Ecotheology in the Humanities

An Interdisciplinary Approach to Understanding the Divine and Nature

Afterword by Robert R. Gottfried Foreword by John Cobb Jr. Contributions by Ellen Bernstein, Ginger Hanks Harwood, John Gatta, Ron Jolliffe, David J. Kendall, Young-Chun Kim, Samuel McBride, Mick Pope, Doug Sikkema, Chad Wriglesworth Edited by Melissa Brotton

Publication date:

20 May 2016

Length of book:

272 pages

Publisher

Lexington Books

ISBN-13: 9781498527934

This book is a collection of essays about the interaction between God, humans, and nature in the context of the environmental challenges and Biblical studies. Chapters include topics on creation care and Sabbath, sacramental approaches to earth care, classical and medieval cosmologies, ecotheodicy, how we understand the problem of nonhuman suffering in a world controlled by a good God, ecojustice, and how humans help to alleviate nonhuman suffering. The book seeks to provide a way to understand Judeo-Christian perspectives on human-to-nonhuman interaction through Biblical, literary, cultural, film, and music studies, and as such, offers an interdisciplinary approach with emphasis on the humanities, which provides a broader platform for ecotheology.

Foreword - John Cobb Jr.
Introduction - "Heaven and Nature Sing": Introduction - Melissa Brotton
Section I: Creation Care and the Sabbath
Chapter 1 - Friends of the Creator: A Theological Foundation for Earth-keeping Ethics - Ginger Harwood
Chapter 2 - A Biblical Land Ethic? A Response to Aldo Leopold - Ellen Bernstein
Chapter 3 - Sanctification as Impetus for Creation Care in Adventism - Young-Chun Kim
Section II: Sacramental Approaches
Chapter 4 - Ecotheology and Enchantment: How Wendell Berry Helps Re-vision the World - Doug Sikkema
Chapter 5 - Salmon Theology and Spokane Falls: Catholicism and Restorative Justice in Sherman Alexie’s Poetry - Chad Wriglesworth
Section III: Classical and Medieval Cosmologies and Music
Chapter 6 - "All Nature Sings and Round Me Rings the Music of the Spheres": Christianity and the Transmission of a Cosmic Ecomusicology - David Kendall
Chapter 7 - Stewards of Arda: Creation and Sustenance in J.R.R. Tolkien's Legendarium - Samuel McBride
Section IV: Ecotheodicy and Ecojustice
Chapter 8 - With Heads Craning Forward: The Eschaton and the Nonhuman in Romans 8 - Mick Pope
Chapter 9 - Aronofsky's Noah: An Invitation for Ecotheology - Ron Jolliffe
Chapter 10 - "Not a Tame Lion": Animal Compassion and Ecotheology of Human Imagination in Four Anglican Thinkers - John Gatta
Chapter 11 - "Lost Angel in the Earth": Ecotheodicy in Elizabeth Barrett Browning's "A Drama of Exile" - Melissa Brotton
Afterword - Robert R. Gottfried

This book is like a breath of fresh air. Many ecotheologians have begun to pay more attention to literature of wider relevance, including agrarian writers such as Aldo Leopold and Wendell Berry. What has not yet happened, and what this book beautifully illustrates, is that those working in the environmental humanities are able to make a vitally important contribution to ecotheology. I fully endorse the premise of this book that it is high time for a much richer trans-disciplinary conversation to take place and for those in the environmental humanities to wake up to the resources embedded in religious and explicitly ecotheological literature. As this is worked out in practice, some brilliantly original elements come to the surface and take the field forward in new ways. The inclusion of the importance of music, for example, is rarely if ever discussed in ecotheology literatures. This book will be fascinating both for those beginning to encounter this field and the seasoned scholar.