PUBLICATIONS
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The Tree of Life
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In The Tree of Life Massingham describes the unstoppable tide of vandalism being unleashed against the natural, social and sacred worlds by the forces of globalisation. His passionate concern for the ecology of the English countryside, his faith-based sense of the integral wholeness of nature and his great learning are brought together in this masterpiece, first published in 1943.
The last half century has seen concerted efforts by the forces of globalisation to dismiss opposition to ‘progress’ as impractical, idealistic and medieval. Drawing upon his extensive scholarship in theology, poetry, literature, the arts, folk culture and economics, Massingham opens up fresh dimensions on the traditional relationship between the English people and their countryside. Arising from his work on the land alongside its people, his practical perspective is one that can be shared by indigenous farmers across the world as they continue to struggle against the blind forces of globalised finance. He predicted that eventually local responsibility for the land would offer the only alternative to universal degradation of land and community.