Seeing Nature as a Historian of Religions with Mary Evelyn Tucker

What story do you tell yourself about the interconnectedness of nature and culture? 

In this episode, we’re learning to see nature through the lens of a historian of religions. Brian McLaren is joined in conversation by Mary Evelyn Tucker, a leading voice in the field of religion and ecology. Together, they discuss the importance of cultural history, the challenges of interreligious dialogue, and the urgent need for a new story that integrates science and spirituality. They also explore the life and legacy of Thomas Berry, a visionary Catholic priest, who revolutionized our understanding of nature, culture, and the universe. Mary also shares her personal journey, her partnership with John Grim, and the profound impact of Berry’s teachings on her life.  

About the guest: 

Mary Evelyn Tucker is co-director with John Grim of the Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology. They are affiliated faculty with the Yale Center for Environmental Justice at the Yale School of the Environment. They organized 10 conferences on World Religions and Ecology at Harvard and were series editors for the 10 resulting volumes from Harvard. Her research area is Asian religions and she co-edited Confucianism and Ecology, Buddhism and Ecology, and Hinduism and Ecology. 

Resources: 

• The transcript for this episode can be found here. 
• Brian referenced two of his books, Life After Doom and The Galapagos Islands. 
• Check out Journey of the Universe, Mary’s multimedia project with Brian Swimme here. 
• Check out Yale’s Forum on Religion and Ecology here.  
• Thomas Berry was mentioned significantly in this episode. You can learn more about him here. 
• Find out more about musician April Stace here. 
• Note: Brian refers to Dr. Tucker as a theologian in the episode, but she clarifies that she is actually a historian of world religions.

Connect with us: 

Have a response to Brian's call to action at the end of this episode, or a question in general? 

Email us: podcasts@cac.org 

Send us a voicemail: cac.org/voicemail 

We'll be accepting questions for our Listener Questions episode until November 20th, 2024.