THE ECOZOIC WAY in Religion, Ethics and Law
Understanding & Applying the Essential Teachings of THOMAS BERRY
with Herman Greene, JD, DMin
Eight Week Course
Mondays: March 4, 11, 18, 25; April 1, 8, 15, 22 (7:00 – 9:00 PM ET)
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Sixteen PD hours for teachers! AMS approved!
The present urgency is to begin thinking within
the context of the whole planet, the integral Earth community.
— Thomas Berry, The Great Work
Explore a New Story Perspective on the Ecozioc Way
Herman Greene, a close friend and leading scholar of Thomas Berry, will lead this course.
He was a Prophet, Visionary,
and Earth Saint.
Who was Thomas Berry ?
Watch “Thomas Berry recite his “Earth’s Desire” poem.
Watch Thomas Berry speak on “The Historic Mission of our Time.”
Session Descriptions
(Sessions are live with Herman Greene. Recordings of all sessions will be accessible inside the course space for up to one year. You may participate in online discussions between sessions.)
Session 1: Thomas Berry: The Man, His Times, and Influences on His Thought
Session 2: The Ecozoic Era: Moving on from a Terminal Cenozoic to an Ecozoic Era
Session 3: The Great Work: Moving from our Modern Industrial Civilization with its Devastating Impact to that of Benign Presence
Session 4: Reinventing the Human at the Species Level.
Session 5: The New Cosmology
Session 6: Call for Ecozoic Societies
Session 7: Essential Understandings for the Great Work
Session 8: Applying Thomas Berry’s Teachings: Reform of Religion and Law
Green Mountain Monastery and Thomas Berry Sanctuary, Greensboro, Vermont
Reading Materials
To see readings for each session,
click here!
You can watch
recordings of sessions which will be posted in the course space for up to one year.
Key Learnings:
1) Who Thomas Berry was, influences on his life and thought, how he affected people, and his importance today.
2) Key patterns and teachings in his work, including the “Ecozoic era,” the “Great Work” of our time, reinventing our human species, and the story of the universe as science and mythic narrative.
4) Instruction in how Herman has applied Berry’s teachings to the reform in law and religion and how this relates to reform of other institutions.
Thomas Berry, A Biography by Mary Evelyn Tucker, John Grim, and Andrew Angyal
Mary Evelyn Tucker and John Grim are the co-founders of the Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology. They are, also, trustees of the Thomas Berry Foundation, which has established a website on Thomas Berry’s work, thomasberry.org. This will be valuable to participants as it contains biographical materials about him, articles by and about him, and audio and video presentations by him.
What we are dealing with is epic in its dimensions beyond anything thus far expressed under this term. Mitigation of the present ruinous situation, the recycling of materials, the diminishment of consumption, the healing of damaged ecosystems—all this will be in vain if we do these things to make the present industrial systems acceptable. They must all be done, but in order to build a new order of things.
— Thomas Berry, “The Determining Features of the Ecozoic Era”
Why This Course Is Important?
Thomas Berry was a “seminal” thinker. Seminal means “containing or contributing the seeds of later development : CREATIVE, ORIGINAL.” This adjective accurately describes how Thomas planted seeds for later development. He was not the end but the beginning of a way of knowing, doing, and being in the world. His ideas both invite and demand additional development and, especially, application. Because his writing was synthetic—taking and combining insights from many sources and weaving them together—it is difficult to break down and apply. It’s “all that stuff behind” his work that needs understanding to be able to develop and apply it well. The benefit of undertaking this in-depth study of Thomas’s work is that it can then also be applied synthetically by being woven into and combined with wide fields of endeavor from personal to civilizational to bring about change.There are three existential threats to the future of humanity: weapons of mass destruction, especially nuclear weapons, the ecological crisis, and technology gone awry. Only one of these challenges—the ecological crisis—provides the basis for reforming human civilization.
Concerning the breadth of what is involved in the ecological crisis and how it can be addressed, Thomas Berry is the master teacher.
Who Is This Course For?
- have heard about Thomas Berry and wish to study his work.
- know Thomas Berry’s work and want to have a deeper understanding of how to apply it to personal-to-civilizational change.
- are unfamiliar with Thomas Berry and, based on the description of this course, would like to know about him, his work, and how it may be applied.
Bio of Herman Greene
A Personal Invitation from Herman Greene:
I remember the day forty years ago when I read Thomas Berry’s “The Spirituality of the Earth.”
My life has never been the same. Thirty years ago I read The Dream of the Earth when my life
was in turmoil. Then I knew what my vocation was.
Someone once told me that my gift was being able to take in huge amounts of information and
organize it. I think that is true.
I don’t know if in this course I will dazzle and inspire you. The point is to undertake a deep study of Thomas Berry’s thought and learn practical ways to apply it. There is a fair amount of suggested readings for this course and those who do the readings will benefit from doing so.
The Great Work is difficult, there is no way around this. As ecological and social conditions worsen, it will become even more difficult. Then we will need the guidance of Thomas Berry even more.
I will do my best offer to teach you Thomas Berry’s essential thoughts as I understand them and how to apply them. I look forward to learning from you as well.
Will you join us?
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— Elizabeth Carranza & John Leydon, Philippines
What people are saying about the Deeptime Network . . .
Our Learning Management System
We use Sensei integrated with Buddypress so that participants can engage in asynchronous course discussions, and share resources, profiles, and information about their organizations. We’ve had experience using this technology with people of all levels of technical capability. If you have any questions, we’re right there to help you. All meetings are recorded. The course will remain open for one year so you can view recordings, stay in touch and continue to share thoughts and resources with others sharing the journey with you. Our fearless developer, Mohit Sharma, stands at the ready to solve any tech problems that might crop up a long the way.
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(“PD hours” are Professional Development Hours.)