John Muir and “Godful” Nature

Religions 2012, 3(2), 266-288; doi:10.3390/rel3020266

Author 

Raymond Barnett

Department of Biology, California State University, Chico, CA 95928, USA

Received: 12 March 2012 / Revised: 1 April 2012 / Accepted: 6 April 2012 / Published: 13 April 2012

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Spiritual Exemplars)

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Abstract 

John Muir, America’s most influential conservationist, held a special view of Nature, one that treated Nature as “Godful” and “unredeemed” because, unlike humankind, Nature has not “fallen”. It is a view that asks us to adopt a gaiacentric, not anthropocentric, perspective on our place in the universe. This article explores the meaning and development of that view and how it came to define Muir’s faith and serve his noble purpose of preserving the Wilderness. View Full-Text

Keywords: nature;  natural world;  wilderness;  Godful;  gaiacentric;  Taoist

This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 3.0).

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