Between Earth and Sky

The theological value of nature in the thought of Seyyed Hossein Nasr

Abstract

The objective of this work is, on the one hand, to offer a sufficiently exhaustive overview of the theme of nature in the thought of Seyyed Hossein Nasr and, on the other hand, to provide a theoretical vision about the theological implications of the meaning of nature in relation both to human spirituality and to God himself. The task of the first two sections of this work will be to deepen Nasr's criticisms of today's epistemology, in order to show his original vision of a metaphysics of nature capable of providing the same sciences with a broader and more spiritual vision of the cosmos. In a third section, the idea of nature as an immense theophany will then be explored: a self-revelation of God through the signs that he leaves in nature and which, if well understood, allow man himself to rise spiritually. Finally, we will show how the conception of nature proposed by Nasr, through the responsible action of man who knows how to follow the will of God, can lead to an unprecedented way of thinking about the eschatological question of salvation precisely in reference to our relationship with the theophanic dimension of nature.