Saving Our World, Saving Ourselves with Thomas Berry, C.P., Ph.D.

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We have discovered that the universe is dynamically alive and interconnected, and the implications are profound. Ironically, the leading edge of science is bringing back the consciousness of an earlier era when human begins were not separated from nature and the world was enchanted. Thomas Berry speaks of these changing views and a vision of a restorative, creative relationship with the natural world which may hold a key to eventual healing of our global environmental crisis. Raised in the hill country of North Carolina, Berry is a deep believer in recognizing our connection with nature, for "if we can't see the stars at night, it's not just pollution or toxicity of the planet, it's a loss of our soul, our imagination, of the experience of what it is to be a human being." (hosted by Michael Toms)

Bio

Thomas Berry, C.P., Ph.D. (1914-2009) was a Catholic priest of the Passionist order. He was a cultural historian and ecotheologian (although cosmologist and geologian – or “Earth scholar” – were his preferred descriptors). He was one of the leading environmental thinkers in North America. His background held the dual focus of both scientific and spiritual orientations. He was the director of the Riverdale Center for Religious Research and founder of the History of Religions Program at Fordham University.

Berry’s books include:

• The Dream of the Earth (Sierra Club Books 1988)
• The Great Work: Our Way into the Future (Random House/Bell Tower 1999)
• Evening Thoughts: Reflecting on Earth as a Sacred Community (Sierra Club/University of California Press 2006)
• The Sacred Universe: Earth, Spirituality, and Religion in the Twenty-first Century (Columbia University Press 2009)
• The Christian Future and the Fate of Earth (Orbis Books 2009)
• The Universe Story : From the Primordial Flaring Forth to the Ecozoic Era--A Celebration of the Unfolding of the Cosmos (coauthor Brian Swimme) (HarperSanFrancisco 1992)

To find out more about the work of Thomas Berry go to thomasberry.org.

Topics Explored in This Dialogue

• How your attitude toward the natural world affects your attitude toward yourself
• What it really means to be part of a universe that's alive
• Why traditional religion fails us
• How to heal ourselves through healing the earth
• What continues to propel us to an obvious end of total destruction
• The New Society for Ecological Economics
• Why we feel so separate from our own planet and the other life forms upon it
• Applauding the environmentalists of today
• What we are keeping from our children by continued devastation of the earth
• The need to celebrate the great transformative moments of earth's history
• Reinventing ourselves for a brighter tomorrow

Host: Michael Toms        Interview Date: 2/6/1997        Program Number: 2611

Music Included

From Album: Canyon
Artist: Paul Winter
1985 LP #LMR-6 Living Music Records CD #LD0006

From Album: Earth - Voices of a Planet
Artist: Paul Winter Consort
1992 Earth Music Productions #LD0019

From Album: Burning Times
Artist: Charlie Murphy
1992 Earthbeat Records #9-42535-2