The Sacred Universe: Earth, Spirituality, and Religion in the Twenty-First Century

by Thomas Berry, Mary Evelyn Tucker (Editor)

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.

Genres: Spirituality, Nature, Religion, Nonfiction, Theology, Philosophy, Environment

226 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 1, 2009

Reviews

[Emma · Rating 4 out of 5]

"For the stars in the night sky over our cities to be blocked from view by particle and light pollution is not simply the loss of a passing visual experience, it is a loss of soul. This is especially a loss for children, for it is from the stars, the planets, and the moon in the heavens as well as from the flowers, birds, forests, and woodland creatures of Earth that some of their most profound inner experiences originate."

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

For Thomas Berry, C. P. Ph D. (1914 - 2009), we are inter-connected in the universe; we participate in the unity of all things (seen and unseen). Others declare a gap exists between us and the earth, universe: the purpose of the earth in our universe is for human extraction and production.

Berry responds, that we are all members of this “community" (unity). The universe with the earth supports us, administers power with us, and restores us: the communion is a mystery in which all things depend for their existence and their activity.

"We need to establish a rapport among the divine, the natural, and the human" (146); The deep inner tendencies to dance and sign, the need to feel the wind in the summer evenings, to see animals as they roam over the land: these awaken in us to our personal identity and guide us in our fulfillment" (158-160).

Oh, by the way this a self-described "Earth scholar," the author's references include dear old friends Mircea Eliade, The Quest: History and Meaning in Religion (1984 ); H. A. Frankfort, John A. Wilson, Thorkild Jacobsen, William A. Irwin, The Intellectual Adventure of Ancient Man: An Essay on Speculative Thought in the Ancient Near East (1946); and Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, The Human Phenomenon, trans Sarah Appleton-Weber (1999)

[Jeremy Garber · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thomas Berry is recently the best scholar of religion I’ve never heard of. Purchased on my Kindle on a whim for $2.99, The Sacred Universe proved one of the most thought-provoking and relevant conversation partners I’ve recently read. Berry saw the potential and the danger of human-made climate change beginning with his writings in 1975 – far before the current crisis in which we find ourselves. He critiques both entrenched religious understandings and dogmatic scientific empiricism of religion, instead looking for a supportive relationship between the two. Berry also avoids the common temptation in comparative religion to collapse religious traditions into a foundational sameness, instead lining up stories from differing traditions to point out their similarities and differences along similar threads. Most of all, Berry is concerned with human flourishing in the context of global and even cosmological connectedness. He understands the necessity of spiritual health, art, and creativity without facile individualism or sentimentality. Berry calls for a hermeneutics between religious traditions in the context of our planet and our universe, based on current understandings and communal practices alike. As a practicing Christian, yogi, and ecotheologian, I commit myself further to Berry’s program of conversation and action in this fragile web that we have damaged too much already.

[Avery · Rating 1 out of 5]

For Berry the purpose of religion is not actually uncovering the Divine, but "self-authentication" (42). He paradoxically demands a "recovery of the sacred" while using language that denies the reality of the sacred. The result is a humanism that employs religious terms where it sees fit, but is actually radically opposed to all religion. Statements like "the human quest [is for the] integration of Heaven and Earth" (22) can only be interpreted as a crypto-leftist rejection of religious norms. Arguably the false attempt to establish Heaven on Earth is what has left us all sitting in our suburban fantasy homes with our many machines, while in some distant Hell our trash and pollution pile up.

[ManGar · Rating 5 out of 5]

The most impressive aspect of this book is the breath of topics that it covers; after all, it is about the Universe, but the author shows his mastery of scientific, humanistic and theologic themes.

I checked it out of the library and quickly had the urge to underline many, many sections. I bought a copy and it is now well marked! Presently I consider buying and giving away copies of this work to family and friends when gift-giving occasion beckon, or for no reason at all. It is one of those life-changing reads and essential for our survival in the current existential crisis. As Thomas Berry says, "We must live in paradise not tomorrow but today".

The author is inclusive of all religious traditions and addresses the evolution of humanity's attempts to understand the world. At first, I thought that the foreword by Mary Every Tucker was over the top in lauding Thomas Berry—now I see the foreword as an honest and proper evaluation of this work.

Without giving too much away, Berry emphasizes that "Our problem, then, is to convert religion to the world rather than to convert the world to religion". His message, in part, is that scientific discoveries have advanced faster than theology and there is a need to narrow this gap to keep religion relevant to today's crises and challenges and enlist it in helping us out of the mess we have created.

This is a humbling book that I am not qualified to critique. It should be required reading for all human beings.

"The human might be described as that being in whom the universe reflects on and celebrates itself and the deep mysteries of existence in a special mode of conscious self-awareness. Our human role is to enable the universe to reflect on itself in a special mode of consciousness"
— Thomas Berry.

I am urgently called to be more present and aware to each moment and how I respond with action or inaction. We are sacred and in live on a sacred earth, a sacred universe.

"What seems to be little understood is that our inner world of mind and imagination can only be activated by experience of the wonder and beauty of the outer world."
— Thomas Berry.

[Karen O'Connor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic overview of life

Brilliant book. Fascinating and humbling in equal measures. Thomas Berry should be on school/university curriculum everywhere. It is a profound look at what our existence as humans has done to the world.

[Sally · Rating 4 out of 5]

Selected essays written from 1972 to 2001 capture Berry's view of the universe as one sacred community and humanity's need to see itself ethically and spiritually in the broader context of earth and cosmos.