Earth Matters: Religion, Nature, and Science in the Ecologies of Contemporary America

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dc.contributor.advisorKripal, Jeffrey J.en_US
dc.contributor.committeeMemberFaubion, James D.en_US
dc.contributor.committeeMemberStroup, John M.en_US
dc.creatorLevine, Danielen_US
dc.date.accessioned2013-09-16T15:48:23Zen_US
dc.date.accessioned2013-09-16T15:48:26Zen_US
dc.date.available2013-09-16T15:48:23Zen_US
dc.date.available2013-09-16T15:48:26Zen_US
dc.date.created2013-05en_US
dc.date.issued2013-09-16en_US
dc.date.submittedMay 2013en_US
dc.date.updated2013-09-16T15:48:26Zen_US
dc.description.abstractEarth Matters examines the relationships between alternative religion in North America and the natural world through the twin lenses of the history of religions and cultural anthropology. Throughout, nature remains a contested ground, defined simultaneously the limits of cultural activity and by an increasing expansion of claims to knowledge by scientific discourses. Less a historical review than a series of fugues of thought, Earth Matters engages with figures like the French vitalist, Georges Canguilhem, the American environmentalist, John Muir; the founder of Deep Ecology, Arne Næss; the collaborators on Gaia Theory, James Lovelock and Lynn Margulis; the physicist and New Age scientist, Fritjof Capra; and the Wiccan writer and activist, Starhawk. These subjects move in spirals throughout the thesis: Canguilhem opens the question of vitalism, the search for a source of being beyond the explanations of the emerging sciences. As rationalism expands its dominance across the scientific landscape, this animating force moves into the natural world, to that protean space between the city and the wild and in the environmental thinkers who initially moved along those boundaries. As the twentieth century moves towards a close, mechanistic thinking simultaneously reaches heights of success previously unimagined and collapses under the demand for complexity posed by quantum physics, by research in genetic interactions, by the continued elusive relationship of mind to health. This allows the wild to return inside through the internalization of consciousness sparked by the American New Age, but also provides a new model to understand the natural world as complex zone open to a wide variety of strategies, including the multiplicities of understanding offered through contemporary neopaganisms. Earth Matters argues for the necessity of the notion of ecology, both as an environmental concern but also as an organizing principle for human thought and behavior. Ecologies are by their nature complex and multi-variegated things dependent upon the surprising and unpredictable interaction of radically different organisms, and it is through this model that we are best able to understand not only ourselves but also our communities and our efforts to make sense of the external world.en_US
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdfen_US
dc.identifier.citationLevine, Daniel. "Earth Matters: Religion, Nature, and Science in the Ecologies of Contemporary America." (2013) Diss., Rice University. <a href="https://hdl.handle.net/1911/71984">https://hdl.handle.net/1911/71984</a>.en_US
dc.identifier.slug123456789/ETD-2013-05-406en_US
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/1911/71984en_US
dc.language.isoengen_US
dc.rightsCopyright is held by the author, unless otherwise indicated. Permission to reuse, publish, or reproduce the work beyond the bounds of fair use or other exemptions to copyright law must be obtained from the copyright holder.en_US
dc.subjectComparative religionen_US
dc.subjectEnvironmentalismen_US
dc.subjectEcologyen_US
dc.subjectPaganismen_US
dc.subjectNeo paganismen_US
dc.subjectScience and religionen_US
dc.subjectAlternative religionsen_US
dc.subjectCultural anthropologyen_US
dc.subjectNatureen_US
dc.subjectGeorges Canguilhemen_US
dc.subjectJohn Muiren_US
dc.subjectArne Naessen_US
dc.subjectDeep ecologyen_US
dc.subjectVitalismen_US
dc.subjectGaiaen_US
dc.subjectJames Lovelocken_US
dc.subjectLynn Margulisen_US
dc.subjectFritjof Capraen_US
dc.subjectStarhawken_US
dc.subjectWiccaen_US
dc.subjectMary Midgleyen_US
dc.titleEarth Matters: Religion, Nature, and Science in the Ecologies of Contemporary Americaen_US
dc.typeThesisen_US
dc.type.materialTexten_US
thesis.degree.departmentHistoryen_US
thesis.degree.disciplineHumanitiesen_US
thesis.degree.grantorRice Universityen_US
thesis.degree.levelDoctoralen_US
thesis.degree.nameDoctor of Philosophyen_US
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