21/05/2024 08:30 - 12:00

HALL: FATESI - CUSMANO

Proponent: Bellantuono A.

Chair: Scialabba D.

Speaker: Bellantuono A., Cooreman T., Izoard S.

Humanity unfolds within nature, a gift of creation, rich in meaning and intelligibility, yet also shrouded in mystery, evoking both wonder and contemplation. The human being is intertwined with nature, and this complex web of relationships raises various questions that confront not only one's vulnerability but also the vulnerability of the surrounding environment. Today, the ecological crisis calls upon humanity to rediscover its rightful place within the entire realm of living entities.
This crisis manifests as a crisis of connection and a crisis of limits. It highlights that humans cannot claim an extravagant privilege in their interaction with nature. As a critical concept, the vulnerability of nature should enable the human experience, urging individuals to "cultivate" and "preserve" it, that is, to "take care" of it. Thus, if humans receive from nature, they are also dependent on it. By listening to nature, individuals can allow themselves to be transformed by it, contributing back to it in an ecologically responsible manner with a perspective of hope.
On the anthropological level, the concept of vulnerability as an openness to being affected by the other expresses a new dimension with practical implications that this conference, through a theological and transdisciplinary lens, aspires to explore.
See: Altnurme et al (2022), 'Religious Diversity in Europe: Mediating the Past to the Young'. London: Bloomsbury.