La Vista Ecological Learning Center

Sallie McFague

This work builds on the text: "I am about to create a new heaven and a new earth" (Is 65:17) and our role in this co-creation. McFague insists that in order to inspire changes to our high-consumption, fossil fuel‐driven lifestyles, we need to start seeing ourselves as an inextricable part of the natural community.

Isabel Apawo Phiri and Sarojini Nadar, Eds.

These essays are written to bring forward the values of Mercy. Although they are not in the explicit words of Cosmic Spirituality, Mercy is deeply rooted in African religion and culture. Both of these are close to the Earth and shape her concerns about global issues such as HIV/AIDS from the African perspective.

Carol Dempsey & Rusell Butkus, Eds.

This book includes chapters like "New Ways of Knowing and Being Known," "An Islamic Perspective on the Environment" by Khalid Khan, "Symphonies of Nature: Creation and Re-Creation" by Keneth Kleszynski, "Christian Values, Technology, and the Environmental Crisis" by Russell Butkus.

Global Education Associates: Upper Midwest (eds.)

The story of the universe and evolution are seen through the lenses of both science and spirituality. This book presents 6 sessions devised for group discussion with readings, rituals, and facilitator directions. Dorothy Olinger, SSND, is considered the soul and energy behind and around this project. This foundational material could be uses with Upper Grades, High School students and adults.

Diarmuid O'Murchu

This fascinating account of humankind, from our beginning in Africa seven million years ago to the present blends history, anthropology, and spirituality to demonstrate that God has been and always will be with us. It's one of those rare books that can change the way we see the world. Essential for the advanced reader.

Ted Andrews

This book provides direction for recognizing and interpreting what animals are trying to "speak" to those with eyes to see and hearts open to receive. Excellent for youth ministers and retreat directors.

David Toolan

The author paraphrases T.S. Eliot with, "What happens in the material world happens also to God." God is unsurpassably related to all events in the cosmos and affected by them. The book connects process cosmology to western process theologians such as Whitehead, Hartshorne, de Chardin and others. Considered classic, but not well known.

Sallie McFague

This book focuses on the ecological crisis seen through a critique of Judeo Christian theology and suggestions for seeing life through a new lens. Her "Body of God" gives much to think about.

Trace Murphy, Ed.

These prayers evidence an early form of what today is called Cosmic Spirituality. It is pocket-sized and inexpensive.

Thomas Berry

This book may be the best guide yet to the work of Thomas Berry ‐ and so to the Ecozoic Age. Most helpful is that Evelyn Tucker as editor pulls his best works into one volume. It is as though these essays embody the bonding forces he calls "the Great Compassionate Curve" of the universe. A foundational resource.

David Uhl

After Uhl faced that his ecology students found his courses boring, he went to the woods on an extended retreat to ponder how he might help them experience the love and excitement he felt. This very reader‐friendly book is the result. It introduces ecology, social change, earth spirituality, sustainability and the evolution of human consciousness. Questions and practices are suggested for each chapter.

Thomas Berry

Berry's landmark work has established itself as a foundational volume in the ecological canon. In it Berry provides nothing less than a new intellectual-ethical framework for the human community by positing planetary well-being as the measure of all human activity.

Ohr and Pipestem

We must develop a desire to live within our means ‐ ecologically, biologically, and spiritually. And this book applies this to cooking.

Elizabeth Roberts and Elias Amidon

This is a treasure chest of prayers and poems about Earth from different religious traditions. It can be used in personal prayer or in creating communal prayer rituals. Included are prayers for seasons, feasts, the daily cycle of life, element, etc.

Carolyn Sur

Sur's essay notes that Annie Dillard connects all forms of nature to human life in her observations as a Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, Dillard approaches all in the stance of awe, not clutching, not clinging. The essay is a reflection on how to read cosmic spirituality into Annie Dillard. (In Wagering on Transcendence: the Search for Meaning in Literature, Phyllis Carey, Ed.) The book gives lessons on how to use literature as an avenue for nature spirituality. 

Judy Cannato

The transforming vision of spirituality that examines the intricate connectedness of the physical and spiritual worlds, Judy Cannato calls the "field of compassion." She has one of the clearest presentations of Rahner's theology of the Cosmic Christ. The meditations and journaling at the end of each chapter give the reader a way to internalize her message.

Kathleen Storms

This two-day study process of Cannato's Field of Compassion includes a summary of her main concepts as well as incorporates practical experiences/reflection.  kathleenstorms@yahoo.com.

Dawn M. Nothvehr, OSF, ed.

"The Canticle of Brother Sun and the Value of Creation." Franciscan Press, 2003. We are reminded that Ecology and Spirituality are not "New Age," a truth that may have escaped those lured by trends, but part of a long tradition in the Church. This chapter connects the Eco-Spirituality to social, reminding us that in the intimacy of contemplation, we are called to action.

Gerard Manley Hopkins

Dozens of poems of Hopkins are published in one small inexpensive text, among which is his most famous poem expressed in the title.

Thomas Berry

With a background in world religions, science, culture and theology, Berry speaks as a "geologian" in narrating the urgency of the great work of shifting consciousness to save our planet from destructive human behavior. Foundational.

New Revised Standard Version

Prints all references to creation (from Genesis to Revelation) in green lettering; contains inspirational essays and a Christopher. Forward by Archbishop Desmond Tutu. Taps an essential Christian resource. Helps users to see that caring for the Earth is part of the Judeo-Christian tradition and a Christian lifestyle.

Sarah McFarland Taylor

The author is an anthropologist who looks at the work (Great Work) being done by Roman Catholic Sisters in the United States and Canada as a new subculture developing ways of living different from the American mainstream.

Edwina Gateley

This book is the story of five years in the life of the author, a British Catholic lay-missionary. She moves from a year of profound contemplation in a hermitage in the woods to a decision to work with prostitutes in Chicago. Perhaps this cycle, from nature to radical social justice, is why many shy away from embracing a spirituality connected to nature.

Brian Swimme and Mary Evelyn Tucker

This book is part of a larger project that includes a documentary film, an educational DVD series, and a website.  For more information, please consult the website: http://journeyoftheuniverse.com/.

Elaine Prevallet, SL.

Presentations on Earth Spirituality. 

Making the Shift, Seeing Faith Through a New Lens explores the role of religious vows through the lens of a shift in consciousness, seeing our communion with all creation as a central focus.

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In the Service of Life, Widening and Deepening Religious Commitment explores the role of religious vows through the lens of a shift in consciousness, seeing our communion with all creation as a central focus.

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 A Wisdom for Life continues the series of presentations on Earth Spirituality.

William Cleary

This is a unique collection of eighty prose prayers and related commentary which invites you to consider new ways of thinking about God and about the world around you. Cleary reveals that religion and science can be combined to create an expanding view of the universe ‐ an evolutionary faith.

Linda Lear

This biography of Rachel Carson will give you insight into her scientific education as well as her courage in writing Silent Spring. Her love for children is evident in her works that discuss how to inspire a child's awe and wonder at the natural world. A good choice for a book club.

Judy Cannato

Judy Cannato is wife, mother, CSJ Associate and spiritual director. She begins her book by saying: "Thomas Aquinas said that a mistake in our understanding of creation will necessarily cause a mistake in our understanding of God." Her work examines Catholic theology with contemplative lessons from supernovas, black holes, and other wonders.

Kathleen Duffy, Ed.

This book offers a collection of presentations over the past few years that present Teilhard's vision in new and provocative ways for our times. This volume is for those who wish to be deeply steeped in the science and theology foundational to the New Universe Story.

Thomas Berry

This series of essays represents a powerful commentary on some of the key issues facing religions in the 21st century. They are a timely and urgent call for the world's religions to respond to this growing ecological crisis.

Ursula King

For those who love Teilhard this book will provide a biographical retreat with personal accounts of Teilhard's love for the universe and his spirituality

Rob Hopkins

Chelsea Green Publishing, 2008. This book will come to be seen as one of the seminal books which emerged at the end of the Oil Age and which offered a gentle helping hand in the transition to a more local, more human and ultimately more nourishing future.

Thomas Berry and Brian Swimme

Both men write and speak as mystics, introducing us to the awe and sacredness of our universe through science. We now speak of the NEW Universe Story. This book addresses humanity's evolving place in the cosmos, and deep concern for restoring ecological balance to our endangered planet. This work is foundational for those new to cosmic spirituality.