What is it about?
Thomas Berry has been one of the leading figures criticizing the "stewardship paradigm" at the heart of Catholic environmentalism, and he provides an alternative cosmic perspective as a theological basis for Catholic environmentalism.
Featured Image
Photo by Lukasz Szmigiel on Unsplash
Why is it important?
Thomas Berry's contribution is important as Catholic environmentalism has relied upon the stewardship paradigm as its theological foundation every since Catholic environmentalism because recognized as a distinct branch of theology in the 1990, and Berry's cosmic perspective provides a significant reorientation of Catholic environmentalism from human well-being to biodiversity as the central ethical concern.
Perspectives
Berry's perspective is critical, as the stewardship paradigm and its anthropocentric bias are not only theologically untenable but practically impotent to change human behavior for the better. In my opinion, Berry's work offers the most promise for changing hearts and minds and hopefully for addressing pressing environmental issues this century.
Mark Graham
Villanova University
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Thomas Berry and the Reshaping of Catholic Environmentalism, Worldviews Global Religions Culture and Ecology, July 2020, Brill,
DOI: 10.1163/15685357-20201006.
You can read the full text:
Contributors
The following have contributed to this page
