Nature as Poetry and Wisdom with Dr Valentin Gerlier

The modern age is often seen as responsible for our dire treatment of the Earth, treating the non-human world as a mere resource to be manipulated at will. Yet before modernity, nature was perceived by poets, philosophers, theological and spiritual voices as a theophanic reality with a wisdom all of its own, a teacher and partner to humanity in a common transformative journey to the divine.

This presentation will suggest that to learn to face our momentous environmental challenges necessarily means that we learn to hear this voice anew. This also means a recovery and renewal of this vision of a sacred, enchanted and poetic cosmos, and our place in it as creative, responsible beings.

Delving into ancient sources from the Western tradition allows us to discover a wealth of surprising, challenging and nourishing insights to help meet our contemporary situation.

Dr Valentin Gerlier, MA, PhD (Cantab.), scholar and musician, teaches metaphysics, philosophy of religion and Shakespeare studies at the University of Cambridge. He is a Research Associate at the Margaret Beaufort Institute of Theology, board of the Temenos Academy.