Thomas Berry — Philosopher and Geologian

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Parts of this page have been reproduced from Wikipedia under a Creative Commons license. For more information, see Ecozoic Times, The Center for Ecozoic Studies, and www.ThomasBerry.org. 

Thomas Berry, C.P. (November 9, 1914 – June 1, 2009) was a Catholic priest of the Passionist order, cultural historian and ecotheologian (although cosmologist and geologian – or “Earth scholar” – were his preferred descriptors).

Thomas-Berry Among advocates of deep ecology and “ecospirituality” he is famous for proposing that a deep understanding of the history and functioning of the evolving universe is a necessary inspiration and guide for our own effective functioning as individuals and as a species. He is considered a leader in the tradition of Teilhard de Chardin as demonstrated in the Introduction to his book, The Christian Future and the Fate of the Earth. Author Michael Colebrook describes two key elements in Thomas Berry’s thinking: “Firstly, the primary status of the universe. The universe is, ‘the only self-referential reality in the phenomenal world. It is the only text without context. Everything else has to be seen in the context of the universe’. The second element is the significance of story, and in particular the universe as story. ‘The universe story is the quintessence of reality. We perceive the story. We put it in our language, the birds put it in theirs, and the trees put it in theirs. We can read the story of the universe in the trees. Everything tells the story of the universe. The winds tell the story, literally, not just imaginatively. The story has its imprint everywhere, and that is why it is so important to know the story. If you do not know the story, in a sense you do not know yourself; you do not know anything.”

Thomas Berry in dialogue with Brian Swimme summarizing the Twelve Principles

Biography



Born William Nathan Berry in Greensboro, North Carolina, Berry was third of 13 children. By age eight, he had concluded that commercial values were threatening life on the planet. Three years later he had an  epiphany  in a meadow, which became a primary reference point for the rest of his life. He later elaborated this experience into a set of Twelve Principles for Understanding the Universe and the Role of the Human in the Universe Process. The first of these principles states:

“The universe, the solar system, and planet earth in themselves and in their evolutionary emergence constitute for the human community the primary revelation of that ultimate mystery whence all things emerge into being.”

At age 20, Berry entered a monastery of the Passionist order (ordained 1942) and, traveling widely, he began examining cultural history and foundations of diverse cultures and their relations with the natural world.

He received his doctorate in history from  The Catholic University of America , with a thesis on Giambattista Vico’s philosophy of history. He then studied Chinese language and Chinese culture in  China  and learned Sanskrit for the study of India and the traditions ofreligion in India. Later he assisted in an educational program for the T’boli tribal peoples of South Cotabato, a province of the island of  Mindanao  in the Philippines, and he taught the cultural history of India and  China  at universities in New Jersey and  New York (1956–1965). Later he was director of the graduate program in the History of Religions at  Fordham University  (1966–1979). He founded and directed the Riverdale Center of Religious Research in  Riverdale ,  New York (1970–1995). Berry studied and was influenced by the work of Teilhard de Chardin and was president of the American Teilhard Association (1975–1987). He also studied Native American cultures and shamanism.

Work by and about Thomas Berry and his life work

(from, and with links to, thomasberry.org)

Thomas Berry: A Biography

By Mary Evelyn Tucker, John Grim, and Andrew Angyal

New York City, NY: Columbia University Press, 2019

Buddhism

Buddhism

By Thomas Berry

New York: Columbia University Press, 1996

The Dream of the Earth

The Dream of the Earth

By Thomas Berry

San Francisco: Sierra Club, 1988; reprint Berkeley: Counterpoint, 2015

Bioregionalism

Bioregionalism

By Thomas Berry

The Tarrytown Letter, September 1984.

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