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In his
foreword to this extraordinarily compelling book, David
Christian establishes the tone and projects the goal of this
work. As he suggested in his Maps of Time (1995) and
This Fleeting World (2007) and as he states unequivocally
here, the evolutionary epic or "Big History" is the creation
story for our modern world. The present and the past are mapped
by creation stories, and as Christian emphasizes in this
foreword, the evolutionary epic is the "largest possible map of
time." (p. 11) It is one that affirms each individual as a part
of the universe from the beginning of time and helps each
individual understand his/her role in the continuing story of
that universe. The title of the foreword, "Celebrating the Birth
of a New Creation Story" illuminates and excites. The articles
that follow reflect that illumination and excitement.
The forty-six
contributors range from biologists and physicists to
philosophers and psychologists, from historians and writers to
anthropologists and theologians. They tackle basic questions
about the evolutionary epic that include: how to understand this
evolutionary epic; how to address challenges to it; how to teach
it; how to promulgate it; how to think about it; feel it;
imagine it; and how to use it to live-to find the "wisdom" that
will help us as a global community to reach sustainability. In
thirty-three separate articles divided into six parts, the
evolutionary epic is defined, explored, questioned, and
celebrated from a multitude of different perspectives.
Additionally, there is an introductory article by Russell Genet
that briefly and lucidly narrates the scientific summary of how
humans came to be, and there are two strategically placed poetic
tributes to the cosmos that underscore the continuum that is
possible through big history.
Teachers will
appreciate the pedagogical suggestions and prescriptions that
focus on the need to construct interactive classrooms that allow
time and space to process complex ideas and will be encouraged
by the availability of visuals to help unpack those ideas.
Duncan offers wonderful insights into how students learn and
World History teachers will easily see the function of mental
maps as matching his suggestions.
The
possibilities for material to use with students abound. The most
accessible sections of the text that enhance the first section
of the world history survey course are the discussions of the
"little bang" or stone tool-making by Schick and Toth, and the
function of fire for socialization as well as warmth,
protection, cooking, and power by Camargo. A great addition to
this discussion would be the short chapter on fire and cooking
from Al Crosby's The Children of the Sun (2006) which I
can attest captures students' interest. An investigation by AP
World History students into the challenges that inhibit
acceptance of big history or the evolutionary epic as enumerated
in Part III of the text could result in a stimulating exchange
of ideas and bring more depth to their understanding of the
significance of big history. Repeating Louis Herman's story of
the San Bushmen to exemplify the traditional tension between the
individual and the community or relating David Christian's
explanation of the chronometric revolution to show the
historicizing of science as a catalyst for the urgency of the
evolutionary epic are two more rich resources provided in the
text. Reciting either or both of the poems ("love letter to the
milky way" and "hymn to the sacred body of the universe") and
using some of the visuals (mandala, hexagrams, paintings) appeal
as techniques to enhance the immensity of the ideas of the
modern creation story and its environmentally responsible
message.
Included in
these articles are a number of ideas that will resonate with
World History teachers by offering thought provoking interludes
for private internal pondering as well as for adding more
thematic depth for course syllabi. A few that are immediately
apparent are:
-
Abrams and Primack see this evolutionary epic
as not only offering a coherent creation story but also of
having the potential to be a "unifying basis for a global
community." (p. 108)
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Providing a coherent 21st century global
worldview places us and our students in the trajectory of
history as well as providing students with the ability to
form a "more nuanced worldview" as Craig Benjamin asserts.
(p. 151)
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A number of articles contained very
deliberate measures to show the connections to Eastern
thinking and traditions to validate the global nature of
this epic. Ritchlin quotes from Lao Tzu, Confucius, and Yao,
and adds wonderful hexagrams showing humans as emerging from
within the cosmos. Hubbard alludes to Daoist ideas of
oneness with the universe but adds a less passive imperative
to work toward bettering its future. Herman constructs a new
political paradigm, a mandala, as the vehicle through which
to reach the wisdom to know "how best to live" in this less
rigid and more fluid universe. (p. 253)
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The interdisciplinary nature of many of the
articles imitates and supports the interdisciplinary
resources used in many world history classes. A perfect
example is Russell Genet's summary of the scientific story
of human evolution that includes quotations from G. K.
Chesterton and ends with a photo of the cosmos that carries
this quotation from Van Gogh: "For my part I know nothing
with any certainty, but the sight of the stars makes me
dream." (p. 35)
In addition
to the above, these authors provide a rich array of reasons and
ways to understand and open ourselves to the story in order to
see the "whole" of creation-and to see ourselves as part of it
and it a part of us is an on-going refrain. The idea of reaching
out and being nourished by touch is explored then extended to
encourage being "in touch" with ourselves, with others, with the
universe. Myers offers an intriguing explanation of art "already
living" in "pre biotic rock and emerging later in "human
consciousness." His article is at once exciting and challenging
as he references T.S. Eliot, Joyce, and the Transcendentalists
and inserts paintings by Vermeer, Rembrandt, and a Daoist artist
to illustrate the artists' connection to "something beyond time.
(pp. 312; 313) The spiritual treasury to be experienced in the
wonder of the cosmos with a clear understanding of the
evolutionary epic is underscored both by theologians and
scientists and transcends the religion vs. science dichotomy.
The pursuit of "the good life" turns up in two articles which
prodded me to recall my understanding of the changes and
continuities in that pursuit from the Dao to Aristotle' Doctrine
of the Mean to Buddha's Middle Path to late 20th century
thinkers in Robert N. Bellah, et al, Habits of the Heart:
Individualism and Commitment in American Life (1996). So
many articles focus on or come to the conclusion that the need
to preserve and sustain the environment is the charge that
connects us to the past and draws us into the future that this
mandate for environmental responsibility provokes both
reflection and action. Here the article by Gilbert, et al,
inspires our own activism by identifying practical examples of
how patterns of sustainable living are being incorporated into
curricula as well as physical plants on campuses in Hawaii.
High school
teachers and college professors, scientists and scholars will
find much to peruse for their own intellectual satisfaction as
well as for practical classroom use in this book.
Written by Helen Grady for World History Connected - a
free e-journal published by the University of Illinois
Helen Grady is
a retired teacher who has taught
European History and AP World History. Her graduate degree is
in European History, but in the mid-80's she became concerned
that her students were not getting a coherent perception of
their world with a curriculum limited to U.S. and European
history, along with some regional studies. Consequently, she
began to explore the idea of initiating a world course. Grady
taught in an independent school so she had lots of freedom
around curriculum development. She began reading world
histories, attending workshops and summer institutes taught by
the professors who were on the cutting edge of "big history,"
and collaborating with other high school teachers who were
searching for a more global narrative for their students.
Grady became connected with the World History Association and
has worked with teachers and professors who were instrumental in
the creation of an AP World History course. She was one of the
two high school teachers who taught the first "teach the
teachers" session for the new course at Northeastern University
in the summer of 2000. Currently, though retired, she continues
to do consulting for the College Board and conducts workshops
and summer institutes in AP World and AP European Histories. |