THE HUMAN PRESENCE

An Orthodox View of nature

By Paulos Gregorios

This book by Paulos Gregorios, the Syrian Orthodox theologian and Metropolitan of New Delhi, is a Christian contribution, especially from the Orthodox tradition, to the current debate provoked by the ecology and resource crisis, and the search for a new understanding of the relation of man and nature provoked by that crisis. It is a response also to previous ecumenical contributions to the debate provoked notably by the ecumenical study by Prof. Thomas S. Derr on Ecology and Human Liberation. In chapters on “The Nature of Nature” and “Nature of Science”, Metropolitan Gregorios examines the Christian teaching on nature through Christian history. There is a special section on some contemporary contributions, particularly by Process Theology. But the main part of the book deals with Eastern Cosmological tradition beginning with St. Gregory of Nyssa, and continuing through St. Basil and the Dionysian writings. The book concludes with some reflections on the Eastern Church’s contribution to the search for ethical norms with which to face the practical problems posed by the future of technologically organized and dominated societies.

(Anticipation, No. 25, Jan. 1979)