E-Book Overview
The current ecological crisis is a matter of urgent global concern, with solutions being sought on many fronts. In this book, Seyyed Hossein Nasr argues that the devastation of our world has been exacerbated, if not actually caused, by the reductionist view of nature that has been advanced by modern secular science. What is needed, he believes, is the recovery of the truth to which the great, enduring religions all attest; namely that nature is sacred.Nasr traces the historical process through which Western civilization moved away from the idea of nature as sacred and embraced a world view which sees humans as alienated from nature and nature itself as a machine to be dominated and manipulated by humans. His goal is to negate the totalitarian claims of modern science and to re-open the way to the religious view of the order of nature, developed over centuries in the cosmologies and sacred sciences of the great traditions. Each tradition, Nasr shows, has a wealth of knowledge and experience concerning the order of nature. The resuscitation of this knowledge, he argues, would allow religions all over the globe to enrich each other and cooperate to heal the wounds inflicted upon the Earth.
E-Book Content
RELIGION & THE ORDER OF NATURE
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RELIGION & THE ORDER OF NATURE
The 1994 Cadbury Lectures at the University of Birmingham
SEYYED HOSSEIN NASR
New York Oxford OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS 1996
Oxford Universit y Pres s Oxford Ne w Yor k Athens Aucklan d Bangko k Bogot a Bomba y Buenos Aire s Calcutt a Cap e Tow n Da r e s Salaam Delhi Florenc e Hon g Kon g Istanbu l Karach i Kuala Lumpu r Madra s Madri d Melbourn e Mexico Cit y Nairob i Pari s Singapor e Taipei Toky o Toront o and associate d companie s i n Berlin Ibada n
Copyright © 199 6 by Seyye d Hossei n Nas r Published b y Oxfor d Universit y Press , Inc . 198 Madison Avenue, Ne w York , Ne w Yor k 10016 Oxford i s a registered trademar k o f Oxford Universit y Press , Inc . All right s reserved . N o par t o f thi s publication ma y b e reproduced , stored i n a retrieva l system , o r transmitted , i n an y for m o r b y an y means , electronic, mechanical , photocopying, recordin g o r otherwise , without th e prio r permission o f Oxford Universit y Press. Library o f Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Dat a Nasr, Seyye d Hossein . Religion an d th e orde r o f nature / Seyye d Hossei n Nasr . p. cm . "The 199 4 Cadbury Lecture s a t th e Universit y of Birmingham. " Includes index . ISBN 0-19-510274-6 ; ISB N 0-19-510823- X (pbk. ) 1. Nature—Religiou s aspects . 2 . Religio n an d science . 3 . Holy , The. 4. Philosoph y of nature. 5 . Environmenta l ethics . 6 . Huma n ecology Religious aspects . I . Title . BL65.N53N37 199 6 291.2'4 dc2
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Printed i n th e Unite d State s o f America on acid-fre e pape r
Behold, Thy Lord said to the angels: "Verily 1 am about to establish on earth a vicegerent." They said, "Wilt Thou place therein one who will spread corruption thereon and shed blood, whilst it is we who celebrate Thy praises and glorify Thy holy Name? God answered, "Verily I know what ye know not." The Noble Quran— Surat al-Baqarah, v. 30 .
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Contents
Introduction 3 1 Religio
n an d Religion s 9
2 Th e Orde r o f Nature 2 9 3 Philosoph y an d th e Misdeed s o f Philosophy 8
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4 Th e Traditiona l Sciences , the Scientifi c Revolution , and It s Aftermat h 12 6 5 The
Tragi c Consequence s of Humanism in the Wes t 163
6 Th e Rediscover y of Nature: Religio n an d the Environmenta l Crisis 19 1 7 Th e Wisdo m o f the Bod y 23 5 8 Religio n an d th e Resacralizatio n of Nature 27 0 Index 29
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