Toward an Ecology of Transfiguration

Published by Fordham University Press 2013

Toward an Ecology of Transfiguration

Orthodox Christian Perspectives on Environment, Nature, and Creation

With contributions by: Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew
Edited by: John Chryssavgis and Bruce V. Foltz
Preface by: Bill McKibben

In the series Orthodox Christianity and Contemporary Thought

https://doi.org/10.1515/9780823252343

Overview
Contents

About this book

Can Orthodox Christianity offer spiritual resources uniquely suited to the environmental concerns of today? This book makes the case emphatically that it can indeed. In addition to being the first substantial and comprehensive collection of essays, in any language, to address environmental issues from the Orthodox point of view, this volume (with contributions from many of the most influential theologians and philosophers in contemporary world Orthodoxy) will engage a wide audience, in academic as well as popular circles—resonating not only with Orthodox audiences but with all those in search of a fresh approach to environmental theory and ethics that can bring to bear the resources of ancient spirituality, often virtually unknown in the West, on modern challenges and dilemmas.

Author information

ChryssavgisJohn:

The REV. DR. JOHN CHRYSSAVGIS is Archdeacon of the Ecumenical Throne and a clergyman of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, where he serves as theological advisor in the office of Inter Orthodox and ecumenical relations. He is also theological advisor to the Ecumenical Patriarch on environmental affairs. He studied in Athens and Oxford, as well as taught in Sydney and Boston. The author of numerous books and articles on Orthodox theology, spirituality, and ecology, he has edited three volumes containing the selected writings of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew (Fordham University Press, 2010–12) and co-edited the signature anthology on Orthodoxy and the environment, Toward an Ecology of Transfiguration: Orthodox Christian Perspectives on Environment, Nature, and Creation (Fordham). He lives in Harpswell, Maine.FoltzBruce V.:

Bruce Foltz is Professor of Philosophy at Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, Florida, and Founding President of the International Association for Environmental Philosophy. He is the author of Inhabiting the Earth: Heidegger, Environmental Ethics, and the Metaphysics of Nature (Humanities Press)
and The Noetics of Nature: Environmental Philosophy and the Holy Beauty of the Visible (Fordham University Press), as well as coeditor of Toward an Ecology of Transfiguration: Orthodox Christian Perspectives on Environment, Nature, and Creation (Fordham University Press). He is finishing a new monograph to be called Nature and Other Modern Idolatries.

BartholomewEcumenical Patriarch:

His all Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, spiritual leader of the world’s
300 million Orthodox Christians, is the 270th
successor of St. Andrew the Apostle, who founded the 2,000-year-old Church of Constantinople. For his efforts to raise environmental awareness, he was named by Time magazine as one of the world’s most influential people.

McKibbenBill:

Bill McKibben is an environmentalist, journalist, and author of over fifteen books about the environment, beginning with The End of Nature, which is regarded as the first book for a general audience on climate change. He founded the grassroots climate campaign 350 .org. In 2012, he was keynote speaker at the Halki Summit.

Reviews

The contribution of Orthodox theology to the topic of environmental destruction has long been awaited in many Western Christian and secular groups alike. This definitive collection is that response, reflecting variations as diverse as its people, but more importantly, giving them a forum from which real debate on the relationship between the human and the rest of creation may finally arise.

—Rev. Chad Hatfield:
“I must say from the onset that my enthusiasm can hardly be contained!. . . . To my knowledge there are no books currently being offered that provide the depth and scholarship found here. . . . This manuscript has gathered the best in the field and collated them into what certainly can become a foundational text book for further academic study.”

—Mary Evelyn Tucker:
This anthology is a monumental contribution to the literature on religion and ecology. The abundant contributions of the Orthodox tradition to seeing into the sacred depths of nature are evident in this rich collection of essays. It will stand as a classic in the field for years to come and help reshape reflections on our shared planetary future.

—Daniel P. Buxhoeveden:
“I rate this as perhaps the signature work on Orthodoxy and the Environment (and Nature) available in English. [Its] range of topics and specializations make it useful for people who are not Orthodox and for those with diverse academic backgrounds. It is difficult to imagine anyone who cannot learn or benefit from some chapters or parts of this book.”

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Prefatory Letter Publicly Available Download PDF	xi
Foreword Bill McKibben Publicly Available Download PDF	xiii
Introduction. “The Sweetness of Heaven Overflows onto the Earth”: Orthodox Christianity and Environmental Thought John Chryssavgis and Bruce V. Foltz Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
PART I. “Knowledge United to God”: Environment, Nature, and Creation In Patristic Thought
The Logoi of Beings in Greek Patristic Thought David Bradshaw Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	9
Hierarchy and Love in St. Dionysius the Areopagite Eric D. Perl Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	23
The Beauty of the World and Its Significance in St. Gregory the Theologian John Anthony McGuckin Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	34
Natural Contemplation in St. Maximus the Confessor and St. Isaac the Syrian Metropolitan Jonah Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	46
Man and Cosmos in St. Maximus the Confessor Andrew Louth Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	59
PART II. “The Heart That Receives”: Environment, Nature, and Creation in Twentieth- Century Orthodox Thought
Ecology, Theology, and the World Savas Agouridis Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	75
Through Creation to the Creator Metropolitan Kallistos (Ware) of Diokleia Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	86
Creation as Communion in Contemporary Orthodox Theology Aristotle Papanikolaou Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	106
The Theological-Ethical Contributions of Archimandrite Sophrony (Sakharov) to Environmental Issues Perry T. Hamalis Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	121
The Cosmology of the Eucharist George Theokritoff Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	131
“A ‘Tradition’ That Never Existed”: Orthodox Christianity and the Failures of Environmental History Jurretta Jordan Heckscher Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	136
A New Heaven and a New Earth: Orthodox Christian Insights from Theology, Spirituality, and the Sacraments John Chryssavgis Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	152
Proprietors or Priests of Creation? Metropolitan John (Zizioulas) of Pergamon Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	163
PART III. “Love Comes from Meeting God”: Historical, Theological, and Philosophical Dimensions
Sedimentation of Meaning in the Concepts of Nature and the Environment James Carey Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	175
Existential versus Regulative Approaches: The Environmental Issue as an Existential and Not a Canonical Problem Christos Yannaras Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	186
Nature and Creation: A Comment on the Environmental Problem from a Philosophical and Theological Standpoint Nikos Nissiotis Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	193
Physis and Ktisis: Two Different Ways of Thinking of the World John Panteleimon Manoussakis Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	204
Human Image, World Image: The Renewal of Sacred Cosmology Philip Sherrard Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	210
Environment and Security: Toward a Systemic Crisis of Humanity? Costa Carras Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	226
Church Walls and Wilderness Boundaries: Defining the Spaces of Sanctuary L. Michael Harrington Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	235
Orthodoxy and Ecopoetics: The Green World in the Desert Sea Alfred K. Siewers Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	243
Perspectives on Orthodoxy, Evolution, and Ecology Gayle E. Woloschak Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	263
Ecology, Morality, and the Challenges of the Twenty- First Century: The Earth in the Hands of the Sons of Noah H. Tristram Engelhardt Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	276
PART IV. “Sweetness Overflowing onto the Earth”: Insights from Orthodox Spirituality
The Fragile Surround Scott Cairns Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	293
Liturgy, Cosmic Worship, and Christian Cosmology Elizabeth Theokritoff Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	295
“All Creation Rejoices in You”: Creation in the Liturgies for the Feasts of the Theotokos Christina M. Gschwandtner Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	307
Traces of Divine Fragrance, Droplets of Divine Love: On the Beauty of Visible Creation Bruce V. Foltz Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	324
Natural and Supernatural Revelation in Early Irish and Greek Monastic Thought: A Comparative Approach Chrysostomos Koutloumousianos Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	337
Ecology and Monasticism Archimandrite Vasileios Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	348
The Prophetic Charisma in Pastoral Theology: Asceticism, Fasting, and the Ecological Crisis Anestis Keselopoulos Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	356
The Spirit of God Moved upon the Face of the Waters: Orthodox Holiness and the Natural World Donald Sheehan Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	365
APPENDIX A. Vespers for the Environment: September 1 (or the first Sunday in September) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	379
APPENDIX B. Environment, Nature, and Creation in Orthodox Thought: A Bibliography of Texts in English Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	398
APPENDIX C. Glossary Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	410
Notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	415
Contributors Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	469
Index of Names (Classical) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	475
Index of Names (Contemporary) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	477
General Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	480

(Deutsch)

Language: English
Publisher: Fordham University Press
Pages
- Main content: 508
Keywords: Religion; Theology; Environment

eBook

Published: June 3, 2013
ISBN: 9780823252343