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<\/a>Holmes Rolston III receiving the Templeton Prize in nature and religion with H.R.H. Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. (<\/span>from here<\/a>)<\/span><\/span>\n<\/div>\nThis was the line quoted a couple times last night at a panel at UM discussing the life and philosophy of Holmes Rolston III, \u201cthe father of environmental ethics.\u201d<\/span> Or, as he likes to say now, \u201cthe grand<\/span>father of environmental ethics.\u201d<\/p>\n The quote is a common one in Christianity, shaping both this former Presbyterian minister\u2019s life and those of many Ignatian spiritualists, as I found here<\/a>.<\/p>\n Holmes began his early days at Davidson College<\/a> in North Carolina, after growing up in the beautiful Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. There he studied mathematics and physics and had offers in hand for top graduate schools in physics. The son (and grandson) of a Presbyterian minister, he hoped to unlock the secrets to God\u2019s creation in the fundamental nature of reality<\/span>.<\/p>\n But then something happened. Just before graduating from Davidson he took a radical turn \u2013 returning to Virginia and seminarian studies in the capital, Richmond. <\/span> In part, this would put him on the path that his family had seen for him all along. In part it would put him back near his long-time sweetheart, Jane. She was enrolled nearby, working toward her own Masters Degree.<\/p>\n A brilliant student, Holmes earned a prestigious scholarship to complete his Ph.D. in Edinburgh, Scotland, the famed birthplace of Presbyterianism. The decision to go was not difficult. He would go. And he would marry Jane and take her with him.<\/span> They were married June 1, 1956 and set sail on the Queen Elizabeth<\/span> liner that December.<\/p>\n In the spring of 1959, Ph.D. in hand, Holmes Rolston III took up residence back in rural Virginia as a pastor. But his fascination with nature and the sciences soon began to cause problems with his conservative and mostly farmer and working-class congregation<\/span>. He wasn\u2019t in touch with the theology they knew and before long he moved on to a more liberal and educated church.<\/p>\n But even that wasn\u2019t quite right for him. For the sake of bevity: he then went on for an MA in Philosophy of Science at Penn. State and from there was hired to teach at Colorado State University. He had gone from his childhood inclinations as a naturalist to preaching to professor in a far away land.<\/p>\n His theology and his love of nature always fed his academic thought, but it took years and years before this would gain anything resembling wide acceptance. Once it did a fire was lit and Holmes was at the heart of it. <\/span> He quickly became a national and then international speaker. Schools of thought sprung up based on his writings, schools of thought sprung up in opposition. And years later he found himself awarded three of the world\u2019s highest honors for intellectual achievement:<\/p>\n Past winners of these awards have included Mother Theresa of Calcutta, William James, Alexander Solzhenitsyn, and Albert Schweitzer.<\/span> The Templeton prize, for one, carries with it the largest financial boon of any major intellectual prize \u2013 more than a Nobel prize, more than a MacArthur (genius) award. He quickly donated his prize to his alma mater<\/span>, Davidson, to establish an endowed chair in science and religion.<\/p>\n This was my second meeting with Holmes (the first being in 2006 when he visited UM). In the first meeting he told me, after finding out that I was a Buddhist<\/a>, that he had talked in Japan once and asked a Zen priest there, \u201cwhat does <\/span>wild<\/span> mean to you.\u201d<\/span> The priest leaned forward and said slowly, \u201cthe great wave, the sea.\u201d<\/p>\n This year I had the pleasure of helping to arrange his stay and to read Christopher Preston\u2019s intellectual autobiography: \u201cSaving Creation: Nature and Faith in the Life of Holmes Rolston III.\u201d<\/a> <\/span> It\u2019s a wonderful book \u2013 all of the above history comes directly from it. It really is one of, if not the,<\/span> best books about a philosopher that I have ever read.<\/p>\n\n