics Let me know if you can make it. Register: lsri.campion.ox.ac.uk/events/rivers

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Who can carry a kirpan in the UK? Religion, law and the question of risk

Sikh religious practices and the kirpan (ceremonial knife) in relation to English law: A short and informative article by Jasjit Singh (University of Leeds). theconversation.com/who-can-carr...

theconversation.com

There is a widespread misunderstanding that all Sikhs are required to wear a kirpan.

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On completing his last essay, "Quod Deus Dicitur", on his death-bed in California: "According to his wife, Lissy, Voegelin said: 'At last I understand Christianity!' To which she responded: 'Yes, Eric, but you’re going to take that understanding with you!'” voegelinview.com/the-spirit-o...

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My most precious G. M. Hopkins sonnet is “My own heart let me have more pity on”. I read it often. And sometimes in conjunction with W. B. Yeats’ "Dialogue of self and soul", which I think is a sort of commentary on it. www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/90507/...

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Tim Howles @timhowles.bsky.social · 01/06/2026

“Muslim Theological Encounters with Science: Kaleidoscopes of Knowledge Over Time” www.cambridge.org/core/element...

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"The Idea of the Instant in Descartes's Philosophy" Jean Wahl Edited and translated by Alan D. Schrift edinburghuniversitypress.com/book-the-ide...

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Tim Howles @timhowles.bsky.social · 01/06/2026

"Reading A Thousand Plateaus: Adventures in Nomad Thought" Henry Somers-Hall edinburghuniversitypress.com/book-reading...

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Tim Howles @timhowles.bsky.social · 01/05/2026

I think this is my favourite comedy sketch of all time. It entirely describes what it is like to be English in the modern world. (I would say this material is superior to anything from Gervais/ Merchant, of course, who basically stole the concept of The Office from it). youtu.be/kgi7W5hSoOs?...

youtu.be

The Day Today - The Office Skit, Extended Version (Steve Coogan, Chris Morris)

YouTube video by shiv2nite

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Tim Howles @timhowles.bsky.social · 29/04/2026

Watched “The Matrix” again recently and thought how Wagnerian the score is. Alongside the techno, we have musical phases of harmonic tension leading to climaxes into “transcendence”. Parts of this scene for example are almost direct quotes of the Tristan “Liebesnacht”: youtu.be/WSRlJaFYC9U?...

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Tim Howles @timhowles.bsky.social · 22/04/2026

The Oxford Handbook of Digital Theology (forthcoming): global.oup.com/academic/pro...

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Tim Howles @timhowles.bsky.social · 22/04/2026

RIP J.H. Pryne (1936 - 22 April 2026) My supervisor used to say he was the greatest poet in the English language since Milton. I used to see him on his bicycle around Cambridge. "Lack spreads like snow back by the path to the iron pipe flaking and not succeeding"

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Tim Howles @timhowles.bsky.social · 19/04/2026

Exciting to see this announced:

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Tim Howles @timhowles.bsky.social · 18/04/2026

Art and Technology in Maurice Blanchot Holly Langstaff "Demonstrates Blanchot's ongoing importance for contemporary philosophical debate about technology, the post-human, and ecological thinking" edinburghuniversitypress.com/book-art-and...

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Tim Howles @timhowles.bsky.social · 16/04/2026

New Cambridge Element, Problems of God in Descartes. Read for free for the next 2 weeks at cup.org/48MHDro

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Tim Howles @timhowles.bsky.social · 16/04/2026

Forthcoming on sustainable/ regenerative agriculture: “Fields of Opportunities: New Farmers, Small Farms, and What Comes after Industrial Agriculture” Andrea Rissing www.sup.org/books/anthro...

sup.org

Fields of Opportunities | Stanford University Press

Encounters with a range of small-scale family farms contribute to a fundamental rethinking of what constitutes progress towards sustainable agriculture in the United States today.

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A little write-up of our recent event on "the wisdom of bees", where I was a speaker, including a short video: lsri.campion.ox.ac.uk/news/storyte...

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Currently reading: "Creation as Sacrament: Reflections on Ecology and Spirituality" John Chryssavgis

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New publication that looks interesting: "Walking Shadow: Love, Loss and Shakespeare" Greg Doran bloomsbury.com/uk/walking-s...

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