Book Description
The Book That Started A Revolution
Since its original publication in 1975, this groundbreaking work has awakened millions of concerned men and women to the shocking abuse of animals everywhere -- inspiring a worldwide movement to eliminate much of the cruel and unnecessary laboratory animal experimentation of years past.
In this newly revised and expanded edition, author Peter Singer exposes the chilling realities of today's "factory forms" and product-testing procedures -- offering sound, humane solutions to what has become a profound environmental and social as well as moral issue. An important and persuasive appeal to conscience, fairness, decency and justice, Animal Liberation is essential reading for the supporter and the skeptic alike.
Customer Reviews:
A great argument.......2007-03-30
I read this book about five years ago, and around then I was toying with the idea of being a vegetarian. This is the book that convinced me to stay the course. Although this book doesn't say everything, it doesn't need to. I certainly wouldn't call it the bible of vegetarianism either. Basically, this book, from my memories 5 years ago, was in 2 sections. First, there was a short section on animal testing and animal use in labratory science. Some of the things he details are absurd, such as an experiment that puts chimpanzees in dark isolation in inverted cones and see if they suffer depression (hmm, can anyone guess the results?), and one wonders if these were mostly ill-concieved experiments and not representative of the norm of science. Actually, I'll tell you. It's not. Most lab animals are treated fairly in science, although the same cannot be said for product testing. I know this because I've taken biologial classes and studied. Scientists need healthy specemins to experiment on. However, the fact does remain that scientists are far too cavalier with the well-being of sentient creatures. THe second section is an argument against our meat industry. The atrocities at these factory farms is well documented, and this book isn't inaccurate. He also presents a fairly convincing argument that animals do indeed have feelings. There is one argument that I remember really well. If we are justifying our treatment of animals by claiming that we are intellegent, then how do we justify inhumanely testing on a chimpanzee while actually assisting mentally retarded people who are less intellegent then smart chimpanzees? Shouldn't we be testing on them or eating them for food? Basically, he presents lots of arguments like the above, tackling it from a philosophical perspective. In the end, he builds a very solid case for vegetarianism, and it made an impression on my young mind that turned me to a clean and moral lifestyle. This review refers to the old version.
A shot across the bows.......2007-01-11
This is one of the first accounts of what was to become one of the most contoversial movements in the world. Peter Singer, a moral philosopher, argues about the ethics of eating meat, biomedical experiments on animals, cattle farming, the meat industry, and other related topics. Written with his characteristic lucidity and clarity, this is no jittery, woolly, 'fascist animal rights lobby' book, but an intellectually rigorous, philosophically grounded tract on what it means to be human and what duties we owe other species who share the world with us. Clear-eyed, substantiated with impeccably-researched data and facts, and radiant with a moral energy that has all but left academic philosophical writing, it gives much-needed credibility to a burning, and often much abused and misrepresented, issue. Read him.
Future, Environment, Planet, Children, Health.......2007-01-10
If you care about the future of our planet, our health or about anything at all, read this eye opening book. You will see that real environmentalists do not eat meat. Where do we draw the line between what is a pet and what is a meal? This book may enlarge your circle of compassion to include animals that currently have no laws to protect them, farm animals, research animals, rodeo and circus animals. Please read Singer and others like him. Our world will be a more peaceful and cleaner place. There would be no starvation if we all were vegan.
the animal rights bible.......2006-12-13
The title tells it all, this book truly is the bible for animal rights. Singer covers everything in the book and he gets deep with it. I really enjoyed this book. I also quoted Singer in a term paper i wrote about animal testing my freshman year in college. It just full of all the knowledge you should and need to know.
Singer Exposes the (Hidden) Truth.......2006-12-10
Singer examines cruelty to nonhuman animals in the United States and Britain mostly (but also in a few other countries in Europe). This is a must read for anyone supporting practices that harm animals (the meat industry and also animal experimentation). Written in the 1970s, it is still relevant today. His argument is extremely thorough, and he goes further to explain that a vegetarian diet will help humans and the environment as well as nonhuman animals, although his focus is on stopping the suffering. I promise you will not be disappointed!
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Liberation Ecologies
Richard Peet
Manufacturer: Routledge
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ASIN: 0415312361 |
Book Description
The new edition has been extensively revised to reflect recent changes in debates over the real definitions of development and environment, and contains nine completely new chapters. Bringing together some of the leading researchers in development, the book discusses the theory, growth, and impact of political ecology. In-depth case material drawn from across the developing world is used to explore the realities and impact of sustainability, while emphasizing both the environment and social theory as areas of contention and struggle.
Customer Reviews:
liberation ecologies.......2000-06-05
In the years since Piers Blaikie published his radical studiesof soil erosion in the mid 1980s and coined the term "regionalpolitical ecology" with Harold Brookfield, human- environmental interactions in developing countries have become increasingly sophisticated. Geographers have taken a central role in debates about the social and economic causation of land degradation and hazards, and explored environmentally- inspired social movements, NGOs, and other resource management institutions. One landmark contribution was a special issue of Economic Geography on the theme of "Environment and Development", published in 1993. The papers from that journal issue helped to inspire a healthy debate that has echoed through the left- environmental journals and conference networks. In this edited volume, Dick Peet and Michael Watts have taken several re-worked papers from that special issue, and added new contributions. Their aim in Liberation Ecologies is to "integrate critical approaches to political economy with notions derived from post-structural philosophy" (p260), thereby critiquing and extending the political ecology framework. The book offers ten chapters, and an introduction and a conclusion by the editors. All the contributors are academics teaching in the United States, although at least seven are non-Americans. All but two (Escobar and Moore) were trained as geographers. All have some connection with the universities of Clark and Berkeley, and some with both. Four studies deal with Asia: three with Latin America, and four with Africa, with a strong bias towards rural environments. The long gestation period of the book, the theoretical mastery of its editors, and the credentials of its contributors add up to a polished and wide ranging survey of a vibrant and challenging field. In their Introduction, Peet and Watts provide an interesting reading of current debates in environment and development theory. They also criticize Blaikie's political ecology for its "plurality" (p7) , and they see its "voluntarist" explanations as largely "without politics or an explicit sensitivity to class interest and social struggle" (p8). Their own Liberation Ecology approach should operate from a wider epistemological base. It should tackle politics, including the actions of peoples' movements built around environmental justice and land rights. It should also show how local environmental knowledge is incorporated into alternative development strategies, look at the social construction of environment and development language and debates, and forge new forms of environmental history and ecology. It is a "discursive arena" (p38) which broadens debates about the environment to tackle the three domains of livelihood, entitlement, and social justice. Liberation ecology, therefore, adds neglected components to a "regional political ecology" analysis. Each chapter differs in its adoption of Peet and Watts' agenda, and none embraces every aspect of Liberation Ecology. The first two papers show how established environmental debates are socially constructed, emerging from a established, commercialized western orthodoxy. Escobar demolishes the aims and methods of sustainable development and biodiversity conservation, approaches that view the environment as a relatively unproblematic arena for technical interventions. Instead he promotes a postmodern view which sees nature as "socially constructed" by people and their intellectual and technical labors. Yapa's paper places the scientific response to poverty, and particularly Green Revolution improved seed varieties, as a reaction to another "construct" - an erroneous view of poverty. Poverty, he argues, resulted from these programs, rather than being solved by them. Bebbington takes on this line of thinking to challenge the vague support given by western writers to alternative development and indigenous organizations...As environments have been transformed, so have social relations. This theme also emerges in the work of Schroeder and Suryanata, who look at the potential of agroforestry to change the economic landscape and tenure relations. Agroforestry receives international praise, but can be wholly inappropriate to local needs, as in the case of pesticide-laden apple orchards in Java. Rangan takes on an example of what Robin Mearns and Melissa Leach call an "environmental orthodoxy" - the widespread belief in the successes of the Indian Chipko movement. She argues this movement is, unwittingly, a part of western development discourse, and it has held back social development by insisting on forest extraction legislation to the benefit of a small minority of traders and loggers. Other voices calling for tree-felling to supply local fuelwood, rather than tree-hugging, have been drowned out. Muldavin shows how Chinese agrarian restructuring now involves similar processes to capitalist industrial restructuring - "communal capital" is being destroyed under the new Chinese regime, and there are many localized environmental effects resulting from commercial agro- complexes. Three issues emerged in my reading of the book. Firstly, in attempting to re-fashion political ecology as a research tool and an epistemology, theoretical coherence is proposed around the notion of liberation ecology. Yet the contributors show great variety in research styles and in their conceptions of justice and development scenarios, and they are less strong in their support of post-structural theory and discourse analysis than the editors. The papers by Bebbington and Escobar, for example, sit far apart in their methods and their implications for policy. The editors never insisted on a on a unified voice, and recognise this eclecticism in the closing chapter (p262). However it is evident that the contributors' theoretical approaches are as diverse as the locations and societies they have investigated. This leads me to wonder if "liberation ecology" is actually an umbrella for disparate analytical forms. Secondly, despite promoting new and better forms of ecological analysis and environmental history in the Introduction (p12), few of the contributors then document, or explain, bio-physical processes or discuss recent advances in scientific or ethno- scientific evidence for environmental transformations. I think it is legitimate to ask why ecological analysis is lacking in this important book, especially since papers with a systems framework or natural science component did appear in the original 1993 Economic Geography collection. Writers in the "new ecology" tradition including Leach, Rocheleau and Scoones are well aware of the need to understand non- equilibrium ecological systems alongside the social, political and economic issues stressed in Liberation Ecologies. Instead, "environmental imaginaries", a term drawn from the work of Castoriadis, is used approvingly by Peet and Watts to describe the unique world-views of particular societies. These collective visions, or "social constructions" of nature, frame social action and development. But they do not, I would argue, provide the hard evidence
Book Description
The first anthology of writings on the history, ethics, politics and tactics of the Animal Liberation Front, Terrorists or Freedom Fighters? features both academic and activist perspectives and offers powerful insights into this international organization and its position within the animal rights movement.
Calling on sources as venerable as Thomas Aquinas and as current as the Patriot Act—and, in some cases, personal experience—the contributors explore the history of civil disobedience and sabotage, and examine the philosophical and cultural meanings of words like "terrorism," "democracy" and "freedom," in a book that ultimately challenges the values and assumptions that pervade our culture. Contributors include Robin Webb, Rod Coronado, Ingrid Newkirk, Paul Watson, Karen Davis, Bruce Friedrich and others.
Customer Reviews:
Taking action for the animals.......2007-07-01
In this day and age, and especially in this country, where the words "freedom" and "terrorism" have become inextricably linked, "Terrorist or Freedom Fighters, Reflections on the Liberation of Animals" is a sobering reminder of who it is that has never been free and never will be free as long as human ignorance and greed exists.
I probably like many thousands or even millions of people are aware of the atrocities committed on animals, but who always kept those thoughts buried because our culture believes that humans have dominion over the animals. Dominion maybe, but with that power comes an incredible responsibility to care for them and see that they are treated with respect and compassion.
Certainly the mere fact of being a meat eater or wearing any sort of leather clothing would have to invoke some sort of thought regarding the processes whereby animals are turned into a meal or clothing. It doesn't take much of an imagination to envision this action even for some of us with the least creative of imaginations.
The arrogance of the human race is on full view in "Terrorist or Freedom Fighters and editors Steven Best, PhD and Anthony J. Nocella, II assemble a who's who in the animal and environmental rights movements to provide a collection of essays that call attention to the need to liberate animals from the hands of those who would torture, maim, kill and pervert them for sake of human proliferation and superiority.
The reader is given a glimpse into the origins of the radicalized animal liberation movements in both the UK and the US. A group calling itself "Bands of Mercy" began in Britain in 1972. Formed by Ronnie Lee and Cliff Goodman the group took its name from a 19th century youth wing of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA). Their mission was simple, to take direct action against the deadly practice of fox hunts calling it "active compassion." After being arrested and imprisoned in 1974, Lee and Goodman split up in 1976. Goodman decided to take the legal route to animal liberation but Lee knew better. It was time for a revolution. Together with the remnants of the "Bands of Mercy" and two dozen new recruits, Lee formed the "Animal Liberation Front"(ALF). It wasn't until six years later that America got its own "Animal Liberation Front," its first direct action being the liberation of over thirty cats from the labs of Howard University.
None of the essays are gratuitous in their depiction of the horrors committed on animals - but the few words that do describe how we as humans treat animals provide compelling evidence of why direct action by groups such as the ALF is necessary.
Other essays cover everything from why direct action is necessary or unnecessary, the use "consequent anger" from a review of methods employed by St. Thomas Aquinas, to the comparison of ALF to the Jewish resistance movement of World War II and Abolitionist movement during the 1800's.
Some essays are anonymous such as one from the Western Wildlife Unit of the ALF talking about "what a handful of warriors can do" and what they must do. Others are personal such as the essay by Rod Coronado an ALF member. Written with passion and emotion, Coronado gives an account of his direct actions and his subsequent encounters with the FBI.
Perhaps the most disturbing and for me, most depressing, is the last essay by Best himself entitled, "It's War! The Escalating Battle Between Activists and the Corporate-State Complex." It details for us what only few know or even want to know - how our liberties have been eroded for the sake of security, empiricism, jingoism and corporate interest. And I can see how we as Americans have bought into it. Best says, "a new civil war is unfolding-one between forces hell-bent on exploiting animals and the earth for profit whatever the toll, and the activists steeled to resist this omnicide tooth and nail." It was at this point in the book that I began wondering if the guys who took action in the Boston Tea Party were rolling in their graves.
Best describes the steps the government has taken in clamping down on anyone who even utters "a discouraging word" against it. Indeed it seems as though the skies in America are "cloudy all day." He defines the government's definition of terrorism and gives ample example as to why anyone with the slightest intention of standing up for the animals, or the planet or anything for that matter, needs to think twice and then think again. I for one was extremely appreciative of this chapter.
This book, no, this handbook, is a must read for anyone who has even the slightest intention of standing up and speaking out for the liberation of all animals. It is a primer for the cause of animal liberation and the direct action that is needed to meet that end.
When George W. Bush uttered those famous words, "you're either with us or against us" little did he realize that he was speaking on behalf of the ALF and other groups whose mission is one of compassion for all animals, to take direct action in liberating a species who knows all too well what it's like to be on the short end of the stick.
best book on animal liberation .......2006-10-02
After anyone reads this book they will look at radicals with logic, reason, and a compassionate heart. This book, more then any other animal rights book from Animal Liberation by Singer or The Case for Animal Rights by Regan, stands far above them all. While at the same time all of those books are outstanding and must be read. The anthology approach of gathering many people together to write on an important topic should be done on all critical topics, bravo Best and Nocella. I now know so much more about different viewpoints and a strong stance to debate the use of direct action.
Superb!.......2006-09-01
Terrorists or Freedom Fighters is a revolutionary conglomeration of individual viewpoints regarding the Animal Liberation Front. The book is not only thorough in its historical coverage, it includes the voices of many individuals, female and male, academics and activists, young and old.
Before one can make a value judgement concerning the ALF, she/he should be required to read this book, which explians the mindset and the psychological reasoning that fuels such radical actions as economic sabotage. Wonderfully organized and put together.
Outstanding Philosophy Book .......2006-08-03
With more than 20 authors from around the world, this book examines, theorizes, and professes, an outstanding concept, animal liberation in action. From academics to activists finally a book about the Animal Liberation Front - ALF. The ALF is an international nonviolent underground organization that has been around since 1976. This book should be a recommended read for every environmental and philosophy class. It is well edited and organized. If you enjoy stories, theory, philosophy, animal advocacy, or revolutionary struggles, you must read this book.
wonderful.......2006-05-30
this book is amazing. with essays from people of all sorts of standpoints it allows you to make your own decision about the Animal Liberation Front. I bought this book off of Amazon.com and i have read it at least four times, everytime i read it i enjoy it more than the last.
Book Description
The Earth Liberation Front (ELF) has been active in the United States officially since 1997, causing more than $45 million in damages to various entities. As the organization continues to grow and expand its range of targets, ELF has taken an extreme position against individuals, corporations, and governments that, in the organization's view, places monetary gain ahead of the natural environment. Rejecting state sanctioned means of legal protest, ELF uses economic sabotage to inflict financial suffering on those deemed objectionable.
In February 2002, the FBI listed the ELF as the largest and most active US-based terrorist group. Although no one has died in any of these operations, ELF's campaign against loggers, SUV dealerships, and others it considers threats to the planet have galvanized and polarized the environmental movement.
Former ELF spokesperson Rosebraugh charts the history and ideology of ELF and explores their tactics, successes, and limitations. He shows how ELFers offer an uncompromising vision of an earth under assault from the forces of greed and corporate violence, and how they employ direct action against those they deem a threat to the planet.
Rosebraugh also examines the issues of whether violence is or is not justifiable, and the short- and long-term political benefits and drawbacks of using violence. Finally, he offers a trenchant vision of the future of the environmental movement, radical politics, and US democracy under the so-called Patriot Act.
Whatever your view of direct action or violence, Burning Rage of a Dying Planet is essential reading for those trying to understand the mindset and motivations of contemporary radical environmentalists.
Customer Reviews:
What you won't learn on Fox TV News!.......2006-08-16
Author Craig Rosebraugh was spokesperson for the ELF from 1997 until a few days before 9/11 and recounts his experiences reporting on their activities while being continually harassed by the authorities. Branded as a terrorist organization, the ELF was the focus on several grand jury investigations and the author recounts his many adventures avoiding subpoenas and taking the fifth while under constant threat of prosecution. The extent of ELF activities during this time and since 9/11 surprised me, as we read little about them in the national press and we hear even less of their motives and aims. In addition to being a great read for anyone interested in learning more about the radical environmental movement, it raises some important social questions.
"Too much has been lost ...".......2005-09-24
After reading about the case of Jeff 'Free' Luers, sentenced to 22 years and 8 months in prison for torching 3 SUVs, I decided to research more about The Earth Liberation Front--also known as ELF--and found "Burning Rage of a Dying Planet: Speaking for the Earth Liberation Front" by Craig Rosebraugh. While Luers denies any connection with ELF, the severity of his sentence is a reflection of the increasingly stiff jail terms being handed out for sabotage events termed "eco-terrorism."
Author Craig Rosebraugh served as the media spokesperson for ELF from the first action in 1997 until his resignation in 2001. He charts his life as an activist, and during the first Iraqi war, Rosebraugh quickly found his social attitudes shifting and developing. He became a member of People for Animal Rights, but parted ways with this group when they refused to support the actions of ALF (Animal Liberation Front). Rosebraugh decided he "would philosophically support illegal activity such as civil disobedience and property destruction as long as it was nonviolent." Gradually, Rosebraugh shifted from his single focus on animal rights and embraced a broader based philosophy that addresses various social and political issues. As a founding member of the Liberation Collective, he was recognized as a prominent activist in the Portland area.
In 1997, Rosebraugh began to receive anonymous 'communiques' from individuals announcing various acts of sabotage conducted in the name of the Earth Liberation Front. ELF is an underground movement--composed of individual cells--with no hierarchy, no leadership, and no membership. The Earth Liberation Front basically embraces a radical philosophy that includes the idea that activists have tried 'normal' channels for social change in the environment (petitions, demonstrations, court, etc,) but since those legal channels have failed, and a state of emergency exists with the planet's entire future at risk, individuals take matters into their own hands with sabotage actions committed according to one's conscience. Targeting urban sprawl, animal experimentation, animal cruelty, genetically modified crops, and various instances of anti-environmental travesties (such as gas-guzzling behemoth vehicles, logging of old growth trees, and road building in previous unroaded areas) individual activists conduct acts of sabotage against the property of those they hold responsible for crimes against the environment.
Rosebraugh charts the acts committed in the name of ELF, brushes with law enforcement personnel, numerous encounters with the FBI, and a series of Grand Jury subpoenas. Copies of many of the anonymous ELF communiques are included in the book--along with the ELF guidelines for Direct Action. The book also details efforts of various politicians to crack down on ELF activity (particularly since 9/11), the introduction of the Juvenile Justice Bill, and the amendment of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization Act (RICO) to include "Animal Enterprise Terrorism and Ecoterrorists." Since the underground group's first acknowledged action in 1997, approximately $100 million dollars of damage has been wreaked against those targeted by ELF as enemies of the environment, and the group is considered to be the "number one domestic terrorist threat" in the U.S.
"Burning Rage of a Dying Planet" is primarily an account of Rosebraugh's involvement with the ELF as a spokesperson, but it's also a remarkably well-written account of Rosebraugh's development as an activist and as a human being. The book is not a political rant, and while Rosebraugh makes no apologies for his strong political opinions, his complex beliefs are laid out lucidly, sincerely, and with striking humility. "Burning Rage of a Dying Planet" is a gripping read, and anyone interested in environmental issues or in the radical actions of ELF should find it extremely interesting. Frankly--and surprisingly--this is one of the best non-fiction books I've read this year--displacedhuman
A sharply worded yet highly literate manifesto.......2004-12-13
Written by a spokesperson for the Earth Liberation Front from its inception in 1997 to September 2001, Burning Rage Of A Dying Planet: Speaking For The Earth Liberation Front presents the viewpoint of an organization that uses economic sabotage to inflict financial losses on individuals, corporations and governments that, in the ELF's view, place monetary wealth ahead of the natural environment. In February 2002, the FBI declared the ELF to be the largest and most active US-based terrorist group, even though ELF's operations have never claimed a single human life. Burning Rage Of A Dying Planet describes the ELF's history and ideology, scrutinizes the the short and long-term benefits and drawbacks of using violence, and presents a vision of the future of the environmental movement - as well as an American democracy increasingly threatened by the so-called Patriot Act. A sharply worded yet highly literate manifesto, and a must-read for anyone seeking to better understand the ELF's point of view - whether out of sympathy for its goals or antipathy toward its means.
Customer Reviews:
Grito da Terra, Grito das povres.......1999-04-04
Leonardo Boff, the brazilian priest who tried to change those old catholic dogmas describes how human is finishin animal and vegetal life all over the world in the name of welfare.
A book that will make us undeerstand how blind we all are.
Book Description
From Matthew Fox, the popular and controversial author of The Coming of the Cosmic Christ, a prophetic manifesto for the preservation of the planet.
For those new to the works of Matthew Fox, and for those eager to learn his thoughts after his Vatican-ordered public silence, comes this introduction to creation spirituality--Fox's framework for a far-reaching spirituality of the Americas.
Passionate and provocative, Fox uncovers the ancient tradition of a creation-centered spirituality that melds Christian mysticism with the contemporary struggle for social justice, feminism, and environmentalism.
Basic to Fox's notion of creation spirituality is the gift of awe--a mystical response to creation and the first step toward transformation. Awe prompts indignation at the exploitation and destruction of the earth's people and resources. Awe leads to action.
Showing how we can learn from each other, Fox's spirituality weds the healing and liberation found in both North and South America. Creation Spirituality challenges readers of every religious and political persuasion to unite in a new vision through which we learn to honor the earth and the people who inhabit it as the gift of a good and just creator.
Customer Reviews:
Finally..........2007-07-21
Finally there is a concise book that explains creation spirituality without getting bogged down in irrelevant details. Matthew Fox makes this text much more digestible for anyone looking for a "different" way to expalin God in nature without becoming a botanist, biologist or geologist. The book is understandable and quotable without being flippant.
BEING ANNOINTED THE STEWARDS OF CREATION DOES NOT MEAN KILL IT AND GRILL IT.......2006-10-06
this Fox teaches us.
Yet his voice like so many other great and important voices of Christ was silenced long ago by the current resident of the great and universal throne of Peter.
Go figure.
GOd will win as GOd is love, and hate does not create.
Awe is the beginning of Wisdom........2004-11-01
Have you ever looked at the Moon with a pair of binoculars? Or at the rings around Saturn with a telescope? Or thought about a Hummingbird flying to Central America? Or saw in a flower the rays of the sun, the minerals of the earth, the awareness of day and night?
Jesus was not fixated on any one aspect of reality. He was not a religious fundamentalist. Jesus was a mystic that was so awestruck by the Cosmos that he gave his life for all life. God is no respecter of persons. God is not isolated by anything or anyone. God is a part of everything. God is omnipresent. Everything has value. Everything is worthy of honor. Not just mankind. A shephard without a flock is superfluous. Though each aspect of reality has its role none is above the other for everything is interconnected. We do not have to climb a ladder to get to God. God is within as well as without. Heaven is beneath our feet.
Creation theology is a glass is half-full perspective. A holistic perspective. A fresh start. Hopeful. Original Sin theology tends to be a glass is half-empty perspective. A narrow perspective. A dead-end. A never ending dark night of the soul. With that said; Pope John Paul II turned original sin upside down with his affirmation that there is no evil from which God cannot draw forth a greater good. John Paul had the heart of a lion and the eyes of an eagle. He was fearless and could see a blade of wheat in a field of weeds. He was truly a great man of God. Personally, I prefer the easier and more positive approach to my religion. Jesus did not die for our sins, he died for us. This may be more a matter of semantics than an actual difference. Though our perspectives may be different, we are still looking at the same thing. In any event, a Cosmological perspective is the perspective of God. God looked at his creation and it was good. Original Sin theology is for the most part the product of State Religion. It is based on fear and shame. True Christianity, the kind the Pope preached, is fearless. He had enough confidence in his God that he did not feel he had to defend his faith every time he talked to someone of another Faith. He had reduced God down to his simplest terms, God is love. The Pope was more a moral man than a religious man. Jesus was more a moral man than a religious man. (I am amending this review after the Death of Pope John Paul II). Fundamentalist religion, as opposed to spirituality, all too often is used by the powerful to control the weak, to divide and conquer. "The Love-Religion has no code or doctrine. Only God", Rumi. Creation Theology is a liberating religion based on awe and joy. Wisdom does not start with 'fear', that is a poor translation, wisdom starts with 'awe', wonder, amazement, joy. Go and sin no more. You are free. If the next Pope is from Latin America, I believe even more of the sensitivities of Creation Theology will find their way into the Catholic Church. This would be a good thing. God cares about life, not just human life.
Some of the other reviewers have chosen to attack Fox. That the Dominican Order excommunicated him is true. Their Order also conducted the Inquisition. That Fox slips into Pantheism, that nature is God. Actually he slips into panentheism, that nature is part of God. A nuance perhaps, but a fundamental nuance nontheless. All monotheists make 'one' fundamental mistake, that all is numerically one. Trinitarians are onto something but don't quite realize what it is. Let 'us' make man in 'our' image. If all is numerically one then it is all just a game. A license to kill in the name of God. A license to do whatever one pleases like the hedonistic Nicolatians. The background for the despair of existentialism and the schizophrenia of solipsism. This is wrong thinking. All is not numerically one. Reality is much more complicated than that. Everything is not the figment of our imagination. All is more than one but less than two. And this makes all the difference in the world. The whole of everything, the Universe, God, the Tao, is not a linear function. One is a number, God is not a number. Not one. This misperception is due to the fundamental error of applying dualistic logic to the nondual realm of reality.
There are fundamentally two aspects to reality. The dual and the nondual. The dual side of the coin is where we find ourselves at present. Up/down, good/bad, duality. Nonduality, the spirit realm that includes duality but goes beyond time and space, good and evil, is not to be understood properly based solely upon a dualistic perspective. All wholes manifest a synergetic effect wherein the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. The tensile strength of steel is far greater than the sum of the tensile strength of the individual minerals and metals used to create steel. God is not One. God is whole, more than one, but less than two. And in between one and two lies infinity. God is neither alone nor all one. We are not alone. Things matter. Life isn't just a game of pretense, though there are certainly elements of game playing going on. Life is 'like' a masquerade ball. A dance. More verb than noun. Even Advaita sages create a dualism with their need for Maya as a means of contrasting the One. They are confused. The blind leading the blind. Our world is real. Impermanent in its configuration but real nonetheless. That one never stands in the same river twice does not mean the river is an illusion. Because one cannot put a river in a bucket nor the wind in a bag does not mean they do not exist. To reason purely discursively like the Kantians do is an exercise in futility where nonduality is concerned. Idealized Continental philosophy is a maze in the middle of a minefield. Nonduality is a labyrinth in the holy of holies, the heart. In my Father's house there are many mansions, and if it were not so I would tell you. More than one, less than two. We are a point, a morphogenetic field of spiritual energy, a seed of divinity, between one and two. Made in the image of God we are godlike beings for it takes a god to worship God. We are godlike but not God, lest any man should boast. The Father and I are a fractal symmetry.
Thou essence art that essence.
Slide toward pantheism.......2002-01-03
Fox draws on many sources such as Meister Eckhart and Hildegard of Bingen to try to craft a spirituality based on awe of Creation. What I fear however is that his slide towards pantheism denies some of the rich spiritual gifts of Christ and the Holy Spirit. For example it is Eckhart who says "God begets his Son in you whether you like it or not." (See for example the book "Meister Eckhart from Whom God Hid Nothing : Sermons, Writings, and Sayings", or Schurmann's analysis of Eckhart in "Wandering Joy"). Subsequent to this book, Fox was expelled from the Dominican order in 1993.
At times Fox also seems to blame all that is ecologically corrupt on traditional Christianity, for example "Pantheism is not only democratic, it is also ecological, Theism, on the other hand, reinforces anthropocentrisms ". Additionally he makes a broad claim that "Creation Spirituality" encompasses such broad divergent groups as "AA", Support groups, and Protestant parishes.
Though I agree with Fox's quest for a deeper ecumenism, he seems to pick what he wants out of the Christian tradition. I still find ample mining in a more traditional, though slightly broadened views of the Holy Trinity, rather than his Cosmology, Liberation, and Wisdom. Although I don't always agree with Fox, he does offer an injection of joy and awe.
Creation Spirituality - A Primer.......2000-12-20
For those looking for a spirituality that is positive and all embracing, vursus one which is exclusive and judgemental, this is the place to start. Matthew Fox introduces the reader to ideas and themes that are more fully developed in his book "Original Blessing". Original Blessing v. Original Sin is one such theme. Others are the Four Paths of Creation Spirituality, art as meditation, liberation for First World peoples, and the return of true Trinitarian Christianity.
Bottom line: Matthew Fox puts forward a Christianity that is a beautiful relection of Jesus the Christ and shows how such a Christianity can help to heal the world.
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- The Consumate Review of the Animal Rights Issues/Arguments
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Magpies, Monkeys, and Morals : What Philosophers Say About Animal Liberation
Angus Taylor
Manufacturer: Broadview Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
General
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Ethics & Morality
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Animal Rights
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ASIN: 1551112027 |
Book Description
To what extent can animals be regarded as part of the moral community? To what extent, if at all, do they have moral rights? Are we wrong to eat them or to hunt them? Is the use of animals for scientific research justified? And can the ideas behind animal liberation be squared with those of the environmental movement?
This is the first book to provide a thorough and reasonably impartial explication of the arguments put forward on all these issues. It is Taylor's strong belief that, whatever our own views on these contentious issues may be, we benefit by exploring them more thoroughly, and also by understanding and evaluating the arguments of those who may disagree with us. He traces the background of these debates from Aristotle to Darwin, and he provides fair-minded commentaries on the positions of such influential contemporary philosophers as Peter Singer, Tom Regan, R.G. Frey, and Peter Carruthers.
Customer Reviews:
The Consumate Review of the Animal Rights Issues/Arguments.......2003-10-25
It's fairly rare to find books that can take you from little to no knowledge in a given area of debate, and then put you in a position to jump in to it right away; this book does that. It's the kind of book that is accessible enough and certainly thorough enough to serve as a defining text for the issue. Also, it's just recently been updated, actually.
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Liberation of Life: From the Cell to the Community
Charles Birch
Manufacturer: Environmental Ethics Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Human Geography
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General
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Natural History
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ASIN: 0962680702 |
Book Description
This book is about the liberation of the concept of life from the bondage fashioned by the interpreters of life ever since biology began, and about the liberation of the life of humans and non-humans alike from the bondage of social structures and behaviour, which now threatens the fullness of life’s possibilities if not survival itself. It falls into a tradition of writings about human problems from a perspective informed by biology. It rejects the mechanistic model of life dominant in the Western world and develops an alternative ‘ecological model’ which is applicable to the life of the cell and the life of the human community. For the first time it brings together in one work the insights of modern biology with those of a modern holistic philosophy and a liberal theology in a way which challenges conventional approaches to science, agriculture, sociology, politics, economics, development and liberation movements.
Customer Reviews:
ABSOLUTELY WONDERFUL!!!!.......2007-01-08
Ingrid Newkirk is a hero, a genious, and a revolutionary. God bless her in every way for everything she has done for animals.
The book is absolutely wonderful...I finished it in 3 days!!! The only reason I put it down is because my eyes started to hurt after reading for 2 hours. This book stole my heart and encouraged me to do what I have been doing to protect animals (im a vegan and an animal advocate).
This book is full of action, emotion, relates to real life, and it will make you cry as well as sigh of relief every time you read about ALF's success at the end of each chapter.
It is a masterpiece that has painted beauty of our fellow non-humans and ugliness our own species who have inflicted such cruelties upon innocent animals. It is a masterpeice that paints courage and strength, conviction and determination of those who have put their own lives in danger to selflessly help those who need our help the most.
ITS A MUST READ!!! IT IS WORTH EVERY SINGLE PENNY SPENT!!! YOU WON'T BE ABLE TO PUT IT DOWN!!! Please be kind to animals and protect them by any means necessary. God Bless You All!!!
Wow!.......2006-05-11
That is all I have to say about this book: WOW! It has opened my mind to the life of an animal liberationist. As I was reading it, it felt like I was right there with Valerie, helping her open the cages. This book keeps you on the edge of your seat, with your adrenaline rushing constantly. I would highly recomend this book to any one that is interested in the animal liberation movement.
It doesn't matter who you are; you should know about this........2006-01-31
I came to this book not knowing whether or not I supported the actions of the ALF. I'm an animal activist, but I wasn't sure if I would go so far as to support property destruction in name of a political cause. So I read it.
Besides entertaining (the stories of animal rescue are very suspenseful), this book really shined a light on the ALF for me. I've heard of the philosophy and so on, but this provided an actual account, though perhaps second-hand (necessarily), of how and why the ALF in the US was started.
By the end, liking the book for me wasn't a matter of whether I agreed or not with taking beagles out of labs. It's a great book, it has great stories and very interesting and compelling philosophy. No matter what side you sit on, at some point you'll be rooting for the "underdog" while reading this book. And for all you know, you may wind up supporting every action described.
Great Read.......2005-06-29
This book is a good book for getting people educated about animal rights and the abuses that are out there. Well written and to the point. As far as the review that gave this 1 star and said it created a "third use" - ( that being sarcastically using people in experiments instead of animals ) I agree - and he should be first to go. It's about the only way he could achieve empathy of any sort.
Real Life Suspense Thriller.......2004-07-01
This was as good as any fictional suspense thriller. I was on the edge of my seat as the ALF conducted their raids, at all times trying to evade being detected or arrested. After reading this, you will realize the foolishness of most animal experimentation and the greediness and callousness of those who do it. Why hasn't this been made into a movie? There are a lot of young Hollywood vegetarians who could star in it!
Books:
- Applied Geophysics
- Applied Petroleum Reservoir Engineering (2nd Edition)
- Biological Wastewater Treatment (Environmental Science & Pollution) (Environmental Science and Pollution Control Series, 19)
- Blue Ocean Strategy: How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make Competition Irrelevant
- Brown's Boundary Control and Legal Principles
- Consciousness, Bioenergy and Healing: Self-Healing and Energy Medicine for the 21st Century (Healing Research, Vol. 2; Professional Edition) (Healing Research)
- Courage: The Joy of Living Dangerously
- Cretaceous Life (Prehistoric World Books)
- Debris-flow Hazards and Related Phenomena (Springer Praxis Books / Geophysical Sciences)
- Digging for the Truth: One Man's Epic Adventure Exploring the World's Greatest Archaeological Mysteries
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