Thomas Berry (1914-2009) Eco-theolgian, Earth scholar

[Mary Plaster, M.A.]

December 8, 2009

Dear Colleagues,

We greet you as the year ends and Earth turns towards the Sun, regenerating the cycle of life. This is a rich season of celebrations affirming light and rebirth. Clearly we will need such revitalizing energies for the work ahead. As we turn over the garden in our yard and plant winter rye to restore the soil, we are reminded of the gift of life that grounds our efforts. With all of the challenges our planet is facing, we have much to be thankful for, especially in the collective and creative work in religion and ecology around the world. With the wind moving gently through the pines and across our small, raked rock garden, we are filled with gratitude for the communities of concern that are emerging.

It is no longer the case that religious and spiritual efforts for the environment are at the margins. They are being invited to the table and are partners in many new alliances. What is noteworthy is that there is both a deepening of reflection on the role of human-Earth relations at the same time as there is active engagement with the pressing issues of environmental degradation and protection. The spectrum of reflection and engagement ranges from the world's religions, to indigenous traditions, to environmental ethics and cultural approaches different from institutional religions.

One of the great leaders in this movement for transformative change passed away this year on June 1st. Thomas Berry was our teacher, guide, and collaborator for some 40 years. The celebrations of his life and legacy have been numerous. The Memorial service the Forum organized at the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine in New York drew more than one thousand people. It was filled with music, joy, and a sense of the participation of the whole Earth community (www.thomasberry.org). His two last books of essays carry forward his reflections on the world's religions (The Sacred Universe) and on Christianity (The Christian Future and the Fate of Earth).

With Thomas' inspiration, both the field and the force of religion and ecology have grown immensely. The academic field is flourishing across North America. A Canadian Forum on Religion and Ecology has been established. The "Religion and Ecology" group at the American Academy of Religion is thriving. Courses are being taught in many colleges, universities, and high schools. Here at Yale the Master's Program in Religion and Ecology is attracting students. There is still the challenge of bridging different disciplines so that an integrated field can be established. There are now two interdisciplinary journals in the field, namely, Worldviews: Global Religions, Culture, and Ecology and Journal for the Study of Religion, Nature and Culture.

The force of religion and ecology is evident in a series of conferences and engaged activities that occurred this year. For example, in October the Japanese government held a conference called "Policy Approaches for Realizing a Sustainable Future: Building a New Framework on Climate Change" (www.gea.or.jp/top_en.html). At the opening session, the Crown Prince, Naruhito, spoke eloquently regarding the interdependence of life. The new Prime Minister, Yukio Hatoyama, also called for Japan to reduce greenhouse emissions by 25% by 2020. The other sessions included green policies, technologies, and finance for a sustainable energy future. However, the session that received the most discussion was on the challenge to create a new educational and ethical framework for the transition required. The Forum's contribution was well received in this context. We highlighted the shared values of religion and environmental ethics, namely, reverence and respect,
restraint and redistribution, responsibility and renewal.

At the end of October, the Ecumenical Patriarch, Bartholomew, convened his 8th Symposium on Religion, Science, and the Environment. Titled "Restoring Balance: The Great Mississippi River," it brought together people from the fields of science, engineering, public policy, media, and religion. It focused on past efforts to control the Mississippi River and the problems this created when Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans (www.rsesymposia.org). The Forum assisted in chairing several sessions, including one that featured the film we are working on with Brian Swimme, titled Journey of the Universe. This film provided a large-scale context for these discussions, as it narrates the story of Universe-Earth evolution, pointing toward our ecological roles in that story.

Finally, the year concluded with two significant interreligious events. The first, held at Windsor Castle in England, was hosted by Prince Philip and UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, and was organized by the Alliance of Religions and Conservation (ARC). It featured environmental commitments of selected representatives from the world's religions (www.windsor2009.org). The second, sponsored by the Council for the Parliament of the World's Religions, was held in Melbourne, Australia, titled "Making a World of Difference: Hearing Each Other, Healing the Earth." The Forum organized panels on world religions and ecology, the Earth Charter, Thomas Berry's thought, and the films Renewal, Numen, The Arctic: The Consequences of Human Folly, and Journey of the Universe (www.parliamentofreligions.org).

Future Forum plans include an interdisciplinary meeting in India focused on the Yamuna River. It will be sponsored by the Forum on Religion and Ecology at Yale along with The Energy Research Institute (TERI) directed by Dr. R.K. Pachauri, and Friends of Vrindavan led by Acharya Shrivatsa Goswami, who is head of Sri Radharaman Temple. In addition, the Forum is planning a conference in Beijing with the Institute of World Religions at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences on traditional religious thought and its relationships to environmental ethics in China. This will be in collaboration with our Forum colleague, Professor Tu Weiming, formerly of Harvard and now directing a new Institute for the Humanities at Beijing University.

With all good wishes for your work on behalf of the Earth community,

Mary Evelyn Tucker and John Grim
Co-Directors of the Forum on Religion and Ecology at Yale
www.yale.edu/religionandecology

Link to Service http://www.greenspirit.org.uk/thomasberry/a-final-farewell-to-thoma...

June 1, 2009
Dear Friends,

Our friend and mentor to many of us, Thomas Berry, died peacefully at 6:35 AM this morning. We are all grateful to him for his generosity of spirit and of mind, his love of marrying science and religion, his integrity and passion for justice and especially eco-justice, and his hard work in learning, teaching and mentoring. He was a man of wisdom and a man of grace.

Below is a link to a few words I spoke a few years ago at a gathering to honor him and he was present for that gathering. (This has been posted on my web page for a few years.)

Now Thomas joins the ancestors. And he leaves behind much work for all of us to do. All part of the Great Work of which he wrote so eloquently.

Cordially,

Matthew Fox

http://www.matthewfox.org/sys-tmpl/tberry/

See also:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/04/us/04berry.html?_r=2&scp=1&am...berry%22&st=cse

http://ncronline.org/news/ecology/thomas-berry-environmentalist-pri...

http://www.thomasberry.org/Biography/tucker-bio.html

http://www.thomasberry.org/Biography/grim-bio.html

http://www.thegreatstory.org/tb-audio.html

http://thankgodforevolution.com/node/1869

http://www.greenspirit.org.uk/resources/TBerry.shtml

Memorials:

The Thomas Berry Foundation was established in 1999 to foster his work. Donations to continue his legacy may be sent to:

The Thomas Berry Foundation
c/o Mary Evelyn Tucker and John Grim
29 Spoke Drive
Woodbridge, CT 06525

[Susan Coppage Evans]

Thank you so much Mary, for posting this. SO incredible - the role model Berry was.

[George Polley]

Wow! You have given me a lot to think about, Mary. How did I manage to get through 75 years without knowing about Thomas Berry? I have a lot of catching up to do. Or, as the following poem, which I wrote over 30 years ago, perhaps I've been closer to his point of view than I think.

Rain

I understand how it is that
some people think
the woods are full of spirits,
with the wind,
a phalanx of spirits
rushing toward me through
the treetops. I see
individual spirits, too,
stepping from tree to tree

as I sit here. Raindrops
strike leaves like fingers
hitting keyboards, and leaves

around me glisten with
wetness and shake themselves.
Above, the sky has begun

to rumble, and I hear the whoosh
of great gray wings
pulling the sky down.

I get up, take heavy slow steps
that sink into the moss and
dead leaves and carry me out
of the woods and to my car.
From the inside, I watch as the
wind rushes from the woods

and across the field, and
the rain pounds down
in thunderous torrents.
The great gray wings
lift up, raising the sky
and rush north, and in the

woods the trees shudder,
sending showers down,
and the earth smells new.
--Minneapolis, 1976

Thank you, Mary, for sharing about this very wise man.

Shalom,
George

[michel gadoury]

Once upon a time Thomas Berry and he lives forever.

[Mary Plaster, M.A.]

From Mary Evelyn Tucker and John Grim:

Dear friends,

We wanted you to know that Thomas Berry passed away early on the morning of June 1st at Wellspring home where he had been living in Greensboro, North Carolina. He died peacefully and with family at his side. Fortunately we were visiting with him just 10 days ago. He was our beloved teacher and friend. Because of his insight and understanding of the religions of the world we were inspired to carry his work forward in the Forum on Religion and Ecology.

Thomas Berry was born in Greensboro, North Carolina in 1914. 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 describes himself as a "geologian."

Berry received his Ph.D. in European Intellectual History with a thesis on Giambattista Vico's philosophy of history. Widely read in Western history, he also spent many years studying the cultural history of Asia. He lived in China and traveled to other parts of Asia. He authored two books on Asian religions, Buddhism and Religions of India (distributed by Columbia University Press).

For two decades, he directed the Riverdale Center of Religious Research along the Hudson River. During this period he taught at Fordham University where he chaired the history of religions program and directed 25 doctoral theses. His major contributions to the discussion on the environment are in his books The Dream of the Earth (Sierra Club Books, 1988 reprinted, 2006), The Great Work: Our Way into the Future (Random House, 1999) and, with Brian Swimme, The Universe Story (Harper San Francisco, 1992). His latest collection of essays is Evening Thoughts: Reflecting on Earth as Sacred Community (Sierra Club Books and University of California Press, 2006).

This August two more books of his essays will be published: The Sacred Universe (Columbia University) and The Christian Future and the Fate of Earth (Orbis Books).

He has been a great gift in our lives - and in many others' as well. His warmth, humor, and insight have enhanced so many gatherings and his writings will remain as a remarkable legacy of a brilliant mind.

We will be at the funeral celebration of his life in Greensboro on Wednesday, June 3rd. Thomas will be buried at the Green Mountain Monastery in Greensboro, Vermont on June 8th. We are also planning a memorial service in New York this September at the Cathedral of St John the Divine where Paul Winter will play and Brian Swimme and others will speak. We will keep you posted on this.

His family has requested that in lieu of flowers donations can be made in his memory to:

The Thomas Berry Foundation
c/o Mary Evelyn Tucker & John Grim
29 Spoke Drive
Woodbridge, CT 06525

SO many beautiful tributes are coming from across North America and around the world, suggesting that today marks a new beginning for carrying on the "great work" he began.

With our warm wishes,
Mary Evelyn & John

[Matt Henry]

Attached:
Description of Funeral Service for Thomas Berry (sent out by Matt Fox / Friends of Creation Spirituality)