Without Nature? A New Condition for Theology |
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| Editor:
| Albertson, David
King, Cabell |
| ISBN: | 978-0-8232-3069-3 |
| Publication Date: | Dec 2009 |
| Publisher: | Fordham University Press
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| Book Format: | Hardback |
| List Price: | USD $115.00 |
Book Description:
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Does "nature" still exist? Common wisdom now acknowledges the malleability of nature, the complex reality that circumscribes and constitutes the human. Some thinkers have suggested that nature has disappeared entirely and that we have entered a postnatural era; others note that nature is an ineradicable context for life. If nature is becoming increasingly destabilized, what does this mean for contemporary bioethics and environmental ethics, as well as for the religious...
More DescriptionDoes "nature" still exist? Common wisdom now acknowledges the malleability of nature, the complex reality that circumscribes and constitutes the human. Some thinkers have suggested that nature has disappeared entirely and that we have entered a postnatural era; others note that nature is an ineradicable context for life.
If nature is becoming increasingly destabilized, what does this mean for contemporary bioethics and environmental ethics, as well as for the religious visions that inform them? Christian theology, in particular, finds itself in an awkward position. Its Western traditions have long relied upon a static "nature" to express the dynamism of "grace," making nature a foundational category within theology itself.
This book brings leading natural and social scientists into conversation with prominent Christian theologians and ethicists to wrestle collectively with difficult questions. Is nature undergoing fundamental change? What role does nature play in theological ethics? How might ethical deliberation proceed "without nature" in the future?