Monastic Ecological Wisdom: A Living Tradition
Samuel Torvend
Liturgical Press 2023, 160 pp., pbk, £17.99
A glance at the title of this book points us in several directions:
which way will it go? In fact it covers a remarkable amount of
ground. We are given a blend of biblical and ecological ethics,
within the context of a fresh reading of the life and legacy of St
Benedict. That life is explored through a lens of creation theology,
the gifts of the earth, and modern ecology. Benedict may seem an
unlikely patron saint for the environmental movement, but this
book goes some way to converting doubters, with gentle and wellinformed
charm.
Samuel Torvend has taught and written in Washington
State, USA, for many years, based in Pacific Lutheran University
near Seattle. I know the beauty of the landscape in that part of
the world. Only 150 years ago, the pristine, achingly beautiful
wilderness of the Pacific Northwest lay open to the first European
settlers, unspoilt and almost untouched for centuries by the native
American inhabitants. By the late twentieth century, Boeing,
Microsoft and many others had conquered that wilderness. Now
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