The main aim of this study is to discern, reconstruct, and make visible the historical roots of W... more The main aim of this study is to discern, reconstruct, and make visible the historical roots of Western ecotheology, with particular (but not exclusive) attention to the contributions of Christian theologians. We mainly focus on three thinkers: Pliny the Elder, Paul the Apostle, and Severinus Boethius. Pliny offers a pagan perspective on environmental problems. Paul is essential as he is the putative “father” of the Christian Faith, or, at least, the man that brought Christianity from East to West. Boethius is perhaps the best example of a theologian that tries to reconcile and synthesize the Greek-Roman and Judeo-Christian roots of our civilization. Their views are compared with those of coeval theologians and modern environmentalists. Our conclusion is that an ecotheological orientation emerges especially in the work of those Christian thinkers who underline the continuity rather than the discontinuity between their ideas and the Gentiles’ ones.
ABSTRACT An enlarged purview for amplification of religious doctrine can become necessary for a s... more ABSTRACT An enlarged purview for amplification of religious doctrine can become necessary for a spacefaring species. Settlement of distant planetary bodies involves both technological and theological issues. The authors apply this notion to environmental preservation of the Earth, Earth's Moon, and cislunar space between Earth and Moon, as a unit. In expanding environmental protection beyond Earth to the new cislunar unit, humans take an important step in settling the Moon responsibly. The relationships of immanence and transcendence to the new environmental unit provide examples of the conceptual tasks ahead. Profiles in Ecotheology round out the analysis and point toward future roles.
We report evaluation findings and best practices from a morning of research with senior class stu... more We report evaluation findings and best practices from a morning of research with senior class students at an all-Spanish-origin, secondary school in the southwest United States. We found a jump in interest toward science for the women who self-identified as humanities students, and over the morning, surprisingly, this affected their remembrance of previous attitudes. Our results for this and other evaluations corroborate that experiential activities involving one-to-one or group activities are useful in attracting high school and college students to the sciences, especially young women. These results also pointed toward best practices.
The proposal by the Committee on Legal Affairs (CLA) of the European Parliament to create a speci... more The proposal by the Committee on Legal Affairs (CLA) of the European Parliament to create a specific legal status for robots, aimed at granting the status of ‘electronic persons’ to the most sophisticated autonomous ones, has triggered a discussion on whether machines can achieve self-consciousness and free will. In particular, several Catholic thinkers have expressed perplexity about this hypothesis. Their criticism is often based on the postulates of Thomistic philosophical anthropology. In this article, after showing the magnitude of the debate by means of scientometric tools, we argue that it is premature to grant personhood rights to intelligent machines, but we also underline that, given the rapid development of artificial intelligence, we should consider the plausibility of this scenario in the future. This is the case because contemporary sciences - in particular biology and computer science - pose a serious challenge to Thomistic anthropology and its modern derivations. We are also persuaded that the Catholic tradition is rich enough to make room for less rigid ideas about personhood and human nature. It seems advantageous to take into account the evolutionary perspective elaborated by Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, in particular, his idea of the ‘Noosphere’, that is, of a thinking planet that emerges thanks to the symbiotic evolution of humanity and machines, opening the door to the recognition of non-human persons and entrusting the mission of co-creators to human beings.La proposta della commissione giuridica del Parlamento Europeo di creare uno statuto legale specifico per i robot, volto a garantire lo status di "persone elettroniche" alle macchine più autonome e sofisticate, ha innescato una discussione sull’eventualità che autocoscienza e libero arbitrio possano effettivamente svilupparsi in una macchina. In particolare, diversi pensatori cattolici hanno espresso perplessità a riguardo di questa ipotesi. La loro critica si basa spesso sui postulati dell’antropologia filosofica tomistica. In quest’articolo, dopo aver mostrato l’ampiezza del dibattito mediante strumenti scientometrici, sosteniamo che è prematuro garantire i diritti della persona alle macchine intelligenti, ma sottolineiamo anche che, dato il rapido sviluppo dell’intelligenza artificiale, dovremmo considerare la plausibilità di questo scenario in futuro. Ciò pare opportuno perché recenti sviluppi delle scienze contemporanee – in particolare biologia e informatica - rappresentano una seria sfida all’antropologia tomistica e alle sue moderne derivazioni. Siamo anche persuasi che la tradizione cattolica sia abbastanza ricca da lasciare spazio a idee meno rigide sulla personalità e sulla natura umana. In particolare, sembra vantaggioso prendere in considerazione la prospettiva evolutiva elaborata da Pierre Teilhard de Chardin e la sua idea di "Noosfera", ossia di un pianeta pensante che emerge grazie all’evoluzione simbiotica di umanità e macchine. Tale prospettiva apre le porte al riconoscimento dell’esistenza di persone non umane e all’affidamento della missione di co-creatori agli esseri umani
The goal of this pilot study is to investigate expressions of the collective disquiet of people i... more The goal of this pilot study is to investigate expressions of the collective disquiet of people in the first months of Covid-19 pandemic, and to try to understand how they manage covert risk, especially with religion and magic. Four co-authors living in early hot spots of the pandemic speculate on the roles of science, religion, and magic, in the latest global catastrophe. They delve into the consolidation that should be occurring worldwide because of a common, viral enemy, but find little evidence for it. They draw parallels to biblical works, finding evidence of a connection between plague and “social strife.” They explore changes in the purviews of science, religion, and magic, and how and why they have changed, as three systems of covert risk management. They speculate on the coming wave of grief when the world populations finally decide that too many people have died, and they envision cultural changes on the other side of the pandemic, to lifestyles, travel, reverse urbanizati...
ABSTRACT As the number of detected Earth-like exoplanets keeps increasing, the prospect of contac... more ABSTRACT As the number of detected Earth-like exoplanets keeps increasing, the prospect of contact with extraterrestrial civilizations becomes day after day more plausible. It has been noticed that the encounter between space civilizations implies a fusion of Big Histories. By following Teilhard, the authors argue that the hypothetical contact with alien intelligent life would also result in a merging of the noospheres. The long-term perspective of this process is the awakening of the entire universe. This article provides a history of the idea of noosphere, a reconstruction of Teilhard’s “sociological theory,” and an exploration of the theological consequences of his theory.
The authors explore the meanings and contexts for “plague” and “pestilence” in biblical documents... more The authors explore the meanings and contexts for “plague” and “pestilence” in biblical documents and other Circum-Mediterranean traditions. The ferocious, ominous images foretelling the “end of times” in the book of Revelation explain some of the current malaise in reaction to Covid-19. The term “pandemic” denotes undercurrents from the histories of all these words, and together, they help to make sense of contemporary changes in religion and culture. The cognitive perception of time changes, and words take on an intense urgency. A practical solution is found in Paul’s advice to the early Christians, which is buried inconspicuously in the New Testament.
Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union, 2010
The business meeting of Commission 45 was held on Friday, 7 August. It was attended by the Vice-P... more The business meeting of Commission 45 was held on Friday, 7 August. It was attended by the Vice-President of the Commission (who chaired the meeting in the absence of the President) as well as nine other members of the Commission. Attendance was limited, as usual, by the unavoidable occurrence of parallel sessions.
Expanding Ecotheology to Embrace the Earth-Moon System, 2022
The definition of an enlarged purview for amplification of religious doctrine can become a necess... more The definition of an enlarged purview for amplification of religious doctrine can become a necessary task for a spacefaring species. Settlement of heretofore uninhabited planetary bodies involves all types of technological challenges, but there are philosophical and theological issues, as well. The authors take this notion and apply it to environmental preservation of the Earth, Earth's Moon, and the cislunar space between Earth and Moon, as a unit. They explain why theological amplification related to the environment is necessary, and why it is needed by humans who venture off-world. In expanding environmental concern beyond Earth to cislunar space and the Moon, humans take an important step in settling the Moon responsibly and inhabiting cislunar space with a minimum of "space junk." Shifts in technology and theology will fan outward to all off-world human settlements in the future, but there will also be backflow from off-world to Earth. The relationships of immanence and transcendence to the new environmental unit provide examples of the conceptual tasks ahead. Profiles in Ecotheology round out the analysis and point toward future steps and roles.
Orbis Idearum. European Journal of the History of Ideas, 2020
Authors: Margaret Boone Rappaport, Christopher Corbally, Riccardo Campa, Ziba Norman. Abstract: T... more Authors: Margaret Boone Rappaport, Christopher Corbally, Riccardo Campa, Ziba Norman. Abstract: The authors explore the meanings and contexts for “plague” and “pestilence” in biblical documents and other Circum-Mediterranean traditions. The ferocious, ominous images foretelling the “end of times” in the book of Revelation explain some of the current malaise in reaction to Covid-19. The term “pandemic” denotes undercurrents from the histories of all these words, and together, they help to make sense of con- temporary changes in religion and culture. The cognitive perception of time changes, and words take on an intense urgency. A practical solution is found in Paul’s advice to the early Christians, which is buried inconspicuously in the New Testament.
As the number of detected Earth-like exoplanets keeps increasing, the prospect of contact with ex... more As the number of detected Earth-like exoplanets keeps increasing, the prospect of contact with extraterrestrial civilizations becomes day after day more plausible. It has been noticed that the encounter between space civilizations implies a fusion of Big Histories. By following Teilhard, the authors argue that the hypothetical contact with alien intelligent life would also result in a merging of the noospheres. The long-term perspective of this process is the awakening of the entire universe. This article provides a history of the idea of noosphere, a reconstruction of Teilhard’s “sociological theory,” and an exploration of the theological consequences of his theory.
The main aim of this study is to discern, reconstruct, and make visible the historical roots of W... more The main aim of this study is to discern, reconstruct, and make visible the historical roots of Western ecotheology, with particular (but not exclusive) attention to the contributions of Christian theologians. We mainly focus on three thinkers: Pliny the Elder, Paul the Apostle, and Severinus Boethius. Pliny offers a pagan perspective on environmental problems. Paul is essential as he is the putative “father” of the Christian Faith, or, at least, the man that brought Christianity from East to West. Boethius is perhaps the best example of a theologian that tries to reconcile and synthesize the Greek-Roman and Judeo-Christian roots of our civilization. Their views are compared with those of coeval theologians and modern environmentalists. Our conclusion is that an ecotheological orientation emerges especially in the work of those Christian thinkers who underline the continuity rather than the discontinuity between their ideas and the Gentiles’ ones.
ABSTRACT An enlarged purview for amplification of religious doctrine can become necessary for a s... more ABSTRACT An enlarged purview for amplification of religious doctrine can become necessary for a spacefaring species. Settlement of distant planetary bodies involves both technological and theological issues. The authors apply this notion to environmental preservation of the Earth, Earth's Moon, and cislunar space between Earth and Moon, as a unit. In expanding environmental protection beyond Earth to the new cislunar unit, humans take an important step in settling the Moon responsibly. The relationships of immanence and transcendence to the new environmental unit provide examples of the conceptual tasks ahead. Profiles in Ecotheology round out the analysis and point toward future roles.
We report evaluation findings and best practices from a morning of research with senior class stu... more We report evaluation findings and best practices from a morning of research with senior class students at an all-Spanish-origin, secondary school in the southwest United States. We found a jump in interest toward science for the women who self-identified as humanities students, and over the morning, surprisingly, this affected their remembrance of previous attitudes. Our results for this and other evaluations corroborate that experiential activities involving one-to-one or group activities are useful in attracting high school and college students to the sciences, especially young women. These results also pointed toward best practices.
The proposal by the Committee on Legal Affairs (CLA) of the European Parliament to create a speci... more The proposal by the Committee on Legal Affairs (CLA) of the European Parliament to create a specific legal status for robots, aimed at granting the status of ‘electronic persons’ to the most sophisticated autonomous ones, has triggered a discussion on whether machines can achieve self-consciousness and free will. In particular, several Catholic thinkers have expressed perplexity about this hypothesis. Their criticism is often based on the postulates of Thomistic philosophical anthropology. In this article, after showing the magnitude of the debate by means of scientometric tools, we argue that it is premature to grant personhood rights to intelligent machines, but we also underline that, given the rapid development of artificial intelligence, we should consider the plausibility of this scenario in the future. This is the case because contemporary sciences - in particular biology and computer science - pose a serious challenge to Thomistic anthropology and its modern derivations. We are also persuaded that the Catholic tradition is rich enough to make room for less rigid ideas about personhood and human nature. It seems advantageous to take into account the evolutionary perspective elaborated by Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, in particular, his idea of the ‘Noosphere’, that is, of a thinking planet that emerges thanks to the symbiotic evolution of humanity and machines, opening the door to the recognition of non-human persons and entrusting the mission of co-creators to human beings.La proposta della commissione giuridica del Parlamento Europeo di creare uno statuto legale specifico per i robot, volto a garantire lo status di "persone elettroniche" alle macchine più autonome e sofisticate, ha innescato una discussione sull’eventualità che autocoscienza e libero arbitrio possano effettivamente svilupparsi in una macchina. In particolare, diversi pensatori cattolici hanno espresso perplessità a riguardo di questa ipotesi. La loro critica si basa spesso sui postulati dell’antropologia filosofica tomistica. In quest’articolo, dopo aver mostrato l’ampiezza del dibattito mediante strumenti scientometrici, sosteniamo che è prematuro garantire i diritti della persona alle macchine intelligenti, ma sottolineiamo anche che, dato il rapido sviluppo dell’intelligenza artificiale, dovremmo considerare la plausibilità di questo scenario in futuro. Ciò pare opportuno perché recenti sviluppi delle scienze contemporanee – in particolare biologia e informatica - rappresentano una seria sfida all’antropologia tomistica e alle sue moderne derivazioni. Siamo anche persuasi che la tradizione cattolica sia abbastanza ricca da lasciare spazio a idee meno rigide sulla personalità e sulla natura umana. In particolare, sembra vantaggioso prendere in considerazione la prospettiva evolutiva elaborata da Pierre Teilhard de Chardin e la sua idea di "Noosfera", ossia di un pianeta pensante che emerge grazie all’evoluzione simbiotica di umanità e macchine. Tale prospettiva apre le porte al riconoscimento dell’esistenza di persone non umane e all’affidamento della missione di co-creatori agli esseri umani
The goal of this pilot study is to investigate expressions of the collective disquiet of people i... more The goal of this pilot study is to investigate expressions of the collective disquiet of people in the first months of Covid-19 pandemic, and to try to understand how they manage covert risk, especially with religion and magic. Four co-authors living in early hot spots of the pandemic speculate on the roles of science, religion, and magic, in the latest global catastrophe. They delve into the consolidation that should be occurring worldwide because of a common, viral enemy, but find little evidence for it. They draw parallels to biblical works, finding evidence of a connection between plague and “social strife.” They explore changes in the purviews of science, religion, and magic, and how and why they have changed, as three systems of covert risk management. They speculate on the coming wave of grief when the world populations finally decide that too many people have died, and they envision cultural changes on the other side of the pandemic, to lifestyles, travel, reverse urbanizati...
ABSTRACT As the number of detected Earth-like exoplanets keeps increasing, the prospect of contac... more ABSTRACT As the number of detected Earth-like exoplanets keeps increasing, the prospect of contact with extraterrestrial civilizations becomes day after day more plausible. It has been noticed that the encounter between space civilizations implies a fusion of Big Histories. By following Teilhard, the authors argue that the hypothetical contact with alien intelligent life would also result in a merging of the noospheres. The long-term perspective of this process is the awakening of the entire universe. This article provides a history of the idea of noosphere, a reconstruction of Teilhard’s “sociological theory,” and an exploration of the theological consequences of his theory.
The authors explore the meanings and contexts for “plague” and “pestilence” in biblical documents... more The authors explore the meanings and contexts for “plague” and “pestilence” in biblical documents and other Circum-Mediterranean traditions. The ferocious, ominous images foretelling the “end of times” in the book of Revelation explain some of the current malaise in reaction to Covid-19. The term “pandemic” denotes undercurrents from the histories of all these words, and together, they help to make sense of contemporary changes in religion and culture. The cognitive perception of time changes, and words take on an intense urgency. A practical solution is found in Paul’s advice to the early Christians, which is buried inconspicuously in the New Testament.
Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union, 2010
The business meeting of Commission 45 was held on Friday, 7 August. It was attended by the Vice-P... more The business meeting of Commission 45 was held on Friday, 7 August. It was attended by the Vice-President of the Commission (who chaired the meeting in the absence of the President) as well as nine other members of the Commission. Attendance was limited, as usual, by the unavoidable occurrence of parallel sessions.
Expanding Ecotheology to Embrace the Earth-Moon System, 2022
The definition of an enlarged purview for amplification of religious doctrine can become a necess... more The definition of an enlarged purview for amplification of religious doctrine can become a necessary task for a spacefaring species. Settlement of heretofore uninhabited planetary bodies involves all types of technological challenges, but there are philosophical and theological issues, as well. The authors take this notion and apply it to environmental preservation of the Earth, Earth's Moon, and the cislunar space between Earth and Moon, as a unit. They explain why theological amplification related to the environment is necessary, and why it is needed by humans who venture off-world. In expanding environmental concern beyond Earth to cislunar space and the Moon, humans take an important step in settling the Moon responsibly and inhabiting cislunar space with a minimum of "space junk." Shifts in technology and theology will fan outward to all off-world human settlements in the future, but there will also be backflow from off-world to Earth. The relationships of immanence and transcendence to the new environmental unit provide examples of the conceptual tasks ahead. Profiles in Ecotheology round out the analysis and point toward future steps and roles.
Orbis Idearum. European Journal of the History of Ideas, 2020
Authors: Margaret Boone Rappaport, Christopher Corbally, Riccardo Campa, Ziba Norman. Abstract: T... more Authors: Margaret Boone Rappaport, Christopher Corbally, Riccardo Campa, Ziba Norman. Abstract: The authors explore the meanings and contexts for “plague” and “pestilence” in biblical documents and other Circum-Mediterranean traditions. The ferocious, ominous images foretelling the “end of times” in the book of Revelation explain some of the current malaise in reaction to Covid-19. The term “pandemic” denotes undercurrents from the histories of all these words, and together, they help to make sense of con- temporary changes in religion and culture. The cognitive perception of time changes, and words take on an intense urgency. A practical solution is found in Paul’s advice to the early Christians, which is buried inconspicuously in the New Testament.
As the number of detected Earth-like exoplanets keeps increasing, the prospect of contact with ex... more As the number of detected Earth-like exoplanets keeps increasing, the prospect of contact with extraterrestrial civilizations becomes day after day more plausible. It has been noticed that the encounter between space civilizations implies a fusion of Big Histories. By following Teilhard, the authors argue that the hypothetical contact with alien intelligent life would also result in a merging of the noospheres. The long-term perspective of this process is the awakening of the entire universe. This article provides a history of the idea of noosphere, a reconstruction of Teilhard’s “sociological theory,” and an exploration of the theological consequences of his theory.
Uploads