Joanna Macy
Encyclopedia
Joanna Rogers Macy, Ph.D (sometimes listed as Joanna R. Macy or Joanna Marie Macy; born May 2, 1929), is an environmental activist, author, scholar of Buddhism
, general systems theory
, and deep ecology
.
, Syracuse
. She studied there with Huston Smith
, the influential author of The World's Religions (previously entitled The Religions of Man). She is an international spokesperson for peace, justice, and environmentalism, most renowned for her book Coming Back to Life: Practices to Reconnect Our Lives, Our World and the Great Turning initiative, which deals with the transformation from, as she terms it, an industrial growth society to what she considers to be a more sustainable civilization. She has created a theoretical framework for personal and social change, and a workshop methodology for its application. Her work addresses psychological and spiritual issues, Buddhist thought, and contemporary science.
Macy travels giving lectures, workshops, and trainings internationally. Widowed in January 2009, she lives in Berkeley, California
, near her children and grandchildren. She serves as adjunct professor to three graduate schools in the San Francisco Bay Area
: the Starr King School for the Ministry
, the University of Creation Spirituality
, and the California Institute of Integral Studies
.
Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
, general systems theory
Systems theory
Systems theory is the transdisciplinary study of systems in general, with the goal of elucidating principles that can be applied to all types of systems at all nesting levels in all fields of research...
, and deep ecology
Deep ecology
Deep ecology is a contemporary ecological philosophy that recognizes an inherent worth of all living beings, regardless of their instrumental utility to human needs. The philosophy emphasizes the interdependence of organisms within ecosystems and that of ecosystems with each other within the...
.
Biography
Macy graduated from Wellesley College in 1950 and received her Phd in Religious Studies in 1978 from Syracuse UniversitySyracuse University
Syracuse University is a private research university located in Syracuse, New York, United States. Its roots can be traced back to Genesee Wesleyan Seminary, founded by the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1832, which also later founded Genesee College...
, Syracuse
Syracuse, New York
Syracuse is a city in and the county seat of Onondaga County, New York, United States, the largest U.S. city with the name "Syracuse", and the fifth most populous city in the state. At the 2010 census, the city population was 145,170, and its metropolitan area had a population of 742,603...
. She studied there with Huston Smith
Huston Smith
Huston Cummings Smith is a religious studies scholar in the United States. His book The World's Religions remains a popular introduction to comparative religion.-Education:...
, the influential author of The World's Religions (previously entitled The Religions of Man). She is an international spokesperson for peace, justice, and environmentalism, most renowned for her book Coming Back to Life: Practices to Reconnect Our Lives, Our World and the Great Turning initiative, which deals with the transformation from, as she terms it, an industrial growth society to what she considers to be a more sustainable civilization. She has created a theoretical framework for personal and social change, and a workshop methodology for its application. Her work addresses psychological and spiritual issues, Buddhist thought, and contemporary science.
Macy travels giving lectures, workshops, and trainings internationally. Widowed in January 2009, she lives in Berkeley, California
Berkeley, California
Berkeley is a city on the east shore of the San Francisco Bay in Northern California, United States. Its neighbors to the south are the cities of Oakland and Emeryville. To the north is the city of Albany and the unincorporated community of Kensington...
, near her children and grandchildren. She serves as adjunct professor to three graduate schools in the San Francisco Bay Area
San Francisco Bay Area
The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a populated region that surrounds the San Francisco and San Pablo estuaries in Northern California. The region encompasses metropolitan areas of San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose, along with smaller urban and rural areas...
: the Starr King School for the Ministry
Starr King School for the Ministry
Starr King School for the Ministry is a Unitarian Universalist seminary in Berkeley, California and part of the Graduate Theological Union. Starr King School opened in 1904 as the Pacific Unitarian School for the Ministry...
, the University of Creation Spirituality
Matthew Fox (priest)
Matthew Fox is an American priest and theologian. Formerly a member of the Dominican order within the Roman Catholic Church, Fox is now a member of the Episcopal Church....
, and the California Institute of Integral Studies
California Institute of Integral Studies
California Institute of Integral Studies is a private institution of higher education founded in 1968 and based in San Francisco, California. It currently operates in three locations just south of the Civic Center district...
.
Works
- Coming Back to Life : Practices to Reconnect Our Lives, Our World; Joanna R. Macy, Molly Young Brown; New Society Publishers (1998); ISBN 0-86571-391-X
- Despair and Personal Power in the Nuclear Age; New Society Pub, (1983); ISBN 0-86571-031-7
- Dharma and Development: Religion as resource in the Sarvodaya self help movement; Kumarian Press revised ed (1985); ISBN 0-931816-53-X
- Mutual Causality in Buddhism and General Systems Theory: The Dharma of Natural System (Buddhist Studies Series); State University of New York Press (1991); ISBN 0-7914-0637-7
- Rilke's Book of Hours: Love Poems to God; poems by Rainer Maria RilkeRainer Maria RilkeRené Karl Wilhelm Johann Josef Maria Rilke , better known as Rainer Maria Rilke, was a Bohemian–Austrian poet. He is considered one of the most significant poets in the German language...
, translated by Anita Barrows and Joanna Macy; Riverhead BooksRiverhead BooksRiverhead Books is a division of Penguin Group .Notable books and major bestsellers published by Riverhead include Journals by Kurt Cobain; The Art of Happiness by His Holiness the Dalai Lama; The Color of Water by James McBride; Native Speaker, A Gesture Life, and Aloft by Chang-rae Lee; Fever...
(1996); ISBN 1-59448-156-3 - Thinking Like a Mountain: Toward a Council of All Beings; Joanna Macy, John Seed, Pat Fleming, Arne Naess, Dailan Pugh; New Society Publishers (1988); ISBN 0-86571-133-X
- Widening Circles (memoir); New Society, 2000
- World as Lover, World as Self; Parallax Press (2005); ISBN 0-938077-27-9
External links
- Joanna Macy's website on the work of Experiential Deep Ecology
- Gaia Foundation of Western Australia — an Australian organisation based on the principles of Deep Ecology.
- California Institute of Integral Studies
- Interview with Joanna Macy by John Malkin — published in ascent magazine, summer 2008
- The Healing on Mother Earth Project — a Sebastopol, Ca organisation based on the principles of deep ecology.
- "The Work that Reconnects" — Video series of a workshop with Joanna Macy.