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'KAREN ARMSTRONG IS A GENIUS' A.N. Wilson
In this hugely powerful book, Karen Armstrong argues that if we want to avert environmental catastrophe, it is not enough to change our behaviour: we need to learn to think and feel differently about the natural world - to rekindle our spiritual bond with nature.
For most of human history, and in almost all the world's cultures, nature was believed to be sacred, and our God or gods to be present everywhere in the natural world. When people in the West began to separate God and nature in modern times, it was not just a profound breach with thousands of years of accumulated wisdom: it also set in train the destruction of the natural world.
Taking themes that have been central to the world's religious traditions - from gratitude and compassion to sacrifice and non-violence - Armstrong offers practical steps to help us develop a new mindset to reconnect with nature and rekindle our sense of the sacred.
Sacred Nature reveals the most profound connections between humans and the natural world. It speaks to anyone interested in our relationship with nature, worried about the destruction of our environment, and searching for new ways of thinking to shape the action needed to save our planet.
'One of our best living writers on religion' Financial Times
'Karen Armstrong is one of the handful of wise and supremely intelligent commentators on religion' Alain de Botton
About the author
Karen Armstrong is one of the world's leading commentators on religious affairs. She spent seven years as a Roman Catholic nun but left her teaching order in 1969 to read English at St Anne's College, Oxford. In 1982, she became a full-time writer and broadcaster. She is the author of sixteen books and has been awarded with honours and prizes across the globe, including the British Academy's inaugural Nayef Al-Rodhan Prize for improving transcultural understanding in 2013.
Summary
'KAREN ARMSTRONG IS A GENIUS' A.N. Wilson
For most of human history nature was held to be sacred, and our God or gods were believed to be present everywhere in nature. That was true of almost all the world's cultures and religious traditions. When people in the West began to separate God and nature in the seventeenth century, it was not just a profound breach with thousands of years of accumulated wisdom and experience: it was also the root of how we have come to plunder the natural world and to promote our individual selves in unhealthy and destructive ways.
Karen Armstrong argues that if we want to avert the looming environmental catastrophe, it is not enough to change our behaviour: we need to learn to think and feel differently about the natural world. She passionately believes that our religious heritage can teach us how to recover a spiritual bond with nature. Each of the book's ten chapters concentrates on a theme that has been central to the world's religious traditions - from gratitude and compassion to sacrifice and non-violence - and offers practical steps to help us develop a different mindset to reconnect with nature and rekindle our sense of the sacred.
Sacred Nature is a book about 'deep ecology': it is about the most profound connections between humans and the natural world. It speaks to anyone interested in our relationship with the natural world, worried about the destruction of our environment, and searching for new ways of thinking to accompany the political action needed to save our planet.
'One of our best living writers on religion' Financial Times
'Karen Armstrong is one of the handful of wise and supremely intelligent commentators on religion' Alain de Botton
Report
A rich and subtle exploration of the sacredness of nature, filled with a timeless wisdom and deep humanity ... Much has been written on the scientific and technological aspects of climate change ... But Armstrong's book is both more personal and more profound. Its urgent message is that hearts and minds need to change if we are to once more learn to revere our beautiful and fragile planet Guardian, Book of the Day
