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The Myth of Disenchantment: Religion and the Environment in Contemporary American

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The Myth of Disenchantment: Religion and the Environment in Contemporary American The Myth of Disenchantment: Religion and the Environment in Contemporary American Literature by Douglas James Sikkema A thesis presented to the University of Waterloo in fulfilment of the thesis requirement for the degree of Doctorate of Philosophy in English Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, 2021 ©Douglas James Sikkema 2021 EXAMINING COMMITTEE The following served on the Examining Committee for this thesis. The decision of the Examining Committee is by majority vote. External Examiner Dr. Christopher Douglas Professor of English, University of Victoria Internal Examiner Dr. Scott Kline Associate Professor of Religious Studies, University of Waterloo Supervisor Dr. Chad Wriglesworth Associate Professor of English, St. Jerome’s University Internal Member Dr. Andrew McMurry Professor of English, University of Waterloo Internal Member Dr. Kevin McGuirk Associate Professor of English, University of Waterloo ii AUTHOR’S DECLARATION I hereby declare that I am the sole author of this thesis. This is a true copy of the thesis, including any required final revisions, as accepted by my examiners. I understand that my thesis may be made electronically available to the public. iii ABSTRACT In the following project, I look closely at three living American writers whose work explores the important relations between the religious and ecocritical “turns” in American literature, with particular attention to ways religious belief might inform human understandings and interaction with the material world. The opening chapter explores the ways that the human-nature relationship is configured in a post-Enlightenment “secular” age that has given rise to the current Anthropocene era. Alongside Charles Taylor, I argue that the secular age is funded by a narrative, or lived “myth,” of disenchantment that has left many ill-at-ease with the ongoing destruction of the natural world. This uneasiness has led many to envision new “myths,” or narratives, of re-enchantment along a host of postsecular lines. The postsecular options under investigation in this project are particularly those that return to religious claims in general, and confessional Christian claims in particular. In this context, I look closely at variations of postsecular Christian myths of re- enchantment on offer in contemporary American poetry and prose through three writers: Christian Wiman, Marilynne Robinson, and Wendell Berry. I argue that each of these writers has articulated a confessionally Christian narrative of re-enchantment that challenges dominant forms of secularism while also taking issue with other-worldly, disembodied forms of Christianity that exhibit a low view of the material world. The choice of these authors and their arrangement in this project is not to suggest a clear aesthetic movement in contemporary American writing, but rather it is to note subtle progression in how the myth of disenchantment is challenged and myths of re-enchantment envisioned through postsecular forms of Christianity. iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS: These kinds of projects are never made alone and I would like to thank those who, at long last, made this questionable life decision a reality. All its weaknesses and faults are mine. Whatever here is true, good, or even beautiful, I have the following to credit. A special thanks to my dissertation committee, who persevered and prodded, pummelled and pushed this project as needed. I have heartfelt gratitude for Dr. Andrew McMurry and Dr. Kevin McGuirk. Their timely input into this project has formed and guided it. I particularly appreciated their ability to offer an encouraging word in due time in order to help me believe there was, in fact, a destination approaching on the horizon. Sincere and deep gratitude is also owed to Dr. Chad Wriglesworth. This project, which began from a chance encounter at a conference many years ago, is ultimately a product of his leadership and guidance. I would also like to acknowledge the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, the Ontario Graduate Scholarship, the Reid Trust, and the University of Waterloo for the financial support necessary for completing this thesis. I owe much to both Redeemer University and Cardus. Both provided me gainful employment during my doctoral studies. But more than this, they provided me with a way to enact my calling, develop my skills, and make work a place of friendship and joy. I am especially grateful for the friendship and support of Brian Dijkema and Jamie Smith. Our work on the “Cracks in the Secular” for Comment gave important direction to this project. I would also like to thank the entire Oak Hill Academy leadership team and community. Beginning a school for our children over the past few years has been a lot of life-giving and beautiful work. It motivated me when this project did not. I sincerely am grateful for the v friendship and privilege of working alongside Sam Overduin, Joel and Courtney Hordyk, Jesse and Amy Newton, and so many others. I want to particularly thank Jesse not only for his leadership of the school in these first few years but alleviating me of my Board duties when the PhD work surged. I am deeply grateful to my parents who raised me in a home with books and yard work. Their distaste for academia is only surpassed by their distaste for work undone, which in the end, became a sort of motivation for this project to hit the finish line. Their unconditional love for me has, I am sure, shaped my understanding of a world enchanted by love. To my in-laws, Grace and Henry, I am grateful for how often you stepped in to help us manage the work and life balance. You have embodied joy, perseverance, and love. Finally, to my brother Dave, I am profoundly thankful for his friendship, encouragement, and interest in this project over the years. When I write about familial relationships and the good of community, it is always with the bitter- sweet sting of thinking how your life continues to unfold in beautiful ways so far away from mine. Finally, there are not enough words to express my gratitude to Vanessa, my wife, and our four children, Eli, Avery, Jackson, and Samuel. In a million ways they sacrificed and stepped up to make this dream a reality. A family keeps one grounded, and through these years they reminded me about what really matters in this life, this world. One day if they see a copy of this being used to stop a door or keep a window open in our home, I hope they at least read to this page. vi For Vanessa, Eli, Avery, Jackson, and Samuel. With all my love vii TABLE OF CONTENTS: Preface 1 Chapter One. The Myth of Disenchantment ____ 14 The Anthropocene: Our Post-Enlightenment Malaise 17 The “Myth” of Disenchantment 26 American Literature in the (Post)Secular Age 33 Disenchantment and the Secular Age 40 Chapter Two. Christian Wiman: Postsecular Ways to Say God 55 My Bright Abyss: A Postsecular Form of Belief 64 Every Riven Thing: Naming the God that Goes 75 Chapter Three. Marilynne Robinson: A Soul for the World 108 A Postsecular Christian Vision 113 Absence of Mind: Recovering the Soul and New Myths of Reality 122 Gilead: Experiencing the World as God’s Theatre 130 Chapter Four. Wendell Berry: Making a Home in this World 161 Contra the Christians: Culture and Scripture 171 Contra the Materialists: Science and Wonder 183 Jayber Crow: Making a Home in the World 193 Afterword: Practicing Re-Enchantment 215 Bibliography 220 viii What we do about ecology depends on our ideas of the man-nature relationship. More science and more technology are not going to get us out of the present ecological crisis until we find a new religion or rethink our old one. Lynn White Jr. “The Historical Roots of our Ecological Crisis.” 1967. The nature of the ecological crisis is principally moral and theological rather than technological. Ellen Davis. Scripture, Culture, Agriculture. 2009 ix PREFACE ____________________ Growing up in Southern Ontario in the Niagara region within a largely Christian, largely conservative, largely agrarian community, I experienced the environmental movement as something often associated with leftist politics, Buddhist/pantheist spiritualities, or socialist economics—all of which were highly suspect. How we were to relate to the earth—or, rather, the creation—was talked about in church on Sundays in abstract, theological language about stewardship as mandated in Genesis, or by interpreting nature as the “second book” of God’s self-revelation. That the Bible talked about the natural world was clear, but how—or if—it impacted our actual practices in Vineland, Ontario, in the twentieth century remained unarticulated and, to me at least, unclear. In retrospect, I realize that the Christian community of my youth rarely, if ever, addressed the methods of our farming community—one which largely relied on heavy pesticide and insecticide use, industrialized farming technologies, and chemical fertilizers. Waterways could be contaminated and the air made toxic by our practices, and even when increasing numbers of our community were diagnosed with infertility or lymphoma cancers (termed “farmer’s cancer” by local doctors) many in the community continued to deride environmentalists for their progressive political bent, so-called socialist economic assumptions, and misguided, pagan spiritualities of the earth. We did not see ourselves as culpable for what was happening to the ecosystem we inhabited, nor did we see our religion as a resource that had much in the way of offering practical advice for how we might imagine the world and our place in it differently. 1 What, if anything I wondered, did our religion have to say about our responsibilities to this environment, to this place? When I started graduate school at the University of Ottawa, I was introduced to Wendell Berry through his novel Jayber Crow and guided through it by a wonderful scholar and teacher, Dr.
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