by Celia Wren
from Commonweal Magazine

Painted stars splay across the ceiling of an old Greek church. A flower blooms in slow motion. Tree roots twine serenely round the rocks of an ancient ruin. The images in the nonfiction film Journey of the Universe are luminously beautiful—and so well meshed that their flow feels almost effortless. But a great deal of effort has gone into this hour-long work, which aims to knit modern scientific knowledge and religious and humanistic perspectives into a seamless, eye-opening chronicle of cosmic and earthly evolution.

Indeed, the genesis of Journey—airing on PBS stations beginning December 3 (check local listings)—stretches back more than three decades, to the publication in 1978 of an article titled “The New Story,” by Thomas Berry, the influential thinker who taught at Fordham University and directed the Riverdale Center of Religious Research. “The New Story” argued that humans were positioned between important narratives—namely, the scientific narrative about the unfolding of the universe and the creation stories offered by religious traditions. Might a new narrative be possible—one that integrates these worldviews?

Mary Evelyn Tucker and Brian Thomas Swimme, scholars who worked closely with Berry (he died in 2009), have responded to the challenge. The two have coauthored both the film Journey of the Universe and the companion book, published by Yale University Press. Tucker, who codirects the Forum on Religion and Ecology at Yale University, has also done yeoman’s work on Journey’s educational DVD, hosting twenty half-hour conversations with scientists, educators, and environmentalists, including Sr. Marya Grathwohl, OSF, of Earth Hope in Wyoming, and Sr. Paula Gonzalez, SC, of EarthConnection in Cincinnati.

It’s the affable Swimme—professor at the California Institute of Integral Studies—who hosts the film, speaking with enthusiasm about matters like the Big Bang (he prefers the term “The Great Flaring Forth”); the arrangement of the solar system (he illustrates it with vegetables, using a cabbage for the sun); the significance of plate tectonics; the advent of life on earth; the nature of photosynthesis; and the development of art and language among humans. The film even addresses the phenomenon of compassion, suggesting that it is a natural, if rather marvelous, part of human evolution—perhaps an extension of the maternal instinct (a shot of a koala and her baby helps illustrate this theory).

Click here to read the full article.

Mary Evelyn Tucker of the Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology was a prominent speaker at the 2009 Parliament of the World’s Religions in Melbourne, Australia.

The link below includes a report from Tucker and John Grim, as well as links to video of presentations at the Parliament by Tucker:  “Thomas Berry and the Great Work of Our Time” and “The Human Face of Climate Change.”

http://fore.research.yale.edu/publications/newsletters/January2010.html

Parliament of Religions Major Speaker Mary Evelyn Tucker has co-written a piece for the Patheos.com Public Square about World Religions and Ecology.  The essay begins with stress on the urgency of environmental dilemmas dilemmas today but also talks about the important contributions that religions have made to reform movements throughout history. Tucker and coauthor John Grim argue that the solutions may be discovered and realized through interreligious collaboration.
To read this powerful piece on the interconnectedness of the world that sustains us and the parallel responsibilities of religion, click here.  To visit the Patheos Public Square which is currently discussing Religion and the Environment, click here.