eBook The Reenchantment of Nature: The Denial of Religion and the Ecological Crisis download

The inside-cover of my book states that McGrath argues for a radical shift in perspective in the polarized science-religion debate. His main thesis is that Christianity have always respected and revered the bounty and the beauty of the earth. We need to be re-enchanted by nature, breaking through the mould set by the mechanistic, scientific worldview of reality.

McGrath argues that we have to use as a starting point that creation itself poses a framework, imposing an order and structure on reality. The doctrine of creation needs to be dusted of and understood in its fullness. Nature is a witness of God's wisdom and the beauty of nature (Chandrasekhar) points beyond itself to the glory of God (Bonaventura). Reality is full and rich and cannot be reduced to one particular interpretation, the scientific one (Bhasker). Further, as mankind is made in the image of God he/she relates to God and feel the pain of an absence of God. Humans have deep longing for transcendence. It is quite natural to stand in awe when we see and appreciate nature.

The ecological insights from this reorientation are first and foremost the idea that humans have to care for creation (DeWitt, Cohen, Hall). The natural order we see and experience around us is God's act of creation. Humans, created in the image of God, are charged with tending creation, and never have received the right to do with creation what we want. That idea is not driven by Christianity, but by the Enlightment desire for human autonomy and the misuse of science and technology to master and control nature. Earlier Christian traditions, for example, have shown a deep respect for nature and emphasized that nature is a means of knowing God. The land is God's and violating nature is a sin.

This does bring forward how we think about God. The Enlightment project placed God at best as a clockmaker, a deity far removed from the day-to-day running of creation. This deism is in stark contrast to the Christian doctrine of God as being transcendent and immanent. Nature is God's place of action and dwelling, although nature itself is not God and not sacred because of this. Further, God send Christ into the natural world to redeem from within and to restore the future to its original integrity. Redemption, therefore is far more than personal transformation, it includes a renewed relationship with God, a sure hope of eternal life and the restoration of nature to its original intent. McGrath argues that this realization brings a new motivation for ecological action: a need to preserve what one day will be a new paradise.

The thesis that Christianity is responsible for the ecological crises is therefore misguided. Christianity teaches that human are accountable and that there are limits on exploitation. The exploitation manifesto is written by the Enlightment project; a rigid, reductionist approach to reality, a self-centred view of humanity and limitless technological development. Postmodern thinkers have criticized these developments, but according to McGrath, have only stated that there are multiple ways in which nature is to be interpreted and approached. Postmodern thinking does not give a firm basis on which nature is to be respected and to be treated as inherently special (Soule). It lacks on ontology; a recognition of intrinsic value.

It is this human refusal to accept limits, and the breakneck speed of unchecked technology and innovation, which have brought us to this ecological crises. McGrath argues that human self-centredness is the essence of sin, it brings skewed relationships with God, with each other and with nature. The idea of a mechanistic clockwork universe emphasizes those aspects of reality that can be quantified and mechanized. The subject-object relationship, so essential to the scientific project became a worldview. Nature is increasingly seen as the object, the other. This observation-driven methodology only deals with sensorially perceived reality. McGrath makes the point that the problem is not so much in this (scientific) approach, but in the idea that this abstract, reduced model of the world started becoming the only legitimate view of reality.

The Enlightment view of nature is not the only one. Throughout the ages a Romantic view of nature also persisted, although in a less powerful way. Whereas the Enlightment view emphasized words like power, control and survival (`nature red in tooth and claw') as seen by a detached observer, the Romantic view focused on mankind's encounter with nature, standing in awe of its wonder and beauty. Rainbows lifts hearts, there is a world beyond experience. It is in this view that McGrath finds some ingredients for an alternative vision, not one to accept as a worldview, but as one to correct for the arrogance of the Enlightment project.

Against this backdrop McGrath start unpacking his thesis. Reality does not depend upon human observation to come into existence (Bhaskar). A respectful and careful reflection on the deep structures of nature is the alternative. From the behaviour of people and animals to the patterning of the natural world is the key to understanding nature and the destiny of humanity. While modernity was fascinated with dominating nature, and postmodernity with the freedom of human choice that cannot be dictated by nature itself, Christianity needs to reclaim the idea that nature is God's creation that needs to be re-discovered in its richness. Nature foreshadows, it tells about the glory of God. It is not only a respect for integrity and wellbeing on nature that is needed. A re-enchanted nature opens doors to better understanding our deepest levels of existence and purpose.

The flowing, very readable text and McGraths' deep understanding of scientific and theological concepts are great strengths of this book. The prose on Dawkins could have been saved for another article, but never stood in the way of a better understanding of the authors' arguments. I simply loved this book and recommend everyone reflecting on the ecological crises to read it. There is a caveat: Come with an open mind. It can be very liberating.

Alister McGrath seeks to return us to an understanding of the poetry of life. He writes with a moving style and is fiercely passionate about the idea that nature should move passion within us. The book is a polemic, in the best sense of that word, to argue that we should be awestruck and spellbound by nature. But not by nature itself. He would seek for us to return to the romanticism of yesteryear- but not merely end there. For McGrath wishes us to go beyond the rationalism of the Englightenment and Modernism, recreating all of life as machine, and beyond the wishy-washy universal acceptance of Post-Modernism. Beyond, to see the beyond. Nature for McGrath exists not simply to study, or even to enjoy, but to point to the God who made it. This has long been the message of Christianity- and McGrath makes convincing arguments from Genesis of environmental rape coming from secular atheism rather than Christianity with it's strong support for nature as God's handiwork.

Although at times I wished there were more facts to back up McGrath's statements, it's really not that kind of book. There are facts present, but the book's not designed as an argument as much as poetry in itself. As one who enjoys and dabbles in both science and poetry, I was moved. I was reminded of what first drew me to studying nature. It was not to listen to dry lectures of astronomy, but rather to perceive the boundless beauty and imagination present in creation, because the Creator is boundless and imaginative. It isn't enough to embrace environmentalism simply because if we don't, we'll die as a species, however true that might be. The real reason to embrace it is because it is filled with the numinous, and it's presence allows us to focus on the Author of the Numinous.

Though Dawkins is rightfully held up as a type of scientific materialism that seeks to deny all other reality, it is not done in a mean or vindictive manner. I was continuously impressed by McGrath's gentle tone in dealing with his academic adversaries. Likewise McGrath is to be strongly credited with fully accepting the backbone of biology, evolution, and at the same time exploring the myriad possibilities for understanding God better through studying His creation. But those are the wrong words. McGrath would better say, embracing His creation, and being infused by it.