Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Appreciating The Beauty Of Earth, Jame Schaefer

Theology Faculty Research and Publications

Categories used by contemporary environmental philosophers to explore esthetic appreciation for the beauty of the physical world have parallels in reflections by patristic and medieval theologians on the beauty of God's creation, A sampling of the theologians' notions yields a promising foundation for ecological ethics from a theistic perspective, especially when understood from their world view at the time the text was written, reformulated to reflect broad scientific findings about the world today, and worked creatively to identify norms for human behavior.