Here you'll find a sampling of the large body of video of talks by and about Thomas Berry, as well as readings of his poetry, celebrations of his life, and more. Please visit our Thomas Berry site for a wealth of additional media and information by and about Thomas Berry. And you'll find additional video of Thomas on our YouTube channel.
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In this online and in-person event that took place on February 15, 2024, Mary Evelyn Tucker and John Grim explore the lives and thought of Teilhard de Chardin and Thomas Berry as transformative visions of being fully human. Touching on the personal spiritual journey of each man, they highlight key ideas from both and reflect on how such an evolutionary perspective provides a new story for our times.
In this week's episode of Spotlights, Sam Mickey talks about the life and thought of a deeply influential figure in the field and force of religion and ecology, Thomas Berry (1914-2009). Sam draws on the book about Berry's life and thought, Thomas Berry: A Biography, by Mary Evelyn Tucker, John Grim, and Andrew Angyal (Columbia University Press, 2019), and he concludes with a reading from one of Berry's books, The Great Work (Bell Tower, 1999), ending with the following quotation: “We are not lacking in the dynamic forces needed to create the future. We live immersed in a sea of energy beyond all comprehension. But this energy, in an ultimate sense, is ours not by domination but by invocation.” (Thomas Berry, “The Dynamics of the Future,” in The Great Work, 175).
Posted 07/04/2022
Mary Evelyn Tucker gives a lecture on Thomas Berry's vision for the earth community, highlighting Berry's work “The New Story” and his three principles that govern the universe: differenciation, subjectivity, and communion. She argues for the need for a new worldview that is organic and holistic and that takes into account the suffering of people and planet. Tucker's talk is framed with an introduction from Sam King, graduate student at Yale Divinity School, and by a question and answer session with the attendees of her talk. This webinar took place on November 3, 2021.
Mary Evelyn Tucker and John Grim present their book “Thomas Berry: A Biography,” which they co-wrote alongside Andrew Angyal. In this short video, they give an overview of who Thomas Berry was, his key ideas, and his major written works.
This brief video presents and overview of the life of Thomas Berry. It emphasizes his healing vision for the earth community through his notion of The Great Work and highlights his major written works, “The New Story” and “The Universe Story.”
Seventy two people from Australia, Philippines, India, Canada, and other countries participated in this Live Q&A in celebration of the 10-year anniversary of Thomas Berry’s passing (June 1, 2009) and publication of THOMAS BERRY: A BIOGRAPHY, Jennifer Morgan interviews author and pre-eminent Thomas Berry scholar Mary Evelyn Tucker. Dr. Tucker discusses the intersection between the work of Thomas Berry and Maria Montessori.
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.
This talk will attempt to characterize the life, thought, and influence of Thomas Berry, historian of cultures and religions, prophet of the New Story, geologian, planetary person, a Stoic man of sorrows, and an enduring inspiration.
In this video, Thomas Berry gives a lecture on The Great Work. He traces past historical Great Works and calls upon everyone to work towards transitioning into the emerging ecozoic and fostering a more mutually enhancing human-earth relationship. Berry specifically cites stories, dreams, and a meta-religion as being important parts of this Great Work. His lecture is followed by a question and answer time with the audience.
This video was recorded at Thomas Berry's birthday celebration at Riverdale on the Hudson River. After introductions by Mary Evelyn Tucker and John Grim, Berry gives an overview of The Great Work and the need for renewal and moving towards the ecozoic. In addition, because part of this celebration is for Berry's stepping down from leading the American Teilhard Assocation, he gives a few words on how Teilhard's work might contribute to The Great Work. Berry concludes by expressing gratitude for his various communities.
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.
This single-poem clip is drawn from one of the last videos made of Thomas Berry speaking to an audience in Asheville, North Carolina. Filmed by Lou Niznik, this performance captures the artistic, playful side of one of the most beloved and influential leaders in “Earth literacy” and a deeply meaningful celebration of an evolutionary understanding of this ancient cosmos and of the human journey within it.
(See part 1 for talk description)
Anne Marie Dalton is a professor of religion and culture at St. Mary's University, Halifax, Canada. She teaches and researches in the area of religion and ecology, science and religion, and religion and development. She completed her doctoral thesis on the the work of Thomas Berry. She is a member of the Canadian Forum On Religion and Ecology.
In Part 3 of “Thomas Berry The Great Work,” Christopher Key Chapple, Professor of Indic and Comparative Theology at Loyola Marymount University, presents Berry's religious philosophies and work around the religions of South Asia. He calls attention to two enduring hallmarks of Berry's though: authenticity and affectivity.
(See part 1 for talk description)
In Parts 1 and 2 of “Thomas Berry The Great Work,” Mary Evelyn Tucker gives a brief outline of Thomas Berry's life and work, particularly his academic work in the history of religions and his rethinking of human-earth relations towards flourishing. She additionally presents seven principles for the common good from Confucianism, as they relate to Thomas Berry's thought. The videos conclude with a short clip of Thomas Berry talking about the Great Work.
A conversation with Thomas Berry facilitated by Miriam MacGillis of Genesis Farm at the Riverdale Center on May 29th, 1991.
Header photo: Mary Evelyn Tucker in Conversation with Michael Lerner, ©The New School at Commonweal
