Is it too late?: A theology of ecology

by John B. Cobb Jr.

Book by Cobb, John B

111 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1971

About the author

John Boswell Cobb Jr. was an American theologian, philosopher, and environmentalist. Cobb was regarded as a preeminent scholar in the field of process philosophy and process theology, the school of thought associated with the philosophy of Alfred North Whitehead. He was the author of more than fifty books. In 2014, Cobb was elected to the prestigious American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Reviews

[Meg · Rating 3 out of 5]

Instead of reading the first half of this book ("Part one: The Need for a New Vision") I suggest reading Cobb's more recent work, Sustainability, which I just reviewed. Much of the material is the same (there are actually passages copied over from this book to the other), but the more recent work, unsurprisingly, has a fresher perspective that takes into account the increase in knowledge about relationships between man and environment, and also about the role of the global economy in environmental sustainability. It also ditches the overemphasis on population growth present in this earlier piece, something that Cobb himself admits was perhaps not the best route to take in approaching environmental problems.

The second half of Is it too late?, however, ("Part Two: The New Vision We Need") is a helpful assessment of the way current trends in philosophy have had negative effects on our understanding of ourselves and our place in the world. Cobb argues that philosophy must take into account evolutionary theory to be able to adequately represent the place of humans in the world, and that doing so will also restore a proper sense of the importance of other beings who are currently only seen for their instrumental value to humankind. He joins this with a discussion of Whitehead's process philosophy, which allows him to then move to discuss how a process theology view of God is an essential part of this "new vision we need." (If you haven't had any prior exposure to process thought, the chapters here are a decent and quick introduction of some of its key points, though they certainly won't answer all of one's questions.)

This is one of the foundational works that brought environmental concerns into Christian theology. As such, it feels to some extent the way many works in a beginning field often do: though conceptually rich, it is more a road map or itinerary of where further thought needs to happen, rather than a thorough working out of all those elements of thought itself. But as such, it's a good place to start if one is interested in exploring how Christians and philosophers alike might develop a more adequate picture of the world that takes into account the full context of humans, and not just humans themselves.

[John Harvey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ecology and religion