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Green History of Religion
Living World Religions! How did they come about? A number of scholars of religion have drawn attention to what Karl Jaspers calls the "Axial Age." These scholars show that in the middle part of the millennium before Christ, fresh religious stirrings in several parts of the Old World occurred independently. The lives and teachings of outstanding men established new religious and philosophical systems that have profoundly changed the course of history. These scholars also show that these new religious and philosophical systems (axial movements) are characterized by alienation from the natural world and dissatisfaction with life in general as it actually occurs. These movements proposed salvation or liberation from this world or a transformation of it. These contrast sharply with the attitudes of primal people, for whom a healthy participation in the world is all that is desired.
We are led to ask why such negative dispositions toward existent reality had come to prevail. On close examination, we find that the climatic changes of the last fifteen thousand years B.C.E. produced major changes in the environment leading to environmental and social crises in the ancient world. Reduced rainfall ended hunting and gathering societies and also agricultural ones over large areas of North Africa, the Levant, and Mesopotamia, forcing people to take up farming along the banks of the Nile, the Tigris, and the Euphrates. Successful farming there led to much greater concentration of population, which in turn brought about the rise of cities. Agricultural practices in ancient Mesopotamia reduced the fertility of the land and further intensified the environmental crisis. This led to struggles among the cities, militarization, patriarchy, extensive slavery, and widespread alienation from both nature and society. The empires that emerged intensified this alienation by extending the area of ecological decay, increasing oppression, and uprooting whole populations.
In the midst of this crisis, some individuals and groups devised creative ways of living and responding to the crisis. It was their response and vision that gave rise to the Living World Religions in which we all participate. While most values engendered by these visionaries were positive, they largely absorbed the negative attitudes toward nature that had become dominant. This volume narrates the story of the ecological origins of world religions and calls us to think about and amend our destructive ways of living in the world.
We are led to ask why such negative dispositions toward existent reality had come to prevail. On close examination, we find that the climatic changes of the last fifteen thousand years B.C.E. produced major changes in the environment leading to environmental and social crises in the ancient world. Reduced rainfall ended hunting and gathering societies and also agricultural ones over large areas of North Africa, the Levant, and Mesopotamia, forcing people to take up farming along the banks of the Nile, the Tigris, and the Euphrates. Successful farming there led to much greater concentration of population, which in turn brought about the rise of cities. Agricultural practices in ancient Mesopotamia reduced the fertility of the land and further intensified the environmental crisis. This led to struggles among the cities, militarization, patriarchy, extensive slavery, and widespread alienation from both nature and society. The empires that emerged intensified this alienation by extending the area of ecological decay, increasing oppression, and uprooting whole populations.
In the midst of this crisis, some individuals and groups devised creative ways of living and responding to the crisis. It was their response and vision that gave rise to the Living World Religions in which we all participate. While most values engendered by these visionaries were positive, they largely absorbed the negative attitudes toward nature that had become dominant. This volume narrates the story of the ecological origins of world religions and calls us to think about and amend our destructive ways of living in the world.
304 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2006
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October 7, 2020
A challenging but very rewarding book. One of the deepest & densest works of historical materialism I´ve every read. At its core, it is an investigation into the origin of human self-alienation, asking particularly the question of why so many cultures around the world became alienated from the body, the feminine, and the wilderness.
William Catton´s work situates human history within the context of the ecosystem in general; Walter Youngquist and John Michael Greer within the non-renewable context of the geosphere, John Perlin and Richard Rees within the renewable context of the biosphere; Anand Veeraraj within the cosmic context of planetary & solar dynamics. Offers a fascinating and nuanced perspective on the development of agriculture and the earliest urban societies, and the process in which these morphed into destructive empires. Essential reading for an understanding of why people around the world think, feel and act the way they do. Invites several re-readings.
William Catton´s work situates human history within the context of the ecosystem in general; Walter Youngquist and John Michael Greer within the non-renewable context of the geosphere, John Perlin and Richard Rees within the renewable context of the biosphere; Anand Veeraraj within the cosmic context of planetary & solar dynamics. Offers a fascinating and nuanced perspective on the development of agriculture and the earliest urban societies, and the process in which these morphed into destructive empires. Essential reading for an understanding of why people around the world think, feel and act the way they do. Invites several re-readings.
Displaying 1 of 1 review