Presentation by Fra. Clodovis M. Boff, O.S.M. 6th International UNIFAS Conference July 7 – 14, Rio De Janeiro Brazil

Premises

• Nihilism is a concept that affirms life is without meaning and consequently of little or no value.

• In this perspective nature is debased. Nihilism is therefore one of the root causes of the environmental crisis which is only one aspect of the more general crisis of meaning widespread in today’s culture.

• The root of the nihilist crisis is atheism or secularism: “we live as if God did not exist” (etsi Deus non daretur).

• To resolve these two crises we must encounter God’s path; God is the origin of all meaning – including the meaning of nature. It is important that we recover the religious or spiritual dimension of existence.