The good in nature and humanity : connecting science, religion, and spirituality with the natural world / edited by Stephen R. Kellert and Timothy J. Farnham.

Cover image for The good in nature and humanity : connecting science, religion, and spirituality with the natural world / edited by Stephen R. Kellert and Timothy J. Farnham.

ISBN:

9781559638388

9781423707899

9781610910767

Title:

The good in nature and humanity : connecting science, religion, and spirituality with the natural world / edited by Stephen R. Kellert and Timothy J. Farnham.

Author:

Kellert, Stephen R.

Publication Information:

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xvi, 278 pages) : illustrations

Contents:

Building the bridge : connecting science, religion, and spirituality with the natural world / Scientific and spiritual perspectives of nature and humanity. Ethics and the good in nature and humanity / The contribution of scientific understandings of nature to moral, spiritual, and religious wholeness and well-being / Spiritual and religious perspectives of creation and scientific understanding of nature / Values, ethics, and spiritual and scientific relations to nature / Religion and ecology : the interaction of cosmology and cultivation / Gaia and the ethical abyss : a natural ethic is a G[o]od thing / Religious meanings for nature and humanity / A Livable future : linking geology and theology / Alma Dea̓tei, "the world that is coming" : reflections on power, knowledge, wisdom, and progress / Linking spiritual and scientific perspectives with an environmental ethic. The Search for harmony / Work, worship, and the natural world : a challenge for the land use professions / Leopold's Darwin : climbing mountains, developing land / A Rising tide for ethics / Hunting for spirituality : an oxymoron? / The Idea of a local economy / From the perspective of the storyteller. The Garden of delights : a reading from Leap / The Mappist

Local Note:

eBooks on EBSCOhost

Subject Term:

Religion and science.

Nature -- Religious aspects.

Human ecology -- Religious aspects.

Added Author:

Kellert, Stephen R.

Farnham, Timothy J.

Format:

Electronic Resources

Electronic Access:

Click here to view

Publication Date:

2002

Publication Information:

Available:*

Shelf Number	Material Type	Copy	Shelf Location	Status
261.55 21	1:E-BOOK	1	1:ONLINE	Searching... Unknown

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Summary

Scientists, theologians, and the spiritually inclined, as well as all those concerned with humanity's increasingly widespread environmental impact, are beginning to recognize that our ongoing abuse of the earth diminishes our moral as well as our material condition. Many people are coming to believe that strengthening the bonds among spirituality, science, and the natural world offers an important key to addressing the pervasive environmental problems we face. The Good in Nature and Humanity brings together 20 leading thinkers and writers - including Ursuia Goodenough, Lynn Margulis, Dorion Sagan, Carl Safina, David Petersen, Wendell Berry, Terry Tempest Williams, and Barry Lopez - to examine the divide between faith and reason, and to seek a means for developing an environmental ethic that will help us confront two of our most imperiling crises; global environmental destruction and an impoverished spirituality. The book explores the ways in which science, spirit, and religion can guide the experience and understanding of our ongoing relationship with the natural world and examines how the integration of science and spirituality can equip us to make wiser choices in using and manag

Author Notes

Stephen R. Kellert is the Tweedy Ordway Professor of Social Ecology at the Yale University School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, author of Kinship to Mastery (Island Press, 1997) and The Value of Life (Island Press, 1996), and coeditor, with Edward O. Wilson, of The Biophilia Hypothesis (Island Press, 1993).

Timothy J. Farnham is a doctoral candidate at the Yale University School of Forestry and Environmental Studies.

Reviews (2)

Publisher's Weekly Review

Inspired by a 2000 conference at Yale University, this eco-spirituality reader explores the idea that "the root causes of modern society's environmental and spiritual crises cannot be understood nor effectively resolved until the split between religion and science, or, more generally, between faith and reason, has been effectively reconciled." Part One, "Scientific and Spiritual Perspectives of Nature and Humanity," comprises half the book and is loaded with academic voices that become slowly and steadily more lively. The book's substantive core, "Linking Spiritual and Scientific Perspectives with an Environmental Ethic," marries ideals to real-life situations via the voices of environmental and resource managers, plus the venerable Wendell Berry. Most of these practitioners have fashioned their own faiths by literally tramping in the woods, and their resulting down-to-earth revelations will reward readers. The final part, "From the Perspective of the Storyteller," is a disjointed but beautiful tail section with offerings by Terry Tempest Williams and Barry Lopez. The ghost of the "land ethicist" Aldo Leopold (A Sand County Almanac), who graduated from Yale University's School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, rightly haunts most of this volume. Reading the book from beginning to end is like watching a noble and important bird of many colors escape from a cage to find soaring flight and final release on a mythical plane. The bird becomes different things to different people, but all can understand its vital message as one of hope. (Mar.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Choice Review

The premise of this anthology is that since both science and religion seek to understand the origins and the diversity of life, both are needed to inform our thinking about the environment. The first eight papers offer general suggestions about how science and religion may complement one another. The next five papers focus more specifically on religion and spirituality's development of an environmental ethic and their influence on the way people treat nature. The final two papers by Terry Tempest Williams and Barry Lopez provide narrative illustrations of many points made previously. Contributors come from the fields of religious studies, environmental advocacy, literature, environmental studies, and resource management. Written in the tradition of popular cultural criticism, the papers are nontechnical and nonacademic; many contain personal anecdotes and reflections. All this gives the book a broad appeal. As none of the papers here is especially technical or deep, however, doctoral students and faculty doing research may find the collection to be marginally useful. This book does offer a point of entry to some fairly complex issues and is likely to stimulate further thinking on the relation between science, spirituality, and the protection of the environment. As such it is recommended for undergraduates and general readers who want an introduction to these issues. M. A. Michael Austin Peay State University

Preface

Acknowledgments

Chapter 1 Building the Bridge: Connecting Science, Religion, and Spirituality with the Natural World

Part I Scientific and Spiritual Perspectives of Nature and Humanity

Introduction to Part I: Ethics and the Good in Nature and Humanity

Chapter 2 The Contribution of Scientific Understandings of Nature to Moral, Spiritual, and Religious Wholeness and Well-Being

Chapter 3 Spiritual and Religious Perspectives of Creation and Scientific Understanding of Nature

Chapter 4 Values, Ethics, and Spiritual and Scientific Relations to Nature

Chapter 5 Religion and Ecology: The Interaction of Cosmology and Cultivation

Chapter 6 Gaia and the Ethical Abyss: A Natural Ethic Is a G[o]od Thing

Chapter 7 Religious Meanings for Nature and Humanity

Chapter 8 A Livable Future: Linking Geology and Theology

Chapter 9 Alma De'atei, "The World That Is Coming": Reflections on Power, Knowledge, Wisdom, and Progress

Part II Linking Spiritual and Scientific Perspectives with an Environmental Ethic

Introduction to Part II: The Search for Harmony

Chapter 10 Work, Worship, and the Natural World: A Challenge for the Land Use Professions

Chapter 11 Leopold's Darwin: Climbing Mountains, Developing Land

Chapter 12 A Rising Tide for Ethics

Chapter 13 Hunting for Spirituality: An Oxymoron?

Chapter 14 The Idea of a Local Economy

Part III From The Perspective of the Storyteller

Chapter 15 The Garden of Delights: A Reading from Leap

Chapter 16 The Mappist

Notes

About the Contributors

Index

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Bound With These Titles

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Summary

Summary

Author Notes

Reviews (2)

Publisher's Weekly Review

Choice Review

Table of Contents