Thinkers Critical of the Influence of Western Christian Theology on Modern Society

Lynn White Jr. (1907–1987)

• Key Work: “The Historical Roots of Our Ecologic Crisis” (Science, 1967)
• Argued that Western Christianity’s anthropocentric worldview encouraged the exploitation of nature.
• Suggested that alternative religious traditions, such as Franciscan spirituality, could offer a more ecologically responsible perspective.

Max Weber (1864–1920)

• Key Work: The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (1905)
• Explored the role of Protestant theology, particularly Calvinism, in shaping capitalism and industrialization.
• Argued that rationalization and bureaucracy, rooted in religious traditions, led to modern disenchantment with the world.

Alfred North Whitehead (1861–1947)

• Key Work: Science and the Modern World (1925), Process and Reality (1929)
• Criticized the mechanistic worldview that emerged from Western theology and science.
• Developed process philosophy, which rejects the dualism of mind and matter and proposes a relational, evolving cosmos.

Michel Foucault (1926–1984)

• Key Works: Discipline and Punish (1975), The History of Sexuality (1976), The Order of Things (1966)
• Examined how Christian theology shaped Western power structures, particularly through systems of discipline and surveillance.
• Analyzed how religious institutions influenced modern notions of subjectivity and self-regulation.

Ivan Illich (1926–2002)

• Key Works: Deschooling Society (1971), Medical Nemesis (1975), The Rivers North of the Future (2005)
• Criticized Western institutions, including the Church, for fostering exploitative and alienating systems of education, healthcare, and social organization.
• Advocated for a return to more decentralized, community-based ways of living.

Mary Douglas (1921–2007)

• Key Works: Purity and Danger (1966), Natural Symbols (1970)
• Examined how religious systems, including Christianity, structured social order through concepts of purity and pollution.
• Explored how religious traditions shaped Western attitudes toward nature, hierarchy, and control.

Thomas Berry (1914–2009)

• Key Works: The Dream of the Earth (1988), The Great Work (1999), The Universe Story (co-authored with Brian Swimme, 1992)
• Criticized the Western Christian worldview for promoting human dominance over nature.
• Advocated for a new ecological cosmology that recognizes the sacredness of the Earth.

Roland Barthes (1915–1980)

• Key Works: Mythologies (1957), The Death of the Author (1967)
• Analyzed how religious myths and symbols shape cultural ideologies.
• Examined how Christianity and its narratives influence modern discourse and perceptions of reality.

Karen Armstrong (b. 1944)

• Key Works: The Case for God (2009), A History of God (1993), The Battle for God (2000)
• Explored how Christian theology shaped Western intellectual traditions and cultural attitudes.
• Criticized the modern mechanistic and hierarchical worldview as a distortion of older religious understandings.