The Tao of Liberation: Exploring the Ecology of Transformation (Ecology and Justice) - Softcover

Hathaway, Mark; Boff, Leonardo

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1570758417 ISBN 13: 9781570758416

Publisher: Orbis Books (USA), 2009

Synopsis

Drawing on insights from quantum physics, deep ecology, and the new cosmology, they articulate a new vision of liberating action. Hathaway and Boff lay out a path of spiritual renewal, ecological transformation, and authentic liberation.

About this title

About the Author

Mark Hathaway is an adult educator who researches and writes about the interconnections between ecology, economics, social justice, spirituality, and cosmology. He has worked for many years in ecumenical circles on issues of ecology and social justtice. He has studied math, physics, spirituality, and transformative education.

Leonardo Boff is Brazil's best-known theologian, author of more than sixty books on liberation theology, ecology, and spirituality including Ecology and Liberation and Cry of the Earth, Cry of the Poor. In 2001 he received the prestigious Right Livelihood Award.

From the Back Cover

"A wealth of ideas and deep insights about the fundamental shift in human consciousness and the radical transformations in our world that are now required."--Fritjof Capra, author, The Tao of Physics

"A path-breaking book. . . which will surely become an enduring classic."-- Brian Swimme, author, The Hidden Heart of the Cosmos

"A monumental contribution toward tackling the global crisis." -- David G. Hallman, Advisor to the WCC Climate Change Programme

"A sweeping, comprehensive and poetic manifesto of social and ecological change.... An interspiritual tour de force!" -- Neil Douglas-Klotz, author, Prayers of the Cosmos

"This is a masterful and important work." -- Mary Evelyn Tucker, Co-Director of the Forum on Religion and Ecology, Yale University

"Boff and Hathaway give birth to a great marriage between liberation theology and creation spirituality... I welcome the dimensions of ecology, cosmology and feminist philosophy... as well as the deep ecumenism which is so beautifully and aptly invoked in the use of the great Tao Te Ching throughout the text." -- Matthew Fox, author, Original Blessing

From the Inside Flap

The Tao of Liberation is a path-breaking book. It brings together the insights of cosmology, ecology, and spirituality in a fresh and powerful way. With their creative collaboration, Mark Hathaway and Leonardo Boff offer us a remarkable new synthesis which will surely becoming an enduring classic. - Brian Swimme, Ph.D., Director, Center for the Story of the Universe, California Institute of Integral Studies and author of The Hidden Heart of the Cosmos and co-author of The Universe Story

"I love this book. Its inspiration lives up to its ambition - leading the reader through some of the most complex issues of our age (from globalization and the current recession to climate change and loss of species) while illuminating a path forward through religion and spirituality. Having had the great privilege of serving on the Earth Charter Commission with Leonardo Boff, it was not a new idea that our values and our faith have immediate relevance to the current interlocking web of crises in which we find ourselves. Together he and Mark Hathaway have written a transcendent work of eco-liberation and planetary survival." - Elizabeth May, O.C., Leader, Green Party of Canada

There is no other book that has so carefully identified the new cosmology of Thomas Berry and Brian Swimme as a liberating context for a sustainable future. This is a masterful and important work. - Mary Evelyn Tucker, Ph.D., Co-Director of the Forum on Religion and Ecology, Yale University and author of Worldly Wonder: Religions Enter Their Ecological Phase

The Tao of Liberation is a monumental contribution toward tackling the global crisis, including analyses that plumb the roots of the crisis and proposals for a fundamental change of direction. The text draws on science, economics, ethics and spirituality, integrating them in a scenario that just might pull us back from the precipice. - David G. Hallman, Ph.D., editor of Ecotheology - Voice from North and South and Advisor to the World Council of Churches Climate Change Programme

A sweeping, comprehensive and poetic manifesto of social and ecological change as viewed through the eyes of a prominent liberation theologian in partnership with a hands-on spiritual change activist. More than an eloquent call to action, The Tao of Liberation surveys the last forty years of alternative thought about ecology, spirituality, education, systems theory, psychology, new physics, brain research and genetics. Bringing together all these threads, the authors weave a vision of not only cultural change, but also spiritual transformation through a renewed, and renewable, relationship with the entire network of creation. Deeply ecumenical, as well as deeply rooted in the essential teachings of the Gospel, the authors have achieved an interspiritual tour de force! - Neil Douglas-Klotz, Ph.D., Edinburgh Institute for Advanced Learning and author of Prayers of the Cosmos, The Hidden Gospel, and The Sufi Book of Life.

Leonardo Boff and Mark Hathaway give birth to a great marriage between liberation theology and creation spirituality. I welcome it--it is very timely--and I welcome the dimensions of ecology, cosmology and feminist philosophy applied astutely to the crisis of western capitalism and culture we are all undergoing at this time as well as the deep ecumenism which is so beautifully and aptly invoked in the use of the great Tao Te Ching throughout the text. - Matthew Fox, author of The Coming of the Cosmic Christ, Original Blessing, and many other books on culture and creation spirituality

Global poverty and global ecological destruction represent two of the most important challenges facing the human community. In The Tao of Liberation, Mark Hathaway and Leonardo Boff creatively and movingly explore the interconnection of these twin challenges, deftly blending the wisdom of the world's spiritual traditions and the insights of social science to explore the structural and cultural features underlying our present unsustainable behavior. Through their expansive, well-researched, and clearly argued approach, they articulate a much-needed path of hope, a vision of liberation in which both the poor and the planet become primary, rather than ancillary, centers of concern, and form the basis of a new wisdom tradition for a just, vital and abundant future. This is a must read for all of those who seek to understand the critical nexus between the option for the poor and the option for the Earth. - Stephen Bede Scharper, Ph.D., Centre for Environment and Centre for the Study of Religion, University of Toronto, co-author of The Green Bible and author of Redeeming the Time: A Political Theology of the Environment.

Drawing on compelling inter-disciplinary resources, Boff and Hathaway present us with a holistic, comprehensive, and integrated path toward the transformation required if the human experience is to have a future in our Earthly Home. The crisis we face is spiritual, and The Tao of Liberation is an exciting challenge we ignore at our peril - Rev. Bill Phipps, International President of the World Conference on Religions for Peace and Chair of the Faith and the Common Good Network

As we reach a crossroads in the history of humanity, readers will find in this book a wealth of ideas and deep insights about the fundamental shift in human consciousness and the radical transformations in our world that are now required. Among all these ideas, the most important and profound, perhaps, is the one at the very center of the authors' endeavor. Rather than seeing the transition to a sustainable society primarily in terms of limits and restrictions, Hathaway and Boff eloquently propose a new and compelling conception of sustainability as liberation. Fritjof Capra, Ph. D., author of The Tao of Physics, Belonging to the Universe, and The Hidden Connections.

The Tao of Liberation is a seamless and creative gospel for our time. Through a vital and integral synthesis of wisdom both ancient and new, Mark Hathaway and Leonardo Boff craft a prophetic and timely work to address new challenges before us. Their guide to an ecology of transformation is a source of inspiration, engagement and hope for all who search for a comprehensive vision, and a new era of healing for earth and its peoples. - Jim Conlon, Ph.D., author of From The Stars to the Street, Beauty, Wonder and Belonging and At the Edge of Our Longing.

The Tao of Liberation... is lucid and inspiring, making connections between cosmology and ethics, science and spirituality, whole systems theories and consciousness - and explains how these insights, when united, point the way for us to join together in the struggle to renew the Earth. - Heather Eaton, Ph.D., co-author of Ecofeminism and Globalization: Exploring Culture, Context, and Religion

Edition details

• Publisher: Orbis Books (USA)
• Publication date: 2009
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1570758417
• ISBN 13: 9781570758416
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 450