Loading...
Robert Royal. The Virgin and the Dynamo:
Keegan, Bridget, Ph.D.
Keegan, Bridget, Ph.D.
Author(s)
Keegan, Bridget, Ph.D.
Author(s) (Additional)
Illustrator(s)
Producer(s)
Contributor(s)
Contributor(s) (Other)
Editor(s)
Advisor(s)
Contact(s)
Data Collector(s)
Keywords
Collections
Files
Loading...
BR23.pdf
Adobe PDF, 105.93 KB
Research Projects
Organizational Units
Journal Issue
Online Access
Abstract
"The topic of Robert Royal's monograph is one that has long needed to be seriously addressed. While there is no shortage of examinations of spirituality and environmentalism written from a "New Age" perspective, Royal's study fills an important gap in existing scholarship by providing a scientifically-informed, conservative Catholic perspective on these issues. He takes a strong stand against the facile demonization of Jewish-Christian (or more generally Western) ideology to be found in less religiously orthodox writers on the environment. Such positions, he argues, are the result of a cursory understanding of both scientific data and theological debate. By reading the evidence more carefully, Royal works to demonstrate that, far from being the root of all environmental evil, there is much that the Bible and more traditional Catholic dogma can teach us about how to properly care for the earth. The Virgin and the Dynamo aspires to be an intellectually informed apologetics for the recently neglected environmental ethic of stewardship. What's more, Royal's study, while specifically devoted to environmental questions, also speaks to a larger and longer standing tension between religion and science, as is indicated by his title, taken from Henry Adams. For Adams, as for Royal, The Virgin is "an image of the fullness of religious belief and human meaning as well as beauty and nature itself" and the Dynamo is "the efficient and powerful achievements of modern science and technology" (10). The struggle between these two iconic forces, according to Royal, provides a framework for understanding the post-modern Western environmental crisis from both a religious and scientific perspective. His book argues "that an answer to some environmental questions may still be found in the classical religious views of the West, supplemented by science and the wisdom of other traditions - that is to say, in the recognition that both the Virgin and the Dynamo are necessary to a full human life and the ongoing evolution of the universe" (29). [2] Throughout, Royal eschews advocating either conservationism or developmentalism, or systematically privileging theological over scientific speculation. Using Biblical tradition and an interpretation of ecological data as guides, Royal ultimately opts for what he terms "intelligent development." Central to Royal's ability to advocate such a position is his understanding of the idea of creation from both a theological and a scientific perspective, and, more significantly, to locate the places where these perspectives may not be mutually exclusive. Through exegeses of a range of religious and scientific thinkers, from St. Augustine to Stephen Hawking, Royal suggestively reads the findings of theoretical science to support assertions of divine intention in creation. From this premise, Royal is able to build his argument in favor of human stewardship of nature."(pg 1)
Note(s)
Topic
Type
Article
Date
2000
Identifier
ISBN
DOI
Copyright/License
With permission of the license/copyright holder