We have been hit with nonstop coverage of the recent deaths of celebrities Farah Fawcett, Ed McMahon and especially Michael Jackson. The fascination owes to perhaps more layers then we are even aware: celebrity the most obvious, but perhaps the role of the artist and his/her connection to inspiration, genius, beauty, truth, etc. Notably, Thomas Berry (1914-2009), Passionist priest and internationally recognized historian of cultures, died on June 1st, 2009. Berry extended our understanding of the human-cosmic dimensions from
his base at the Riverdale Center for Religious Research that he inaugurated in 1970. Conferences sponsored by the center explored such themes as Energy: Its Cosmic-Human Dimensions; The Future: Technological Society Man’s Covenant; New York as Sacred City; and The Ecological Age. Current discussions on sustainability should include Berry’s important work that drew scholars and thinkers from all over the world. These activities culminated in the 1998 founding of the Thomas Berry Foundation, an integral part of the Yale-based international Forum on Religion and Ecology (FORE), directed by Mary Evelyn Tucker and John Grim of Yale University. For more information see
http://www.thepassionists.org/Thomas_Berry.html;http://www.religionandecology.org/
