Annotation In this provocative assessment of the world's current ecological crisis, the author of the critically acclaimed In the Beginning exposes the false assumptions underlying the conflicts between science and religion, and proposes an innovative approach to saving the planet. Traditionally, science and religion have been thought of as two distinct and irreconcilable ways of looking at the world, and scientists have often chastised the world's religions for keeping their eyes on the heavens and paying scant attention to the destruction of Earth's precious resources and its natural wonders. In The Reenchantment of Nature, Alister McGrath, who holds doctorates in both molecular biology and divinity, challenges this long-held and dangerously misguided dichotomy. Arguing that Christianity and other great religions have always respected and revered the bounty and beauty of the earth, McGrath calls for a radical shift in perspective. He shows that by defining the world in the narrowest of scientific terms and viewing it as a collection of atoms and molecules governed by unchanging laws and forces, we have lost our ability to appreciate nature's enchantments. In order to address the threats to our environment, he maintains, it is essential to reawaken our sense of awe and look at the world as a glorious creation, an irreplaceable gift of God. In setting forth a new framework for the debate between science and religion on ecological theory, The Reenchantment of Nature points the way to integrating two different traditions in a sane and productive effort to rescue the natural world from its present environmental decline. From the Hardcover edition

McGrath, Alister E., 1953-

Bantam Doubleday Dell Books for Young Readers

New York: Doubleday

Doubleday/Galilee

Delacorte Press

Colorado Springs, Westminster, Sept. 2003

United States, United States of America

lst ed, New York, New York State, 2002

1st Galilee ed, New York, ©2002

September 17, 2002

September 16, 2003

1, 2002-09-17

1, PS, 2002

Includes bibliographical references (p. [187]-196) and index

xviii, 204 pages ; 25 cm
"In this provocative assessment of the world's current ecological crisis, the author of the critically acclaimed In the Beginning exposes the false assumptions underlying the conflicts between science and religion, and proposes an innovative approach to saving the planet. Traditionally, science and religion have been thought of as two distinct and irreconcilable ways of looking at the world, and scientists have often chastised the world's religions for keeping their eyes on the heavens and paying scant attention to the destruction of Earth's precious resources and its natural wonders. In The Reenchantment of Nature, Alister McGrath, who holds doctorates in both molecular biology and divinity, challenges this long-held and dangerously misguided dichotomy. Arguing that Christianity and other great religions have always respected and revered the bounty and beauty of the earth, McGrath calls for a radical shift in perspective. He shows that by defining the world in the narrowest of scientific terms and viewing it as a collection of atoms and molecules governed by unchanging laws and forces, we have lost our ability to appreciate nature's enchantments. In order to address the threats to our environment, he maintains, it is essential to reawaken our sense of awe and look at the world as a glorious creation, an irreplaceable gift of God. In setting forth a new framework for the debate between science and religion on ecological theory, The Reenchantment of Nature points the way to integrating two different traditions in a sane and productive effort to rescue the natural world from its present environmental decline." --Publisher's description
Includes bibliographical references (pages 187-196) and index
1. The meaning of life and other enigmas -- The recovery of religion -- Longing for an explanation -- A Christian doctrine of creation -- Reflections of God in nature -- The image of God in humanity -- 2. Respect for nature: Christianity and ecological concern -- The grand tradition: Tending the creation -- The ecological vision of Celtic Christianity -- Christian responses to the environmental crisis / Roman Catholic / Evangelicalism / Liberal Protestantism: Process thought -- The restoration of Eden: hope for creation --
3. A manifesto to exploit: The Enlightenment and the master race -- The rise of anthropocentrism -- Religion and the limits of exploitation: The case of Francis Bacon -- The elimination of God -- A temporary alliance between the sciences and Atheism -- Postmodernity, religion, and nature -- 4. The Faustian pact: Technology and the domination of nature -- Human sin and degradation of the environment -- The Faustian pact and the limitless powers of science -- Prometheus without Pandora: The lure of technology -- The master race: The origins of the autonomous human -- The master race in action: Stalinist ecology -- The rise of technology -- Christianity and technology --
5. The mechanical universe and the desacralization of nature -- Why "models" of nature? -- The clockwork universe: Nature as a mechanism -- The revival of nonmechanical models of nature -- 6. Dissatisfaction with spiritual emptiness: The longing for reenchantment -- Two views of nature: The Enlightenment and Romanticism -- The dream of Romanticism: Glimpsing the transcendent -- The transcendence of nature -- The wonder of nature and intimations of glory -- Heaven in ordinary: The concept of transsignification --
7. Disenchanting nature: The case of Richard Dawkins -- Quackery: Richard Dawkins on religion -- An alternative response: Freeman Dyson -- Faith, reason, and science: A response to Dawkins -- Dawkins's simplistic take on science -- 8. Reenchanting nature: Dawkins, Keats, and the rainbow -- Dawkins on unweaving the rainbow -- A critique of scientific naturalism -- The reenchantment of nature: Reclaiming a lost world
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2023-06-28