'At Home on the Earth': Toward a Theology of Human Non-Exceptionalism. (31st December 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Dean, Dorothy
• Is Part Of: Journal for the study of religion, nature and culture. Volume 14:Number 4(2020)
• Page Start: 480
• Page End: 495
• Publication Date: 2020-12-31
• Subjects: phenomenology -- human exceptionalism -- maurice merleau-ponty -- ecofeminism -- sallie mcfague -- embodiment -- mesh -- christian ecotheology -- climate change.; Human ecology -- Religious aspects -- Periodicals; Environmental protection -- Religious aspects -- Periodicals; Ecology -- Moral and ethical aspects -- Periodicals; Ecology -- Religious aspects -- Periodicals; 201.7705
• DOI: 10.1558/jsrnc.40899
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1749-4907

Abstract

Abstract : The climate crisis requires a revaluation of what it means to be human that radically rejects human exceptionalism. I argue that such an account of human being can be constructed from a combination of Sallie McFague's theology and Maurice Merleau-Ponty's phenomenology. While McFague's theology established the parameters for an embodied, ecotheological concept of human being, I contend that Merleau-Ponty's late work can push this vision of humanity from being anti-anthropocentric to being truly non-exceptionalistic, by making it possible to understand humans as part of the 'mesh' of the world. This allows for a human non-exceptionalism that still has room for the differentiation and relationality necessary to honor human diversity and to facilitate ameliorative action. The result is a foundation for a new ecotheological concept of human being that can speak to what it means to be human in the Anthropocene.