If creation is a gift [electronic resource] / Mark Manolopoulos.

ISBN:

9781441607775

Title:

Author:

Manolopoulos, Mark, 1968-

Personal Author:

Manolopoulos, Mark, 1968-

Publication Information:

Physical Description:

1 online resource (x, 187 pages).

Series:

SUNY series in theology and continental thought

Contents:

Thanksgivings -- What if? -- Creation-gift-aporia -- A brief history of gifts -- Unwrapping Marion's gift -- Oscillation -- Toward an oscillational eco-ethos -- After thought.

Local Note:

eBooks on EBSCOhost

Subject Term:

Human ecology -- Religious aspects -- Christianity.

Gifts -- Religious aspects -- Christianity.

Creation.

Format:

Electronic Resources

Electronic Access:

Click here to view

Publication Date:

2009

Publication Information:

Available:*

Shelf Number	Material Type	Copy	Shelf Location	Status
261.88 22	1:E-BOOK	1	1:ONLINE	Searching... Unknown

Brings an ecotheological perspective to postmodern gift theory. What if our world were considered a gift? Extending postmodern gift theory to ecological and ecotheological concerns, Mark Manolopoulos explores how creation the what-is can be seen as a gift. Creation, when viewed in a radically egalitarian way, is the matrix of all material things human, otherwise-than-human, or humanly manufactured. Utilizing and critiquing the work of Jacques Derrida and Jean-Luc Marion, Manolopoulos argues that the gift is an irresolvable paradox marked by the contradictory elements of excess (gratuity, linearity) and exchange (gratitude, return). Philosophical and theological reflections on the gift become entangled in its paradoxical tension, but ultimately both aspects must be respected and reflected. When it comes to the creation-gift, we should vacillate between responses like letting-be, enjoyment, utility, and return. Elegantly written and thought-provoking, If Creation Is a Gift both contributes to the ongoing debate on the gift and provides a fresh philosophical and theological consideration of the environmental crisis. Mark Manolopoulos is Honorary Research Associate with Monash University s Centre for Studies in Religion and Theology.

Reviews (1)

Choice Review

This brilliant philosophical and theological volume explores how viewing creation as a "gift" might reframe humanity's relationship with nature in a time of ecological crisis. Manolopoulos (Monash Univ.) draws on a wide range of thinking on the gift--from the Bible to philosophers such as Jacques Derrida and Jean Luc Marion. Given these sources' complexity, this work's fair and lucid summary of the debates over the gift and its practical implications is laudable. The book draws on the fruits of these debates to propose an "oscillational eco-ethics." The concept of oscillation recognizes creation's mystery and otherness at the same time that it understands nature's ability to be enjoyed by humanity and used in advancing life. Manolopoulos manages to construct and defend a theologically and philosophically grounded middle way between those who claim that humans have "dominion over the earth" and those who claim humans can never have anything but coequality with creation. This is a brilliant application of theological debate concerning the gift, for those interested in contemporary environmental ethics. It is frequently too technical for all but advanced students of philosophy and theology. Summing Up: Recommended. Graduate students and faculty/researchers. A. W. Klink Duke University

Available:*

Bound With These Titles

On Order

Summary

Summary

Reviews (1)

Choice Review