The triumph of Eywa: Avatar, pantheism, and the sign of a green ecumene

• Autores: Anthony Lioi
• Localización: Ecozon@ [Ecozona]: European Journal of Literature, Culture and Environment, ISSN-e 2171-9594, Vol. 2, N. 2, 2011 (Ejemplar dedicado a: Ecospirit: religion and the environment), págs. 40-59
• Idioma: inglés
• DOI: 10.37536/ecozona.2011.2.2.418
• Enlaces
  • Texto completo
• Resumen
  • español

    En un artículo de opinión publicado a finales de 2009 en el "New York Times", Ross Douthat afirmó que la película de James Cameron, "Avatar", era un ejemplo de propaganda panteísta diseñada para animar a la adoración de la naturaleza en vez de a Dios. En este ensayo, evalúo las afirmaciones de Douthat, clasificándolas como un malentendido sobre el panteísmo y como un síntoma del temor cristiano conservador de que el ambientalismo sea cripto-paganismo. Ofrezco una interpretación alternativa de Eywa, la inteligencia planetaria de la película, como una criatura, una figura de la diosa cristiana Natura, una descendiente del paganismo literario, y un indicio de una incipiente ecúmene ambiental cristiana.

  • English

    In an op-ed piece published in late 2009 in the "New York Times", Ross Douthat claimed that James Cameron's film "Avatar" was a piece of pantheist propaganda designed to encourage the worship of nature rather than God. In this essay, I critique Douthat's claims as a misunderstanding of pantheism and a symptom of conservative Christian fear that environmentalism is crypto-paganism. I offer an alternative reading of Eywa, the film's planetary intelligence, as a creature, a figure of the Christian goddess Natura; a descendant of literary paganism; and a sign of an incipient Christian environmental ecumene.

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