The Promise of Nature: Ecology and Cosmic Purpose

The ecological crisis faced by our planet may have the effect of transforming religious ideas. Religions were born and took their distinctive shapes by the need of people to find harmony in their internal and external worlds. In our day that harmony is being challenged by a breakdown in the relationship between human beings and their global environment. Do the religious views held by most believers today provide an adequate basis for interacting with nature? Theologian John Haught believes they do not. Nor, he says, do stereotyped religious attitudes about the natural world enable believers to dialogue with physical scientists, many of whom are nonbelievers. To make the dialogue work we need a common language about nature and how it works. Haught maintains that process language will not only assist the ecological dialogue but help to transform religion itself. Nature is "holy" not because it originated at the hand of a creator or because it transparently reveals God now. It is holy primarily because of its direction: it is promise. This "future dimension" of nature lets us deal intelligently with the present crisis without forsaking the mysterious power that nature has for us.

This new, thought-provoking work justifies the role of religion in shaping an ecological ethic, and provides a foundation for discussion among those who are concerned with the state of the natural environment, and who wonder how religion can contribute to the renewal of the Earth.

John F. Haught (Ph.D., Catholic University of America) is Thomas Healey Professor of Theology at Georgetown University. He served as chair of the Georgetown Department of Theology from 1990-1995. His teaching and research interests focus especially on issues in science and religion, cosmology and theology, and religion and ecology. Also the founding director of Georgetown's Center for the Study of Science and Religion, Dr. Haught has authored more than fifty articles and book chapters and has published several books including 'Science and Religion: From Conflict to Conversation' (1995) and 'God After Darwin: A Theology of Evolution' (1999). He is also the editor of 'Science and Religion in Search of Cosmic Purpose'.