John Michael Greer, A World Full of Gods: An Inquiry into Polytheism:

Much of polytheist theology can be seen as the application of ecological thinking to religion.

This snaps together several pieces in my mind. There has been a revival (relatively speaking) of polytheism in the years since the rise of ecological thinking. The dominant model of monotheism is of a king and the ruled, which has sometimes had what we might call poor historical consequences. A polytheism rooted in ecological thinking could be a shift from a hierarchical “great chain of being” to a relationship of reciprocity.

@jabel "...rooted in...thinking." I will say no more.

@jabel I do love it when a good sentence “snaps things together.” 🙂

I’m not sure this has anything to do with polytheism, per se, but I’m reminded of a book on Job that I’ve never read but the subtitle of which I’ve loved thinking about: A Contest of Moral Imaginations

@tinyroofnail That's a very good description for the book of Job!

@jabel Interesting. On a related note, the increasing popularity of Panpsychism seems to have a similar religious/philosophcal angle to it. (Though the verdict is still out on if it really solves anything...or not).

​I'm new to the ecological literature, but I recently read Jason Hickel's Less Is More and had some similar thoughts to you. As a Christian with a fairly traditional understanding of the God-World relation, I'm hopeful that traditional monotheism need not be jettisoned entirely. I believe (though this belief is regularly tested) that orthodox Christian faith is capacious enough to incorporate the sort of "ecological" insights of late: the inter-connectedness of all reality, reciprocity, and so on.

@jabel I had your post bouncing around my head somewhere while I was finishing Christian Wiman’s Trinity Forum’s interview. Around 26 minutes in, he mentions the book of Job and need for more poetic understanding. But he says “The more we learn about reality, the more it seems that consciousness is much more widespread than we thought, and that the world is close to some kind of sentience.”

@tinyroofnail @jabel Re sentience: for a long time I've taken Psalm 95 pretty literally: "Then shall all the trees of the wood rejoice before the face of the Lord, for he comes, for he comes to judge the earth."

@bbowman Panpsychism is interesting for sure, and I hope it continues to be considered. Panpsychism seems to be trying to get to "consciousness is fundamental" from a more materialist approach, which is fine but has its own problems.

Less is More is a wonderful book and it was my introduction to degrowth as well. Also, I agree that monotheism has resources to address the problem. I'd be thrilled to see more of those resources developed so that they can make their way out of the religious intellectuals' world and into the pews where they can start having an impact on regular Christians' lives.

@jabel Yes and amen to that!

@jabel i keep struggling for a way of looking at things compelling enough to move us all away from the destructive power over dynamics of just about any system operating in the world today and have had little success. I am not sure there is a way out of it.

@JohnBrady @tinyroofnail The Psalms are one of those resources that I was talking about with @bbowman. Psalm 29 has always been one of my favorites: the voice of the Lord animating the shaking trees.

@mbkriegh I know what you mean. Sometimes it seems like we're in a murder-suicide pact. But, personally, I try not to dwell too long on that level; I have no control there. What I can do, however, is reframe the way I see the world. No idea if it will make a difference to the world at large, but it makes a difference in my little world.

@jabel what you say is absolutely true... we won't do anything if we all wait for signs the world is ready to do that something with us... still, i try to imagine what could take the place of this patriarchal capitalist hellscape we seem so locked into and how on earth do we get there... is it really going to take complete societal collapse to clear the way?... are we really as stupid as that?... and i keep answering that question with "yes, i think we might be"...

@mbkriegh "Yes, I think we might be" is my answer too, unfortunately.

@jabel @mbkriegh Sadly, agreed. My answer and action is insufficient but it is simply to live the values and make my best effort to create the world I want to live in in my little corner just as you mention doing above. My sphere of influence is minuscule but my effort is real.

@Denny i am with you on that. I am not perfect but i make an effort.