Q&A with Ursula Goodenough

 

 

Ursula Goodenough is the author of the book The Sacred Depths of Nature: How Life Has Emerged and Evolved, now available in a second edition. She is professor emerita of biology at Washington University, and she lives in Chilmark, Massachusetts.

 

Q: How did this second edition of The Sacred Depths of Nature come about?

 

A: I published the first edition in 1998 to explore the concept of a non-theistic religious naturalist orientation, wherein our science-based understandings of the natural world serve as fodder for existential and spiritual response.

 

Q: Are there any major changes between the original book and this new edition?

 

A: Yes. The science-based concepts are updated and expanded throughout; many of the spiritual reflections are deepened; chapters 2 (The Origin of Life) and 12 (Human Evolution) are mostly rewritten; and chapter 13 (Morality and Ecomorality) is totally new. The book is now in full color, and new poems and quotes have been added.

Q: The author Robin Wall Kimmerer said of the book, “At once expansive and intimate, empirical and immanent, analytical and intuitive, material and spiritual – science and poetry get to dance joyfully together in these pages.” What do you think of that description?

 

A: I am a deep admirer of Robin’s book, Braiding Sweetgrass, and am honored that she describes my book with such beautiful words and feeling.

 

Q: What do you hope readers take away from the book?

 

A: An enhanced understanding of our science-based understandings of nature and the opportunity to explore their religious potential.

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: I’m going back to some projects we did in the lab that were never written up, after which I’m considering writing some sort of memoir.

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: Many readers tell me that the book has played a key role in their search for eco-spiritual sensibilities. The book’s website is www.sacreddepthsofnature.com, and the Religious Naturalist Orientation website is www.religious-naturalist-orientation.org.

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb