The Great Work - Our Way into the Futureby
Thomas
Mary Berry.
The future can exist only if humans
understand how to commune with the natural world rather than exploit it,
explains author and renowned ecologist Thomas Berry (The Dream of the
Earth, The Universe Story). "Already the planet is so
damaged and the future is so challenged by its rising human population
that the terms of survival will be severe beyond anything we have known
in the past."
This may make him sound like a scolding,
doomsday prophet, but Berry is an optimistic soul, hopeful that humans
will rise to the challenge of cherishing the natural world in the third
millennium. "Our future destiny rests even more decisively on our
capacity for intimacy in our human-Earth relations." Berry
predicts. From this premise, Berry reveals why we need to adore our
blessed planet, while also examining why we are culturally driven toward
exploiting nature. Because Berry has a science background as well as a
spiritual orientation (he is the founder of the History of Religions
Program at Fordham University), he brings a balanced and fresh voice to
social ecology. Even though he writes for the masses, Berry is by no
means a lightweight--chapters include "Ecological Geography,"
"The Extractive Economy," "The Corporation Story,"
and "Reinventing the Human." --Gail Hudson
One of the most eminent cultural
historians of our time presents the culmination of his ideas and calls
for us to experience creation as a source of wonder and delight rather
than a commodity for our personal use.
Thomas Berry has written and lectured extensively on technological
civilization and the need for us to move from being a disrupting force
on this earth to a benign presence. This transition is the Great Work of
which he speaks. It is at the same time the most necessary and most
ennobling work we will ever undertake. Berry's message is not one of
doom but of hope. He calls upon all aspects of society to remember their
function, particularly the universities and other educational
institutions whose role is to guide students into an appreciation rather
than an exploitation of the world around them. Berry is the leading
spokesperson for the Earth, and his profound ecological insight at this
determining moment in history illuminates the path we need to take in
the realms of ethics, politics, economics, and education if both we and
the planet are to survive.
"Great Work indeed! Thomas Berry
offers us the benefit of a lifetime of clear-headed, clear-hearted
reflection. And by so doing he shows us where our task lies, shows us
the particular test that we must face just as our ancestors faced their
own great challenges. It's a work to stir the blood."
--Bill McKibben, author of The End of Nature
"As we close out this century, Thomas Berry has demonstrated once
again that he is one of the few great religious minds to be reckoned
with."--Wes Jackson, president of the Land Institute
"Thomas Berry is the bard of the new cosmology. He unerringly finds
the mythic dimension and the moral significance behind the scientific
facts."
--Theodore Roszak, author of The Voice of the Earth and Ecopsychology
About the Author
Thomas Berry founded the History of Religions Program at Fordham
University and the Riverdale Center of Religious Research. He has served
as president of the American Teilhard
de Chardin Association, and won a Lannan Foundation Award for The
Dream of the Earth. Together with the scientist Brian
Swimme, he wrote The Universe Story: A Celebration of the Unfolding
of the Cosmos. He lives in the hill country of the Southern
Appalachians.
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Growing
Up Green : Education for Ecological Renewal by
David
Hutchison, Thomas
Berry
This comprehensive study explores the
relationship of environmental advocacy to the philosophy of
education and holistic theories of child development. The author
begins by outlining the ecological, economic, and cultural
dimensions of the environmental challenge and then applies this
discussion to a critique of three philosophies of education:
back-to-basic, progressive, and holistic. He then describes an
ecologically sensitive approach to education in middle
childhood, emphasizing the role that narrative inquiry, the
study of place and form, and earth literacy can play in
promoting an ecological awareness in children.
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