At home in the cosmos / David Toolan.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Toolan, David.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Human ecology--Religious aspects--Christianity.

Human ecology.

Nature--Religious aspects--Christianity.

Nature.

Environmental ethics.

Religion and science.

Physical Description:

xiii, 257 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Maryknoll, N.Y. : Orbis Books, 2001.

Summary:

An original synthesis of science and theology, At Home in the Cosmos sheds new light on the meaning of the world, and reveals the poetry that fills our universe.

In the spirit of Teilhard de Chardin, David Toolan unites the spiritual with the scientific in a stunning new way. By accenting the positive idea that our evolutionary cosmos is filled with promise he shows how a Christ-centered, incarnational faith provides the most appropriate setting for contemporary scientific cosmology. The results is a fresh basis for an ecological ethic -- in effect, a new social contract with nature.

At once visionary and practical At Home in the Cosmos offers a holistic vision sure to expand our awareness of our place and purpose on earth and in the universe.

Contents:

Part I The Biblical Vision of Creation 7

1. Does Yahweh Care about Whales? 9

Is Christianity to Blame for the Problem? 10

New Developments 15

The Priestly "Steward" vs. the Yahwist's "Service" of Nature 17

2. Nature Symbolic of Promise 22

Not Anthropocentrism but Theocentrism 26

Promise and the Land 27

Transcendence and Negation 29

Nature as Sacrament 32

Sacrament as Human Deed 38

Part II The Development of Scientific Materialism 41

3. Imperial Ecology and the Death of Nature 45

Literacy and Detachment from the Earth 46

Imperial Ecology 48

Enter Isaac Newton: The Death of Nature 50

Classical Physics and Economic Materialism 55

The Clockmaker God 57

4. The Competitive Ethos Triumphant 59

How the Industrial World Works 62

Arcadian Ecology 64

The Harsh Lesson of the Galapagos 67

Are Ecologists the Good Guys? 70

Part III State of the Earth 75

5. Is There an Environmental Crisis? 79

The Case against Environmental Hype 80

Reading Earth's Vital Signs: Soil and Food Production, Water, Forests, Biodiversity 84

6. Pushing the Limits 92

Built-in Blindness to Limits 92

Energy Consumption 94

Pollution and Other Garbage 97

Global Warming 98

Preventive Action? 101

7. The Dynamics of Unsustainability 104

Scientific Uncertainty 105

Fitting into the Great Economy 107

Driving Forces behind Environmental Damage 109

Malthusian, Structuralist, and Economistic Arguments 111

The Debate Continues 113

The New Colonialism 116

Sustainable Development vs. Sustainable Communities 119

Civilizing the Global Marketplace 121

Part IV The New Cosmology 127

8. Evolution and Theological Repair 132

Theology in a Static Cosmos 133

Time and the Chancy Universe of the Prophets 135

Hubble's Expanding Universe 137

The Cosmic Clock 139

No God of the Gaps or Big Explainer 144

Christian Spirituality in an Evolving Universe 146

Causality vs. Vision 150

9. A Physics of Promise 156

Cosmic Pessimism 159

Arrows of Time: Darwinian vs. Thermodynamic 164

Open, Nonequilibrium Systems 166

Dissipative Structures and Emergent Complexity 168

The Big Bang and the Anthropic Principle 173

10. The Voice of the Hurricane 178

The Unpredictability and Interconnectedness of Matter-Energy 180

A Semiotic Universe 182

Order Out of Chaos 184

The Anthropological Fallout 186

Part V Earth Ethics: Doing Justice to Creation 193

11. The Fallout for Spirituality 195

A Big Enough God and the Spirituality of Ascent 199

Pneumatology and a Spirituality of Descent 202

Christology and the Dream of Earth 205

Eucharist: Oneness with Earth 210

Converting Matter-Energy into Sacrament 213

12. Citizens of Earth 220

Love of the Wild 223

Extending the Social Contract to Earth 226

What a Sustainable Society Would Look Like 231

The Great Work 236

Appendix A The Relationship between Science and Religion 241

Appendix B The Churches in the Environmental Movement 244.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

1570753415

OCLC:

44413753