Clayton Crockett, University of Central Arkansas:
- Changing Perceptions of Earth
Mechanical Science and Philosophy
The origins of Early Modern science in Europe: Copernicus, Kepler, Galileo, Newton
Geocentrism (Ptolemy, Aristotle) vs. Heliocentrism--The same laws apply on earth and heaven
God’s role is transformed in natural religion and natural theology—deism
Politics and economics
The “discovery” of the new world shifts global power from east to west due to genocide of natives, abundant natural resources, and development of plantation slavery in Americas. Modern capitalism begins in Holland in 1600s with first joint stock market. First religion, and then race, is used to justify European colonization, subjugation, destruction and enslavement of native peoples, in America, Africa and Asia
Natural resources as reserves to be exploited
Native human populations, animals, trees, minerals and later fossil fuels are seen as resources to be exploited by “clever” white Europeans. There is a fundamental break between the social world of ethics and politics, and the natural world of things. Rights and Social contracts only exist among modern humans; others, including humans and nonhuman animals and plants, are objects or tools to be used for profit
Industrialization and Fossil Fuels
Ancient forms of life compressed into solid, liquid, and gas forms fuel modern civilization. The steam engine was invented to pump water out of coal mines, and propels Great Britain to world power. Growth and technology accelerate as oil fields are exploited and then internal combustion engine is invented. In 1900s US takes over as world power from Britain due to oil supplies and financialization of First World War
Nothing Lasts Forever!
Inflection point in global growth around 1970—we begin to hit real physical limits to growth. As global growth slows, the only way to grow is relatively, leading to concentration of wealth within and among nations. There is an awareness of the environmental crisis starting in early 1970s, but no political will to change the system—instead we’ve been outsourcing production and pollution to poorer countries
Global warming
Scientists virtually all agree that planet is warming due to human activities--Feedback loops and tipping points accelerate climate change. We’re living in the Anthropocene – new geological era—sixty mass extinction event in Earth’s history. Planet is getting hotter, sea levels are rising, but also ocean acidification, more extreme weather events, scarcity of fresh water, overpopulation, food security, rare earth minerals, arable land, conflict over remaining hydrocarbon reserves, danger of nuclear radiation.
Conclusion: WWJD? Christianity as triumphant nativist nationalism vs ministering to most vulnerable. Proponents of biblical literalism encourage ignorance that accords with ignorance of our ecological situation and promotes acceptance of authority at enormous costs.
- A Postmodern Self With the Earth (After God)
What is a Self?
The Person who is Saved or Damned by God or Faith? The Subject who Knows or Acts upon an Object?
The Self who is Related to an Other? I Contain Multitudes –Ed Yong
A Postmodern Self
What is Postmodernism? The Name comes from 20th Century Recognition of the Limits of Modernism
To be Modern is to be New, Good, Civilized, Better than Ancients, Medievals, Primitives, Savages, Non-moderns: After World Wars and Holocaust, it becomes impossible for many Scholars and Intellectuals to Affirm that our Western European Might Makes us Right in Ethical and Moral terms. For many people Postmodernism implies total Moral Relativism, but this is a caricature. Postmodern means the ability to Question the presumption that Modern is Better than Non-Modern.
Two Ways of Being a Self in Contemporary World
1) Autonomous, Individualist, Selfish, Isolated, Consumerist: Choice is experienced as desire of Ego, and it is expressed in the Market. In terms of Religion/Christianity, this is expressed in terms of the Desire for Personal Salvation.
2) You are only yourself in Relation to Others: Community, Interconnectedness, Entanglement, Solidarity. We only exist in Radical Relation to Each Other, Other Non-Human Animals, Plants, Bacteria, Quantum Virtual Particles, Earth, Moon, Sun, Everything
God After Theism
I think that the arguments between Theism and Atheism are somewhat uninteresting. It does not make sense to consider ultimate reality in personal terms, and I think that life as well as consciousness are complex, emergent forms of self-organizations that require both material form and energy flow. I like energy because energy is always dynamic, and exists in transformation. Energy flow through a system organizes a system, whether it is a physical or a biological or a social system
Energy is infinite, it is always conserved, and we do not know what it is; we just measure what it does. Energy is fully material—it is convertible with matter (mass) at the square of the speed of light, but we can also view it in spiritual terms as an intrinsic immanent process
Conclusion: We are reaching real limits of energy resources on the planet; it’s not that we will run out, but they are becoming scarcer and more expensive. We need to shift from a political economy of growth to a political ecology of sustainability. Thought and consciousness also require enormous amounts of energy! These are also spiritual transactions and transformations, and it matters where and when they occur.
Sources: Clayton Crockett and Jeffrey W. Robbins, Religion, Politics, and the Earth (Palgrave Macmillan, 2012); Elizabeth Kolbert, The Sixth Extinction (Picador, 2014); Naomi Klein, This Changes Everything (Simon & Schuster, 2014); Thom Hartmann, The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight (Random House, 2004).