This is a fascinating account of the lives of ordinary people in the countryside of half a century ago. It depicts a way of life that took thousands of years to evolve and mature and was destroyed in a single generation. The world described with such vivacity in this lively memoir was not idyllic. There were sinners as well as saints, all ordinary mortals. The village of John M. Feehan was unique, and lives on in these pages.

My Village My World

Biographies & Memoirs

Feehan, John

Memoirs

Mercier Press

A recent outpouring of books has argued that the only belief consonant with the scientific worldview is denial of God. The problem with this argument, according to John Feehan, is that it is not scientific enough. While human reason occupies the pivotal position which sciences claims for it, Feehan argues that the scientific endeavor itself penetrates insufficiently deeply into the human encounter with reality, and is on this account inadequately rational. The Singing Heart of the World begins with a fascinating celebration of the scientific method, from Eratosthenes, in third century BCE, who measured the earth s circumference with nothing more than a ruler (and his brain), and through such luminaries as Aristotle, Galileo, and Isaac Newton. He proceeds to an overview of the universe that science has unfolded for our contemplation and response. Whether on the macro scale of cosmology or the micro level of subatomic particles, the diversity of living creatures, or the mysteries of the human mind, Feehan evokes a sense of religious wonder. From such wonder comes a sense of purpose and meaning, which implies responsibility and virtue. Ultimately, he argues, future humanity can thrive only through the unfettered exercise of reason allied with virtue and grounded in faith in a God who is now seen to be utterly greater than the smaller gods of a more restricted view of reality.

The Singing Heart of the World: Creation, Evolution, and Faith

Religion & Spirituality

Christian Books & Bibles

Orbis Books

One of the themes that echoes most frequently through Laudato Si’, Pope Francis’ landmark publication on the environment, is the central role of biodiversity in creation spirituality, because the 'dimming of the rainbow of life’s diversity' has a significance that goes way beyond our concern for its impact upon our human welfare. This is the result of a deepening awareness of the role of every living species in God’s unfolding plan.\nEvery Bush Aflame is an extended reflection on this profoundly central theme. It explores the origins of biodiversity in Christian theology, its roots in our growing scientific understanding of the true nature and scale of life’s complexity and diversity, and the implications of all this for the kind of Christian response called for in Laudato Si’. Particular emphasis is laid on the importance of the personal encounter with the natural world through which we read the ‘other book’ of revelation in which God reveals himself to us: that ‘magnificent book in which God speaks to us and grants us a glimpse of his infinite beauty and goodness’ (Laudato Si’, 12). Every Bush Aflame argues that those whose lives are directed by the spiritual perspective this profoundly deeper understanding offers should be the most deeply motivated to respond to the 
challenge presented by the current environmental crisis.

Every Bush Aflame: Science God and the Natural World

Veritas

The proceedings of a 1994 conference studying Irish policy on climate resources and the climate changes that are likely to occur in the next century.

Climate Variation and Climate Change in Ireland

History

Europe

Royal Irish Academy

"Few places on Earth, and none elsewhere in Ireland, have yielded such a concentrated inventory of knowledge about the natural world." Michael VineyOne hundred years ago, Irish naturalist Robert Lloyd Praeger led a survey of the natural history and cultural heritage of Clare Island at a level of detail greater than any area of comparable size at that time. Almost a century later, the Royal Irish Academy set about repeating the exercise with the intention of assessing and evaluating change on the island over the intervening years. In this book John Feehan distils the results of the two great surveys with elegance and enthusiasm to shine a spotlight on the richness of life surviving on Clare Island. In easy, affectionate prose Feehan interweaves the natural and cultural heritage of the island and shares his wider ecological knowledge to help us understand the role each species plays in the life of this remarkable place.

Clare Island (New Survey of Clare Island)