CHAPTER OUTLINES
Chapter 1: Coming Home To The Cosmos
The current planetary crisis – global warming, species extinction, and the degradation of all the biosystems of the earth – is a spiritual crisis. We have forgotten our deep intimacy with the cosmos and with the planet. Bruce Sanguin shares his deeply personal story of coming home to the cosmos – how the cosmos and the planet came alive for him as his identity shifted from living on the earth to living as the earth in human form. As we begin to appreciate the 14-billion-year story of creation as a single, continuous event, we recover a felt sense of our radical belonging. Reconnecting with the cosmos and the earth is a spiritual conversion, and is central to what it means to be Christian in the 21st century.
Chapter 2: The Weaning From Wonder
We will not save what we do not love, and we will not love what we do not regard as sacred, says Thomas Berry. Most theological models present God as located outside creation. Scientific rationalism systematically voided the cosmos of Spirit, leaving humans to make meaning out of an essentially meaningless universe. Emptied of sacred meaning and purpose, the earth and her creatures became commodities to serve the marketplace god of the 21st century. The way home is a recovery of the spirituality of awe – noticing that all creation is radiant with Spirit.
Chapter 3: The Common Creation Story as Sacred Revelation
Richard Dawkins is wrong. Evolution is not natural selection plus random mutation plus deep time. Evolution is the story of Spirit. In eight succinct epochs, from the Big Bang to the brain of Einstein, the evolutionary story is told as a sacred unfolding of Spirit in time and space. The psalmist got it exactly right – creation is proclaiming the glory of God – not through “intelligent design,” but by design for evolution by an Intelligence that honours our freedom.
Chapter 4: Evolution As Divine Unfolding
Sanguin gathers up the insights of the new cosmology, biology, and complexity theory to illustrate that the evolutionary principle of creative emergence requires a new way of thinking about God – an evolutionary God. This God is deeply embedded in creation, working from the inside out to fashion a new creation, over and over again. We discover, using the prophet Isaiah’s words, that the “new thing” God is doing flows from a natural grace, not supernatural intervention.
Chapter 5: Bible Stories in a Cosmic Context
What happens when we view the central narratives of the Bible – the story of Exodus, Exile, Sacrifice, and Call – through a cosmological and ecological lens? We discover that God’s desire for liberation extends to other-than-human species, that extinction is an absolute form of exile, that sacrifice is an essential dynamic of an evolving universe, and that the whole cosmos, from electrons to eagles, feel the “call” toward increased complexity, consciousness, and beauty. Most importantly, we discover that scripture is a rich resource in helping us in the sacred work of healing both the planet and our relationship to it.
Chapter 6: Jesus’ Teachings: An Ecological Perspective
Now, using the same lens, zoom in on the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. The result is some very original midrash on familiar metaphors and parables of Jesus, such as the Kingdom of God and the parable of the Prodigal Son. Preachers concerned with our ecological crisis will get lots of gems for Sunday morning. The chapter ends with a cosmological rendering of the Lord’s Prayer.
Chapter 7: The Irresistible Sophia: Wisdom Christology and the Ecological Imperative
Sophia who? Suppressed, but not forgotten, the Jewish Wisdom Goddess makes an appearance in this chapter. Sanguin makes a compelling case that the New Testament writers used the template of the Sophia tradition to tell the story of Jesus of Nazareth. He concludes that She is the sacred and immanent intelligence of the universe – the “pattern that connects.” Moving from the macro-level of cosmology to the micro-level of quantum physics, the wisdom of the feminine divine is revealed as a radical and pervasive interconnectedness.
Chapter 8: Wising Up: Spirituality and Praxis for Planetary Christians
As we deconstruct the cultural narratives of Empire, consumerism, and celebrity, we leave the path of foolishness and learn to walk according to Wisdom’s ways. Here we find practical tips for the reclamation of a spirituality of awe and the greening of our congregations. To have the mind and heart of the Christ in the 21st century is turn our energy to the healing of our planet that God so loves.
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