CALL FOR PAPERS

Continuing the Great Work: A Tribute to Thomas Berry’s Contribution to Earth Jurisprudence

The Center for Earth Jurisprudence has issued a call for papers for its forthcoming electronic symposium issue, Continuing the Great Work: A Tribute to Thomas Berry’s Contribution to Earth Jurisprudence, which will examine the teachings of Thomas Berry and how to continue his “Great Work.” (See Thomas Berry, The Great Work. Bell Tower, New York, 1999.)

The Center for Earth Jurisprudence, co-sponsored by Barry and St. Thomas Universities, seeks to transform law and governance for the well-being of Earth and all of its inhabitants. To do this, the CEJ invites us to shift our thinking from human-centered to Earth-centered systems of law and governance. With this shift, humanity recognizes that they are members of the Earth community and can uphold their responsibility to safeguard Earth for present and future generations of people and other species.

The symposium commemorates the life and work of Thomas Berry (see In Memoriam). It honors the sense of urgency in his notion that we are entering a new “Ecozoic Era” where humans must become a constructive presence on Earth, in order to alter the cumulative impact of abusive practices and support a viable future for all. The Great Work analyzes the failings of the major institutions of modern society, including those of the legal system and laws that foster the exploitation and commodification of nature as a resource.

The immediate challenge is to translate Thomas Berry’s teachings into visions and applications of Earth jurisprudence in which humans are an integral part of the balance of nature. Thomas Berry laid a philosophical foundation for a way into the future; this symposium challenges leading environmental thinkers to expound upon Berry’s philosophy and to explore legal and ethical approaches that will illuminate pathways to law and governance that will sustain the health of the Earth community.

Educators, practitioners, and scholars are invited to submit papers for publication. Shorter articles and nontraditional journal articles, such as essays and book-notes, will be considered for publication. Submissions can be e-mailed to the Continuing the Great Work project editor, Jane Goddard, at jgoddard@mail.barry.edu. Submissions are now being accepted and will be promptly considered. Please submit proposals by January 15, 2010. Final drafts of accepted articles must be made available to the Center for Earth Jurisprudence by March 1, 2010.