ABSTRACT
Two grand historical narratives explain how the human species arrived at the present moment in history. Both are Recovery Narratives, but the two stories have different plots, one upward, the other downward. The first story is the traditional biblical narrative of the fall from the Garden of Eden from which humanity can be redeemed through Christianity. But the garden itself can also be recovered. By the time of the Scientific Revolution of the seventeenth century, the Christian narrative had merged with advances in science, technology, and capitalism to form the main-stream Recovery Narrative. The story begins with the precipitous fall from Eden followed by a long, slow, upward attempt to recreate the Garden of Eden on earth. The outcome is a better world for all people. This first story-the mainstream Recovery Narrative-is a story of upward progress in which humanity gains the power to manage and control the earth.
