Overview

A Book Whose Time Has Finally Come The world has changed a lot since 1990. George H.W. Bush was in the White House, John Paul II was in the 12th year of his 27-year papacy, and the World Wide Web had yet to be launched. That year, an independent publisher out of Canada called Woodlake Books, Inc. published a title called Geo-Justice: A Preferential Option for the Earth by Jim Conlon. The book melded profound insights from mystical theology with lively and passionate calls to action from prominent community organizers and environmentalists. In that book and others, Conlon's faith-based exhortations to care for our planet combined with those of Theilhard de Chardin, Thomas Berry, and a small cadre of environmental prophets to help pave the way 25 years later for the landmark encyclical of the current pope, Laudato Si'. Dedicated to Pope Francis, this new edition of Geo-Justice boasts not only a foreword by Thomas Berry and a new foreword by fellow priest and earth-rights activist, Sean McDonagh, but also a fully revised text. The new edition contains fresh poetry from Conlon, reflections on Laudato Si', and updated practices that incorporate another 25 years' worth of experience in preparing lay people for community work and ministry. Although the world has changed vastly in a quarter century, the need for an updated vision of Christianity that incorporates the truths of science with the soul of our faith has not.

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9780996438728

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Reviews

With inspiring wisdom from the past and engaging contemporary insights, this most welcome volume boldly takes on the serious ecological challenges facing us today. The text is informed by evolutionary science, scriptural insight, and open-eyed social engagement. Each page is written with an evident spirit of deep concern for our fragile ecosystem and abiding compassion for all its inhabitants. The author's call for harmony, balance, peace, and care for the earth is exactly what we need to hear today: the message of geo-justice. This well-articulated vision of a healthier cosmos will allow all who read this book to grow in awareness of the sacredness of all creation and will energize us to work for a better world. --Thomas Massaro, S.J., Professor of Moral Theology, Jesuit School of Theology of Santa Clara University Jim Conlon wrote this book with passion and intelligence. What a wonderful and rare combination! I assure you that you will be inspired--set aflame, actually--as I was by Jim's unsentimental, wise, and absolutely timely message. He writes as a theologian activist. I miss this important voice in the Catholic tradition: visionary, compassionate, earth-loving. --Thomas Moore, author of Care of the Soul To address our present ecological predicament, we need a new vision of the world and a creative new way of understanding our relationship to it. Conlon's compelling notion of geo-justice is not only indispensable to such a vision but also a prime candidate for becoming the operative myth for our time. --John F. Haught, Professor Emeritus, Department of Theology, Georgetown University Jim Conlon identified the needed linkage of ecology and justice twenty years ago. Now he is revisiting geo-justice through the lens of Pope Francis's encyclical, Laudato Si'. The result is a passionate book that needs to be read and put into practice by all who care about the future of our planet. --Mary Evelyn Tucker, Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology This is a book of depth and wisdom. Jim Conlon has been deeply engaged in the greening of the Earth for many years and this succinct work draws us into a new vision for a new world. With a poetic heart and searching mind, Jim is a seer and a prophet for our age. Read this book slowly and prayerfully, and you will awake to see the world in a new way. --Ilia Delio, OSF, Villanova University Geo-justice initiates a new context for theological discussion of justice issues. Gone forever are the former dualism that pitted human social concerns on one side, and environmental concerns on the other. Conlon establishes a holistic orientation that assists us in exploring the justice implications of one Earth, that helps us hold our minds open both to the beauty and the crisis of our time, and that enables us to articulate our deepest convictions and plan for action. --Brian Swimme, co-author with Thomas Berry of The Universe Story In this work, Jim Conlon unites prose, poetry, and prayer in a healing reflection on what humanity belongs to, and is called to strive toward and to celebrate. We encounter in this thoughtful exposition deep and challenging insights fueled by hope, courage, and profound wisdom--a graced vision! --Barbara Fiand, SNDdeN

With inspiring wisdom from the past and engaging contemporary insights, this most welcome volume boldly takes on the serious ecological challenges facing us today. The text is informed by evolutionary science, scriptural insight, and open-eyed social engagement. Each page is written with an evident spirit of deep concern for our fragile ecosystem and abiding compassion for all its inhabitants. The author's call for harmony, balance, peace, and care for the earth is exactly what we need to hear today: the message of geo-justice. This well-articulated vision of a healthier cosmos will allow all who read this book to grow in awareness of the sacredness of all creation and will energize us to work for a better world. --Thomas Massaro, S.J., Professor of Moral Theology, Jesuit School of Theology of Santa Clara University Jim Conlon wrote this book with passion and intelligence. What a wonderful and rare combination! I assure you that you will be inspired--set aflame, actually--as I was by Jim's unsentimental, wise, and absolutely timely message. He writes as a theologian activist. I miss this important voice in the Catholic tradition: visionary, compassionate, earth-loving. --Thomas Moore, author of Care of the Soul To address our present ecological predicament, we need a new vision of the world and a creative new way of understanding our relationship to it. Conlon's compelling notion of geo-justice is not only indispensable to such a vision but also a prime candidate for becoming the operative myth for our time. --John F. Haught, Professor Emeritus, Department of Theology, Georgetown University Jim Conlon identified the needed linkage of ecology and justice twenty years ago. Now he is revisiting geo-justice through the lens of Pope Francis's encyclical, Laudato Si'. The result is a passionate book that needs to be read and put into practice by all who care about the future of our planet. --Mary Evelyn Tucker, Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology This is a book of depth and wisdom. Jim Conlon has been deeply engaged in the greening of the Earth for many years and this succinct work draws us into a new vision for a new world. With a poetic heart and searching mind, Jim is a seer and a prophet for our age. Read this book slowly and prayerfully, and you will awake to see the world in a new way. --Ilia Delio, OSF, Villanova University Geo-justice initiates a new context for theological discussion of justice issues. Gone forever are the former dualism that pitted human social concerns on one side, and environmental concerns on the other. Conlon establishes a holistic orientation that assists us in exploring the justice implications of one Earth, that helps us hold our minds open both to the beauty and the crisis of our time, and that enables us to articulate our deepest convictions and plan for action. --Brian Swimme, co-author with Thomas Berry of The Universe Story In this work, Jim Conlon unites prose, poetry, and prayer in a healing reflection on what humanity belongs to, and is called to strive toward and to celebrate. We encounter in this thoughtful exposition deep and challenging insights fueled by hope, courage, and profound wisdom--a graced vision! --Barbara Fiand, SNDdeN

Author Information

"Priest, poet, professor, and environmentalist Jim Conlon has worked tirelessly building bridges between science and religion for more than a quarter century. Conlon divides his time between his home in Berkeley, CA, and Kingstree, SC, where he is on the staff of the Springbank Retreat for Ecology and the Arts and where he teaches writes, celebrates the liturgy. The author of 11 books, he is currently at work on an update of his classic work on geo-justice, which will be published in 2017. His intention is to draw out the similarities between his own life's work and Pope Francis's profound encyclical, Laudati Si: On Care for Our Common Home. Born in 1936 and raised in rural Ontario, Canada, Conlon studied chemistry in college before following a call to the Catholic priesthood. Taking his theological studies during the heady days of Vatican Council II, the Vietnam War, and the civil rights movement, Conlon gravitated toward urban ministry and social justice. In 1971, he met legendary Chicago organizer Monsignor Jack Egan at The University of Notre Dame in Indiana. Shortly afterwards, Conlon moved to Chicago to study at Saul Alinsky's (Rules for Radicals) Industrial Areas Foundation. After returning to Canada, Conlon founded the Institute for Communities in Canada, a project sponsored by Humber College of Applied Arts and Technology in Toronto. In 1977, he became the assistant director of the Toronto School of Theology, where he carried responsibility for field education, pastoral training, and teaching pastoral theology. In 1983, Conlon's life was upended when he met the legendary founder of the Creation Spirituality movement, Matthew Fox, at a summer institute in Toronto. The following year, Conlon was invited to spend his sabbatical as a theologian-in-residence at the Institute in Culture and Creation Spirituality (ICCS) at Holy Names University in Oakland, CA, which was helmed by Fox at the time. At Holy Names, Conlon was introduced to the writings of Thomas Berry. Known as one of the chief advocates of the New Story of the Universe-a cross-fertilization of Darwin's theory of evolution, the writings of paleontologist and theologian Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, and the creation narrative revealed in sacred scripture-Berry labored toward a time when science and religion are no longer separate spheres. At the end of his sabbatical, Conlon was hired as a faculty member at the Institute. Over the next several years, he formulated the ideas behind what became his life's work: the combination of social and environmental justice with creation spirituality, which he termed geo-justice. After Fox left ICCS, Conlon was appointed director. With Berry's vision as a blueprint, the institute was renamed the Sophia Center and continued to expand as a hotspot for the blending of world religions, science, contemporary philosophy, and theology related to environmentalism and human responsibility. In 2015, Conlon retired from Holy Names to focus on his writing. As Conlon's life continues to unfold, he invites others to join him on the journey, and to discover through his talks and presentations what they want to do with their ""one wild and precious life."""

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