Abstract
Few would argue with the concern that we humans have an unhealthy relation to our world. And many would rightly blame the Christian text and tradition for many of the attitudes that have fostered harmful practices which have degraded our natural world. While these suspicious concerns may have begun in Platonic thought, they were exacerbated by the fastidious sexual mores of early church fathers like Augustine of Hippo. Nature seemed to represent not just the sublime fear of mortality, but a wild and dangerous immorality. These troubling and troublesome ideas contributed to a sense of alienation between Western human communities and nature and were easily taken up by the developments of capitalism as a means of dominating such a disorderly threat. Nevertheless the spirit of care that both Abrahamic traditions and Care Ethics exhibit toward vulnerability that strikes me as a crucial location for changing the practices of our modern world. Christianity’s primary virtue is Love, Caritas in Latin. What this love seeks to do is to tend, to nurture, to support, to heal. These virtues are extolled by the life of Jesus. Even as his primary focus was care for vulnerable humans, it was to the solitary natural places that Jesus stole away to recuperate and reinvigorate for his ministry. The natural world is our solace in this life and not only does our survival depend upon it, but even our capacity for meaning and joy. Learning genuine caritas, in practice, we can change who we are toward Earth.
Presenters
Kimberley ParzuchowskiAdjunct Professor, Philosophy; Business, University of Oregon, Lane Community College, and Bushnell University, Oregon, United States
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
Environmentalism, Judaism, Christianity, Creation, Care Ethics, Nature Mysticism
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