The Oxford Handbook of Religion and Ecology

The Oxford Handbook of Religion and Ecology Synopsis

In the face of the environmental crisis, believers from all the world's faith traditions have come to recognize that religion's relation to ecology is of critical importance. Vital new theologies, profound criticisms of the past, and ecologically oriented visions of God, Enlightenment, and human beings have arisen. Religious morality has expanded to include human relations to other species and ecosystems, and religious practice has come to include rituals that express our grief and remorse as well as celebrate what is left. Religious leaders and institutions have committed themselves to a new green gospel, and in countless places across the globe people engage in environmental activism for religious reasons. This book serves as the definitive scholarly overview of these exciting new developments. Part I explores traditional religious concepts of and attitudes toward nature and how these have been changed by the environmental crisis. Part II analyzes conceptual issues that transcend individual traditions. Part III examines religious participation in environmental politics. With essays by the leading scholars in the field, many of whom have themselves been instrumental in the rise of religious environmentalism, this Handbook will be invaluable to anyone interested in religion, environmentalism, and the future of our planet.