Description
Book SynopsisDebunking myths behind what is known collectively as the new cosmology-a grand, overlapping set of narratives that claim to bring science and spirituality together-Lisa H. Sideris offers a searing critique of the movement's anthropocentric vision of the world. In Consecrating Science, Sideris argues that instead of cultivating an ethic of respect for nature, the new cosmology encourages human arrogance, uncritical reverence for science, and indifference to nonhuman life. Exploring moral sensibilities rooted in experience of the natural world, Sideris shows how a sense of wonder can foster environmental attitudes that will protect our planet from ecological collapse for years to come.
Trade Review"Lisa Sideris’s
Consecrating Science: Wonder, Knowledge, and the Natural World is a rich and deeply insightful analysis of a family of ambitious historical narratives, each of which is vying to become the new myth everyone lives by. Through careful textual study, Sideris convincingly argues that despite their stated goal of promoting a deep respect and care for the natural world, these narratives may inadvertently undermine development of the environmental ethic they seek to foster." * Reading Religion *
"The argument of
Consecrating Science is clearly articulated, carefully organized, and impeccably substantiated. Sideris’s analysis is consistently generous, nuanced, level-headed, and good-humored. Perhaps most impressively, the book integrates religious studies, science studies, ethics, and critical naturalism into a methodology that somehow remains coherent even in its multivalence." * Journal of the American Academy of Religion *
"
Consecrating Science is valuable reading for a number of academic audiences. . . . It is an obvious fit for scholars of religion and science, religion and environment, and environmental ethics (particularly environmental virtue ethics, given the book’s focus on the cultivation of attitudes and dispositions). It could also prove useful for higher education administrators thinking through general education curriculum design." * Worldviews *
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments
Introduction: The Return of Mythopoeic Science
1. Seeking What Is Good in Wonder
2. The Book of Nature and the Book of Science: Richard Dawkins on Wonder
3. E. O. Wilson’s Ionian Enchantment: A Tale of Two Realities
4. Evolutionary Enchantment and Denatured Religious Naturalism
5. Anthropic and Anthropocene Narratives of the New Cosmology
6. Genesis 2.0: The Epic of Evolution as Religion of Reality
7. Making Sense of Wonder
Notes
Glossary of Terms
References
Index
