E-Book Overview
Gaia, the scientific theory founded by James Lovelock in 1979, embraces the earth as a whole, dynamic entity whose sum is always larger than its parts. While science and theology are often seen as contraries, which negate or dilute one another, Gaia theory harmonizes both systems of thought. Sacred Gaia cogently describes Gaia theory's analysis of human and earthly evolution. Anne Primavesi's remarkable, effortlessly coherent book helps us to recognize the sacredness of our origins and our responsibility for the future.
E-Book Content
Sacred Gaia Here is a book that is really needed. Hurrah for it! (Mary Midgley) Anne Primavesi’s affirmation that life is a continuous gift, in the myriad dimensions she describes, is grounded in a provocatively new and thoughtful understanding of theology as an earth science. If theology took evolutionary theory seriously, as Sacred Gaia suggests, the implications for religious proclamations and understanding would be profound. (Heather Eaton, St Paul University, Canada) a tour de force…. This is a book to widen anyone’s horizons. (Ruth Page, University of Edinburgh) James Lovelock’s Gaia theory considers the earth as a whole, with its evolution and the evolution of life upon it merging into a single process. From this dynamic system emerged conditions favourable for sustaining life in every organism and species, including our own. In this important book Anne Primavesi develops the religious implications of this theory and presents for the first time a coherent theology rooted in ‘awe at the sacredness of the whole earth system’. This is a remarkable and thought-provoking book: while offering challenging ideas, it remains effortlessly coherent. Dr Anne Primavesi is former Research Fellow in Environmental Theology at the University of Bristol. Sacred Gaia Holistic theology and earth system science Anne Primavesi London and New York First published 2000 by Routledge 11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2003. © 2000 Anne Primavesi All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data A catalog record has been requested for this title ISBN 0-203-45178-3 Master e-book ISBN ISBN 0-203-76002-6 (Adobe eReader Format) ISBN 0-415-18833-4 (hbk) ISBN 0-415-18834-2 (pbk) To dearest her who lives alas! away Una beloved sister and friend 1932–1995 Contents Foreword Preface Acknowledgements xi xiii xx 1 A single evolutionary process Autopoiesis, metabolism, boundaries 2 Organism, environment, and structural coupling 3 Gaia as autopoietic entity 5 Humans as autopoietic entities 6 Poiesis and partiality in perspectives 9 Theology from a coevolutionary perspective 12 1 2 Coevolutionary organisms The family of organisms 15 Ourselves and other organisms 17 Theology becoming an earth science 19 Human history/Earth history 21 15 3 Description and distinction Evolutionary nature of description 27 Margulis’ descriptions and their character 28 Metaphor and the function of paradox 29 Division or distinction? 32 Theology divided from, or distinct from science? 34 24 4 Contemporary theological circuits Coevolutionary impact 37 Unique