To wrap our minds and bodies around creation stories, whether rooted in culture, faith, Earth, or cosmos can be both comforting and overwhelming. Both religious and scientific traditions have long wandered within the realms of this radical reverence for creation. As this week’s guest, Dr. Mary Evelyn Tucker, puts it, “Religious traditions help us to rest in the mystery, scientific traditions are pushing towards discovery…but the origin in awe is very compatible.” As we become mired in the minutiae of our individual existence, we must remember ourselves to be anthropocosmic beings. In doing so, we might find great benefit in once again weaving the threads of connectivity between our cosmological and ecological histories. This week’s episode with Dr. Mary Evelyn Tucker explores these truths and many more.

Dr. Mary Evelyn Tucker is co-director of the Forum on Religion and Ecology at Yale where she teaches in an MA program between the School of Forestry & Environmental Studies and the Divinity School. With John Grim, she organized 10 conferences on World Religions and Ecology at Harvard. Dr. Mary Evelyn Tucker is co-author, with Brian Thomas Swimme, of Journey of the Universe and the executive producer of the film with John Grim. She regularly lectures on the significance of this story for the environmental and social challenges of our times. She has published Ecology and Religion, Worldly Wonder, and edited Thomas Berry’s books including Great Work, Evening Thoughts, Sacred Universe, and Selected Writings. Tucker and Grim recently published Thomas Berry: A Biography (Columbia University Press, 2019).

Dr. Mary Evelyn Tucker’s work explores the intersections between religion, ecology, and academia, and how these intersections are a part of creating structures of change and accountability for our collective planetary community. The conversation between Ayana and Mary Evelyn explores how spiritual traditions can respond to environmental crisis, why it is so valuable to understand the emergence of the early universe as we navigate the Anthropocene, and how we can nourish stories of birth, inheritance, and long lineage between body and universe.

♫ Music by Laurence Cole and "Seed" and "Treehouse Palace" by Evelyn Frances.

LEARN MORE

To learn more about Dr. Mary Evelyn Tucker’s work with the Emerging Earth Community, visit http://emergingearthcommunity.org/

To learn more about the Journey of the Universe Project, visit https://www.journeyoftheuniverse.org/

To learn about her upcoming course, visit
https://www.coursera.org/specializations/journey-of-the-universe