Articles from the bimonthly e-zine
Why 2014 Is a Special Year in Relation to Thomas Berry The year 2014 has two special anniversaries related to Thomas Berry: June 1, 2014, will be the fifth anniversary of his death, and November 9, 2014, will be the 100th anniversary of his birth. CES is not focused on Thomas Berry, but we are…
A Prophetic Voice: Thomas Berry By Marjorie Hope and James Young Introduction Whenever Thomas Berry looks out over the Hudson River from his home at the Riverdale Center for Religious Research, he experiences anew “the gorgeousness of the natural world.” The Earth brings forth a display of beauty in such unending profusion, a display so…
BARBARA MARX HUBBARD PUBLIC LECTURE AND WORKSHOP—FEBRUARY 21‐ 22, 2014, UNITED CHURCH OF CHAPEL HILL World renowned futurist and social visionary Barbara Marx Hubbard will be giving a public lecture on Friday, February 21, 2014, from 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm at United Church of Chapel Hill followed by a full day workshop on Saturday,…
By Mike Bell I always remember when people asked [Thomas Berry] how they should go about creating a mutually enhancing relationship between humans and Earth, he would say, “Tell them the story.” Since then I’ve always been extremely interested in the concept of story, especially in its cosmological dimensions. Recently I came across from an…
By Alice Loyd Recently I heard it again. I heard someone asking, “Why did God let this bad thing happen?” I assume the speaker and most of the listeners were considering the problem of evil in the world, as in “Why do bad things happen to good people?” For me, though, the concern is…
THOMAS BERRY* By Michael Colebrook Of all the writers and thinkers to have shaped what we now call GreenSpirit, by far the most influential was Thomas Berry. Thomas Berry, C.P. (November 9, 1914 – June 1, 2009) was a Catholic priest of the Passionist order, cultural historian and ecotheologian (although cosmologist and geologian –…
The Chronicle (September-October 2013) Our readers are invited to present their own reports of what they are paying attention to in the transition from economic-industrial to ecological-cultural societies. From Alice Loyd Looking back at the past month’s news stories in light of ecozoic priorities, the lead story must be the Fifth Assessment Report of…
PASSAGE OF BROTHER CONRAD FEDERSPIEL, C.P. (Born May 28, 1924, Professed April 3, 1952, Died October 6, 2013) By Tom Keevey Brother Conrad Federspiel was a member of the Passionist Religious Order, as was Thomas Berry. He worked in many monasteries including years at the foundation in Port Burwell, Canada, where he cared for the…
HORTICULTURE AND HUMAN CULTURE By D. Paul Schafer Dr. Schafer lives in Markham, Canada, and is the Director of the World Culture Project. This summer, I watched a particular plant in our garden, a monkshood, to see if it would bloom. It had been a long, hot summer with very little rain, and this fascinating…
REPORT ON PETER LONDON WORKSHOP: “ARTISTS ARE NOT ILLUSTRATORS, RATHER ART IS A WORK OF RELATIONSHIP” By Alice Loyd CES, featuring the leadership of artist and master teacher Peter London, held its first artists’ workshop on September 27 and 28, 2013. From the first lecture through the closing exercise, the sessions were marked by…
Dave Otto worked as a neurotoxicologist with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. He is now a historian, naturalist, photographer and activist living in Carrboro, North Carolina. He is on the events and publishing committees of CES. Each of the events in the natural world is a poem, a painting, a drama, a celebration. -Thomas…
Norman Christensen was the Founding Dean of the Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke University where he continues to work as a research professor. He is also past President of the Ecological Society of America. The text below was given as a speech at United Church of Chapel Hill in January 2013. I was…
By Thomas Berry Earth is a communion of subjects, not a collection of objects. Earth exists and can survive only in its integral functioning. It cannot survive in fragments any more than any organism can survive in fragments. Yet, Earth is not a global sameness. It is a differentiated unity and must be sustained…
By Herman Greene Ecozoic is based on two Greek words—oikos meaning house, and zoikos meaning of animals (zoikos is based on the Greek word zoion meaning living being). More simply said, ecozoic is based on eco meaning house and zoic meaning life. Putting these together, ecozoic means “House of Life.” Ecozoic shares the same root…
By Alice Loyd President Obama didn’t mention climate change during his run for re-election last fall, but he’s not the only one staying silent on the most important problem in human and non-human affairs. A small group has made the subject contentious in order to preserve its own financial interests. Politicians walk on tiptoe around…
Many human civilizations have come and gone. An ecological civilization will have the capacity to endure, being built on spiritual understandings of biological systems and organizing itself to follow natural patterns.