By the Rev. Lisa da Silva

Reverence. That was the subject of Cole Durham’s keynote address in the Faith Pavilion at the United Nations COP29 on climate change in Azerbaijan this week. Durham, president of IF20, the G20’s Interfaith Forum, heavily referenced the work of Paul Woodruff, whose book “Reverence” (2001) argued for the restoration of reverence as a (forgotten) virtue. 

Durham’s presentation at the Faith Pavilion was timely and well received, and how could it not be? Reverence, rooted in respect and appreciation, is an instinct or actionable state that transcends our cultural and political divides. As such, it is connective energy par excellence, making it vital, if not vitalizing, for our pluralistic world.  

While drawing on thinking from ancient Greece and Islam to affirm reverence as foundational to environmental endeavors, time constraints likely prohibited Durham from broadening his thesis to include Chinese traditions (as Woodruff did) and Indigenous traditions. The absence of the latter particularly stood out, given that Durham regards reverence as a “bulwark of society.” 

In other words, reverence is defensive; it boundaries, and while the ancient Greeks saw reverence as an answer to hubris, the implication is that it infers inviolable limitations for humanity. Ergo, in Indigenous traditions, it is understood that we live in “bounded space,” where we belong to our place, and as such, have responsibilities to the land that births us. Apache philosopher Viola Cordova (2007) is particularly insightful on this: “A people without a sense of boundaries for themselves have a lack of attachment to the land,” she says, “and, they do not recognize the boundaries of others.” 

The Rev. Lisa da Silva is a priest in The Episcopal Church. She holds a doctorate and teaches on environmental Ethics and Wisdom Traditions in the San Francisco Bay Area.