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Timothy Beal

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When Time Is Short: Finding Our Way in the Anthropocene Kindle Edition

by Timothy Beal (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

4.7 46 ratings

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With faith, hope, and compassion, acclaimed religion scholar Timothy Beal shows us how to navigate the inevitabilities of the climate crisis and the very real—and very near—possibility of human extinction

What if it’s too late to save ourselves from climate crisis? When Time is Short is a meditation for what may be a finite human future that asks how we got here to help us imagine a different relationship to the natural world.

Modern capitalism, as it emerged, drew heavily upon the Christian belief in human exceptionalism and dominion over the planet, and these ideas still undergird our largely secular society. They justified the pillaging and eradication of indigenous communities and plundering the Earth’s resources in pursuit of capital and lands.

But these aren’t the only models available to us—and they aren’t even the only models to be found in biblical tradition. Beal re-reads key texts to anchor us in other ways of being—in humbler conceptions of humans as earth creatures, bound in ecological interdependence with the world, subjected to its larger reality. Acknowledging that any real hope must first face and grieve the realities of climate crisis, Beal makes space for us to imagine new possibilities and rediscover ancient ones. What matters most when time becomes short, he reminds us, is always what matters most.

Print length

164 pages
Language

English
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On Kindle Scribe
Publisher

Beacon Press
Publication date

July 12, 2022
File size

1397 KB
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From the Publisher


From Kate Crawford "This book is a poem for the end-times." —Kate Crawford, author of Atlas of AI: Power, Politics, and the Planetary Costs of Artificial Intelligence	From Walter Brueggemann "When Time Is Short is in part a realistic requiem for a long-running indulgent cultural past; in part, it is an honest analysis of our persistent promethean seduction and, in part, a manifesto for modest hope for responsible courageous living." —Walter Brueggemann, author of Sabbath as Resistance	From Mayra Rivera "[When Time Is Short] guides us to re-encounter Biblical sources to find language that allows us to touch our 'precarious wonder.'" —Mayra Rivera, author of The Touch of Transcendence and president of the American Academy of Religion

LISTEN: Timothy Beal's Playlist for the Anthropocene

As you read, listen to the songs that inspired Beal's writing, including:

Leonard Cohen's "The Future"
Kendrick Lamar's "XXX"
Modest Mouse's "Lampshades on Fire"

And many more...

The first slide of Beal's playlist

The second slide of Beal's playlist

Editorial Reviews

Review

“The novel exegesis and a nature-first perspective make for an original Christian take on climate change, and Beal’s reflections on mortality and extinction are powerful and moving (“What matters most when time becomes short is always what matters most”). Touching and sagacious, this elegiac meditation will enlighten.”
—Publishers Weekly

“Beal’s book is a critical contribution to the conversation we must have as ecological disasters surround us. It is not a book of acquiescence but a humble call to live and act on a properly human, creaturely scale.”
—Ragan Sutterfield, Sojourners

“In this timely book, Timothy Beal invites us to face our collective human finitude. And it guides us to re-encounter biblical sources to find language that allows us to touch our ‘precarious wonder.’ This is a beautiful, courageous, and profound engagement with the most important questions of our times.”
—Mayra Rivera, author of The Touch of Transcendence and president of the American Academy of Religion

“Tim Beal is unmistakably among our most discerning public intellectuals, capable of both penetrating critical thought and generative imagination. When Time Is Short is in part a realistic requiem for a long-running indulgent cultural past; in part, it is an honest analysis of our persistent Promethean seduction and, in part, a manifesto for modest hope for responsible courageous living. Honest and hope-filled, it merits wide and sustained attention.”
—Walter Brueggemann, author of Sabbath as Resistance

"Timothy Beal’s encouragement for us to accept our death as a species, through rereadings of biblical texts warped by modern capitalism, invites a deeper understanding of ecological interdependence and the instructive power of grief. This deeply spiritual text is much needed."
—Emily Raboteau, author of Searching for Zion: The Quest for Home in the African Diaspora

"This book is a poem for the end-times. Beal provokes us to confront the omnicide around us and our finitude as a species. Yet he also offers a palliative vision of care: how to alleviate suffering and find hope, even in the darkest of times."
—Kate Crawford, author of Atlas of AI: Power, Politics, and the Planetary Costs of Artificial Intelligence

About the Author

Timothy Beal is the Florence Harkness Professor of Religion and Distinguished University Professor at Case Western Reserve University. He is also the editor in chief of The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Bible and the Arts. He has published essays on religion and American culture for The New York Times, The Chronicle of Higher Education, The Wall Street Journal, CNN.com, and The Washington Post and is the author of several books including Roadside Religion and The Rise and Fall of the Bible.

John Biggs is an in-demand narrator with a background in film and stage acting.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B07NKNBQ5Z
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Beacon Press (July 12, 2022)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ July 12, 2022
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 1397 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 164 pages
Page numbers source ISBN ‏ : ‎ 080709000X

Best Sellers Rank: #693,987 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #363 in Religious Studies - Science & Religion
- #529 in Conservation
- #1,259 in Science & Religion (Books)

Customer Reviews:
4.7 46 ratings

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Timothy Beal

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Timothy Beal is Distinguished University Professor, Florence Harkness Professor of Religion, and director of h.lab at Case Western Reserve University. He has published sixteen books, most recently When Time Is Short: Finding Our Way in the Anthropocene (Beacon Press, 2022) and The Book of Revelation: A Biography (Princeton University Press, 2018), for which he won a Public Scholar Award from the National Endowment for the Humanities. He has written popular essays on religion, Bible, media, and culture for The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, CNN.com, The Christian Century, and The Chronicle of Higher Education, among others. Interviews with him have appeared on NPR’s All Things Considered, The Bob Edwards Show, WBUR’s On Point, and Interfaith Voices. He was born in Hood River, Oregon and grew up near Anchorage, Alaska. He now commutes between Cleveland, Ohio, where he works, and Denver, Colorado, where he lives with his wife, Clover Reuter Beal, a Presbyterian minister, and skis whenever possible. Tim and Clover have two grown kids, Sophie and Seth.

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Stuart

Courageous Work

Reviewed in the United States on July 31, 2022

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Book delves into some of our biggest taboos, among them, this culturally-ingrained exceptionalism, influenced in good part, by the modern Western Christian belief in our “godlike dominion over the natural world”. A view that has not only helped fuel climate change and environmental destruction through unsustainable growth but also led to the denial of our own mortality and consideration that we could be doomed as a species in a not too distant future (something that explains our lack of urgency addressing these issues)

His epilogue is a beautiful tribute to the younger generation. It made me think of my own daughter who, now approaching her senior year in College, has taken on environmental studies as one of her majors. Like many in her generation, she is deeply concerned about the future of our planet.

As someone who has always moved “towards the fire” in search for truth, I am in a better place after reading this book. His reflections (sadly avoided by so many) that compel us to embrace our “creatureliness” and connection to the earth only strengthen my understanding and compassion towards humanity, my love for the natural world and appreciation of our interdependence, and my resolve to live a gentle, sustainable life…even more so with the awareness of my own mortality and that our remaining time as a species could very well be short.

5 people found this helpful

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smoke11

A gem of a book

Reviewed in the United States on August 8, 2022

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This work examines a destructive impulse in Christianity harbored in the idea that we have dominion over creation. What's very revealing about Beal's analysis is an argument that the Bible has roots "in indigenous cultural practices of subsistence" but has pushed those ideas aside. What follows from his view is the idea that we have a lot to learn from indigenous cultures that believe they were part of the earth and not creatures standing apart from it.

Christianity has separated itself from those indigenous earth notions and sees them as an embarrassment to more modern teachings, Beal argues. I found his analysis revelatory. It connects two things that I have known about but have never put together: The more earth-centered beliefs of indigenous populations (Such as the Standing Rock 'water is sacred' protests) and the muscular mainstream religious beliefs of today that are divorced from those notions. It's a gem of a book and a very worthwhile read.

4 people found this helpful

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J. Turner

A through provoking book

Reviewed in the United States on January 5, 2024

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I was excited to read this book. I don't argue with the author's thesis that the world (or humanity) is on hospice, but he spent a lot of time talking about different historical views about how we got here or are headed, and very little about what to do next. I need some practical steps. I'll keep reading other books on this topic but this one left me feeling at loose ends about how religion can help other than to realize we are all going to die and we should get used to that idea. I need more.

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B

An Evocative and Inspiring Book

Reviewed in the United States on November 10, 2022

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This is one of the most evocative books I've read. Beal begins by challenging us to confront our own mortality, not just as individuals but as an entire species. On the collective level, many of us have already thrown in the towel and consigned ourselves to the solace and solitude of our own little worlds (easier still thanks to the addictive distractions of streaming, iPads, and smartphones). But what we haven't done is come to terms, spiritually and socially, with the environmental apocalypse that we've set in motion. So how do we reconcile our doom with the desire to continue loving, thriving, and learning? In "When Time Is Short," Beal offers an inspiring answer in what he calls “Palliative Hope.”

2 people found this helpful

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Richard S. Nodell

A new form for living together

Reviewed in the United States on August 22, 2022

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Dr Beal has given us a necessary correction to our culture’s wrong headed denial about the truth of our present moment. His call for a palliative approach to climate change provides the kind of re-orientation that can allow to act more effectively and avoid the seductions of false hope and frenetic activity. Equally important is his spotlighting the belief systems that empower our denial. This is such an important book that I have purchased a number of copies for friends and will probably buy more.

3 people found this helpful

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Maia Kotrosits

Gorgeous prose, crucial theological reorientation

Reviewed in the United States on November 12, 2022

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Timothy Beal is the kindest, gentlest, clearest guide to the ruined, or nearly ruined, present. Like his other books, When Time Is Short reveals him to be a sharp observer of biblical texts, and biblical culture -- both its creativities and its failures. Traversing the personal, the political, the ecological, and the ethical, he explores the ramifications of world-ending, and promises that facing into human finitude can have its own rich, earthy potential. Would that all our disasters were narrated so generously.

3 people found this helpful

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Ryan L Wallace

Paradigm Shifting

Reviewed in the United States on November 11, 2022

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As a person of faith, this book has helped me understand a different aspect what it means to care for creation and for my neighbors. While I will continue to work for systemic change to reduce the impact and injustices of climate change, now I also understand that part of my role is to provide care and compassion for people as they grapple with death and extinction. Together we can help make meaning that gives hope rather than leading to despair.

2 people found this helpful

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Marilyn235

Very thoughtful

Reviewed in the United States on November 13, 2022

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Very thought provoking. It would be a great book for a discussion group.

One person found this helpful

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