Martin Shaw is a writer who makes pilgrimage to the woods and tells stories around campfires. He’s also written the forward to Malcolm Guite’s forthcoming The Coming of Arthur. How could I not like the guy?

Liturgies of the Wild is a book about big stories: stories about life and death, passivity and passion, dreaming and limits, evil and praise. In each chapter, Shaw resurrects folk tales that illuminate the human condition.

This is a book that rescues lost stories. Many come from the fairy-tale and mythic traditions of the world, relegated these last hundred years to children’s books or a therapist’s couch. (9)

It’s refreshing to hear old myths anew, separated from the way they’re commodified in modern TV or film. Shaw retells these stories with an ear tuned to what they tell us about the human condition. It turns out that there is profound wisdom embedded in children’s literature!

You can quickly tell that Shaw has spent years honing his narrative craft. Every page contains unexpected language that’s somehow more straightforward than the clichéd style of many modern bestsellers. For example:

We are being prepared for eternity every time we behold beauty. We can’t crucify beauty without steadily walking into hell. (189)

Most importantly, Shaw’s caught hold of the Truth. His encounter with Jesus, mediated through the Orthodox Church, has given him a profound perspective on God, humans, and creation. He urges his readers to “Become a saint” (225), just not the stained-glass type.

The God of the Christians was a scandal from the beginning to end. He was born a fugitive and died an outlaw, and then had the audacity to come back again. He is the most countercultural God of them all. The bravest, the strangest, the most mystical. Don’t go anywhere near him if you want your life to stay just-so. (225)

Are you interested in a more than “just-so” life? Shaw’s got a story for that.

Shaw, Martin. Liturgies of the Wild: Myths that Make Us. Sentinel, 2026.