The Hedge School: A Course on William Blake’s ‘Jerusalem’

a timely Lenten activity

I give you the end of a golden string;
Only wind it into a ball,
It will lead you in at Heaven’s gate,
Built in Jerusalem’s wall.

I am absolutely thrilled to announce that I will be offering an online, in-real-time course on William Blake’s illuminated book Jerusalem: The Emanation of the Giant Albion. I’ve been wanting to do this for a LONG time, and this seems an opportune moment.

The course will take place over eight consecutive Saturdays at 1:00 pm Eastern US time. It will begin on March 1, the Saturday before Lent begins (for both Western and Eastern Christians for a change) and end on Holy Saturday, April 19. Each session is recorded, so if participants have to miss a Saturday, all will not be lost.

Jerusalem is a story of fallenness and redemption, of human spiritual psychology, and of the power of the imagination. It has been called, among other things, “The Everlasting Gospel,” “The Gospel of the Imagination,” and “Blake’s Apocalypse,” for it is nothing less than a revelation. I have been studying the book since my early twenties, and every time I return to it I am blown away at the depth of insight and organic Christian intuition that shines through every line. I am not exaggerating when I say that it is at times breath-taking.

Jerusalem is composed of four books and in the course we will take two weeks for each book (it’s that dense and profound).

The cost of the course is $150. You can find out more by responding to this newsletter or emailing me: director@thecenterforsophiologicalstudies.com

Recommended editions

My favorite edition of Blake is David Erdman’s The Complete Poetry and Prose of William Blake (University of California Press). The commentary, by Harold Bloom, is enormously insightful as well as edifying.

I also adore the facsimile edition of Jerusalem published by The Blake Trust/Princeton University Press. My working text is the Erdman, though—I’d hate to mar the beauty of the facsimile with my marginalia!

I’m sure there are other good ones out there, but these are my go-tos and very trusty friends.

Young William Blake’s vision of a tree filled with angels