The Cosmic Common Good


Book Description

In this book, Daniel Scheid draws on Catholic social thought as a foundation for a new type of interreligious ecological ethics, which he calls the cosmic common good. By placing this concept in dialogue with tenets from other spiritual traditions, such as Hindu dharmic ecology, Buddhist interdependence, and American Indian balance, Scheid constructs a theologically authentic moral framework that re-envisions humanity's role in the universe.




Kingdom Calling


Book Description

Amy Sherman unpacks Proverbs 11:10--"When the righteous prosper, the city rejoices"--to develop a theology and program of vocational stewardship. Here is practical help for churches, ministries and other faith communities to navigate the complex process of following Jesus in those places where we happen to prosper.




Acting for the Common Good


Book Description

The goods that we pursue in our lives are for us, first and foremost, goods that are particular and personal, and thus goods that are immediate to our attention. Not readily apparent to us are goods necessary for the flourishing of our lives but that can be attained by us only in consort with others and thus realized only through collective action. Such goods are common goods. The wider the good, the more extensive must be the human cooperation to realize the good. A stable, orderly society and a habitable planetary environment are common goods that can be realized only in and through the cooperation of all for the benefit of all. That all contribute to the shared good of the whole is a matter of justice—social justice. Acting for the Common Good undertakes the study of social justice in light of the common good—this from the viewpoint of Catholic social teaching, which draws upon the tradition of the common good that is articulated classically in the philosophy of Aristotle and the theology of Thomas Aquinas and in the modern-day social thought and authoritative teachings of the Catholic Church.




Cosmic Commandos


Book Description

In this graphic novel adventure for readers of Monster Mayhem and Roller Girl, a pair of twin brothers accidentally bring their favorite video game to life—and now they have to find a way to work together to defeat it. Jeremy and Justin are twins, but they couldn’t be any more different from each other. Jeremy is a risk taker who likes to get his hands dirty; Justin prefers to read, focus, and get all his facts straight before jumping in. But they do have one important thing in common: They both love video games. When Jeremy wins a cereal-box charm that brings his favorite video game to life, villains and all, he finds that he’s in way over his head. Justin knows everything there is to know about the rules of the game—he read the handbook, of course—and Jeremy isn’t afraid to try new things. Can these two mismatched brothers work together to beat the video game that has become their life?




Cosmic Commons


Book Description

Cosmic Commons explores terrestrial-extraterrestrial intelligent life Contact. It uses a thought experiment to consider the ecological-economic-ethical-ecclesial impacts of Contact, analyzing incidents around the world described by credible witnesses (two of whom are interviewed for the book), including Roswell and the Hudson River Valley. It discusses government and academic efforts to use ridicule and coercion to suppress Contact investigations, supports a scientific method to research ETI reports in a field that should excite scientists, and calls on academics to publicly disclose their Contact experiences. It traces Earth ecological and economic injustices to the European Enlightenment and the Discovery Doctrine by which European nations rationalized invasion of distant continents, genocide, and seizure of the territories and natural goods of native peoples. It advocates a change in humans' Earth conduct to avoid replicating in space the policies and practices that wrought economic injustice and ecological devastation on Earth, provides an innovative cosmosociological praxis ethics theory and practice toward that end, and develops a Cosmic Charter, based on UN documents, to guide humankind in space and in ETI encounters. Permeated by a profound sense of the sacred, Cosmic Commons explores a positive relationship between religion and science as humankind ventures into space.




The Quest for Cosmic Justice


Book Description

This book is about the great moral issues underlying many of the headline-making political controversies of our times. It is not a comforting book but a book about disturbing and dangerous trends. The Quest for Cosmic Justice shows how confused conceptions of justice end up promoting injustice, how confused conceptions of equality end up promoting inequality, and how the tyranny of social visions prevents many people from confronting the actual consequences of their own beliefs and policies. Those consequences include the steady and dangerous erosion of fundamental principles of freedom -- amounting to a quiet repeal of the American revolution. The Quest for Cosmic Justice is the summation of a lifetime of study and thought about where we as a society are headed -- and why we need to change course before we do irretrievable damage.




The Urgency of Climate Change


Book Description

The Urgency of Climate Change addresses a pivotal challenge for the sustainability of our planet. This topic was selected for the inaugural conference in 2015 of an annual series on the Integrity of Creation. The essays in this collection were selected in a peer-reviewed manner and appeal to a general audience. The chapters move from general to more specific points of view, with a discussion at the end of each section addressing the global impact of climate change. The first section sets the Context for the discussion, explaining that the climate is an indispensable common good. The part on Science emphasises that empirical reality must guide any analysis of the climate as a matter of basic knowledge and comprehension. A crucial implication is whether the climate is sufficiently robust for the Earth to flourish for millennia ahead, as discussed in the part on Sustainability. In turn, these sections raise pivotal questions, regarding Ethics about social obligations for the planet to flourish and regarding Religion to foster global stewardship. Finally, this alignment of Ethics and Religion around the problems related to Science and Sustainability leads to the final section on Law that considers policy possibilities to effectively engage Climate Change.




Empowering Climate-Change Strategies with Bernard Lonergan's Method


Book Description

This book addresses the climate change crisis through scientific, historical, and spiritual lenses. Using Bernard Lonergan’s functional specialization method, developed to facilitate collaboration among specialists, Raymaker and Durrani not only analyze data and rebut the claims of climate change deniers, but also look for inspiration to motivate and coordinate needed action by persons, groups, and nations. The book is wide-ranging in its historical examination of leaders who have shown us ways to work together constructively in finding solutions to problems. Lonergan’s method helps us study the past with a view to change the future. To do so, we must first reform ourselves.




Probable Impossibilities


Book Description

The acclaimed author of Einstein’s Dreams tackles "big questions like the origin of the universe and the nature of consciousness ... in an entertaining and easily digestible way” (Wall Street Journal) with a collection of meditative essays on the possibilities—and impossibilities—of nothingness and infinity, and how our place in the cosmos falls somewhere in between. Can space be divided into smaller and smaller units, ad infinitum? Does space extend to larger and larger regions, on and on to infinity? Is consciousness reducible to the material brain and its neurons? What was the origin of life, and can biologists create life from scratch in the lab? Physicist and novelist Alan Lightman, whom The Washington Post has called “the poet laureate of science writers,” explores these questions and more—from the anatomy of a smile to the capriciousness of memory to the specialness of life in the universe to what came before the Big Bang. Probable Impossibilities is a deeply engaged consideration of what we know of the universe, of life and the mind, and of things vastly larger and smaller than ourselves.




The Varieties of Scientific Experience


Book Description

“Ann Druyan has unearthed a treasure. It is a treasure of reason, compassion, and scientific awe. It should be the next book you read.” —Sam Harris, author of The End of Faith “A stunningly valuable legacy left to all of us by a great human being. I miss him so.” —Kurt Vonnegut Carl Sagan's prophetic vision of the tragic resurgence of fundamentalism and the hope-filled potential of the next great development in human spirituality The late great astronomer and astrophysicist describes his personal search to understand the nature of the sacred in the vastness of the cosmos. Exhibiting a breadth of intellect nothing short of astounding, Sagan presents his views on a wide range of topics, including the likelihood of intelligent life on other planets, creationism and so-called intelligent design, and a new concept of science as "informed worship." Originally presented at the centennial celebration of the famous Gifford Lectures in Scotland in 1985 but never published, this book offers a unique encounter with one of the most remarkable minds of the twentieth century.