Here you'll find a sampling of videos related to Journey of the Universe, Universe Story, New Story, and cosmology.
You can find more multimedia content on these topics at the Journey of the Universe YouTube channel, Deep Time Network YouTube channel, and the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS) YouTube channel.
Yale University’s Mary Evelyn Tucker, a leading scholars in the fields of religion and ecology, join Grace Farms Foundation's Nature Initiative Director Mark Fowler for a virtual Q&A about Journey of the Universe. This award-winning film draws together scientific discoveries in astronomy, geology, biology, ecology, and biodiversity with insights concerning the nature of the universe.
This week's episode of Spotlights features Samuel King, a Research Associate for the Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology and a graduate student in Religion and Ecology at Yale Divinity School. Sam discusses many facets of his work, including his experience teaching courses in philosophy, religion, and interdisciplinary humanities, his creative writing practice, and his time studying environmental practices in Sri Lanka and India. He also talks about his work with the Journey of the Universe project, including a podcast reflecting on developments in the last ten years since the film and book were released, “JOTU: 10 Years Later.” He also elaborates on his contributions to the development of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) in Religion and Ecology. Details about the Religion and Ecology MOOCs can be found here. Go here for a playlist of episodes from “JOTU: 10 Years Later Podcast.” Posted 4/4/2022.
Tom Collins is a longtime teacher of world history, philosophy, and religious studies. He taught some of the first courses on the universe story at independent schools across the United States. Ten years ago, Tom spoke with Journey co-author Mary Evelyn Tucker about the transformative power of teaching the universe story to young people. In this episode, Sam and Tom continue the conversation on how integral story can shape the future of education.
This event occurred on November 9, 2021 and featured Brian Thomas Swimme, Mary Evelyn Tucker, John Grim, Sam King, Elizabeth McAnally, and Thomas Spiritbringer. Through story, dialog, and music, this online event honored the anniversaries of: Thomas Berry’s birth in 1914; The Universe Story release in 1992; the Journey of the Universe Project in 2011; and the Universe Story Calendar’s promulgation in 2017.
Mary Evelyn Tucker preaches to Immanuel Congregational on Earth Day 2021 (April 25) on “The Sacred Continuity of Cosmos, Earth, and Humans: An Invitation into Deep Time.” In her sermon, she raises a question of human response to the present moment of disintegration. She invites the congregation into deep time of the universe that provides a sense of wholeness and belonging. She concludes with a prayer poem by Catherine De Vinck, which she thinks of as Psalm 104 for the 21st century.
Mary Evelyn Tucker preaches at Grace Cathedral on “The Sacred Continuity of Cosmos, Earth, and Humans.” In her sermon, she highlights the narrative of salvation history–Exodus, Psalm 107, the Gospel of John, and Ephesians–to raise a question of how this biblical story can be expanded to the Exodus experience in the present times. She invites the congregation to Earth time and cosmic time and be inspired to commit and take action for transformation for the living Earth community.
This webinar, which took place on April 10, 2021, described the 10-year odyssey of creating the Journey of the Universe and the 10 years of bringing it out into ever widening circles. Featuring: Brian Thomas Swimme, co-author, Journey of the Universe; Mary Evelyn Tucker, co-author, Journey of the Universe; John Grim, co-producer, Journey of the Universe; Jennifer Morgan, Deeptime Network; Devin O’Dea, Journey of the Universe Project; Sam King, Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology
Dean Malcolm Clemens Young of Grace Cathedral in San Francisco joins Yale professors Mary Evelyn Tucker and John Grim for a conversation about the journey of who we are, how we got here, where we are headed and how we belong. This event took place on March 15, 2021.
This event took place on November 11, 2020.
Mary Evelyn Tucker speaks at the National Council on Spirituality in Education Conference 2019 at Teachers College Columbia University on a panel on “Teaching Interconnectedness: The Dynamics of Nature, Ecology, and Civility.” She talks about nature education embedded in the larger context of the universe in the ecosystems, deep universe time, and deep Earth time. Understanding spirituality as a part of the whole universe story, she stresses diverse forms of intelligence spiritualities that deepen nature education.
In this video, Mary Evelyn Tucker discusses the Thomas Berry Biography and Berry's presence as a global, cross-cultural thinking and conversationalist. Mary Evelyn reflects on the her first correspondence with Thomas while she was living in Japan and how her relationship working with him shaped her life.
Mary Evelyn reviews the history of the Journey of the Universe project with Brian Thomas Swimme, John Grim, and Thomas Berry.
This video, which is interpreted in both English and Korean, features a 30 minute talk by Mary Evelyn Tucker, followed by an hour long question and answer session with the attendees of her lecture. Tucker's presentation focuses on how humans living out the universe story might affect the future of the planet. She gives an overview of her work around Thomas Berry and the Journey of the Universe as well as the influence of Tu Weiming within this field. Tucker calls for the need to put things into a deep time perspective and to move towards holism and interdependence, thus broadening the role of humans and widening our circles of compassion.
We are being called to a new mode of being human in the age of the Anthropocene. We are discovering our role within a vast evolving universe that gave birth to us and that orients and grounds us. We are seeking ways to nurture ourselves and the life community in an age of disruption and diminishment. Journey of the Universe narrates the epic story of the unfolding of the Universe, Earth, and humans over billions of years. Our discussion will explore this Emmy Award winning film, book, and conversation series that can inspire transformative and healing change for a flourishing future. Join TNS Host Michael Lerner in conversation with Yale Professor Mary Evelyn Tucker about the significance of our universe story in the environmental and social challenges of our times. This conversation happened on March 19, 2018.
Mary Evelyn Tucker gives a talk at Albertus Magnus College entitled “Living Within a Universe Story.” After an overview of her work around Journey of the Universe, Tucker moves into a definition of deep time and framing ourselves within geological ages and evolution. She emphasizes the need for interconnectedness and calls on examples from the environmental justice movement and the Earth Charter. Tucker concludes with an invitation to act on this sense of belonging within the greater cosmos. A time of questions and answers follows her presentation. This talk took place on January 24, 2018.
The Emergent Universe Oratorio (EUO) is an hour and half long choral and orchestral composition. It was conceived in response to the current scientific cosmology as presented in the 2011 documentary Journey of the Universe. The EUO was deeply inspired by the work Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, Thomas Berry, Brian Swimme, Mary Evelyn Tucker and John Grim from the Yale University, Forum on Religion and Ecology. These seminal thinkers have endeavored to lead us to a new understanding of the place of humans in the Universe. This artistic musical expression is built on the themes of the documentary—to provide a way to enter in and directly experience this new cosmology, deepening our evolving understanding of and response to this ‘new story’. The EUO is often co-presented with a series of dynamic paintings “Endless Spring” created by the visual artist, Cameron Davis. This performance took place on June 30, 2017.
The multimedia Journey of the Universe project explores some of mankind's most persistent existential questions: What is our purpose? How have the universe, our planet and humanity evolved? Mary Evelyn Tucker proposes that cosmology is the necessary basis for an in-depth examination of the human condition and that useful tools may be found at the intersection of science, art, and humanities, where recent scientific discoveries are leavened and informed with wisdom gleaned through the ages. Recorded on 10/20/2016. Series: “Burke Lectureship on Religion and Society”
The discoveries of modern science tell a comprehensive epic story of the universe through fourteen billion years of evolution. Brian will tell this amazing story from the birth of the universe to the history of planet Earth to the stages of hominin evolution. While this account will certainly be in contention with older cultural narratives, it could ultimately lead to positive effects for future human evolution. Brian will point to some of the epic’s long term consequences for humanity as a whole.
During the last 300 years, scientific knowledge has been used to sideline and dismiss religious traditions. With the paradigm-shattering discoveries of quantum physics, relativity, and complexity science, a new and much deeper understanding is at hand, one that can carry us beyond the disconnect between science and religion. A number of scholars are now convinced that the central intuitions of Earth's spiritual traditions can be expressed in the very dynamics of the evolution of the universe itself. This talk occcured on March 11, 2016.
Mary Evelyn Tucker speaks about the multi-media project “Journey of the Universe,” which she worked on together with her colleague, evolutionary philosopher Brian Swimme. The project included an Emmy award winning film which weaves a tapestry that draws together scientific discoveries with humanistic insights concerning the nature of the universe and the role of human beings in responding to our present environmental challenges.
In this recording of a talk given on June 18, 2014, Mary Evelyn Tucker and John Grim explore their acclaimed film and book Journey of the Universe. Giving an insight into the creative energy that is responsible for the great diversity of all life on Earth, they discuss cosmology, science and evoke the New Story of which eco-philosopher Thomas Berry wrote.
Dr. John Grim, Senior Lecturer and Scholar at Yale University, discusses the connections between indigenous lifeways and the epic narrative of Journey of the Universe. Drawing insights from Croix, Haudenosaunee, Navajo, and Apache peoples, Dr. Grim suggests that there are shared themes regarding the importance of a journey, the stars, narratives, and cosmovisions that orient humans to their local surroundings and the cosmos. This talk took place during the “Journey of the Universe and Our Elegant Universe” Conference in Chautauqua, NY (June 24-28, 2013).
Rabbi Lawrence Troster, Dr. Heather Eaton, and Dr. Safei Eldin Hamed offer responses from Jewish, Christian, and Islamic traditions to Journey of the Universe. Rabbi Troster, a late Jewish environmental activist, draws from the Books of Genesis and Isaiah to suggest that the science of the universe story is offering people a vision of a new heaven and a new Earth. Dr. Heather Eaton, a theologian at Saint Paul University, highlights the need for Christians to retrieve its focus on creation, to reinterpret justice as ecojustice, and to reconstruct theologies of incarnation to encompass the entire Earth community. Dr. Safei Eldin Hamed, a scholar of environmental planning at Chatham University, interprets the Quran to suggest that there is equality between all creatures and that Islam can offer a holistic and functional cosmology for our contemporary world. This event took place at the Journey of the Universe and Our Elegant Universe Symposium on 06/26/2013.
In this complete interview, author and scholar Mary Evelyn Tucker reveals that humanity is currently at a crossroads integrating science and cosmology. She explains that we need to take all the knowledge and information we have learned from science and ground it in a renewed relationship to the earth, which is inherently spiritual. Only then, says Tucker, will we find real solutions to the current issues of our time.
Mary Evelyn Tucker and John Grim talk on “Religion, Ecology, and Cosmology: Integrating Story,” emphasizing the engaged scholarship of religion and ecology in the reimaging and reconstructing environmental ethics in times of ecological crisis. Examining the view of nature from various religious traditions, Tucker and Grim introduce a new term, “religious ecologies,” where they find ecological components in the world religions. Religions have been orienting people throughout human history, and they further discuss the possibilities of how religion and ecology should be shaped in the Anthropocene from the examples of the indigenous tradition of the Salish people and the Confucian tradition. This talk took place on March 8, 2013.
Our lives are guided by stories from childhood to ever-growing maturity. Mary Evelyn Tucker, Yale professor and founder of the Forum on Religion and Ecology, weaves our personal and diverse cultural and cosmological narratives together for the sake of creating a just and sustainable future for all life. She explores cosmic evolution as a profoundly wondrous process based on creativity, connection and interdependence. Introduction by cosmologist Brian Swimme. This speech was given at the 2011 Bioneers National Conference.
Mary Evelyn Tucker of Yale University introduced “Journey of the Universe,” a new multi-media collaboration inspired by Thomas Berry's “The New Story.” “Journey of the Universe” weaves together scientific discoveries and humanistic insights to create a new narrative of the evolution of the universe–from the Big Bang to the impact of human life on our planet.
This talk by Mary Evelyn Tucker, which took place on March 7, 2011, is part of the Culture of Peace Distinguished Speakers Series at Soka Gakkai International-USA, New York Culture Center. Tucker discusses the recently released Journey of the Universe film in the context of “The New Story” by Thomas Berry. She describes how Journey of the Universe illustrates a functional cosmology that gives humans a deeper meaning of our place and purpose in the universe, helping us discover our Great Work to create a flourishing future for the Earth community.
Professor (Yale/Harvard) Mary Evelyn Tucker talks of her dream film “Journey of the Universe” which was created “one day on a Greek island of Samos”, where the whole perception of the Universe changes forever… She speaks of the host, co-writer, and fellow traveler, Brian Swimme and shares his infectious curiosity about life's biggest questions in the epic film, “JOURNEY OF THE UNIVERSE” - a one hour documentary feature film, companied by the book … It was indeed a collaboration of cosmologist Swimme and historian of religions Mary Evelyn Tucker. Together, they weave a tapestry that draws together scientific discoveries in astronomy, geology, biology, ecology, and biodiversity with humanistic insights concerning the nature of the universe.
Dr. Mary Evelyn Tucker describes the power of story in orienting humans to the Earth and the cosmos. For Tucker, the world’s religions and the New Story of cosmic evolution can offer immense inspiration for the transition to a sustainable future.
Brian Swimme, Professor of Philosophy, Cosmology, and Consciousness at the California Institute of Integral Studies, presents on the intersection of science and spirituality in this talk at Seattle University. He challenges the listener to ponder the universe, drawing on images of space and the Earth to place us within an evolutionary context, historical context. Swimme defines terms such as “cosmic generosity” as he seeks to engage with the sacred that is incarnate in the universe. This talk took place on July 10, 2009.
This video was filmed in Ojai, California in 1992, just after the release of The Universe Story volume, and sponsored by the Center for Respect of Life and Environment (CRLE). In this conversation, Thomas Berry shares his planetary wisdom with Mary Evelyn Tucker (Yale University) and Christopher Key Chapple (Loyola Marymount University) in a serene garden setting. Thomas reflects on his collaboration with Brian Thomas Swimme to write The Universe Story (1992), an integral narrative of our cosmic journey across 13.8 billion years. This journey is marked by what he calls “moments of grace”—the precise expansion of the early Universe; the explosions of first-generation stars gathering into galaxies; the emergence of photosynthesis. Forged across deep time, the human emerges from these transformations as a “stupendous being” with an “enormous role in the Universe.” For Thomas, we find ourselves now in a new moment of grace—a time of ecological breakdown, and yet, a time of creativity to usher in a more flourishing phase of Earth history.
A video excerpt of Thomas Berry discussing his 1978 Teilhard Studies monograph entitled “The New Story” at Chestnut Hill College in Philadelphia in 1984. This is one in a series of Thomas Berry videos which were recorded by Lou Niznik and re-mastered by Wes Pascoe. Lou's video library was donated by Jane Blewett to the Thomas Berry Foundation in 2012. The re-mastered video series was produced by Don Smith of Calgary, Alberta with executive supervision by Mary Evelyn Tucker.
Header photo: Emergent Universe Oratorio, ©Sam Guarnaccia
