This Sacred Life
Humanity's Place in a Wounded World

This Sacred Life redescribes the meaning of this world and the value and purpose of human life within it.

Norman Wirzba (Author)

9781009012584, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 14 October 2021

300 pages
23 x 15.1 x 1.8 cm, 0.45 kg

'This Sacred Life answers an urgent question: What do theology and religion have to offer in healing the wounds inflicted on this living planet by an unbridled and ravenous capitalism? What is the point of human existence in an Anthropocene world? Wirzba's  judicious and thoughtful reflections on the human situation today draw creatively on Christian, Jewish, and indigenous traditions while being always in conversation with a wide range of thinkers, both past and contemporary, on questions concerning capitalism, colonial domination, race, gender, and sexuality. The result is a book that successfully lays the groundwork for an ethic of caring for the earth and the various forms of creaturely life that inhabit it. A must-read for all students of the Anthropocene.' Dipesh Chakrabarty, Lawrence A. Kimpton Distinguished Service Professor of History, South Asian Languages and Civilizations, and the College, University of Chicago

In a time of climate change, environmental degradation, and social injustice, the question of the value and purpose of human life has become urgent. What are the grounds for hope in a wounded world? This Sacred Life gives a deep philosophical and religious articulation of humanity's identity and vocation by rooting people in a symbiotic, meshwork world that is saturated with sacred gifts. The benefits of artificial intelligence and genetic enhancement notwithstanding, Norman Wirzba shows how an account of humans as interdependent and vulnerable creatures orients people to be a creative, healing presence in a world punctuated by wounds. He argues that the commodification of places and creatures needs to be resisted so that all life can be cherished and celebrated. Humanity's fundamental vocation is to bear witness to God's love for creaturely life, and to commit to the construction of a hospitable and beautiful world.

Preface
Part I. Assessing Our Situation: 1. Facing the Anthropocene
2. The Transhumanist Urge
Part II. Turning To Fundamentals: 3. Rooted Life
4. A Meshwork World
Part III. This Sacred Life: 5. Why Sacred Anything?
6. The Logic of Creation
7. Creaturely Humanity
8. Called to Creativity
Index.

Subject Areas: Conservation of the environment [RNK], Environmentalist thought & ideology [RNA], Social & cultural anthropology, ethnography [JHMC], Spirituality & religious experience [HRLK], Theology [HRLB], Religion & science [HRAM3], Religious ethics [HRAM1], Philosophy of religion [HRAB]