A Greener Faith: Religious Environmentalism and Our Planet's FutureOxford University Press, 2009 - 288 pages In a time of darkening environmental prospects, frightening religious fundamentalism, and moribund liberalism, the remarkable and historically unprecedented rise of religious environmentalism is a profound source of hope. In A Greener Faith , Roger S. Gottlieb chronicles the promises of this critically important movement, illuminating its principal ideas, leading personalities, and ways of connecting care for the earth with justice for human beings. He also shows how religious environmentalism breaks the customary boundaries of "religious issues" in political life. Asserting that environmental degradation is sacrilegious, sinful, and an offense against God catapults religions directly into questions of social policy, economic and moral priorities, and the overall direction of secular society. Gottlieb contends that a spiritual perspective applied to the Earth provides the environmental movement with a uniquely appropriate way to voice its dream of a sustainable and just world. Equally important, it helps develop a world-making political agenda that far exceeds interest group politics applied to forests and toxic incinerators. Rather, religious environmentalism offers an all-inclusive vision of what human beings are and how we should treat each other and the rest of life. Gottlieb deftly analyzes the growing synthesis of the movement's religious, social, and political aspects, as well as the challenges it faces in consumerism, fundamentalism, and globalization. Highly engaging and passionately argued, this book is an indispensable resource for people of faith, environmentalists, scholars, and anyone who is concerned about our planet's future. |
Contents
Religion and the Human Meaning of Environmental Crisis | 3 |
CHAPTER 1 Religion Nature Environment | 19 |
CHAPTER 2 Religious Environmentalism and Secular Society | 57 |
CHAPTER 3 Sustainable Religion | 81 |
CHAPTER 4 Religious Environmentalism in Action | 111 |
CHAPTER 5 Environmentalism as Spirituality | 147 |
Other editions - View all
A Greener Faith: Religious Environmentalism and Our Planet's Future Roger S. Gottlieb Limited preview - 2006 |
A Greener Faith: Religious Environmentalism and Our Planet's Future Roger S. Gottlieb Limited preview - 2006 |
A Greener Faith: Religious Environmentalism and Our Planet's Future Roger S. Gottlieb No preview available - 2006 |
Common terms and phrases
action activists anthropocentrism argue Arthur Waskow believe Bible Bill McKibben Buddhist cancer Catholic celebration Christian church commitment concern connections conservation consumerism context corporations Council created critical culture dams democracy Ecofeminism ecological economic ecosystems ecotheology environment environmental crisis environmental justice environmental movement environmental racism Ethics example faith forests forms Fred Small fundamentalism fundamentalist global warming goal Gottlieb groups idea important indigenous industrial institutions Islamic issues Jewish Judaism kind land leaders liberal living meaning meditation modern moral Native American natural world nuclear offer one’s organizations particular perspective plants political pollution prayer problems protect Qur’an religion religious environmentalism religious environmentalists response rituals ronmental secular environmental sense Sierra Sierra Club simply social society species spiritual statements Stephanie Kaza sustainable teachings theologians theology Thich Nhat Hanh things traditional trees University Press values wilderness women York