Evening Thoughts ─ Reflecting on Earth As a Sacred Community

Among the contemporary voices for the Earth, none resonates like that of noted cultural historian Thomas Berry. His teaching and writings have inspired a generation’s thinking about humankind’s place in the Earth Community and the universe, engendering widespread critical acclaim and a documentary film on his life and work.

This new collection of essays, from various years and occasions, expands and deepens ideas articulated in his earlier writings and also breaks new ground. Berry opens our eyes to the full dimensions of the ecological crisis, framing it as a crisis of spiritual vision. Applying his formidable erudition in cultural history, science, and comparative religions, he forges a compelling narrative of creation and communion that reconciles modern evolutionary thinking and traditional religious insights concerning our integral role in Earth’s society.

While sounding an urgent alarm at our current dilemma, Berry inspires us to reclaim our role as the consciousness of the universe and thereby begin to create a true partnership with the Earth Community. With Evening Thoughts, this wise elder has lit another beacon to lead us home.

Thomas Berry (1914-2009), one of the leading environmental thinkers in North America, was the director of the Riverdale Center for Religious Research and founder of the History of Religions Program at Fordham University. His other major publications include The Dream of the Earth (1988), The Universe Story, with Brian Swimme (1992), andThe Great Work (1999).

Mary Evelyn Tucker is coordinator of the Forum on Religion and Ecology and a visiting professor at Yale University's Institute for Social and Public Policy. She lives in New Haven, Connecticut.