Buy new:
$33.59
Get Fast, Free Shipping with Amazon Prime FREE Returns
FREE delivery Friday, May 3 on orders shipped by Amazon over $35. Order within 7 hrs 7 mins
Only 7 left in stock (more on the way).
$$33.59 () Includes selected options. Includes initial monthly payment and selected options. Details
Price
Subtotal
$$33.59
Subtotal
Initial payment breakdown
Shipping cost, delivery date, and order total (including tax) shown at checkout.
Ships from
Amazon.com
Ships from
Amazon.com
Sold by
Amazon.com
Sold by
Amazon.com
Returns
Eligible for Return, Refund or Replacement within 30 days of receipt
Eligible for Return, Refund or Replacement within 30 days of receipt
This item can be returned in its original condition for a full refund or replacement within 30 days of receipt.
Read full return policy
Returns
Eligible for Return, Refund or Replacement within 30 days of receipt
This item can be returned in its original condition for a full refund or replacement within 30 days of receipt.
Read full return policy
Payment
Secure transaction
Your transaction is secure
We work hard to protect your security and privacy. Our payment security system encrypts your information during transmission. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. Learn more
Payment
Secure transaction
We work hard to protect your security and privacy. Our payment security system encrypts your information during transmission. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. Learn more
Amazon book clubs early access
Loading your book clubs
There was a problem loading your book clubs. Please try again.
Not in a club? Learn more
Amazon book clubs early access

Join or create book clubs

Choose books together

Track your books
Bring your club to Amazon Book Clubs, start a new book club and invite your friends to join, or find a club that’s right for you for free.
Explore Amazon Book Clubs
Kindle app logo image

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.

Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.

Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.

QR code to download the Kindle App

Follow the author

Bruce V. Foltz
Follow
Something went wrong. Please try your request again later.

The Noetics of Nature: Environmental Philosophy and the Holy Beauty of the Visible (Groundworks: Ecological Issues in Philosophy and Theology)

by Bruce V. Foltz (Author)
4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars 7 ratings
See all formats and editions
{"desktop_buybox_group_1":[{"displayPrice":"$33.59","priceAmount":33.59,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"33","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"59","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"pprKBetfN%2BuUcpO%2F3tXQ4p437DSAnzKj5hFUAcgwqXSK4CdcMBzXLo%2FQ1Rl0XSQmhamh6cm7KRG3W9tVs7hazW7lnwfIaoif9kePZUCSGfEApwJD0UzjmUhnn5w9fPQjMRUlP2ONFNBPzVdVKRu%2FDQ%3D%3D","locale":"en-US","buyingOptionType":"NEW","aapiBuyingOptionIndex":0}]}

Purchase options and add-ons

Contemplative or “noetic” knowledge has traditionally been seen as the highest mode of understanding, a view that persists both in many non-Western cultures and in Eastern Christianity, where “theoria physike,” or the illumined understanding of creation that follows the purification of the heart, is seen to provide deeper insights into nature than the discursive rationality modernity has used to dominate and conquer it.

Working from texts in Eastern Orthodox philosophy and theology not widely known in the West, as well as a variety of sources including mystics such as the Sufi Ibn ‘Arabi, poets such as Basho, Traherne, Blake, Hölderlin, and Hopkins, and nature writers such as Muir, Thoreau, and Dillard, The Noetics of Nature challenges both the primacy of the natural sciences in environmental thought and the conventional view, first advanced by Lynn White, Jr., that Christian theology is somehow responsible for the environmental crisis.

Instead, Foltz concludes that the ancient Christian view of creation as iconic―its “holy beauty” manifesting the divine energies and constituting a primal mode of divine revelation―offers the best prospect for the radical reversal that is needed in our relation to the natural environment.

Previous page
  1. ISBN-10
    0823254658
  2. ISBN-13
    978-0823254651
  3. Publisher
    Fordham University Press
  4. Publication date
    November 11, 2013
  5. Part of series
    Groundworks: Ecological Issues in Philosophy and Theology
  6. Language
    English
  7. Dimensions
    8.9 x 0.9 x 6 inches
  8. Print length
    320 pages
  9. See all details
Next page
Amazon First Reads | Editors' picks at exclusive prices

Frequently bought together

The Noetics of Nature: Environmental Philosophy and the Holy Beauty of the Visible (Groundworks: Ecological Issues in Philoso
$33.59
Get it as soon as Friday, May 3
Only 7 left in stock (more on the way).
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
+
Creation as Sacrament: Reflections on Ecology and Spirituality
$30.93
Get it as soon as Friday, May 3
In Stock
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
+
Priests of Creation: John Zizioulas on Discerning an Ecological Ethos
$30.95
Get it as soon as Friday, May 3
Only 6 left in stock (more on the way).
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
Total price:
To see our price, add these items to your cart.
Details
Added to Cart
Some of these items ship sooner than the others.
Show details Hide details
Choose items to buy together.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“This splendid book makes an original and important contribution to environmental philosophy. It develops an argument the seeds for which were sown by the author’s earlier work: that a fruitful approach to environmental ethics, or a proper understanding of 'the Good' with respect to nature, requires a deeper grounding in environmental aesthetics, or a clearer vision of 'the Beautiful,' which is itself ultimately rooted in an 'environmental theology.' With grace and conviction, Foltz shows that it is only by cultivating a sense of 'the Holy' that we can hope to restore a right relation to nature and to ourselves."---―Christopher Dustin, College of the Holy Cross

“Bruce Foltz’s book The Noetics of Nature: Environmental Philosophy and the Holy Beauty of the Visible is a tour de force, an intellectual and cultural history of nature in the West. Its original and in-depth scholarship re-centers environmental philosophy on the marginalized but crucial intersection of Hebrew and Greek thought in the West, viewed with continuity through the patristic and Byzantine eras and beyond into modern Russian philosophy, as an alternative to modern Western materialism.”---―Alfred Siewers, Bucknell University

Bruce Foltz has written an original and compelling book that deserves wide attention. Drawing on Greek Patristic thought, recent environmental writers, Orthodox theology and aesthetics, and the wide sweep of philosophy from the ancient Greeks to today’s phenomenology, Foltz opens multiple, fresh lines of insight and inquiry. The Noetics of Nature is an impressive achievement and a much-needed, new voice in current conversations on the healing of earth.---―Norman Wirzba, Duke Divinity School

Review

“This splendid book makes an original and important contribution to environmental philosophy. It develops an argument the seeds for which were sown by the author’s earlier work: that a fruitful approach to environmental ethics, or a proper understanding of 'the Good' with respect to nature, requires a deeper grounding in environmental aesthetics, or a clearer vision of 'the Beautiful,' which is itself ultimately rooted in an 'environmental theology.' With grace and conviction, Foltz shows that it is only by cultivating a sense of 'the Holy' that we can hope to restore a right relation to nature and to ourselves."---―Christopher Dustin, College of the Holy Cross

“Bruce Foltz’s book The Noetics of Nature: Environmental Philosophy and the Holy Beauty of the Visible is a tour de force, an intellectual and cultural history of nature in the West. Its original and in-depth scholarship re-centers environmental philosophy on the marginalized but crucial intersection of Hebrew and Greek thought in the West, viewed with continuity through the patristic and Byzantine eras and beyond into modern Russian philosophy, as an alternative to modern Western materialism.”---―Alfred Siewers, Bucknell University

Bruce Foltz has written an original and compelling book that deserves wide attention. Drawing on Greek Patristic thought, recent environmental writers, Orthodox theology and aesthetics, and the wide sweep of philosophy from the ancient Greeks to today’s phenomenology, Foltz opens multiple, fresh lines of insight and inquiry. The Noetics of Nature is an impressive achievement and a much-needed, new voice in current conversations on the healing of earth.---―Norman Wirzba, Duke Divinity School

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Fordham University Press (November 11, 2013)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 320 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0823254658
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0823254651
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 8.9 x 0.9 x 6 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars 7 ratings

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.
Bruce V. Foltz

Bruce V. Foltz

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read author blogs and more

Customer reviews

4.7 out of 5 stars
4.7 out of 5
7 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars This book is amazing. On numerous occasions
Reviewed in the United States on February 27, 2016
Verified Purchase
This book is amazing. On numerous occasions, the content was so beautiful that it actually hurt; my heart truly ached. It reminded me of what St. John of the Cross describes as an arrow that, when it wounds you it heals you. What else can I say?
7 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Gary Sprandel
4.0 out of 5 stars Profound but too much Heidegger
Reviewed in the United States on April 18, 2024
• I may not have the philosophy background to fully appreciate this book, but I do think he is making some profound points. Unfortunately some of it is buried under discussions of Heidegger, Nietzsche and Greek, German and Latin terms ( in the back is a 4 page index, but not glossary of these terms).
• I did have the poetic background and did appreciate his references to Emerson, Muir, Thoreau, Dilliard, Wendell Berry, and Gary Snyder.
• He makes extensive reference to Dostoevsky, particularly Brothers Karamazov, so glad I was familiar with that.
• The break down of Lynn White Jr The Historical Roots of our Ecological Crisis (and points out that White is talking about Western Christianity), may have been the most impactful part of the book for me. The perspective of the Eastern Orthodox Church tradition is an important one and I will try to follow up on some of the direct references
Helpful
 Report
Fr. Cassian
5.0 out of 5 stars Intelligent, erudite
Reviewed in the United States on November 28, 2014
Verified Purchase
This is a remarkable and sustained work of ecological ethics, informed and sustained by the Eastern Orthodox Christian theological tradition. Intelligent, erudite, thoughtful, and numinous, it is one of the best works to be written on the subject of ecology since Erazim Kohak's under-appreciated _The Embers and the Stars_.
7 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Nil Nellis
5.0 out of 5 stars An integral work for building a better world
Reviewed in the United States on June 20, 2014
Professor Foltz in his recent book ‘The Noetics of Nature’ deftly performs the task of reversing the currents of our social imagination. Reuniting our language of possibilities to lost antiphonies between Nature and our deepest affective identities, the author guides us through a corrective history based on his long philosophical journey of ‘Sailing to Byzantium’. Professor Foltz provides us with an opening to further fields of inquiry which already knows it’s fruit - a crucial resetting of our desire, done in such a way as to save us from ourselves.
By kindling our ontological depths with the beauty of ‘Theoria Physike’ the author opens the window for new personal fulfillment through our own hermeneutical readings and dialogues with what is most hauntingly real, Nature herself.
Professor Foltz and his Patristic references point to Nature as the source which returns to us our own noetic capacities. His argument does not ring shallow but illumines a much needed alternative to Lynn White Jr.’s view of Christianity as a blight on the physical world.
The author has given us a future based on renewing our mind and heart through a schooling with Nature. All things lead to a phenomenology of beauty. A beauty that grows as our noetic capacities are activated, thus leaving behind promethean materialism as a pale shadow below the reflective surface of our new adventure of ‘being’.
I am blessed to have read this work and to be launched onto the waves of an actual lake in an actual pristine wilderness. Professor Foltz’s Noetics of Nature promises to be a wonderful guide.
6 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
David Bradshaw
5.0 out of 5 stars a thoughtful discussion of our relationship to nature
Reviewed in the United States on May 14, 2014
This is an outstanding book. It brings Eastern Orthodox thought to bear on one of the most pressing issues of modern philosophy, that of how to properly understand humanity's relationship to nature. Foltz sees modern thought as plagued by the tendency to regard nature as simply a resource for satisfying our desires, rather than a reality that exists in its own right. He argues that to overcome this tendency requires purifying the heart from the passions that corrupt our perception of ourselves and the world around us. He develops this theme by drawing widely on both Orthodox authors (the Philokalia, Maximus, Florensky, Bulgakov) and modern nature authors such as John Muir and Annie Dillard. He also critiques one-sided views of the relationship between Christianity and the natural environment, pointing out how they have overlooked the distinctive standpoint of Eastern Orthodoxy. Whether you're interested in environmental philosophy, Orthodox thought, or both, this is a book not to be missed.
5 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report