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S Kaza, 7 The Greening of Buddhism The Oxford Handbook of Religion and Ecology
7 The Greening of Buddhism Stephanie Kaza
The Oxford Handbook of Religion and Ecology
AS A MAJOR WORLD RELIGION, BUDDHISM HAS A LONG and rich history of responding to human needs. From the moist tropical lowlands of Sri Lanka to the towering mountains of Tibet, Buddhist teachings have been transmitted through diverse terrain to many different cultures. Across this history, Buddhist understanding about nature and human-nature relations has been based on a wide range of teachings, texts, and social views. The last half century, as Buddhism has taken root in the West, has been a time of great environmental concern. Global warming, habitat loss, and resource extraction have all taken a significant toll as human populations multiply beyond precedent.
With the rise of the religion and ecology movement, Buddhist scholars, teachers, and practitioners have investigated the various traditions to see what teachings are relevant and helpful for cultivating environmental awareness. The development of green Buddhism is a relatively new phenomenon, reflecting the scale of the environmental crisis around the world. Thus far the gleanings have followed the lead of specific writers and teachers opening up new interpretations of Buddhist teachings.
This essay was originally prepared for The Oxford Handbook of Religion and Ecology, edited by Roger Gottlieb, published by Oxford University Press in 2006. Since that time there have been further developments in Buddhist eco-activism and Buddhism and Ecology scholarship, with emphasis on climate change, animal protection, and social justice. Buddhist writers, teachers, and activists continue to draw on the central philosophical and religious themes from the major Buddhist traditions highlighted here.
Western Buddhists, still new to the philosophies and practices of the East, have often sparked the conversations, seeking ways to complement secular approaches to environmental thought.
HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT OF GREEN BUDDHISM
One of the earliest voices for Buddhist environmentalism in North America was Zen student and poet Gary Snyder, who illuminated the connections between Buddhist practice and ecological thinking.' Snyder studied Zen in Japan and cultivated an "in the moment" haiku-like form in his poetry; much of which was set in the mountains of the western United States. One of his more lighthearted pieces, "Smokey the Bear Sutra," was handed out by activists urging better protection for US forests. Snyder was associated with the early Beat generation of the 1950s and 1960s, which had a strong influence on the 1960s counterculture. Hippies, communards, and back-to-the-landers took up Snyder's approach, made popular in Jack Kerouac's travelogue Dharma Bums. Many early Buddhist students felt that spiritual leadership was crucial in the race toward planetary ecological destruction.
In the 1970s the environmental movement swelled, and Buddhist centers became well established in the West. While Congress passed such landmark legislation as the Clean Water Act, some of the new retreat centers confronted ecological issues head on. Zen Mountain Monastery in New York challenged the Department of Environmental Conservation over a beaver dam and forest protection. Green Gulch Zen Center in Northern California worked out water-use agreements with the neighboring farmers and national park. Some Buddhist centers opted for vegetarian fare at a time when vegetarianism was not that well known. For a few, this reflected an awareness of the environmental problems associated with raising meat. A number of Buddhist centers made some effort to grow their own organic food.
By the 1980s Buddhist leaders were explicitly addressing the eco-crisis and incorporating ecological awareness in their teaching. In his 1989 Nobel Peace Prize speech, His Holiness the Dalai Lama proposed making Tibet an international ecological reserve. Vietnamese Zen monk and peace activist Thich Nhat Hanh invited his followers to join the Order of Interbeing, teaching Buddhist principles using ecological examples. Zen teachers Robert Aitken in Hawaii and Daido Loori in New York examined the Buddhist precepts from an environmental perspective. Buddhist activist Joanna Macy creatively synthesized elements of Buddhism and deep ecology, challenging people to take their insights into direct action. The Buddhist Peace Fellowship, founded in 1978, added environmental concerns to its early activist agenda.
In Thailand, teak forests were being clearcut at an accelerating rate for foreign trade. This resulted in massive flooding and mudslides, generating a national wave of environmental protest. Buddhist priests in rural villages made headlines with their ritual ordination of elder trees as a symbolic gesture of solidarity with threatened forests.2 As Buddhist environmental activism spread, the "forest monks," as they came to be known, formed an ethical front in the protest against overexploitation. Other monks got involved with activist efforts to question economic development and its environmental impacts. Plastic bags, toxic lakes, and nuclear reactors were targeted by Buddhist leaders as detrimental influences on people's physical and spiritual health. In Butma, Buddhists concerned about the environment drew attention to the impacts of a major oil pipeline and the decimation of tropical forests. In Tibet, the environmental impacts of Chinese colonization were documented and publicized by support groups in the West.'
Interest in Buddhist views on the environment gained momentum in the 19905 through books, journals, and conferences. For the twentieth anniversary of Earth Day, the Buddhist Peace Fellowship produced a teaching packet and poster for widespread distribution. That same year, 1990, the first popular anthology of Buddhism and ecology writings, Dharma Gaia, was published by Parallax following the scholarly collection Nature in Asian Traditions of Thought.' World Wide Fund for Nature brought out a series of books on five world religions, including Buddhism and Ecology.' Well-established Buddhist magazines such as Tricycle, Shambhala Sun, Inquiring Mind, Turning Wheel, and Mountain Record devoted whole issues to the question of environmental practice.
In 1990 two groundbreaking national conferences were held in Seattle, Washington, and Middlebury, Vermont—both focused on eco-religious approaches to the environment. At the Vermont conference the Dalai Lama was the keynote speaker, urging people to take care of the environment. A few years later at the 1993 Parliament of the World's Religions in Chicago, Buddhists gathered with Hindus, Muslims, pagans, Jews, and Christians from all over the world; one of the top agenda items was the role of religion in responding to the environmental crisis. Parallel interest in the academic community culminated in ten major conferences at Harvard Center for the Study of World Religions, purposely aimed at defining a new field of study in religion and ecology. The first of these conferences, convened by Mary Evelyn Tucker and John Grimm in 1996, focused on Buddhism and ecology and resulted in the first major academic volume on the subject.6
For the most part, the academic community addressed the philosophy but not the practice of Buddhist environmentalism. Applied practice was explored by socially engaged Buddhist teachers such as Thich Nhat Hanh and Bernie Glassman. In Thailand and around the world, Sulak Sivaraksa worked tirelessly for global change, and in the United Kingdom Vipas-sana teacher Christopher Titmuss ran for Parliament as a Green Party candidate. John Daido Loori committed a substantial portion of his retreat-center land in the Catskills of New York to be "forever wild," while Rochester Zen Center founder Philip Kapleau actively encouraged vegetarianism. In California, nuclear activist Joanna Macy promoted a model of experiential teaching designed to cultivate motivation, presence, and authenticity. Her workshops popularized Buddhist meditation techniques and a Buddhist view of systems thinking. Together with Buddhist rainforest activistJohn Seed of Australia, she developed the Council of All Beings to engage people's attention and imagination on behalf of all beings.' Thousands of these councils have now taken place in Australia, New Zealand, the United States, Germany, Russia, and other parts of the Western world.
Since 2000 the religion and ecology movement has gathered steam and become a forceful presence at the American Academy of Religion as well as the World Council of Churches. The acceleration of global environmental problems has added to the urgency of the agenda, taken up now by Buddhists as well as Christians, Jews, and all the major religious traditions. Buddhist initiatives have been strongest in Buddhist countries such as Thailand, Tibet, and Burma. Though fewer in numbers,
Western Buddhists have contributed texts and academic study to provide a foundation for the new movement. There are now doctoral programs in the United States where a student can earn a graduate degree with a focus on Buddhism and ecology.'
RECENT STREAMS IN BUDDHIST ENVIRONMENTAL THOUGHT
As interest has developed in Buddhism and Ecology, the fields of thought have expanded through various writers as well as popular and academic discourses. When a field of thought first coalesces from wide-ranging points of engagement, a common first step is the publication of collected writings on the topic. This then opens the field to newcomers by providing an overview and introduction to the major themes within the field. For Buddhism and Ecology, this step was taken with Dharma Gaia (1990), followed by the academic collection of papers entitled Buddhism and Ecology (iç), which led to the most complete collection to date: Dharma Rain (2000). This last anthology drew together classic reference texts from a range of Buddhist traditions, along with modern commentaries, exploratory essays, and academic critiques.
With such texts available to academic audiences, professors in religious studies and environmental studies could now offer courses on Buddhism and Ecology at the undergraduate level. For students in the West, Buddhism held its own magnetic attraction as the exotic "other" next to Christianity. Young people concerned about the environment and eager for a more congruent spiritual fit with their experience in nature found Buddhist environmental thought very appealing. At a professional level, Buddhist perspectives have been a regular part of the programs organized by the Religion and Ecology Group at the American Academy of Religion." This group has seen a rapid rise in interest, with conference attendance increasing every year.
Environmental concerns have also been a significant part of inter-religious dialogue in the West. At the 2005 international conference of the Society for Buddhist-Christian Studies held in Los Angeles, the theme was "Hearing the Cries of the World," with one session focused on the "cries" of the environment. At Gethsemani II in 2002, a Catholic-sponsored dialogue in Thomas Merton's tradition, speakers addressed
structural poverty and violence resulting from global exploitation of environmental resources. Impacts of consumerism were taken up at the 2003 annual meeting of the Society for Buddhist-Christian Studies. The 2014 annual meeting of the American Academy of Religion featured numerous panels and speakers on the moral implications of climate change.
Not all topics of environmental concern have attracted attention from green Buddhists; some key issues such as climate change are only now getting attention in academic or popular discourse. Arenas requiring technical knowledge such as air and water pollution or pesticide regulation do not seem to draw much Buddhist commentary. Issues in regional or local ecosystem protection are apparently better handled by a coalition of local groups, more often nonreligious than religious. Buddhism, however, does offer rich resources for immediate application in food ethics, animal rights, and consumerism—areas that are now developing some solid academic and popular literature. The most basic Buddhist tenet of nonharming provides a strong platform for evaluating animal welfare and animal rights issues, since many of these revolve around degrees of harm to human-impacted animals, whether on factory farms or in zoos. Paul Waldau has written extensively on both Buddhist and Christian attitudes toward animals in his book The Specter of Speciesism.11
Food ethics are evolving rapidly in the West as consumers realize the tremendous costs of globally shipped goods and agriculture based on chemical inputs. In the last decade, farmers' markets and community-supported agriculture have gained great popularity and expanded quickly. Fast-food diets were deeply challenged by Eric Schlosser's research in Fast Food Nation, as well as the fast-food experiment in the movie Super-size Me. In Italy the Slow Food Movement has taken off as a celebration of cultural values for local, homemade food, especially breads, wines, and cheeses. The demand for organic produce in the West has increased steadily, and in some states such as Vermont and Oregon, organic farmers are a significant portion of the farming community. Students at Buddhist meditation retreats in the United States have come to expect high-quality, thoughtfully prepared meals. At Green Gulch Zen Center in California, students have pressed for locally grown produce of all types as well as fair-trade coffee and tea.
Interest in Buddhist food practices was perhaps ignited by one of Thich Nhat Hanh's famous exercises for mass gatherings: the orange meditation (sometimes replaced by the apple or the raisin meditation). In this long guided meditation, students practice mindfulness of touch, smell, taste, first bite, swallowing—in short, every moment in the act of eating. This meditation evoked interest in mindful food practice in general: eating slowly, eating as family practice, eating to support a healthy environment. It raised again the issue of vegetarianism, always a concern in a Buddhist setting. For Westerners exposed to both Buddhist and environmental reasons for not eating meat, ethical food practices can vary substantially."
Consumerism, the social emphasis on "stuff" and status, also lends itself well to Buddhist analysis. Since the Four Noble Truths identify desire as the cause of suffering, Buddhist practice offers useful antidotes to the runaway desire that characterizes a consumer society. In Hooked!, a number of Buddhist teachers, scholars, and practitioners take up Buddhist values, methods, and principles to address the all-penetrating tangle of consumerism that dominates social consciousness today.'3 Buddhist meditative practices are helpful in taming the impulses of desire that lead to shopping sprees and consumer addictions. Zen teachings that focus on taking apart the ego-self make a good foil to skillful marketers who specialize in identity needs. Initiatives in Thailand and Japan indicate what is possible when Buddhist grassroots organizers or temples take on the institutional structures of consumerism. 14
Buddhist environmental thought found its way into creative writing as well, in both prose and poetry. A number of Buddhist and Buddhist-leaning poets followed in Gary Snyder's footsteps, taking up subjects of nature or human-nature relations in their poetry. A collection of these poems, Beneath a Single Moon, pulled together work reflecting Buddhist environmental themes.'5 Among nature writers, several authors alluded to Buddhist practice as part of what informs their intimate relations with the landscape. Peter Matthiessen wrote eloquently of Zen insights in his book The Snow Leopard, set high in the Himalayas on a search for this rare endangered cat. Gary Snyder published two collections of essays, The Practice of the Wild and A Place in Space, which developed his Buddhist environmental thought in fresh and pragmatic ways. Gretel Ehrlich, in Islands, the Universe, Home, wrote of meditation in the open spaces of the western United States and in A Match to the Heart drew on bardo imagery to describe being hit by lightning.
ENVIRONMENTAL THEMES IN BUDDHIST TRADITIONS
Buddhists taking up environmental concerns are motivated by many fields of environmental suffering—from loss of species and habitats to the consequences of industrial agriculture. Informed by different streams of Buddhist thought and practice, they draw on a range of themes in Buddhist texts and traditions. Many of the central Buddhist teachings seem consistent with concern for the environment, and a number of modern Buddhist teachers advocate clearly for environmental stewardship. As Buddhists develop their contribution to environmental care-giving, they tend to reflect the themes and values of the teachings that are most supportive and useful to their work.
The key themes or values usually cited as foundational to Buddhist environmental thought originate with the major historical developments in Buddhism—the Theravada traditions of southeast Asia; the Mahayana schools of northern China, Japan, and Korea; and the Vajrayana lineages of Tibet and Mongolia. While Buddhists engaged in environmental work in Asian countries may draw primarily on the teachings of their region, Western Buddhists tend to take hold of whatever seems applicable to the work at hand. This list of themes is not a comprehensive review but rather an introduction to the dominant ideas in Buddhist environmental discourse today.
1] Theravada Themes
In the earliest Buddhist sutras there are many references to nature as refuge, especially trees and caves. The famous story of the Buddha's life begins with his mother giving birth under the shelter of a kindly tree. After young Gautama wandered for years in the forests of India, he took refuge at the foot of a bodhi tree, where he achieved enlightenment. For the remainder of his life, the Buddha taught large gatherings of monks and laypeople in protected groves of trees that served as rainy-season retreat centers for his followers. The Buddha urged his followers to choose natural places for meditation, free from the influence of everyday human activity. Early Buddhists developed a reverential attitude toward large trees, carrying on the Indian tradition regarding each as a vanaspati or "lord of the forest." Protecting trees and preserving open lands were
considered meritorious deeds. Today in India and Southeast Asia many large old trees areoften wrapped with monastic cloth to indicate this age-old appreciation for nature as refuge.
One of the first Buddhist teachings on the Four Noble Truths explains the nature of human suffering as generated by desire and attachment. Fully embracing the nature of impermanence, the medicine for such suffering is the practice of compassion (karuna) and lovingkindness (metta). The early Indian Jataka tales recount the many former lives of the Buddha as an animal or tree when he showed compassion to others who were suffering. In each of the tales the Buddha-to-be sets a strong moral example of compassion for plants and animals. The first guidelines for monks in the Vinaya contained a number of admonitions related to caring for the environment. For example, travel was prohibited during the rainy season for fear of killing the worms and insects that came to the surface in wet weather. Monks were not to dig in the ground or drink unstrained water. Even wild animals were to be treated with kindness. Plants too were not to be injured carelessly but respected for all that they give to people. 16
Early Buddhism was strongly influenced by the Hindu and Jain principle of ahimsa or nonharming—a core foundation for environmental concern. In its broadest sense nonharming means "the absence of the desire to kill or harm."" Acts of injury or violence are to be avoided because they are thought to result in future injury to oneself. The fourth noble truth describes the path to ending the suffering of attachment and desire—the Eightfold Path of practice. One of the eight practice spokes is right conduct, which is based on the principle of nonharming. The first of the five basic precepts for virtuous behavior is often stated in its prohibitory form as "not taking life" or "not killing or harming." Buddhaghosa explains: "Taking life' means to murder anything that lives. It refers to the striking and killing of living beings. 'Anything that lives'—ordinary people speak here of a 'living being,' but more philosophically we speak of 'anything that has the life-force.' 'Taking life' is then the will to kill anything that one perceives as having life, to act so as to terminate the life-force in it.
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The first precept, "not killing," applies to environmental conflicts around food production, land use, pesticides, and pollution. The second precept, "not stealing," engages global trade ethics and corporate exploitation of resources. "Not lying," the third precept, brings up issues
in advertising that promote consumerism. "Not engaging in abusive relations," interpreted through an environmental lens, can cover, many examples of cruelty and disrespect for nonhuman beings. Nonharming extends to all beings—not merely to those who are useful or irritating to humans. This central teaching of nonharming is congruent with many schools of ecophilosophy that respect the intrinsic value and capacity for experience of each being.
The Eightfold Path also includes the practice of right view or understanding the laws of causality (karma) and interdependence. The Buddhist woridview in early India understood there to be six rebirth realms: devas, asuras (both god realms), humans, ghosts, animals, and hell beings. To be reborn as an animal would mean one had declined in moral virtue. By not causing harm to others, one could enhance one's future rebirths into higher realms. In this sense, the law of karma was used as a motivating force for good behavior, including paying respect to all life. Monks were instructed not to eat meat, since by practicing vegetarianism they would avoid the hell realms and would be more likely to achieve a higher rebirth. In one sutra it is said, "If one eats the flesh of animals that one has not oneself killed, the result is to experience a single life (lasting one kalpa) in hell. If one eats the meat of beasts that one has killed or one has caused another to kill, one must spend a hundred thousand kalpas in hell ."19
A third element of the Eightfold Path, right livelihood, concerns how one makes a living or supports oneself. The early canonical teachings indicate that the Buddha prohibited five livelihoods: trading in slaves, trading in weapons, selling alcohol, selling poisons, and slaughtering animals. The Buddha promised a terrible fate to those who hunted deer or slaughtered sheep; the intentional inflicting of harm was particularly egregious, for it revealed a deluded mind unable to see the relationship between slaughterer and slaughtered. Proponents of ethical vegetarianism point out that large-scale slaughtering of animals for food production breaks the Buddhas prohibition. Some Buddhist environmentalists speak of their work as right livelihood, a path of practice that serves others and cultivates compassionate action.
Though Buddhism generally places little weight on creation stories (since there is no creator god in the Buddhist view), the Agganna Sutta contains one parable of creation in which human moral choices affect the health of the environment. In this story the original beings are described as self-luminous, subsisting on bliss and freely traveling through space. At that time it was said that the Earth was covered with a flavorful substance much like butter, which caused the arising of greed. The more butter the beings ate, the more solid their bodies became. Over time the beings differentiated in form, and the more beautiful ones developed conceit and looked down on the others. Self-growing rice arose on the Earth to replace the butter, and before long people began hoarding and then stealing food. According to the story; as people erred in their ways, the richness of the Earth declined. The point of the sutta is to show that environmental health is bound up with human morality.20 Other early suttas spelled out the environmental impacts of greed, hate, and ignorance, showing how these Three Poisons produce both internal and external pollution. In contrast, the moral virtues of generosity, compassion, and wisdom were said to be able to reverse environmental decline and produce health and purity.
2] Mahayana Themes
As Buddhist teachings were carried north to China, a number of northern schools of thought evolved, emphasizing different texts, principles, and practices, some of which have now been applied to environmental concerns. The Hua Yen school of Buddhism of seventh-century China placed particular emphasis on the law of interdependence or mutual causality. Because ecological thinking fits well with the Buddhist description of interdependence, this theme has become prominent in modern Buddhist environmental thought.2' The Hua Yen Chinese philosophy perceives nature as relational, each phenomenon dependent on a multitude of causes and conditions that include not only physical and biological factors but also historical and cultural factors.
The Avatamsaka Sutra of the Hua Yen school uses the teaching metaphor of the jewel net of Indra to represent the infinite complexity of the universe. This imaginary cosmic net holds a multifaceted jewel at each of its nodes, with each jewel reflecting all the others. If any jewels become cloudy (toxic or polluted), they reflect the others less clearly. To extend the metaphor, tugs on any of the net lines, for example, through loss of species or habitat fragmentation, affect all the other lines. Likewise, if clouded jewels are cleared up (rivers cleaned, wetlands restored), life
across the net is enhanced. Because the net of interdependence includes not only the actions of all beings but also their thoughts, the intention of the actor becomes a critical factor in determining what happens.
The law of interdependence suggests a powerful corollary, sometimes translated as "emptiness of separate self." Since all phenomena are dependent on interacting causes and conditions, then nothing exists as autonomous and self-supporting. This Buddhist understanding and experience of self contradicts the traditional Western sense of self as a discrete autonomous individual. Interpreting the Hua Yen metaphor, Gary Snyder suggests that the empty nature of self offers access to "wild mind," the energetic forces that determine the nature of life." These forces act outside of human influence, setting the historical, ecological, and even cosmological context for all life.
T'ien-t'ai monks in eighth-century China believed in a universal Buddha nature that dwelled in all forms of life. Sentient (animal) and non-sentient (plant) beings and even the Earth itself were seen as capable of achieving enlightenment. This concept of Buddha nature is closely related to Chinese views of chi or moving energy, ever changing, taking new form. This view of nature reflects a dynamic sense of flow and interconnection between all beings, with Buddha nature arising and changing constantly. Buddhist scholar Ian Harris suggests that a Mahayana vegetarian ethic was first formulated around the idea of Buddha nature. In the Mahaparinirvana Sutra Buddha nature is understood to be an embryo of the Tathagata or the fully enlightened being.23 Addressing the ethics of meat eating, Western Zen teacher Philip Kapleau wrote, "It is in Buddha-nature that all existences, animate and inanimate, are unified and harmonized. All organisms seek to maintain this unity in terms of their own karma. To willfully take life, therefore, means to disrupt and destroy this inherent wholeness and to blunt feelings of reverence and compassion arising from our Buddha mind." 14 Taking an animal's life, therefore, is destructive to the Buddha nature within the animal to be eaten. Kapleau taught that to honor the Tathagata and the potential for awakening, one should refrain from eating meat.
Environmental advocates sometimes call themselves "ecosattvas," those who take up a path of service to all beings. They are following the Mahayana model of the enlightened being or bodhisattva who returns lifetime after lifetime to help all who are suffering. Where the early
Theravada schools emphasized achieving enlightenment and leaving the world of suffering, the northern schools, influenced by Confucian social codes, placed great value on becoming enlightened to serve others. The bodhisattva vow to "save all sentient beings" calls for cultivating compassion for the endless suffering that arises from the fact of existence. Such bodhisattva acts of environmental service are marked by a strong sense of intention that reflects a Buddhist virtue ethic.25 Environmentalists apply this ethic to plant and animal relations as well as to people and societies, promoting environmental stewardship as a path to enlightenment.
Monastic temples in the Ch'an traditions of China were often built in mountainous or forested places. Chinese poets from the fifth century on accumulated an extensive body of literature reflecting a spiritual sense of belonging to wild nature on a cosmological level." Japanese schools of Zen influenced haiku and other classic verse forms that cultivated a sense of oneness with nature in the moment. Dogen, founder of the Soto sect of Zen, spoke of mountains and waters as sutras themselves, the very evidence of the dharma arising.27 He taught a method of direct knowing, experiencing this dharma of nature with no separation. For DOgen, the goal of meditation was nondualistic understanding, or complete transmission between two beings. Dogen taught that much human suffering generates from egoistic views based in dualistic understanding of self and other. To be awakened is to break through these limited views (of plants and animals) to experience the self and myriad beings as one energetic event.
3] Vajrayana Themes
Tibetan schools drew on all of the historic teachings transmitted to the far north from China, India, and Southeast Asia. Kindness for others was emphasized strongly with the encouragement to treat all sentient beings as having been their mother in a former life. In Santideva's classic eighth-century text on the bodhisattva path, the practice of compassion for all beings becomes world transforming. He vows: "Just like space and the great elements such as Earth, may I always support the life of all the boundless creatures. And until they pass away from pain, may I also be the source of life for all the realms of varied beings that reach unto the ends of space.""
For indigenous Tibetans, the landscape was seen as a sacred mandala, a symbolic representation of Vajrayana teachings. Monks and others
for many centuries have gone on pilgrimage to specific mountains to demonstrate their spiritual devotion, sometimes taking years, to complete their journeys. Heaps of inscribed prayer stones are placed along stone mountain paths, and prayer flags stream in the winds, offering encouragement to pilgrims traversing the sacred lands. Stupas, or relict shrines, are placed at significant points on the land to draw energy and commemorate important religious leaders. Pilgrims make offerings at these sites, linking the points of energy across the landscape with their own footsteps.29
4] Contemporary Themes
Today's Buddhists have drawn on a number of the principles above as supportive teachings for environmental work. Several additional themes have also been popularized by modern Buddhist teachers and practitioners. Vietnamese Zen teacher Thich Nhat Hanh promotes mindfulness as a central stabilizing practice for calming the mind and being present. He works with the teachings of the Satipatthana Sutta, providing instructions in mindfulness of body, feelings, mind, and objects of mind, linking these directly with the most basic actions of eating and walking. Thich Nhat Hanh is one of a handful of Buddhist teachers today who has offered retreats for environmentalists. His word interbeing has become popular among Western Buddhists as a way to express the dynamic sense of relationship with the Earth. He frequently teaches about interbeing through the example of a piece of paper, which holds the sun, the Earth, the clouds, and all the beings of the forest.3° Mindfulness practice in Buddhist retreat centers supports thoughtful food practices, from organic gardening to silent cooking.
Environmentally engaged Buddhists are concerned about the ecological consequences of harmful human activities. Buddhist scholar Kenneth Kraft has proposed the term eco-karma to cover the multiple impacts of human choices as they affect the health and sustainability of the Earth.31 An ecological view of karma extends the traditional view of karma to a general systems view of environmental processes. Eco-karma might be expressed, for example, as one's ecological footprint—the amount of land, air, and water required for food, water, energy, shelter, and waste disposal. Tracing such karmic streams across the land is one way to understand the human responsibility for environmental stewardship.
Among today's Buddhists, environmental work is regarded as a form of social activism, a practice with a component of advocacy for social change. Activism such as this is called socially engaged Buddhism, a practice path mostly outside the gates of the monastery. Taking up environmental work in this way, there is no sense of separation between the activist work and one's practice. Caring for the environment becomes a practice that engages one fully in the core Buddhist practices. Teaching others about the ecological problems and solutions in this context can be seen as a kind of dharma teaching, offered in the spirit of liberating humans from the suffering they are creating for the Earth and themselves. Socially engaged Buddhists have taken up the concerns of nuclear waste, animal factory farming, and consumerism, among others. By working with other Buddhist activists, Buddhist environmentalists gain support in keeping Buddhist practice and philosophy at the heart of their work.
A ROLE FOR BUDDHISM IN THE ENVIRONMENTAL CRISIS
Will green Buddhist activists play a significant role in addressing the multitude of environmental problems in need of creative solutions? Will scholars of Buddhist environmental thought contribute useful insights to understand human motivation and behavior? Will Buddhist priests and teachers take up environmental concerns as part of their work with students and local communities? How will Buddhism stack up compared with other world religious traditions in affecting the outcome of unsustainable environmental trends? This section reviews the strengths and limitations that are apparent at this early stage of Buddhist environmental engagement, looking at three arenas of activity. Because the field of Buddhism and ecology is evolving at a rapid rate, much more may yet be drawn from the Buddhist teachings and be of help in sorting through the difficult environmental choices that lie ahead.
1] Strengths
How effective is Buddhist environmental action? And what might make Buddhist environmentalism distinctive from other environmental or eco-religious activism? Let us consider the role for activists and what strengths from Buddhism they might bring to bear on their work. First
and perhaps most obvious, to others, Buddhist activists would ground their work in regular engagement with Buddhist practice forms. Thich Nhat Hanh, for example, has encouraged activists to recite the precepts together to reinforce guidelines for right conduct in the midst of challenging situations. Walking meditation is taught regularly as part of activist retreats at Vallecitos Mountain Refuge in New Mexico and 'Whole Thinking retreats in Fayston, Vermont.32 Practicing with the breath can help sustain activists under pressure in the heat of a conflict. At Green Gulch Zen Center, Earth Day celebrations have been woven into the public event for Buddha's birthday. Environmental activists associated with the Buddhist Peace Fellowship include meditation as part of their regular meeting activities.
Buddhist texts recognize a strong relationship between intention, behavior, and the long-range effects of action. Clarifying one's intention in advocacy work helps prevent a sense of being overwhelmed or burnout. Environmental issues are rarely small and self-contained; one problem leads to another, and many parties are often involved in negotiating a lasting solution. Campaigns or public hearings can be toxic with frustration, anger, and power displays. The Buddhist activist may be able to carry some emotional stability in the face of this heated energy by maintaining clear intention, holding to the bodhisattva vow to reduce suffering and help all beings. This can help other activists clarify their motivation and set the stage for more effective collaboration and division of tasks.
Central to Buddhist teaching is the focus on breaking through the delusion of the false self, the ego that sees itself as the center of the universe. One antidote for this universal human tendency is the practice of detachment. A green Buddhist approach to activism would include some healthy ego-checking work to see if the activist is motivated by a need to build his or her ego identity as an environmentalist or Earth saver. Keeping intention strong but letting go of the need for specific results is a practice in detachment. One recognizes that the outcome of any situation will depend on many factors, not just the contributions of one person. Being receptive to the creative dynamics at play and less identified with a particular end result can produce surprising collaborations. Sulak Sivaraksa calls this "small b Buddhism"—downplaying the ego of being a good Buddhist in favor of being an effective friend to others working toward a common goal.33
Key to a Buddhist approach to problem solving is taking a nondualistic view of reality. This follows from an understanding of self as not separate from all others but rather dynamically co-created. Most environmental battles play out as confrontations between seeming enemies: tree huggers versus loggers, housewives versus toxic polluters, organic farmers versus corporate seed producers. From a Buddhist perspective, this kind of demonizing destroys spiritual equanimity; it is far preferable to act from an inclusive standpoint, listening to all parties involved rather than taking sides. This approach has traditionally been quite rare in environmental problem solving but is becoming more common now as people grow weary from the dehumanizing nature of enemy making. In a volatile situation, a Buddhist commitment to nondualism can help stabilize negotiations and work toward long-term functional relationships.
Buddhist practice is grounded in the fundamental vow of taking refuge in the Three Treasures: the Buddha or teacher, the Dharma or teachings, and the Sangha or practice community. Asian activists usually base their work in relations with local sanghas as an effective grassroots base for accomplishing change. Western Buddhists, handicapped by the Western emphasis on individualism, tend to value sangha practice as the least of the Three Treasures. They tend to be drawn first to the calming influence of meditation and the moral guidelines of the precepts. Practicing with community can be difficult for students living some distance from Buddhist centers and surrounded by a predominantly Judeo-Christian culture. Building community is crucial for Buddhist environmentalists even though they are geographically isolated from each other and sometimes marginalized by their own peers in Buddhist centers. This has been mitigated substantially by internet organizing, and now, for example, the Green Sangha based in the San Francisco area has an international presence through its existence on the web.34
Second, let us consider the role for scholars of Buddhist environmental thought and what aspects of Buddhism might inform their work. This new academic field has engaged both traditional scholars who study but do not practice Buddhism as well as those who both study and practice, the scholar-practitioners. Each has strengths to contribute in growing the field of knowledge. Traditional scholars can bring an objective view, placing environmental perspectives in the broader field of Buddhist studies, helping to legitimize these discussions. Academics such as
Ian Harris and Alan Sponberg have made such contributions, raising questions about popular green Buddhism and providing accurate historical background.35 Scholar-practitioners such as Rita Gross and Kenneth Kraft bring an experiential understanding of the teachings of their lineages to complement their academic training.36 Scholar-practitioners are generally more comfortable and clear about their intention in doing environmental academic work, that it is motivated by their bodhisattva vows, for example. However, their work is sometimes challenged by academics who imply that "arm's length" engagement in one's scholarly pursuits is not possible for practitioners.
Scholars of either persuasion can bring their well-trained minds and analytic skills to critiquing green Buddhism and challenging ungrounded idealistic interpretations. As Buddhism grows in popularity in the West, it is vulnerable to mistaken views, blurred with New Age ideas of individually designed spirituality. Scholars grounded in the original texts can check emerging ideas for distortions of Buddhist thought. Tibetan Buddhist texts and training are particularly strong in methods of analysis. Judith Simmer-Brown uses these to understand the "empty" nature of globalization and the possibility for other forms of sustainability to arise.37 Ian Harris has examined the popular interpretation of Buddhism as the most environmentally friendly of the world religions, arguing that the historical record shows much more ambivalence.38 Scholars of Buddhist environmental thought are also in a good position to critique the tenets of monotheistic traditions that act as a deterrent to seeking a sustainable future. Rita Gross, for example, has questioned the strong pronatalist positions of the Christian church as problematic in dealing with exponential population growth and its impacts on the planet.39
The strength of academic work in Buddhist environmental thought lies in legitimizing this new field in the eyes of traditional schools of religion and philosophy. Thus far the list of academic volumes addressing environmental concerns from a Buddhist perspective is still fairly small. Though Buddhist insights are usually included in pan-religious commentaries on the environment, entire volumes by single or multiple Buddhist scholars are quite rare. It is likely that new work will build on the first round of anthologies and take up specific aspects of environmental concern, as Hooked! has done with consumerism. Topics that already lend themselves to academic analysis such as food ethics and animal rights concerns may be the next work to emerge from the greening ivory tower.
What about Buddhist priests, monks, teachers? What strengths do they bring to environmental discourse and action? East or West, ordained Buddhists often are in leadership positions within their local temples. As leaders they can adapt the practice forms to new settings, including concern for the planet as part of their community responsibility. One Zen teacher served only bread and water for a day during a weeklong retreat, using this as a springboard to raise issues of poverty and inequity around the world. Another teacher regularly holds ceremonies for victims of major disasters such as Hurricane Katrina or the earthquake in Pakistan in 2005. Several lay teachers have developed practice forms that take place in the garden to incorporate the presence of plants in memorial ceremonies. One Japanese Pure Land priest has galvanized his entire sangha to place solar panels on the roof of the temple to help reduce global climate change.
Buddhist centers that interface with the public can serve as models of environmentally sustainable practices .40 Through architectural design choices and monastic example, visitors can see the possibilities for energy and water conservation. Through exposure to mindful kitchen practice, retreatants can learn about the food they eat and its origins. The leadership role of the head priest or teacher is often necessary for environmental concerns to be emphasized in everyday practice. Where a Buddhist teacher has shown environmental commitment, the centers tend to reflect that commitment. When Vermont Zen Center added a new dining hall and housing wing, head teacher Sunyana Graef led the effort to follow green building principles. With her support, the grounds were transformed through extensive volunteer efforts from community members, returning trees to a suburban lawn and cultivating spaces for thoughtful reflection (such as the lovely Jiso rock garden). In New York, John Daido Loori and his students at Zen Mountain Monastery lead summer canoeing and wilderness programs in the Adirondacks to deliberately place students in contact with the forces of nature. This has been a hallmark of the center, and Daido honored his concern for the pristine northern mountains by purchasing a piece of lakeshore where students can monitor water quality.
More and more, experienced Buddhist teachers are being asked to provide meditation instruction for environmental advocates. When the ecosattva chapter of the Buddhist Peace Fellowship prepared for protests against old-growth redwood logging in Northern California, they trained at Green Gulch Zen Center. When high-ranking executives in the Trust for Public Land sought to revitalize their commitment to land-conservation values, they developed staff meditation retreats at Vallecitos Mountain Refuge. Thus far; Buddhist practice techniques have been applied much more extensively to hospice and healthcare settings, prison work, and AIDS assistance. But, bit by bit, the work with environmental issues is adding up. In the West, Buddhist meditation instruction is perceived to be neutral training available for people of any faith or secular persuasion. It is generally not seen as proselytizing. Environmentalists who tend to reject organized religion and find spiritual fulfillment in the outdoors are open to Buddhist support for their environmental aims. The possibility of this work first emerged in a retreat for environmentalists organized by Thich Nhat Hanh's followers at Ojai, California, in 1993. Thich Nhat Hanh oriented the retreat around taking care of the environmentalists, sensing that burnout was rampant for those driven by concern for the plight of so many suffering beings and places.
2] Limitations
So far this would appear to be a rosy picture, filled with useful options for Buddhists interested in supporting environmental action. But critics have already pointed out significant barriers to any extended Buddhist influence in environmental work, at least in the West. One philosophical problem is that there is no single view of nature or environment that crosses all the Buddhist traditions. David Eckel has described in some detail the difference in Indian Buddhist views of nature compared with Japanese views, for example. These views represent very different time periods and cultures; Eckel finds it problematic that Westerners looking for the "green" in Buddhism blur over these major distinctions.41 Some have called this process "mining" the tradition for what you want from it, a common human tendency among all the religious traditions, not so different than what is done to support fundamentalist Christian interpretations. Green Buddhism could suffer from the same sort of myopic views unless it encourages further understanding of Buddhism itself.
Further, Buddhism is not a nature religion per se, as are pagan or Native American traditions that base their spiritual understandings on relations with the land and its living beings. The central principles of Buddhism deal with human suffering and liberation from that suffering; the process of insight awareness is not dependent on the land or any physical forms. It is much more of a mental process, cultivating capacities in the human mind. Thus, at its roots, Buddhism does not immediately lend itself to environmental concern. In fact, since the Buddhist approach can work within any situation, environmental sustainability is not necessarily a prerequisite or,a goal for liberation practice. The practice of detachment to hobble the power of desire could actually work against such environmental values as "sense of place" and "ecological identity."
Alan Sponberg critiques the green Buddhist emphasis on interdependence, suggesting that green Buddhists may be stepping too far away from the core spiritual development challenges in Buddhist training.42 Though the law of interdependence interfaces very well with similar laws of ecology, this alone is not enough, in his opinion, to lead a practitioner to enlightenment. Ian Harris critiques Joanna Macy for taking the metaphor of Indra's jeweled net too far and missing the original teaching emphasis, which was on karma, not ecology. He is wary of Buddhist activists who interpret key Buddhist principles too narrowly, from only an environmental point of view. For Harris, the project of "saving the world" is not a central concern, and dragging Buddhist concepts into the process may not be necessary or even helpful. He joins Eckel and Lambert Schmidthausen in exposing the lack of concern for animals and nature in many of the Pali Canon texts.43
To this point, green Buddhism has only taken up specific environmental problems primarily in countries that already have a significant Buddhist population. Thai forest monks and Sulak Sivaraksa's Grassroots Leadership Training Program have gained some footing in protesting lake pollution, fish die-offs, and clearcutting of forests. Tibetans in exile in India have been able to undertake environmental education programs with local Tibetans, but they have had virtually no impact on the rampant exploitation of Tibet's natural resources by the Chinese. In the West, green Buddhists such as the Green Sangha have taken on energy conservation and recycling as everyday actions, but their impact has been fairly local. Green Buddhists have not yet been significant players in some of
the Western interfaith environmental initiatives which are making a difference: the global Jubilee Debt forgiveness campaign, religious advocacy for corporate social responsibility through stockholder actions, and the Interfaith Power and Light movement for alternate energy purchasing. This is partly because green Buddhists are still so few in number, but it may also be because Buddhism as a tradition does not carry the same charge for social justice as the monotheistic traditions. Righting environmental wrongs is often a situation of injustice for those who are harmed, whether plants, animals, ecosystems, or people. Buddhist virtue ethics do address these wrongs, but not with the same fire as Judaism and Christianity.
A further critique of green Buddhism in the West is that it has had so little influence solving real environmental problems in Buddhist countries. For most people it is local environmental problems that catch their attention; possibilities for local action seem more accessible than those on a global scale. As a consequence, few Westerners are actively working to stop or reverse environmental devastation in the countries that spawned their beloved religion. Some members of Buddhist Peace Fellowship have joined in solidarity with the International Network of Engaged Buddhists on their environmental campaigns. But for the most part it is difficult for Westerners to engage Asian problems from afar and from a different cultural perspective. For some Asians, Westerners are seen as part of the problem, due to their disproportionate consumption of planetary resources.
Nevertheless, despite these limitations, interest in Buddhist environmental thought and action is very strong in both the West and East. Misinterpretations, mistaken views, and idealized projections are perhaps inevitable for any young movement as it takes shape. At this point the environmental movement itself is so well established in large and small nonprofit advocacy groups, in state and federal legislation, and in campus sustainability actions that it hardly needs a Buddhist contribution. But in small supportive ways it may be that Buddhism will yet take its place in shaping the direction of environmental problem solving around the globe.
CONCLUSION
Buddhist environmental thought is both ancient and brand new. While many Buddhist principles handed down from centuries ago seem broadly
applicable to environmental concerns, articulating those applications is still a very new project of the last few decades. Scholars of Buddhist environmental thought have many topics yet to address. Green Buddhist activists have barely begun to make a unified impact. This is a movement of both thought and action to track over the next few decades.
Has a Buddhist environmental movement coalesced around the globe? Not at all. Only a tiny handful of organizations have been formed to promote Buddhist environmental views and approaches. No clearly defined environmental agenda or set of principles has been agreed upon by any group of self-identified green Buddhists. All this is perhaps too much to expect of a fledgling movement. It may yet be that in ten years many more books will have been published offering Buddhist views regarding environmental concerns. It may yet be that green Buddhist centers will be established for the express purpose of fostering environmental sus-tainability, a sort of green Catholic Worker house model. As more and more serious students in the West become teachers and temple leaders, some may take up leadership roles cultivating mindfulness around environmental issues.
What is completely unknown is what larger forces and events will shape all environmental concern and activity. In 2005 and then again in 2017 the record number of hurricane-strength storms generated more environmental disasters than communities could handle effectively. Global climate change, the shrinking supply of oil, and the lack of available drinking water may be much more powerful forces shaping human behavior than any religious tradition. All this is yet to unfold. But certainly Buddhists of all traditions and cultures would be welcome to join the much-needed efforts to turn the tide from further planetary destruction.
2021/03/03
The Dream of the Earth Thomas Berry
2021/02/11
N. T. Wright - Wikipedia
N. T. Wright
N. T. Wright | |
---|---|
Bishop of Durham | |
![]() Wright speaking at a conference in December 2007 | |
Church | Church of England |
Diocese | Diocese of Durham |
In office | 2003 to 2010 |
Other posts |
|
Orders | |
Ordination | 1975 |
Consecration | 2003 |
Personal details | |
Birth name | Nicholas Thomas Wright |
Born | 1 December 1948 (age 72) Morpeth, United Kingdom |
Nationality | British |
Denomination | Anglican |
Residence |
|
Spouse | Maggie[2] |
Children | 4[2] |
Alma mater |
Nicholas Thomas Wright FRSE (born 1 December 1948), known as N. T. Wright or Tom Wright,[3] is an English New Testament scholar, Pauline theologian and Anglican bishop. He was the bishop of Durham from 2003 to 2010. He then became research professor of New Testament and Early Christianity at St Mary's College in the University of St Andrews in Scotland until 2019, when he became a senior research fellow at Wycliffe Hall at the University of Oxford.[4]
Wright writes about theology and Christian life and the relationship between them. He advocates a biblical re-evaluation of theological matters such as justification,[5] women's ordination,[6] and popular Christian views about life after death.[7] He has also criticised the idea of a literal Rapture.[8] The author of over seventy books, Wright is highly regarded in academic and theological circles for his "Christian Origins and the Question of God" series.[9] The third volume, The Resurrection of the Son of God, is considered by many clergy and theologians to be a seminal Christian work on the resurrection of the historical Jesus,[10][11] while the most recently released fourth volume, Paul and the Faithfulness of God, is hailed as Wright's magnum opus.[12]
Early life[edit]
Wright was born in Morpeth, Northumberland. In a 2003 interview, he said that he could never remember a time when he was not aware of the presence and love of God and recalled an occasion when he was four or five when "sitting by myself at Morpeth and being completely overcome, coming to tears, by the fact that God loved me so much he died for me. Everything that has happened to me since has produced wave upon wave of the same."[13]
He was educated at Sedbergh School in the Yorkshire Dales, and specialised in classics. In the late 1960s Wright sang and played guitar in a folk club on the west side of Vancouver.[14] From 1968 to 1971, he studied literae humaniores (classical literature, philosophy and history) at Exeter College, Oxford, receiving his BA with first class honours in 1971. During that time he was president of the undergraduate Oxford Inter-Collegiate Christian Union.
From 1971 to 1975 he studied for the Anglican ministry at Wycliffe Hall, Oxford, receiving his (Oxford) MA at the end of this period. He was later awarded a Doctor of Divinity (DD) degree by the University of Oxford.[15]
Career[edit]
In 1975 he became a junior research fellow at Merton College, Oxford, and later also junior chaplain. From 1978 to 1981 he was a fellow and chaplain at Downing College, Cambridge. In 1981 he received his DPhil from Merton College, his thesis topic being "The Messiah and the People of God: A Study in Pauline Theology with Particular Reference to the Argument of the Epistle to the Romans". After this, he served as assistant professor of New Testament studies at McGill University, Montreal (1981–86), then as chaplain, fellow and tutor at Worcester College and lecturer in New Testament in the University of Oxford (1986–93).
He moved from Oxford to become dean of Lichfield Cathedral (1994–99) and then returned briefly to Oxford as a visiting fellow at Merton College, before taking up his appointment as canon theologian at Westminster Abbey in 2000.
From 1995 to 2000, Wright wrote the weekly Sunday's "Readings" column for the Church Times. He has said that writing the column gave him the "courage" to embark upon his popular ... for Everyone (SPCK) series of commentaries on New Testament books.[16]
In 2003, Wright became the Bishop of Durham. On 4 August 2006 he was appointed to the Court of Ecclesiastical Causes Reserved for a period of five years.[17]
He resigned from the see of Durham on 31 August 2010 and took appointment as Research Professor of New Testament and Early Christianity at St Mary's College, St Andrews, in Scotland, which enabled him to concentrate on his academic and broadcasting work.[18][19]
As of 1 October 2019, Wright was appointed a senior research fellow at Wycliffe Hall, University of Oxford, where he had originally studied for the Anglican ministry in 1971-1973.[20]
Views[edit]
New Testament doctrine[edit]
In his popular book Surprised by Hope, Wright outlines the scriptural emphasis on resurrection as the proper hope of all Christians. Wright is critical of the North American church's overemphasis on "going to heaven when you die" and the underemphasis on the resurrection from the dead, though he does not deny the teaching that a person's soul lives on after death. He advocates a reunion of soteriology and ecclesiology, commenting that such a connection is often neglected in Protestantism. In addition, he is critical of various popular theological ideas, such as the dispensationalist doctrine of the rapture.[21]
New perspective on Paul[edit]
Wright is one of the leading figures in the so-called New Perspective on Paul interpretation, or rather group of interpretations,[22] of the Pauline letters.[23][24] Wright contends that Paul cannot be ignored by any serious Christian and that, through his central place within the New Testament canon, Paul has come to be abused, misunderstood, imposed upon, and approached with incorrect or inappropriate questions about the Christian faith.[25] According to Wright, "Paul in the twentieth century, then, has been used and abused much as in the first. Can we, as the century draws towards its close, listen a bit more closely to him? Can we somehow repent of the ways we have mishandled him and respect his own way of doing things a bit more?"[26]
This question reflects the key consideration for the New Perspective on Paul and a fundamental aim of Wright's scholarship: to allow the apostle Paul to speak for himself without imposing modern considerations and questions upon him and in so doing, seeking to ascertain what St. Paul was really trying to say to the people he was writing to.[27] From this, Wright contends that by examining the Pauline corpus through this unique perspective, difficult passages within the text become illuminated in new ways, his letters gain coherence both in their particularities as well as with one another, and it provides an overall picture of what Paul was about, without doing violence to the little details within the letters.[28]
The beginning of the "new perspective" is the work of E. P. Sanders and his book Paul and Palestinian Judaism.[29] In this 1977 work, Sanders argued that the prevailing view of first-century Judaism in the New Testament was inaccurate. He described it instead as "covenantal nomism", which emphasised God's election of a people and adherence to the Torah as a way of "staying in" the religion (rather than a way of "getting in").
Wright found that Sanders supported the picture he himself had been forming, but nevertheless for the next decade much of what Wright wrote was in disagreement with Sanders on various points. Wright agrees with other "new perspective" scholars that the assumption that the Jews were guilty of a kind of "works-righteousness" is untrue, and that the story of God and the covenant people Israel comes to a climax with Jesus.[22]
Paul and justification[edit]
In speaking on justification, Wright contends, “the discussions of justification in much of the history of the church, certainly since Augustine, got off on the wrong foot – at least in terms of understanding Paul – and they have stayed there ever since.”[30] In this way, the Church, according to Wright, has subsumed discussions surrounding the reconciliation of man to God under the label of justification, which has subsequently given the concept an emphasis quite absent from what he believes is found within the New Testament.[30] This leads Wright to argue that this incorrect perception of justification has done violence to the text for hundreds of years[31] and that the text itself should be the starting point in determining what Paul seeks to say about justification.[32]
Through his attempt of returning to the text to allow Paul to speak for himself as he suggests, Wright offers a definition of what he believes the apostle means by ‘justification,’ which is contrary to popular belief. In crafting said definition, the interpreter identifies three pieces, which he believes to be vital to this consideration: that justification is dependent upon covenant language, that it utilises law-court language, functioning within the covenantal setting as a strong explanatory metaphor of justification, and that it cannot be understood within a Pauline context as separate from eschatology.[33] Through the inclusion of covenant language, justification alludes to the presence of sin and wickedness in the world and the way in which the covenant was instituted to bring about salvation. Within this context, the law-court metaphorical language acknowledges God's role as judge who is to put the world to rights, to deal with evil and to restore justice and order to the cosmos. Finally, Wright's definition of ‘justification’ within Paul's letters acknowledges that the term is not associated, as has commonly been perceived, with one's personal needs necessary to attain salvation, but instead with what marked someone as a member of God's people.
Secular utopianism[edit]
In 2008, Wright criticised "secular utopianism", accusing it of advocating "the right to kill unborn children and surplus old people".[34] Times columnist David Aaronovitch challenged Wright specifically to substantiate his claim that any secular group does indeed advocate the killing of elderly people, leading to an ongoing exchange in which Wright held to his main point.[35][36][37][38]
Historical Jesus[edit]
Regarding the historical Jesus, Wright follows the "thoroughgoing eschatology" tradition of Albert Schweitzer against the "thoroughgoing scepticism" of William Wrede and the Jesus Seminar,[39][40] whom he regards as Wrede's modern-day counterparts.[39][41][42] Wright also argues for a 'very Jewish' Jesus who was nonetheless opposed to some high-profile aspects of first-century Judaism. Similarly, Wright speaks of Jesus as 'doubly', 'multiply', 'thoroughly', and 'deeply' subversive, while at the same time distancing Jesus from other known seditious and revolutionary movements within first-century Palestine.[43] In some ways his views are similar to those of such scholars as E. P. Sanders and the lesser-known Ben F. Meyer (whom Wright calls "the unsung hero" of New Testament studies).[44] However he disagrees with the view of Sanders that the Pharisees would not have exhibited the violent opposition to Jesus depicted in the Gospels.[45] He has also defended a literal belief in the Second Coming and the resurrection of the dead as central to Christianity.[7]
Wright is critical of more liberal theological circles. The Jesus Seminar's Marcus Borg, with whom Wright shared mutual admiration and respect, co-authored with Wright The Meaning of Jesus: Two Visions to elaborate their contrasting opinions.[46] In 2005, at the Greer-Heard Point-Counterpoint Forum, Wright discussed the historicity of Jesus' resurrection with Jesus Seminar co-founder John Dominic Crossan. Wright and Crossan, who also have mutual admiration, hold very different opinions on this foundational Christian doctrine. For Crossan, the resurrection of Jesus is a theological interpretation of events by the writers of the New Testament. For Wright, however, the resurrection is a historical event—coherent with the worldview of Second Temple Judaism—fundamental to the New Testament.[47]
With the publication of Wright's 2012 book, How God Became King: The Forgotten Story of the Gospels, Wright has been critical of some ideas concerning the historical Jesus in both US evangelical preaching and the work of C. S. Lewis, who Wright admits was a major influence in his own life. In an interview,[48] Wright summarises this critique: "One of the targets of this book is Christians who say: Yes, the Bible is true. It's inerrant and so on. But, then, they pay no attention to what the Bible actually says. For too many Christians it seems sufficient to say Christ was born of a Virgin, died on a cross and was resurrected—but never did anything else in between. I'm saying: That’s not the way to understand the Gospels."
Homosexuality in the Anglican Communion[edit]
Wright was the senior member from the Church of England of the Lambeth Commission set up to deal with controversies following the ordination of Gene Robinson as a bishop of the Episcopal Church in the United States.[49] In 2009, the Episcopal Church authorised the clergy to celebrate commitment liturgies for people in same-sex relationships. Wright described the action as a "clear break with the rest of the Anglican Communion" in a Times opinion piece.[50]
In December 2005 he announced to the press, on the day that the first civil partnership ceremonies took place in England, that he would be likely to take disciplinary action against any clergy registering as civil partners or any clergy blessing such partnerships.[51]
He has argued that "Justice never means 'treating everybody the same way', but 'treating people appropriately'".[50] In August 2009, he issued a statement saying:
...someone, sooner or later, needs to spell out further (wearisome though it will be) the difference between (a) the "human dignity and civil liberty" of those with homosexual and similar instincts and (b) their "rights", as practising let alone ordained Christians, to give physical expression to those instincts. As the Pope has pointed out, the language of "human rights" has now been downgraded in public discourse to the special pleading of every interest-group.[52]
Reviews of Wright's scholarly work[edit]
Wright's work has been praised by many scholars of varying views, including James Dunn, Gordon Fee, Richard B. Hays and Rowan Williams, former Archbishop of Canterbury. Wright has received praise from Catholics,[53] such as bishop Robert Barron, who has cited Wright's historical scholarship on multiple occasions.[54][55]
Critics of his work are also found across the broad range of theological camps. Some Reformed theologians such as John Piper have questioned Wright's theology, particularly over whether or not he denies the Protestant doctrine of justification by faith alone. Although Piper considers Wright's presentation confusing, he does not dismiss Wright's view as false. In response, Wright has stated he wishes Piper would "exegete Paul differently" and that his book "isn’t always a critique of what I’m actually saying." Wright also expressed how he has warmed to Piper and considers him a "good, beloved brother in Christ, doing a good job, building people up in the faith, teaching them how to live."[56] In 2009, Wright has since addressed the issue in his book Justification: God’s Plan and Paul's Vision.[57] He has sought to clarify his position further in an interview with InterVarsity Press.[58]
Many conservative evangelicals have also questioned whether Wright denies penal substitution, but Wright has stated that he denies only its caricature but affirms this doctrine, especially within the overall framework of the Christus Victor model of atonement.[59]
Despite criticism of some of his work by Reformed theologians, other Reformed leaders have embraced his contribution in other areas, such as Tim Keller who praised Wright's work on the resurrection.[60]
In an extensive review of Resurrection of the Son of God by Joseph J. Smith, S.J., Smith argues that the Pauline texts cited by Wright do not support his view that the resurrected body was "robustly physical". Nor do the Gospel stories of the Resurrection appearances. "The 'robustly physical' character of the body of risen Jesus in the gospel resurrection narratives belongs to the first Christians' representation of the appearances, not to the original experience of the appearance itself in its original nature." Smith also suggests that Wright has not recognised that a resurrection body cannot be physically present in space and time.[61]
Honours[edit]
Wright has been awarded several honorary doctoral degrees,[62] including from Durham University in July 2007,[63] the John Leland Center for Theological Studies in April 2008,[64] the University of St Andrews in 2009,[65] Heythrop College (University of London) in 2010 and the Ecumenical Institute of Theology at St. Mary's Seminary & University in May 2012.
In 2014, he was awarded the Burkitt Medal by the British Academy "in recognition of special service to Biblical Studies".[66] It was announced in March 2015 that he was to be made a fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE).
Selected works[edit]
- Wright, NT (1991), The Climax of the Covenant: Christ and the Law in Pauline Theology, Fortress Press.
- ——— (1997), What Saint Paul Really Said: Was Paul of Tarsus the Real Founder of Christianity?, Grand Rapids, MI: William B Eerdmans, ISBN 0-80284445-6.
- ——— (1997b) [1994, Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge (SPCK)], Following Jesus: Biblical Reflections on Discipleship, Wm B Eerdmans.
- ———; Borg, Marcus J (1999), The Meaning of Jesus: Two visions, New York: HarperCollins, ISBN 0-06-060875-7.
- ——— (2000), The Challenge of Jesus: Rediscovering Who Jesus Was and Is, Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
- ———; Crossan, John Dominic (2006) [2005, Augsburg Fortress], Stewart, Robert B (ed.), The Resurrection of Jesus: John Dominic Crossan and NT Wright in Dialogue (paperback ed.), SPCK.
- ——— (2005), Paul: In Fresh Perspective, Fortress Press ("Paul: Fresh Perspectives" co-edition SPCK, 2005).
- ——— (2005), The Last Word: Beyond the Bible Wars to a New Understanding of the Authority of Scripture, San Francisco: Harper.
- ——— (2006), Simply Christian: Why Christianity Makes Sense, SPCK co-edition HarperCollins, 2006.
- ——— (2006), Judas and the Gospel of Jesus: Have We Missed the Truth about Christianity?, SPCK; Baker Books, 2006.
- ——— (2006), Evil and the Justice of God, SPCK; Intervarsity Press, 2006.
- ——— (2007), "The Reasons for Christ's Crucifixion", in Jersak, Brad; Hardin, Michael (eds.), Stricken by God? Nonviolent Identification and the Victory of Christ.
- ——— (2008), Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church, SPCK, HarperOne.
- ———; Evans, Craig A (2009) [SPCK, 2008], Miller, Troy A (ed.), Jesus, the Final Days: What Really Happened, Westminster John Knox.
- ——— (2009), Justification: God's Plan and Paul's Vision, SPCK.
- ——— (2010), Virtue Reborn, SPCK. Also After You Believe: Why Christian Character Matters, HarperOne North America, 2010.
- ——— (2011) [The Last Word, 2005], Scripture and the Authority of God: How to Read the Bible Today (rev & exp ed.), HarperOne, ISBN 978-0-06-201195-4.
- ——— (2011), Simply Jesus: A New Vision of Who He Was, What He Did, and Why He Matters, New York: HarperOne, ISBN 978-0-06-208439-2.
- ——— (2012), How God Became King: The Forgotten Story of the Gospels, New York: HarperOne, ISBN 978-0-06-173057-3.
- ——— (2013), The Case for the Psalms: Why They Are Essential, New York: HarperOne, ISBN 978-0-06-223050-8, published in Britain the following year as:
——— (2014), Finding God in the Psalms, London: SPCK, ISBN 978-0-281-06989-7 - ——— (2013), Pauline Perspectives: Essays on Paul, 1978-2013, Ausburg Fortress, ISBN 978-0-8006-9963-5.
- ——— (2014), Surprised by Scripture: Engaging Contemporary Issues, New York: HarperOne, ISBN 978-0-06-223053-9.
- ——— (2014), Paul and His Recent Interpreters, Ausburg Fortress, ISBN 978-0-8006-9964-2.
- ——— (2015), Simply Good News: Why the Gospel Is News and What Makes It Good, New York: HarperOne, ISBN 978-0-06-233434-3.
- ——— (2016), The Day the Revolution Began: Reconsidering the Meaning of Jesus's Crucifixion, New York: HarperOne, ISBN 978-0062334381.
- ——— (2018). Paul: A Biography. New York: HarperOne. ISBN 978-0-06-173058-0.
- ———; Bird, Michael F. (2019). The New Testament in its World: an introduction to the history, literature, and theology of the first Christians. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Academic. ISBN 9780310499305. OCLC 1090200946.
- ———; Bird, Michael F. (2019). The New Testament in its World Workbook: an introduction to the history, literature, and theology of the first Christians. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Academic. ISBN 9780310528708. OCLC 1090195011.
"Christian Origins and the Question of God" series[edit]
Four volumes published, two more planned:
- ——— (1992), The New Testament and the People of God: Christian Origins and the Question of God, 1, Augsburg Fortress.
- ——— (1996), Jesus and the Victory of God: Christian Origins and the Question of God, 2, Augsburg Fortress, ISBN 978-0-8006-2682-2.
- ——— (2003), The Resurrection of the Son of God: Christian Origins and the Question of God, 3, Augsburg Fortress.
- ——— (2013), Paul and the Faithfulness of God: Christian Origins and the Question of God, 4, Augsburg Fortress.
"For Everyone" series[edit]
The For Everyone series, a commentary by Wright on the New Testament, was completed in 2011:
- Matthew for Everyone, Part 1: Chapters 1–15 (2nd ed.), SPCK and Westminster John Knox Press, 2004, ISBN 978-0-281-05301-8.
- Matthew for Everyone, Part 2: Chapters 16–28 (2nd ed.), SPCK and Westminster John Knox Press, 2004, ISBN 978-0-281-05487-9.
- Mark for Everyone (2nd ed.), SPCK and Westminster John Knox Press, 2004, ISBN 978-0-281-05299-8
- Luke for Everyone (2nd ed.), SPCK and Westminster John Knox Press, 2004, ISBN 978-0-281-05300-1.
- John for Everyone, Part 1: Chapters 1–10 (paperback ed.), SPCK and Westminster John Knox Press, 2004, ISBN 978-0-281-05302-5
- John for Everyone, Part 2: Chapters 11–21 (2nd ed.), SPCK and Westminster John Knox Press, 2004, ISBN 978-0-281-05520-3.
- Acts for Everyone, Part 1: Chapters 1–12, SPCK, 2008, ISBN 978-0-281-05308-7.
- Acts for Everyone, Part 2: Chapters 13–28. SPCK, 2008. ISBN 978-0-281-05546-3
- Paul for Everyone: Romans, Part 1: Chapters 1–8. 2nd ed. SPCK, 2004. ISBN 978-0-281-05736-8
- Paul for Everyone: Romans, Part 2: Chapters 9–16. 2nd ed. SPCK, 2004. ISBN 978-0-281-05737-5
- Paul for Everyone: 1 Corinthians. 2nd ed. SPCK, 2004. ISBN 978-0-281-05305-6
- Paul for Everyone: 2 Corinthians. 2nd ed. SPCK, 2004. ISBN 978-0-281-05306-3
- Paul for Everyone: Galatians and Thessalonians. 2nd ed. SPCK, 2004. ISBN 978-0-281-05304-9
- Paul for Everyone: the Prison Letters: Ephesians, Philipians, Colossians and Philemon. 2nd ed. SPCK and Westminster John Knox Press, 2004. ISBN 978-0-281-05303-2
- Paul for Everyone: the Pastoral Letters: Titus and 1 and 2 Timothy. 2nd ed. SPCK, 2004. ISBN 978-0-281-05310-0
- Hebrews for Everyone. 2nd ed. SPCK, 2004. ISBN 978-0-281-05307-0
- Early Christian Letters for Everyone: James, Peter, John and Judah. SPCK, 2011. ISBN 978-0-281-06465-6
- Revelation for Everyone. SPCK, 2011. ISBN 978-0-281-06463-2
- James for Everyone. SPCK, 2012. ISBN 978-0-281-06859-3
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^ "NT Wright", Divinity staff, St Andrews.
- ^ Jump up to:a b "Bishops", Diocese of Durham, Anglican
- ^ See, for example, Amazon.co.uk. ASIN 0281064776. and Wright, N. T. (5 February 2008). Amazon.com. ISBN 978-0061551826.
- ^ "Wycliffe Hall announces the appointment of NT Wright as their Senior Research Fellow | Wycliffe Hall". www.wycliffe.ox.ac.uk. Retrieved 8 November 2019.
- ^ Wright, N. T. (2009). Justification : God's Plan and Paul's Vision. London: SPCK. ISBN 978-0-83083863-9.
- ^ "Women's Service in the Church: The Biblical Basis". Retrieved 19 April 2017.
- ^ Jump up to:a b Van Biema, David (7 February 2008). "Christians Wrong About Heaven, Says Bishop". Time. Archived from the original on 9 February 2008. Retrieved 19 May 2010.
- ^ Wright, NT, Farewell rapture.Alternate source: Fulcrum website Archived 20 April 2012 at the Wayback Machine.
- ^ Merritt, Jonathan (6 November 2013). "N.T. Wright extends debate with John Piper by releasing Apostle Paul tome".
- ^ "Book Review: The Resurrection of the Son of God - Apologetics 315". Retrieved 19 April 2017.
- ^ Kristof, Nicholas (23 December 2016). "Am I a Christian, Pastor Timothy Keller?". The New York Times. Retrieved 19 April 2017.
- ^ FortressPress (28 January 2014). "N. T. Wright on Paul and the Faithfulness of God: A Conversation with Richard B. Hays". Retrieved 19 April 2017 – via YouTube.
- ^ Amos, Michael 'Mike' (12 February 2003), "Our friend from the North", Northern Echo
- ^ Wright, Tom (2013). New Testament Wisdom for Everyone. London: SPCK. p. 8. ISBN 978-0281069378.
- ^ "Bishop of Durham", Bishops in Lords, Church of England
- ^ Thornton, Ed, ""Wright has 'J.K. Rowling-plus' appeal, says SPCK", Church Times, 22 July 2011/
- ^ "No. 58062". The London Gazette. 4 August 2006. p. 10685.
- ^ News & events (news), Durham: Anglican
- ^ "Faith", Times (article), UK
- ^ "Wycliffe Hall announces the appointment of NT Wright as their Senior Research Fellow | WYCLIFFE HALL". www.wycliffe.ox.ac.uk. Retrieved 1 October 2019.
- ^ "Farewell to the rapture". Bible Review. NT Wright Page. August 2001. Retrieved 20 November 2011. Cf. Wright, NT (2008). Surprised by hope: Rethinking heaven, the resurrection, and the mission of the church. ISBN 978-0-06-155182-6.
When Paul speaks of 'meeting' the Lord 'in the air,' the point is precisely not—as in the popular rapture theology—that the saved believers would then stay up in the air somewhere. The point is that, having gone out to meet their returning Lord, they will escort him royally into his domain, that is, back to the place they have come from. Even when we realise that this is highly charged metaphor, not literal description, the meaning is the same as in the parallel in Philippians 3:20. Being citizens of heaven, as the Philippians would know, doesn't mean that one is expecting go back to the mother city but rather means that one is expecting the emperor to come from the mother city to give the colony its full dignity, to rescue it if need he, to subdue local enemies and put everything to rights
- ^ Jump up to:a b N.T. Wright (August 2003). "New Perspectives on Paul, 10th Edinburgh Dogmatics Conferene". Archived from the original on 7 October 2016. See also this copy.
- ^ Allman, James (January 2013). "Gaining Perspective on the New Perspective on Paul". Bibliotheca Sacra. 170 (677): 51.
- ^ Stendahl, Krister (1963). "Paul and the Introspective Conscience of the West". Harvard Theological Review. doi:10.1017/S0017816000024779. S2CID 170331485.
- ^ Wright 1997, p. 51.
- ^ Wright 1997, p. 23.
- ^ Wright 1997, p. 8.
- ^ Wright 1997, p. 12.
- ^ Sanders, EP (1977). Paul and Palestinian Judaism. Fortress.
- ^ Jump up to:a b Wright 1997, p. 115.
- ^ Wright 1997, p. 117.
- ^ Wright 1997, p. 113.
- ^ Wright 1997, p. 117–18.
- ^ "In quotes: The ethics of embryos". BBC News. 24 March 2008. Retrieved 11 November 2008.
- ^ Aaronovitch, David (25 March 2008). "Wicked untruths from the Church". The Times. London. Archived from the original on 9 May 2008. Retrieved 11 November 2008.
- ^ "Bishops speak out on embryos". The Times. London. 26 March 2008. Archived from the original on 12 May 2008. Retrieved 11 November 2008.
- ^ Aaronovitch, David (31 March 2008). "Who wants to kill the elderly?". The Times. London. Archived from the original on 16 May 2008. Retrieved 11 November 2008.
- ^ Wright, Tom (3 April 2008). "Euthanasia – a murky moral world". The Times. London. Archived from the original on 6 July 2008. Retrieved 11 November 2008.
- ^ Jump up to:a b Stewart, R.B. (2008). The Quest of the Hermeneutical Jesus: The Impact of Hermeneutics on the Jesus Research of John Dominic Crossan and N. T. Wright. University Press of America. p. 20. ISBN 978-0-7618-4096-1.
- ^ Johnson, L.T. (2013). Contested Issues in Christian Origins and the New Testament: Collected Essays. Novum Testamentum, Supplements. Brill. p. 53. ISBN 978-90-04-24290-6. Retrieved 22 February 2018.
- ^ Wright 1996, p. 21.
- ^ Wilson, C.A. (2017). Inventing Christic Jesuses, Volume 1: Rules and Warrants for Theology: Method. Cascade Books. p. 204. ISBN 978-1-5326-3144-3.
- ^ Myles, Robert (2016). "The Fetish for a Subversive Jesus". Journal for the Study of the Historical Jesus. 14: 52–70. doi:10.1163/17455197-01401005.
- ^ Wright, N. T. (1997). The original Jesus: the life and vision of a revolutionary. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company. ISBN 0-8028-4283-6. OCLC 38436317.[page needed]
- ^ Wright, Nicholas Thomas (1996), Jesus and the Victory of God, pp. 376–383, ISBN 978-0800626822
- ^ Wright & Borg 1999.
- ^ Stewart, Robert B (2007). Intelligent design: William A. Dembski & Michael Ruse in dialogue. Minneapolis: Fortress Press. ISBN 978-0-8006-6218-9. OCLC 148895223.[page needed]
- ^ "N.T. Wright interview: Why Left, Right & Lewis get it wrong". Read The Spirit online magazine. 28 March 2012. Retrieved 21 November 2013.
- ^ "The members of the Lambeth Commission". The Windsor Report. Anglican Communion. October 2004. Retrieved 11 November 2008.
- ^ Jump up to:a b Wright, Nicholas Thomas 'Tom' (15 July 2009). "The Americans know this will end in schism". The Times. London. Retrieved 19 May 2010. Alternate source: Fulcrum website Archived 20 April 2012 at the Wayback Machine.
- ^ "Gay vicar flouts partnership rule". BBC News. 21 December 2005. Retrieved 11 November 2008.
- ^ Rowan's reflections: unpacking the Archbishop's statement, Anglican Communion Institute, July 2009
- ^ "Ten questions for NT Wright regarding Romanism, justification & the Church", Called to communion, November 2009.
- ^ Crossan, John Dominic (March 2011), "Strange Jesus", Written word, Word on fire, archived from the originalon 9 May 2011.
- ^ Catholic News Agency.
- ^ Wax, Trevin (24 April 2008). "Interview with N.T. Wright on Surprised by Hope". Retrieved 22 September 2011.
- ^ Wright 2009.
- ^ Wright, NT. "Interview on Justification: God's Plan and Paul's Vision" (PDF). IVP Academic. Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 May 2009. Retrieved 3 August 2009.
- ^ Wax, Trevin (18 November 2007), Wright on penal substitution
- ^ Keller, Timothy (25 February 2008), "An Interview", First Things
- ^ Smith, J (January 2016). "N.T. Wright's Understanding of the Nature of Jesus' Risen Body". Heythrop Journal. 57(January 2016): 29. doi:10.1111/j.1468-2265.2011.00730.x.
- ^ Wright, Nicholas Thomas. "Curriculum Vitae". Archived from the original on 31 January 2009. Retrieved 11 November 2008.
- ^ "Anniversary accolades for major achievement" (Press release). Durham University. 8 June 2007. Retrieved 11 November 2008.
- ^ White, James 'Jim' (1 May 2008). "Theologian NT Wright packs the house". Religious Herald. Richmond, VA. Archived from the original on 21 July 2011. Retrieved 14 September 2010.
- ^ "Honorary degrees". University of St Andrews. 25 June 2009. Archived from the original on 30 June 2009. Retrieved 29 June 2009.
- ^ "BURKITT MEDAL FOR BIBLICAL STUDIES 2014". Prizes and medals. British Academy. Archived from the originalon 8 November 2014. Retrieved 9 December 2014.
External links[edit]
![]() | Wikiquote has quotations related to: N. T. Wright |
- N. T. Wright page, a collection of writings.
- N.T. Wright In-depth Interview on "Beyond Evangelical".