Concept

Resacralization of nature

Overview

Resacralization of nature is a term used in environmental philosophy to describe the process of restoring the sacred quality of nature. The primary assumption is that nature possesses a sanctified aspect that has been lost in modern times as a result of the secularization of contemporary worldviews. These secular worldviews are considered directly responsible for the spiritual crisis in "modern man", which has ultimately contributed to the current environmental degradation. This perspective emphasizes the significance of changing human perceptions of nature by incorporating religious principles and values that reconnect nature with the divine. The Iranian philosopher Seyyed Hossein Nasr first conceptualized the theme of resacralization of nature in contemporary language, and it was further developed by a number of theologians and philosophers such as Alister McGrath, Sallie McFague and Rosemary Radford Ruether.

Overview adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0; see the article history for authors).

Possible passages

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If Aristotle be credited, Nature is the principle of motion and rest, in that thing in which it exists as a principle and not by accident. For all things that are conspicuous to our eyes, which are neither fortuitous nor necessary, nor have a divine original, nor acknowledge any such like cause, are called natural and enjoy their proper nature. Of this sort are earth, fire, water, air, plants, animals; to these may…
Plutarch, Complete Works of Plutarch — Volume 3
States what Resacralization of nature is.
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The natural philosopher, himself, conjectures that in former ages, these comets have overthrown the surface of this mundane ball, and caused great revolutions on the earth. Independent of this extraordinary _confusion_, he is exposed to others more familiar to him: sometimes, the seasons appear to have usurped each other's place; to have quitted their regular order: sometimes the opposing elements seem to dispute…
Paul Henri Thiry Holbach, The System of Nature, or, the Laws of the Moral and Physical World. Volume 1
States what Resacralization of nature is.
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There is no religious system, ancient or recent, where one does not meet, under different forms, two religions, as it were, side by side, which, though being united closely and mutually penetrating each other, do not cease, nevertheless, to be distinct. The one addresses itself to the phenomena of nature, either the great cosmic forces, such as winds, rivers, stars or the sky, etc., or else the objects of various…
Émile Durkheim, The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life
States what Resacralization of nature is.
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Philosophers who discussed Resacralization of nature

Seyyed Hossein Nasr

Related ideas

Opposing perspectives

Place in the tradition

Part of Contemporary Islamic philosophy.

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