The Vision of Thomas Berry

Thomas Berry is one of the foremost environmental thinkers of our era. As a self-described “geologian,” he proposed that the narrative context for human life must be the cosmic-Earth journey, which he called “the New Story” and others now call “Deep Time”. Berry wrote The Universe Story with Brian Swimme, inspiring the film Journey of the Universe created by Swimme with Mary Evelyn Tucker and John Grim. He founded the pioneering History of Religions program at Fordham University, fostering understanding of the world’s religions, including Indigenous traditions, as a basis for interreligious dialogue. Berry worked for a broader ecological platform ranging from bioregionalism to the Earth Charter and called for a new Earth Jurisprudence to undergird the Rights of Nature. In this session, presenters discuss his life and work and explore what his vision means for the ecological, social, and spiritual challenges of our times.