ABSTRACT

How does religion relate to our global environment? Religion and the Environment provides a comprehensive and accessible introduction to this controversial question by covering the following important themes:

  • the religion-environment interface
  • pre- and post-industrial religious practices related to resource extraction and the rise of the Anthropocene
  • an analysis of religious response to the impacts of contemporary industrialization, globalization, and urbanization
  • religious thought, leadership, policy formation, and grassroots activism relative to the environment.

Religion and the Environment will offer students and general readers a sophisticated yet accessible exploration of the relationship between religion and the environment, through case studies ranging from climate change to the impacts of warfare. This engaging book will be an excellent addition to introductory courses and those approaching the topic for the first time.

chapter 1|10 pages

Introduction

Religion, social action, and the environment

chapter 2|14 pages

Connections

Sacred stories, sacred springs

chapter 3|23 pages

Communities

Harvesting and respecting the wild

chapter 4|23 pages

Sustenance

Food security, agricultural innovation, and environmental degradation

chapter 5|20 pages

Ignitions

Sacred tools, ritual fires, and the value of “things”

chapter 6|15 pages

Watersheds

Scale, place, and consilience

chapter 7|20 pages

Sanctuaries

Preservation of species, ecosystems, and natural features

chapter 8|20 pages

Megacities

Sacred space, urban planning, and built environments

chapter 9|19 pages

Healing

The iconography of pollution and planetary wellness

chapter 10|23 pages

Networks

Tackling global climate and sea change

chapter 11|17 pages

Models

Conceptual approaches to a planetary future

chapter 12|12 pages

Communalities

Greening and the challenges of modernity