Earth household

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Earth Household

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[This is a copy of notes written in 1993 for my portfolio for the ‘Emerging Patterns of Thought and Belief course at the University of Bath as part of my degree in business administration. Unfortunately the sheet containing the bibliography has been misplaced.]

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Many people are aware today that the earth is suffering from an ecological crisis - from the hole in the ozone layer, the destruction of the rain forests to the litter in our backyards. This view is coupled with the realisation that the current reigning western mind—set is causing us to rape nature, and as one eminent Christian scholar Tony Campolo puts it "the reckless disregard for the environment, whether out of ignorance or greed, is sinful.” The emergence of this view and the impeding ecological crisis has led to the recognition by those involved in the new thinking in science and those of the new thinking within the Christian realm that they are dealing with similar concerns. Further they recognise that there is a need to understand and care for what Gary Snyder calls our “Earth household”.

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Thus we have in the overall new paradigm movement an emergence of new thinking in science which seeks to reconnect itself with spiritual values. On the other hand we have also the new thinking in the Christian community which addresses social issues and ecological responsibility.

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Each new paradigm or tradition of rationality, Lesslie Newbigin (1992), seeks an ideal community in which it strives to transform our present culture into. This essay looks at the ideal community put forward by advocates of the new—paradigm view in Christianity and note that it has similarities to that expressed by the new paradigm thinkers, although it is fundamentally different in many respects. But this view is also used to highlight the fallacy of the New Age movement with it’s over lopsided optimism. The result is that we need to adopt a view that is characterised by both/ and thinking, which enables us to avoid being too optimistic or too pessimistic. This is a perspective that helps us to realise our human capacity for both good and evil.

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However, before the above, the essay will investigate that the biblical worldview is also wholistic in nature and therefore ecological. It will be noted that from this realisation the new paradigm thinking in theology leads to the view of the ideal community we will give reference to. But the most significant fact will be the identification of dualistic thinking within the church and society as a whole that has been part of the cause of our ecological crisis.

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The question arising is what constitutes the new paradigm thinking? The answer to this is complex, as there are many diverse elements that constitute this new—paradigm, for as Michael Ventura notes this emerging paradigm is totally chaotic, but there appears to be a world wide movement in this area to form a new faith. However, Capra attempts to answer this type of question by arguing that the new paradigm thinking represents a shift in thinking from the old scientific paradigm of Cartesian, Newtonian, or Baconian worldviews, and the patriarchal value system, to a new paradigm, which maybe called holistic, ecological, or systemic. However, this is only a limited definition. To understand this view in a little more detail please refer to Appendix A.

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From Appendix A we see that the proponents of the new thinking argue, that they are in the process of initiating, and we are seeing the making of, a cultural transformation. This is a phenomenon that is changing the mind-sets of people within our western culture. Additionally, it is a transformation that will make us think in an ecological way and one that will give value back to nature as a living and mindful organism, which certain proponents refer to as Gaia. This would lead to the


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