| dc.description.abstract | In the mid seventeenth century, Thomas Traherne claimed human beings must retire
into creation in order to fully know the virtues, including goodness, peaceableness
and care. In this thesis I review Traherne's moral theory in light of recently
discovered manuscripts of his work. For Traherne, because God's Divine goodness is
the efficient cause of creation, creatures are naturally good. He uses Paracelsian
optic and atomic theories to indicate how creatures communicate their goodness to
one another. By retiring among creatures in their natural place, he argues that
persons create a relational theatre in which they develop their capacity to sense
creaturely communication. In this 'communion' persons perceive their mutual
'interest' with creatures in the relational nexus of creation. This knowledge provides
motivation for 'blessed operations' of care for persons and creation. Because the
human relationship to other creatures is morally significant, retiring among creation
is a critical part of Christian moral formation. For Traherne this sensual engagement
with a relational creation is necessary in the moral formation of children, who
apprehend nature with their senses. Their innate wonder equips them to form their
moral identity in relationship to a peaceable, caring creation.
Traherne's account of the role of nature in moral development raises
significant pedagogical questions in an age when scientific knowledge and the senses
were increasingly disassociated from moral reasoning. For Traherne an education
that denies the role of the senses in moral formation 'murders' the child by distracting
her attention from the virtues of peace and mutuality that are present in creation. In
conversation with phenomenologist Maurice Merleau-Ponty, child psychologists
Colwyn Trevarthen and Darcia Narvaez, and educational philosophers David Carr
and Carol Gilligan, this thesis demonstrates the contemporary significance of
Traherne's claims. Through the wonder of play, contact with the natural environment
helps children develop an 'ecological' identity based on their relationship to other
creatures. The perception of care in these early relationships is the basis for forming
an inter-subjective moral identity and the virtues of care. Many 'care' ethicists and
psychologists emphasize the early experiences of care taking. Environmental
educators emphasize the caring relationship to creation. Hence they give substance to
Traherne's claim that play, wonder and a sensory relationship with other creatures at
an early age contribute to the formation of moral identity. Traherne's ideas also have
pedagogical implications for theories of Christian moral formation. Theologians and
ethicists, such as Rowan Williams, Michael Northcott and John Inge, have suggested
place-based programmes of moral formation are needed in the parish context. This
thesis demonstrates that Traherne's moral theory provides a rationale for
understanding the theological significance of a child's natural wonder and the need
for its cultivation in programmes of Christian education. A relationship to the local
ecology of the parish can help a child perceive the care of creation, and play a proformative
role in developing a moral identity in relationship to a caring Creator. | en |
