The Sacred Universe - by Thomas Berry (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

A leading scholar, cultural historian, and Catholic priest who spent more than fifty years writing about our engagement with the Earth, Thomas Berry possessed prophetic insight into the rampant destruction of ecosystems and the extinction of species. In this book he makes a persuasive case for an interreligious dialogue that can better confront the environmental problems of the twenty-first century. These erudite and keenly sympathetic essays represent Berry's best work, covering such issues as human beings' modern alienation from nature and the possibilities of future, regenerative forms of religious experience. Asking that we create a new story of the universe and the emergence of the Earth within it, Berry resituates the human spirit within a sacred totality.

Review Quotes

The Sacred Universe is an important, inspiring compendium of the thought of a great soul and spiritually profound seeker, who cogently and consistently reminds, even after his death, that we must learn to feel at home in the universe.--Stephen B. Scharper "America"

Dedicated readers of ecology, theology, or religious philosophy will want to savor each one [of these essays].-- "Library Journal"

The volume is a fair encapsulation of the intellectual concerns for which Berry is best known.--Christina Peppard "Commonweal"

This text will serve as an excellent introduction to [Thomas] Berry...--Peter Ellard, Siena College "The International Journal of Environmental Studies"

Thoams Berry demonstrattes in these papers the qualities he calls for: humanist vision and imagination.-- "Resurgence"

When encountering the essays, one is struck by the clarity of analyses showing humanity's destructive antagonism toward the Earth. In them we observe the gradual evocation of a vision in which this antagonism is overcome so that we can live in harmony and peace on our planetary home.--Norman Wirzba "Journal of the American Academy of Religion"

About the Author

Thomas Berry (1914-2009 established the History of Religions Program at Fordham University and, with Wm. Theodore de Bary, founded the Oriental Thought and Religion Seminar at Columbia University. He was also the former director of the Riverdale Center for Religious Research. Along with his books Buddhism and Religions of India, his major publications include The Dream of the Earth, The Great Work, Evening Thoughts, and The Universe Story, with Brian Swimme.

Mary Evelyn Tucker directs the Forum on Religion and Ecology at Yale where she teaches in a joint degree program between the School of Forestry and Environmental Studies and the Divinity School. She is the author of Moral and Spiritual Cultivation in Japanese Neo-Confucianism, The Philosophy of Qi, and Worldly Wonder: Religions Enter Their Ecological Phase.