It’s the feast of Francis of Assisi, patron saint of animals and the ecology. A perfect time to remember and celebrate the wisdom and compassion of English primatologist and anthropologist Jane Goodall, who died this past Monday at the age of 91.
About Jane Goodall’s religious and spiritual beliefs, Wikipedia notes the following.
Goodall was raised in a Christian congregationalist family. As a young woman, she took night classes in Theosophy. Her family were occasional churchgoers, but Goodall began attending more regularly as a teenager when the church appointed a new minister, Trevor Davies. “He was highly intelligent and his sermons were powerful and thought-provoking. . . . I could have listened to his voice for hours. . . . I fell madly in love with him. . . . Suddenly, no one had to encourage me to go to church. Indeed, there were never enough services for my liking.”
Of her later discovery of the atheism and agnosticism of many of her scientific colleagues, Goodall wrote that “fortunately, by the time I got to Cambridge I was twenty-seven years old and my beliefs had already moulded so that I was not influenced by these opinions.”
In her 1999 book Reason for Hope: A Spiritual Journey, Goodall described the implications of a mystical experience she had at Notre Dame Cathedral in 1977: “Since I cannot believe that this was the result of chance, I have to admit anti-chance. And so I must believe in a guiding power in the universe – in other words, I must believe in God.”
When asked if she believes in God, Goodall said in September 2010: “I don’t have any idea of who or what God is. But I do believe in some great spiritual power. I feel it particularly when I’m out in nature. It’s just something that’s bigger and stronger than what I am or what anybody is. I feel it. And it’s enough for me.” When asked in the same year if she still considers herself a Christian, Goodall told The Guardian: “I suppose so; I was raised as a Christian.” She stated further that she saw no contradiction between evolution and belief in God.
In her foreword to the 2017 book The Intelligence of the Cosmos by Ervin Laszlo, a philosopher of science who advocates quantum consciousness theory, Goodall wrote: “We must accept that there is an Intelligence driving the process [of evolution], that the Universe and life on Earth are inspired and in-formed by an unknown and unknowable Creator, a Supreme Being, a Great Spiritual Power.”
Related Off-site Links:
Jane Goodall, Ambassador for Wildlife, Dies at 91 – Cathy Newman (National Geographic, October 1, 2025).
Jane Goodall Helped Humans Understand Their Place in the World – Scott Simon (NPR News, October 4, 2025).
In an Exclusive Interview, Dr. Jane Goodall Leaves Behind Her Last Words – Tudum (October 3, 2025).
See also the following Wild Reed posts:
• Let Us Be “Energized by the Beauty That Is All Around Us”: Jane Goodall’s New Year Message (2018)
• Francis and the Wolf
• St. Francis of Assisi: Dancer, Rebel, Archetype
No comments:
Post a Comment