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Article
Practicing Paradise: Contemplative Awareness and Ecological Renewal
Anglican Theological Review
  • Douglas E. Christie, Loyola Marymount University
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
4-1-2012
Abstract

What would it mean for Christians to take seriously the idea that we are called to practice paradise, to inhabit the world as if “everything is in fact paradise”? In the Christian contemplative tradition, one finds recurring attention to the notion that paradise is somehow knowable, graspable, and inhabitable in this present reality, and that this experience of paradise can be incorporated into a meaningful spiritual practice. This essay asks whether, in a moment of deepening ecological degradation, the contemplative practice of paradise might help us learn again how to imagine the world as whole, inhabit it with tenderness and care, and contribute toward its renewal.

Original Publication Citation

Christie, Douglas E. “Practicing Paradise: Contemplative Awareness and Ecological Renewal.” Anglican Theological Review 94.2 (2012): 281-303. Print.

Citation Information
Douglas E. Christie. "Practicing Paradise: Contemplative Awareness and Ecological Renewal" Anglican Theological Review (2012)
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/douglas_burton-christie/15/