Description
Book SynopsisBoth philosophical and theological texts of antiquity argued that a “noetic” or contemplative understanding of nature is higher than the discursive rationality oriented toward domination and control. Studying poets, mystics, and nature writers, this book argues that restoring a sacred view of nature is urgently needed in Western thought.
Trade Review"This splendid book makes an original and important contribution to environmental philosophy. It develops an argument the seeds for which were sown by the author's earlier work: that a fruitful approach to environmental ethics, or a proper understanding of 'the Good' with respect to nature, requires a deeper grounding in environmental aesthetics, or a clearer vision of 'the Beautiful,' which is itself ultimately rooted in an 'environmental theology.' With grace and conviction, Foltz shows that it is only by cultivating a sense of 'the Holy' that we can hope to restore a right relation to nature and to ourselves." -- -Christopher Dustin College of the Holy Cross "Bruce Foltz's book The Noetics of Nature: Environmental Philosophy and the Holy Beauty of the Visible is a tour de force, an intellectual and cultural history of nature in the West. Its original and in-depth scholarship re-centers environmental philosophy on the marginalized but crucial intersection of Hebrew and Greek thought in the West, viewed with continuity through the patristic and Byzantine eras and beyond into modern Russian philosophy, as an alternative to modern Western materialism." -- -Alfred Siewers Bucknell University "Bruce Foltz has written an original and compelling book that deserves wide attention. Drawing on Greek Patristic thought, recent environmental writers, Orthodox theology and aesthetics, and the wide sweep of philosophy from the ancient Greeks to today's phenomenology, Foltz opens multiple, fresh lines of insight and inquiry. The Noetics of Nature is an impressive achievement and a much-needed, new voice in current conversations on the healing of earth." -- -Norman Wirzba Duke Divinity School
Table of ContentsPreface Introduction: The Noetics of Nature 1. Whence the Depth of Deep Ecology? Natural Beauty and the Eclipse of the Holy 2. Nature's Other Side: The Demise of Nature and the Phenomenology of Givenness 3. Layers of Nature in Thomas Traherne and John Muir: Numinous Beauty, Onto-theology, and Polyphony of Tradition 4. Sailing to Byzantium: Nature and City in the Greek East 5. The Resurrection of Nature: Environmental Metaphysics in Sergei Bulgakov's Philosophy of Economy 6. The Iconic Earth: Nature Godly and Beautiful 7. Seeing Nature: Theoria Physike in the Thought of St. Maximus the Confessor 8. Seeing God in All Things: Nature and Divinity in Maximus, Florensky, and Ibn 'Arabi 9. The Glory of God Hidden in Creation: Eastern Views of Nature in Fyodor Dostoevsky and St Isaac the Syrian 10. Between Heaven and Earth: Did Christianity Cause Global Warming? 11. Nature and Other Modern Idolatries: Kosmos, Ktisis, and Chaos in Environmental Philosophy 12. Traces of Divine Fragrance, Droplets of Divine Love: the Beauty of Visible Creation in Byzantine Thought and Spirituality Notes Index
