Jacob’s Wound: A Search for the Spirit of Wildness

This highly acclaimed work reflects on the nature that we, and our religions, sprang from. The biblical story of Jacob has been interpreted in a multitude of ways, but never more persuasively than by Trevor Herriot in Jacob’s Wound. The central idea is that Jacob, representing the farmer and civilised man, suffers a deep wound when he swindles the birthright of Esau, representing the hunter and primitive man. Herriot queries whether we, as Jacob did with Esau, can eventually reconcile with the wilderness that we have conquered and have been estranged from for so long. Jacob’s Wound takes readers on an untrodden path through history, nature, science, and theology, sharing stories and personal experiences that beautifully illuminate what we once were and what we have become.