Thomas Berry

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For other people with the same name, see Thomas Berry (disambiguation).
The Rev. Dr.
Thomas Berry
CP
Born(1914-11-09)November 9, 1914
Greensboro, North Carolina, U.S.
DiedJune 1, 2009(2009-06-01) (aged 94)
Greensboro, North Carolina, U.S.
Occupation(s)cultural historian, historian of world religions, "geologian"
OrganizationPassionists

Thomas Berry, CP (November 9, 1914 – June 1, 2009) was a Catholic priest, cultural historian, and scholar of the world's religions, especially Asian traditions. Later, as he studied Earth history and evolution, he called himself a "geologian".

He rejected the label "

ecotheologian" as too narrow and not descriptive of his cultural studies in history of religions. He was drawn early on to respond to the growing ecological and climate crisis and proposed the need for a "New Story" of evolution in 1978.[1] In this essay he suggested that a deep understanding of the history and functioning of the evolving universe is a necessary inspiration and guide for our own effective functioning as individuals and as a species.[1]

Berry believed that humanity, after generations spent in despoiling the planet, is poised to embrace a new role as a vital part of a larger, interdependent Earth community, consisting of a "communion of subjects not a collection of objects".

Ecozoic Era, characterized by mutually-enhancing human-Earth relations, or a Techozoic Era, where we dominate and exploit the planet via our technological mastery.[3]

Berry said the transformation of humanity's priorities will not come easily. It requires what he called "the great work"—the title of one of his books—in four institutional realms: the political and legal order; the economic and industrial world; education; and religion.[4]

Biography

Born to William and Bess Berry in

Passionist order in 1933, where he adopted the name "Thomas",[4] after Thomas Aquinas. He was ordained a priest in 1942.[4] He began studying cultural history, especially the world's religions.[4]

He received his doctorate in

history of religions at Fordham University (1966–1979).[4] There he directed over twenty doctoral dissertations. During this period he also founded and directed the Riverdale Center of Religious Research in Riverdale, New York (1970–1995).[4]

In addition to Asian religions, he studied and taught classes on

T'boli tribal peoples of South Cotabato, on the island of Mindanao in the Philippines.[citation needed
]

From his academic beginnings as a historian of world cultures and religions, Berry developed into a historian of the Earth and its evolutionary processes. He was influenced by the work of the

Yale/Coursera.[8]

Berry's work inspired his younger brother Jim to establish the Center for Reflection on the Second Law, which held annual conferences near Chapel Hill, North Carolina, from 1984 until Jim's passing in 1997,[9] and which featured Thomas as a frequent speaker.[10]

In 1995, Berry returned to Greensboro, North Carolina. While nominally retired, he continued to write, lecture, and receive friends at his home. In a tribute to Berry, Mary Evelyn Tucker said that his books—The Dream of the Earth (1988 reprinted, 2006), The Universe Story (with Brian Swimme, 1992), and The Great Work: Our Way into the Future (1999)—are "major contributions to discussions on the environment".[citation needed] A collection of his essays, Evening Thoughts: Reflecting on Earth as Sacred Community (2006), was jointly published by Sierra Club Books and the University of California Press. He completed two final books of essays in 2009, The Sacred Universe and The Christian Future and the Fate of Earth.

Berry also contributed two introductory essays ("Economics: Its Effects on the Life Systems of the World" and "The Earth: A New Context for Religious Unity") to the volume Thomas Berry and the New Cosmology, in which Brian Swimme, Caroline Richards, Gregory Baum and others discuss the implications of Berry's thought for a range of disciplines and paradigms.[7] Berry's "Twelve Principles for Understanding the Universe and the Role of the Human in the Universe Process"[11] offer a postscript to this 1987 work.

He died in 2009 at the age of 94.[4]

Legacy

Berry was featured in the 2007 documentary What a Way to Go: Life at the End of Empire.

His work is disseminated and discussed by the Thomas Berry Foundation, the

Yale/Coursera and is hosted by Mary Evelyn Tucker and John Grim of Yale University. In 2018, The Leadership for the Ecozoic (L4E) project was initiated with the first cohort of fellows based at the University of Vermont and McGill University.[14] In 2019, Thomas Berry: A Biography was published by Columbia University Press, written by Tucker, Grim, and Andrew Angyal. That same year, the "Thomas Berry and 'The Great Work'" Conference was held at Georgetown University.[15]

Major Publications

Papers

Berry's papers are archived at the Environmental Science and Public Policy Archives in the Harvard Library.

Honorary degrees

Other honors and awards

  • 2007 Earth is Community conference held in London, UK to honor Thomas Berry, organized by the Gaia Foundation and Greenspirit, September 15, 2007
  • 2005 Thomas Berry Student-Writing Award established by the Environmental Leadership Center, Warren Wilson College, Asheville, North Carolina, to foster dialogue and quality writing on environmental themes
  • 2003 Frederick II Peace Prize, Pax Romana Earth Charter Project, Castel del Monte, Adria, Italy, March 15, 2003
  • 2002 The Cosmological Imagination conference held in Berkeley, California, to honor Thomas Berry organized by the Philosophy, Cosmology and Consciousness Department of the California Institute of Integral Studies, November 2 to 4, 2002
  • 2002 Juliet Hollister Award, The Temple of Understanding, University Club, New York City, April 16, 2002
  • 2001 Francis of Assisi Award for contribution to Earth Day Forum on Nature and Culture, presented to Thomas Berry by DePaul University's Institute for Nature and Culture, Chicago, Illinois
  • 2000 Thomas Berry Professorship proposed for the Loyola Institute for Ministry of Loyola University, New Orleans
  • 2000 Named to the Council of Honored Elders of the group Earth Elders, Santa Rosa, CA
  • 1999 The Thomas Berry Hall at the Whidbey Institute of Chinook on Whidbey Island north of Seattle, dedication July 23, 1999
  • 1999 The Thomas Berry Lecture established by the Fine Arts Department of the University of British Columbia, 1999, endowed by Fine-Arts Professor Emeritus Herb Gilbert, choosing the title Ecozoic Art Prize based on the term originating with Thomas Berry
  • 1999 David C. Korten's book The Post-Corporate World: Life After Capitalism is dedicated to Thomas Berry
  • 1999 Inclusion in World Authors 1990–1995 of H.W. Wilson Co.
  • 1998 First Annual Jerry Mische Global Service Award of Global Education Associates, on their 25th Anniversary Celebration, April 30, 1998
  • 1998 The Thomas Berry Foundation established in Washington, DC
  • 1998 First Annual Thomas Berry Environmental Award and Lectureship sponsored by the Center for Reflection on the Second Law (CRSL) and the Humane Society of the United States, presented by Dr Mary Evelyn Tucker
  • 1997 The New York Open Center Award: "A Visionary Voice in the Merging of Ecology and Spirituality", October 30, 1997
  • 1997 College of Mount St. Vincent on the Hudson first annual Thomas Berry Environmental Award made to Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for Achievement in Restoring Ecological Health to the Hudson Valley Region of New York State
  • 1996 Inclusion in the New Catholic Encyclopedia XIX (Supplement 1989–1996)
  • 1995 The Lannan Foundation Literary Award for Non-Fiction for The Dream of the Earth, $50,000 prize
  • 1995 Made an honorary charter member of The Club of Budapest, June 1995
  • 1995 First Green Dove Award of Common Boundary, November 10, 1995
  • 1993 The Catholic University of America Alumni Award for Achievement in Research and Scholarship, October 23, 1993
  • 1993 The Bishop Carroll T. Dozier Medal for Peace and Justice, The Christian Brothers University of Memphis, Tennessee
  • 1992 Named Honorary Canon of the Episcopal Cathedral of St. John the Divine, New York
  • 1992 The James Herriott Award, The Humane Society of the United States
  • 1992 The Prescott College Environmental Award, Prescott, Arizona
  • 1992 Scholar-in-Residence for the Humane Society of the United States on a continuing appointment
  • 1989 The United States Catholic Mission Association Annual Award

See also

References

  1. ^
    OCLC 52601492
    .
  2. ^ This phrase is widely cited; see, for example: "Search results for 'communion of subjects not a collection of objects'". Internet Archive. Retrieved 2023-01-23.
  3. ^ Hope, Marjorie; Young, James (1994). "A prophetic voice: Thomas Berry". The Trumpeter. 11 (1).
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Revkin, Andrew C. (June 3, 2009). "Thomas Berry, Writer and Lecturer With a Mission for Mankind, Dies at 94". The New York Times. Retrieved 23 July 2015.
  5. ^ Thomas Berry, "Meadow Across the Creek", The Great Work. New York: Bell Tower, 1999.
  6. ^ Thomas Berry, Evening Thoughts: Reflecting on Earth as Sacred Community, edited by Mary Evelyn Tucker (Sierra Club, 2006), 145–147.
  7. ^
    OCLC 25163247
    .
  8. ^ "Journey of the Universe: A Story for Our Times | Coursera". coursera.org. Retrieved January 23, 2023.
  9. ^ O'Neill, Patrick. "Obituary: James Berry, war resister and environmentalist". The Prism. Retrieved 22 March 2022.
  10. ^ Berry, James F. "Center for Reflection on the Second Law". Center for Reflection on the Second Law. Archived from the original on 27 November 2021. Retrieved 22 March 2022.
  11. ^ Also available at: Berry, Thomas. "Twelve Principles for Understanding the Universe and the Role of the Human in the Universe Process". ecozoictimes.com. Retrieved January 23, 2023.
  12. ^ "Living Cosmology Videos". www.journeyoftheuniverse.org. November 9, 2014. Retrieved January 23, 2023.
  13. ^ "The Worldview of Thomas Berry: The Flourishing of the Earth Community | Coursera". coursera.org. Retrieved December 12, 2019.
  14. ^ "ABOUT | Leadership for the Ecozoic". www.l4ecozoic.org.
  15. ^ "Georgetown Conference". thomasberry.org. Retrieved 2021-12-01.

External links

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