Religion and the Order of Nature [Paperback]

Seyyed Hossein Nasr (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 019510823X | ISBN-13: 978-0195108231 | Publication Date: September 26, 1996 | Edition: First Edition

The current ecological crisis is a matter of urgent global concern, with solutions being sought on many fronts. In this book, Seyyed Hossein Nasr argues that the devastation of our world has been exacerbated, if not actually caused, by the reductionist view of nature that has been advanced by modern secular science. What is needed, he believes, is the recovery of the truth to which the great, enduring religions all attest; namely that nature is sacred.

Nasr traces the historical process through which Western civilization moved away from the idea of nature as sacred and embraced a world view which sees humans as alienated from nature and nature itself as a machine to be dominated and manipulated by humans. His goal is to negate the totalitarian claims of modern science and to re-open the way to the religious view of the order of nature, developed over centuries in the cosmologies and sacred sciences of the great traditions. Each tradition, Nasr shows, has a wealth of knowledge and experience concerning the order of nature. The resuscitation of this knowledge, he argues, would allow religions all over the globe to enrich each other and cooperate to heal the wounds inflicted upon the Earth.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"The most comprehensive and intelligent treatment of its topic that has been written....Nasr is one of the major intellects of our day."--Huston Smith, University of California, Berkeley

"This work is an important contribution to the debate about the cultural alternatives to the environmental crisis. Highly recommended."--The Reader's Review

"Even by his own exceptional standards, this new book by Seyyed Hossein Nasr is a remarkable work destined to be a classic in the field of religious studies of nature....Professor Nasr is to be congratulated on this immense work which is a landmark in the resurgence of a sacred science on the religious order of nature....The book is both compehensive and profound."--The American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences

About the Author

Seyyed Hossein Nasr is University Professor of Islam Studies at George Washington University.

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA; First Edition edition (September 26, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 019510823X
• ISBN-13: 978-0195108231
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #890,151 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Resacralization of Nature, November 20, 2009

By 

traditional muslim - See all my reviews

This review is from: Religion and the Order of Nature (Paperback)

Seyyed Hossein Nasr was among the first contemporary scholars to bring our attention to the sacred traditional understanding of nature and critique modern thought and science that reduces the earth to quantity alone. In "Religion and the Order of Nature" Nasr brings to light the various traditional cosmologies in the world's religions through which the single Metaphysical Principle shines. Nasr also discusses the function of the human being as the imperative link between Heaven and earth. I highly recommend this book for anyone who is concerned with the environmental crisis and wants to regain a vision of the sacred in the theophany that is nature. I have not encountered a more erudite, inspired, and compassionate defense of nature, with the exception of Nasr's almost prophetic "Man and Nature" (1968).

3 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Intriguing, but flawed, May 13, 2005

By 

Krista Casada - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Religion and the Order of Nature (Hardcover)

Nasr's basic premise in this book is that the current ecological crisis stems from the fact that, about the time of the Renaissance, a large portion of humanity abandoned its traditional religion-based view of nature as a living and sacred creation of God, in favor of the view that nature is a dead machine that humans may manipulate however they choose.

Already, at this point, the reader may feel a bit uneasy--justifiably so, in my opinion. Nasr's reductionism leaves him reluctant to point out the substantial differences in the views of nature held by what he considers traditional religions. His stance is that all these religions (such as Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and Hinduism) sprang from a common source and were appropriate for those times and places in which they manifested themselves. He believes that only by a mass return to the perennial philosophy embodied in these religions can the planet be saved. Not surprisingly, although he displays a broad and thorough knowledge of many of these traditions, his favorite is his own, Islam, which he considers superior.

Anyway . . .Nasr has some sound notions about ecology and philosophy, but his prejudices are pretty evident. His work is made a little less accessible than it might be for me personally by his references to himself as one of the top authorities in his field, and by his consistent use of the editorial "we" and "our" to refer to himself and his work. (Or is that the royal "we"? With him, it's a little hard to tell . . .)