*3.3. Reshaping Practical Wisdom*

Practical wisdom is not sufficient if we hold tightly to dominant views and relational patterns, which keep us inside the confines of prevailing assumptions. What is needed first is *to face the limits of dominant views and patterns, and to stretch our own ways of thinking and relating* by engaging deeply and respectfully with the assumptive realities of diverse peoples, including ourselves. Second, we need *to engage with the traditions, texts, and practices of our own religious communities*, as exemplified by many who have explored questions about God, Christology, creation, and planetary well-being in Christian tradition (Copeland 2020a; Keller 2017; McFague 2008, 2021). These authors and others engage in the process of reshaping practical wisdom in dialogue with the traditions of Christianity. Another approach is generating new work on biblical texts. One representative of that work is Rebecca Copeland, who approaches texts with ecomimetic interpretation in which she invites readers to identify with the nonhuman characters in a text, such as the characters of water, birds, leaves (Copeland 2020b, 2020c, 2021). Such an approach decenters humancentered interpretations, and it also opens fresh questions and insights. Third, we need *to touch–see–listen–taste–smell the living earth*, receiving its wisdom and relating with mutuality. Such engagemen<sup>t</sup> contributes to reverence for wisdom itself, for ourselves and others, for the earth, and for the numinous.

These approaches magnify the potential for stretching and reshaping practical wisdom as we engage with ourselves, with the wisdom of diverse peoples and traditions, with the trees and seas, and with the sacred. In the next section we turn to practices that can enhance our human ability to critique and reshape practical wisdom, at the same time reshaping ethical values and relationships so we might respond to a weeping planet.
