In the last few decades, religious and secular thinkers have tackled the world's escalating environmental crisis by attempting to develop an ecological ethic that is both scientifically accurate and free of human-centered preconceptions. This groundbreaking study shows that many of these environmental ethicists continue to model their positions on romantic, pre-Darwinian concepts that disregard the predatory and cruelly competitive realities of the natural world. Examining the work of such influential thinkers as James Gustafson, Sallie McFague, Rosemary Radford Ruether, John Cobb, (...) Peter Singer, and Holmes Rolston, Sideris proposes a more realistic ethic that combines evolutionary theory with theological insight, advocates a minimally interventionist stance toward nature, and values the processes over the products of the natural world. (shrink)

A set of science‐inspired cosmic narratives referred to as the Epic of Evolution and the Universe Story or, collectively, the new cosmology, proposes to bring humans closer to nature by placing us into the broader narrative of the cosmos. This article responds to commentary and critique on my book Consecrating Science: Wonder, Knowledge, and the Natural World, which critically examines these science‐based cosmic narratives and their particular and problematic modes and objects of wonder. Themes include the relationship of wonder to (...) science and ethical engagement; the question of whether wonder, grounded in everyday sensory experience, can scale up to the level of global environmental problems; the relevance of wonder to nonideal environments and negative affects like fear or grief; and the importance of humanistic and religious studies scholarship for critiquing grand narratives of science, among other themes. I also respond to claims that my book misdiagnoses and distorts the work of the new cosmology and its claims to wonder. (shrink)

Abstract:This article explores analytically different senses and usages of the concept of wonder, in order to analyze which of them are more fruitful for fostering care for nature, especially when it tends to avoid scientific reductionism or fundamentalist understandings of religions. Wonder that is understood as openess to mystery and uncertainty is particularly positive precisely beacause it moves us away from the aforementioned dangers. In this sense, wonder as awe seems to be the most positive sense of wonder. Inasmuch wonder (...) questions our way of doing things and/or our preconceptions it may be a useful resource to embrace for environmentally friendly habits. The article compares this sense of wonder that Rachel Carson developed in order to question our dominion of nature and tendency to control it, with Pope Francis' claim that paying attention to reality rather than to our deformed visions of nature is necessary to foster care for the environment rather than destroying it. In conclusion the article argues that wonder is a powerful resource, for believers and non-believers alike, to build a better relationship with the environment in order to preserve it.Keywords: Wonder; Anthropocene; Rachel Carson; Laudato Si’. (shrink)