Wisdom from a Rainforest: The Spiritual Journey of an Anthropologist - Softcover

Stuart A. Schlegel

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0820324914 ISBN 13: 9780820324913

Publisher: University of Georgia Press, 2003

Synopsis

The author gives a lively ethnography of the Teduray, portraying how their behaviour and traditions revolve around kindness and compassion for humans, animals and the spirits sharing their worlds.

About this title

Review:

Very readable . . . A compelling portrait of a way of life very different from our own.

--Washington Post Book World

The observations and insights of Wisdom from a Rainforest are thought-provoking, and for the visionaries among us potentially inspiring.

--Bloomsbury Review

Astute discussions of creation myths, religion, and daily living habits . . . Part serious anthropology and part reflection from the distance of years, the book is finally a testament to one of the myriad of vanished peoples of this century.

--Kirkus Reviews

This little gem of a book provides empirical evidence for the claim that native peoples have a higher level of ecological sophistication and spiritual aliveness--though Schlegel is no romanticist. The book is valuable not only in its story of these ancient peoples, but in the honesty and depth of Schlegel's own spiritual evolution away from a one-dimensional secularism to a deeper level of knowing.

--Tikkun

Schlegel gives us a tremendously moving portrait of a remarkable, peaceful society. With this, he weaves the story of his own personal transformation, describing how life with the Teduray touched him to his core. This is a difficult, humbling task that Schlegel takes on, but he does it brilliantly. Wisdom from a Rainforest is destined to take its place among the great works of ethnography leading to personal enlightenment and catharsis.

--Jerry Mander "author of In the Absence of the Sacred "

An encounter between worlds that leaves the reader no doubt which is the more civilized. . . . The nearly paradisiacal coexistence Schlegel documents is not only inspiring but also thought-provoking.

--Islands

Filled with Teduray knowledge and wisdom and with Schlegel's own field experiences. A book for the general reader, but anthropology students and teachers will find it rewarding, and theologians may find it genuinely transformative.

--Choice

Immensely readable and engrossing . A book that integrates the personal, spiritual, and social. It is an introduction to another world and a subversion of our own.

--Marcus Borg "Hundere Professor of Religion and Culture, Oregon State University "

About the Author:

STUART A. SCHLEGEL is professor emeritus of anthropology at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and an Episcopal priest. He is the author of several books, including Children of Tulus: Essays on the Tiruray People.

About this edition

• Publisher: University of Georgia Press
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0820324914
• ISBN 13: 9780820324913
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 288