At Home in the Cosmos

...By holding the Bible in one hand and a current account of the "new cosmology" revealed by contemporary science in the other, we acquire a new synoptic vision...

...Both images are required to smooth out the distortions of White's thesis...

...At Home in the Cosmos is a short book, rich in facts and ideas, and very readable...

...The emphasis is clearly on rethinking...

...In part 1 Toolan first responds nicely to the "dominion" issue in the book of Genesis initially raised by the historian Lynn White Jr...

...Newtonian science led to the model of the cosmos as a dumb and determined machine governed by physical laws that neutralized the importance of time and therefore of history...

...He continues by addressing the larger questions of the limits of the tolerant global ecosystem for our profligate behavior based on notions of an unlimited resource base, an infinite capacity of the sky and earth to absorb the garbage of a burgeoning world popu3O lation, and the imperative of endless economic growth...

...Perhaps we can resolve the puzzle this way...

...James E. Huchingson teaches in the religions studies department at Florida International University...

...Nature, on its own, is beautiful, but nature's human component, acting with arrogant independence, befouls the earth...

...The role of "steward" is emphasized in the Priestly narrative, while the Yawhist author prefers the image of the "servant...

...He skillfully combines the sense of divine transcendence in the future as promise (the major theme of the theology of hope) with a vision of the cosmos as fluid rather than fixed, open rather than closed to novel developments...

...This is not triumphant anthropocentrism...

...Toolan appeals to the elemental openness of the universe and says that its purpose is to give rise to a species (ourselves) whose purpose is to propose its purpose...

...Darwin gave us a vision of nature as the arena for a continuing struggle in which the survivors are selected without pity, hence robbing us of the comforting "arcadian" interpretation of nature as a peaceful, pastoral Eden...

...Toolan then looks for a positive biblical image for our ongoing relation to an evolving cosmos and finds it in "the root metaphor of the promising journey...

...Part 2 is an evaluation of the worldview of modern science, especially as it derives from the genius of both Newton and Darwin...

...Other than achieving a just and sustainable society, what other improvements are envisioned...

...All this is just half the story...

...Each of its five parts is a premise in an extended argument with the conclusion that "The Great Work" of the human species is to enter into a new contract with the earth, pledging to employ our considerable power and knowledge in ways that will restore and even improve upon nature...

...Toolan certainly believes so...

...The ideas of Newton and Darwin (along with those of Rene Descartes, Francis Bacon, Adam Smith, and a host of others) gave rise to an "imperial ecology" that effectively devalued the world, contributed to the harsh ideology of industrialization, and redefined God as a pale cosmic clockmaker suffering from excessive transcendence...

...What does all this add up to...

...If modern science provided the philosophical grounding for this unsustainable material growth, do the new sciences of complexity, chaos theory, holistic ecology, and self-organizing systems recommend a different cosmology that is more hospitable to nature...

...Granted, our technological prowess places us in the position of being both stewards and servants...

...But, as creatures who are a part of it all, we are responsible for making sense of a project in which we have this unique and defining role...

...To "do the earth justice" we must make it beautiful...

...Then, surely, the inclusive whole of things, nature plus humankind, will be beautiful...

...Its importance, though, lies in its efforts to examine specific and urgent environmental issues in the light of a cosmic, yet deeply Christian, spirituality...

...Ours is a universe rife with a playful chaos that allows for freedom and creativity in its creatures...

...by examining the Priestly and Yahwist strands of authorship woven into the book...

...In part 4, he argues as much and then weaves theological notions into the suggestions provided by these new sciences...

...At Home in the Cosmos brings together a multitude of figures and perspectives taken from physics, ecology, technology, economics, and philosophy and joins them with biblically based theological insights...

...It is our responsibility...to say what the purpose of the earth shall be...

...In part 3 Toolan assesses "The State of the Earth," by first asking the question "Is there an environmental crisis...

...This is the theme of part 5. The universe is an open system of great promise, "a great experiment, an adventure story...

...It is as if the cosmos spawned us from its cacophony, its gracious "noise," to compose a symphony out of the raw material of the discordant notes...

...To improve upon nature we must repair ourselves...

...The goal of improving upon nature is laudable, but it would puzzle many environmentalists...

...It is precisely the sort of constructive interdisciplinary project that is so desperately needed if we are to rescue this priceless treasure of a planet from our own destructive foolishness...

...James E. Huchingson David Toolan, S.J., a former book review editor for Commonweal and now an associate editor of America, has written a rich and suggestive book, one with Olympian reach...

...The aim of the book, he says, "is to 'rethink' and 'refeel' our place within nature and our common destiny with nature as a whole...

...As "citizens of the earth" we are the central characters in this account...

...But the material form of this task, its content, remains vague...

...His answer is "Yes...

...Far from being a determined narrative, the cosmic story unfolds in highly unpredictable ways, but the focus is on us...