Meta-Religious Essays and Sermons
Faith and Philosophical Traditions
"Changing The World Through A Shared Cosmology" (2012)
Physicist Joel Primack and cultural leader Nancy Abrams view The Great Story as crucial for this pivotal moment in history.
Read excerpt below ...
"There's a joke among cosmologists that romantics are made of stardust, but cynics are made of the nuclear waste of worn-out stars. Sure enough, the complex atoms coming out of supernovas can be seen either way, but these atoms introduce into matter the possibility of complexity, and complexity allows the possibility of life and intelligence. To call them nuclear waste is like calling consumer goods the waste products of factories. A cosmology can be a source of tremendous inspirational and even healing power, or it can transform a people into slaves or automatons and squash their universe into obsession with the next meal or with trivial entertainment. The choice of what attitude the twenty-first century will adopt toward the new universe may be the greatest opportunity of our time. The choice between existential and meaningful is still open." —The View from the Center of the Universe, 2006.
Thomas Berry speaks of the Universe Story (or Great Story or Epic of Evolution) not as a new religious
outlook or faith but as a meta-religious contribution that can enrich the
religious or world-relational experience of all peoples and all faiths, lifeways,
and philosophies. The Great Story embraces not only the full diversity of
cosmos and life, but also the full diversity of religious expression. It is
the over-arching narrative that includes and uplifts all sacred stories. The
Great Story thus offers hope for expanded interfaith dialogue and harmony.
Connie Barlow and Michael Dowd began soliciting in 2000 meta-religious essays
from individuals in this movement who are deeply grounded in and faithful
to a particular religious tradition, who enthusiastically embrace the Universe
Story / Great Story, and who are excellent writers. Paula Hirschboeck, Professor
of Philosophy at Edgewood College in Madison WI, submitted the first such
essay, and then joined Connie and Michael as co-editor of this project.
We realized upon reading Paula's essay that mere reconciliation of the Great
Story with various faith traditions and philosophies is too limited a goal.
Rather, mutual enrichment is the standard. Indeed, Paula's essay movingly
shows that not until the Universe Story provided her with a way to understand
the core tenets of Buddhism could she get past her difficulty with the personhood
of the Buddha. As a modern feminist, Paula was then able to fully embrace
this ancient religion.
Important too is that all of these essays speak from the heart. The authors
do not write generically how the Great Story can enrich their tradition; they
write subjectively. They intimately share what it has done for them. They
tell their personal stories.
Curiously, the effect is to not only translate the Great Story into ideas
and words that can resonate with those in the same tradition; each essay also
educates and allures those outside the tradition. We find ourselves saying,
"If that's what Buddhism is, I could be a Buddhist." Or, "If that's what Catholicism
is, I could be a Catholic." Or, "If that's what Paganism is, I could be a
Pagan." And so we find ourselves hoping . . .
Maybe, just maybe, the Great Story could build religious harmony, everywhere
that the story is told.
VIDEO LEFT: TEDxSantaCruz:
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by Michael Dowd
by Mary Coelho: "Of Leadings and the Inner Light: Quakerism and the New Cosmology".
See also online PDF, Quakers and the New Story: Essays on Science and Religion
Example 2 - "On Finding Grandeur in Nature" by Thomas Shotwell. Click here to view RELIGIOUS NATURALISM-2 on-screen or in PDF version.
For sermons and other hotlinks on religious naturalism, click more religious naturalism.
Brian Swimme 1997 interview in U.S.
Catholic.
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What is META-RELIGIOUS? Click to choose from a selection of 11 short audio clips of Thomas Berry reading from The Great Work, including his discussion of the meta-religious power of the sacred story of the Universe. | Please feel free to download, print, and use any and all of the resources posted directly on this website, without seeking permission, for all purposes other than professional for-profit publication. (Contact us if you wish to include them in a book or magazine.) And please hotlink our site to yours.  |
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sacred science and deep-time spirituality for REALizing religion in the 21st century
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by Michael Dowd and Connie Barlow, "evolutionary evangelists"
