Myths of Emancipation, Narratives of Redemption An educational reflection on the epistemological roots of the contemporary ecological crisis In the west

Abstract

This paper does not deal directly with the explicit literature that seeks to engage with the contemporary ecological crisis in its religious and theological dimensions‐ 1 Its concern is rather with the educational, hermeneutical and epistemological structures within which the crisis is analysed, and through which responses are formulated. Specifically, attention is focused on the occidental meta‐narratives of scientific naturalism, romanticism and post‐modernity. It is suggested that these meta‐narratives have played a significant role in creating and sustaining a distorted relationship between humanity and nature. Further, so long as they remain implied and unacknowledged, they constitute the fundamental power structures that set the boundaries beyond which legitimate debate may not range. As a result they limit the scope of responses to the crisis of ecology by artificially eclipsing the perspectives of alternative theological, religious and spiritual narratives. This in turn severely restricts the rang...