Consecrating Science

Debunking myths behind what is known collectively as the new cosmology—a grand, overlapping set of narratives that claim to bring science and spirituality together—Lisa H. Sideris offers a searing critique of the movement’s anthropocentric vision of the world. In Consecrating Science, Sideris argues that instead of cultivating an ethic of respect for nature, the new cosmology encourages human arrogance, uncritical reverence for science, and indifference to nonhuman life. Exploring moral sensibilities rooted in experience of the natural world, Sideris shows how a sense of wonder can foster environmental attitudes that will protect our planet from ecological collapse for years to come.

Evolutionary History in Theological Perspective: Exploring the Scientific Story of the Cosmos develops a new theological interpretation of evolutionary history. Exploring both secular and theological interpretations of evolutionary history, this new interpretation hinges on the similarities between individual redemption and the eschatological story of cosmic redemption as mediated by the Holy Spirit throughout evolutionary history. This new lens is then applied to relevant questions raised by the evolutionary process (especially suffering), and helps overcome the current shortcomings of contemporary interpretations of evolutionary history.

This collection of essays is a fitting tribute to Denis Edwards, who was one of Australia's leading theologians. In exploring the most challenging questions of our time, these essays canvas some of the great themes of Christian theology that were the focus of Edwards research. Denis Edwards was a theologian of dialogue: dialogue with our rich theological tradition, dialogue with science, dialogue with contemporary theologians. The contributors to this volume enter into a dialogue with substantial parts of the theological output of Denis Edwards. In the process, they capture something of his humanity, his love of creation, and his concern for our common home. The book demonstrates the commitment Denis Edwards had to a theology that is truly ecumenical and always learning from the insights of others. The editors and authors have done a great service in helping many others to deepen reflection on Denis Edwards' contribution to our understanding of God and the natural world.

This book offers scholars, administrators and the broader public an original proposal for the humanities. It argues that these disciplines, while serving society, are intrinsic to our humanity. It offers new bold ideas about how to think with greater humanistic coherence.

This third volume of the series on “An Earthed Faith” focuses on creation theology. The ten invited essays address the following core question: “What difference does it make to the story of cosmic, planetary, human and cultural evolution to re-describe this as the creative work of God’s love?” Inversely, what difference does it make to the story of God’s love to describe it in evolutionary and geographic terms? Addressing this question requires theological reflection on place (land, geography and landscape) and on evolution (cosmic, biological, hominid and human) as the story of such place. This entails a narrative reconstruction of the story where current interests, positions of power and fears are necessarily at stake (the place where the story is being told), often dominated by issues of race rather than by grace. How, then, is this story to be told, given such a sense of place? This volume will entail a highly constructive effort to address the classic tasks associated with creation theology at the cutting edge of contemporary ecotheology.

Literature and Ecotheology: From Chaos to Cosmos challenges us in a time of climate crisis to find more common ground between the dual projects of ecocriticism and ecotheology. This book argues that in our postsecular age, literature has become an important repository of theological wisdom that can, like formal work in ecotheology, provide the moral grounds for environmental care. However, for any cosmological understanding to be adequate to the challenges before us, it must be responsive to the often-painful contingencies and uncertainties that inhere in the cosmos, something that both ecocriticism and ecotheology have often neglected. After a treatment of the ecocritical and ecotheological questions that pertain to the religious/secular divide, the study then turns to four contemporary American writers—Annie Dillard, Cormac McCarthy, Marilynne Robinson, and David James Duncan—as examples. Each uses the contingency of literary form and its promise of wholeness in order to imagine reasons for hope in light of the unpredictability and untold human and more-than-human suffering that lie at the heart of nature. The book will be of interest to students, scholars and researchers interested in ecotheology, religious studies, environmental literature, the environmental humanities, and environmental studies more broadly. It offers a needed paradigm shift in how Western societies have tended to misuse both secularity and religion.