Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction: Early Medieval Earth Consciousness
- 1 Old English Ecotheology
- 2 The Web of Creation in Wisdom Poems
- 3 Identity, Affirmation, and Resistance in the Exeter Riddle Collection
- 4 Trauma and Apocalypse in the Eco-elegies
- 5 Mutual Custodianship in the Landscapes of Guðlac A
- Coda: Old English Ecotheology
- Bibliography
- Index
- Index of Essential Old English Terms
Coda: Old English Ecotheology
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 October 2021
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction: Early Medieval Earth Consciousness
- 1 Old English Ecotheology
- 2 The Web of Creation in Wisdom Poems
- 3 Identity, Affirmation, and Resistance in the Exeter Riddle Collection
- 4 Trauma and Apocalypse in the Eco-elegies
- 5 Mutual Custodianship in the Landscapes of Guðlac A
- Coda: Old English Ecotheology
- Bibliography
- Index
- Index of Essential Old English Terms
Summary
Abstract
The descriptor “medieval” is often used disparagingly to suggest a lack of scientific awareness or curiosity. However, the poetry of the Exeter Book reflects a specific Old English ecotheology, which anticipates by nearly a millennium the modern environmental movement. Indeed, there are lessons to be learned from these Old English ecotheologians. The poetry of the Exeter Book suggests modern earth consciousness and activism can be facilitated by acknowledging the interconnectedness of human and other-than-human beings on Earth; rejecting binaries which see humanity as distinct from (and superior to) nature in favor of a worldview which sees humanity as a part of nature; and finally, recognizing that, environmental crises are an opportunity to grow our relationships with the Earth community.
Keywords: environmentalism, activism
The introduction to this book began with a list of environmental crises; over the past four years, environmental crises of this type have acted as macabre milestones marking the progress of this project. In addition to these dramatic crises, climate change presents a concrete daily challenge or millions of people across the world. It is perhaps the biggest challenge facing society at the present moment. However, questions about human engagement with the natural world—how we shape and are shaped by the Earth community— are hardly modern. In the preceding chapters, I have argued that the Old English poetry of the Exeter Book suggests that the people of early medieval England actively engaged a number of ecotheological questions familiar to contemporary environmental debate: in what ways is human activity bound to or driven by other-than-human forces? In what ways does human activity impact the other-than-human, for good or ill? What does it mean to be a faithful “steward”? What will become of the Earth when we are gone? In my exploration of these questions, I have suggested that the Exeter Book, a microcosm of the Old English corpus as a whole, reveals a worldview which acknowledges infinite connections between human and other-than-human members of the Earth community. My analysis of the work of Ælfric and Wulfstan, similarly, demonstrates the existence of an Old English ecotheology which anticipates by nearly a millennium the work of modern ecotheologians such as the Earth Bible Team, whose “Guiding Ecojustice Principles” are reflected throughout the poetry of the Exeter Book.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Old English EcotheologyThe Exeter Book, pp. 209 - 218Publisher: Amsterdam University PressPrint publication year: 2021