Book Series

A series published by the Center for the Study of World Religions and distributed by Harvard University Press.

This series is the result of research conducted at the Center for the Study of World Religions at Harvard Divinity School over a three-year period. The Religions of the World and Ecology conference series, from which these volumes emerge, has involved the direct participation and collaboration of more than 800 scholars, religious leaders, and environmental specialists around the world.

The projected series of ten volumes will examine the ten religious traditions of the world and their ecological implications. The intention of this series is to map the contours of a new field of study in religion which will have implications for other disciplinary studies such as contemporary environmental ethics and public policy.

To view more information on the Religions of the World and Ecology Book Series, click on the highlighted matter in this section.

To view more information about the Ecology and Justice Series, click on the highlighted matter in this section.

Books

Eco-Spirit: Religions and Philosophies For the Earth
Edited by Laurel Kearns and Catherine Keller

From the Publisher: We hope--even as we doubt--that the environmental crisis can be controlled. Public awareness of our species' self-destructiveness as material beings in a material world is growing, but so is the destructiveness. The practical interventions needed for saving and restoring the earth will require a collective shift of such magnitude as to take on a spiritual and religious intensity. This transformation has in part already begun. Traditions of ecological theology and ecologically aware religious practice have been preparing the way for decades. Yet these traditions still remain marginal to society, academy, and church. With a fresh, transdisciplinary approach, Ecospirit probes the possibility of a green shift radical enough to permeate the ancient roots of our sensibility and the social sources of our practice. From new language for imagining the earth as a living ground to current constructions of nature in theology, science, and philosophy; from environmentalism's questioning of postmodern thought to a garden of green doctrines, rituals, and liturgies for contemporary religion, these original essays explore and expand our sense of how to proceed in the face of an ecological crisis that demands new thinking and acting. In the midst of planetary crisis, they activate imagination, humor, ritual, and hope.

Laurel Kearns is Associate Professor of Sociology of Religion and Environmental Studies in the Theological School and Graduate Division of Religion of Drew University.

Catherine Keller is Professor of Constructive Theology in the Theological School and Graduate Division of Religion at Drew University. She co-edited with Virginia Burrus the first volume of the Transdisciplinary Theological Colloquia, Toward a Theology of Eros: Transfiguring Passion at the Limits of Discipline (Fordham).

Click Here to Order Book
Fordham University Press, 2007.
ISBN: 9-780823-227-464
544 pages

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Christianity and Ecological Theology: Resources for Further Research
Ernst Conradie

From the book cover: The aim of this volume is not to repeat what has already been discussed elsewhere. Instead, the aim is to provide resources and a sense of direction for postgraduate research in the field of Christianity and ecological theology. Three such resources are offered here, namely 1) A “guide for further research”, 2) A bibliography with more than 5000 entries of texts with an explicitly focus on Christianity and ecological theology which have been published in Afrikaans, Dutch, English and German, and 3) An index to the entries in the bibliography which provides an overview of the wide range of topics that have been discussed in the literature thus far. The aim of the guide for further research is to offer a brief orientation and a critical review of the literature, to provide a “map” to organize various aspects of the debates, to reflect on the relevance of these debates in the South African context, and more, specifically, to stimulate, facilitate and direct further research in the field of Christianity and ecological theology.

Ernst M. Conradie is an Associate Professor in the Department of Religion and Theology at the University of the Western Cape where he teaches Systematic Theology and Ethics. He is the author of the following recent monographs in the field of ecological theology: Hope for the Earth: Vistas on a new Century (UWC, 2000 / Wipf & Stock 2005), An Ecological Christian Anthropology: At Home on Earth? (Ashgate, 2005), and Waar op dees aarde vind mens God? Op soek na’n aardse spiritualiteit (Lux Verbi.BM, 2006).

Click Here to Order Book: Sun Press, 2006
ISBN: 1-920109-23-4
395 pages

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A Communion of Subjects: Animals in Religion, Science, and Ethics
Edited by Paul Waldau and Kimberley Patton

The first comparative and interdisciplinary study of humans' conceptualization of animals in world religions.

Cultural historian Thomas Berry eloquently insists that "the world is a communion of subjects, not a collection of objects." Using the implications of this statement as a starting point, the contributors to this collection treat animals as subjects and consider how major religious traditions have incorporated them into their belief systems, myths, and rituals. Their findings offer profound insight into humans' relationships with animals and a deeper understanding of the social and ecological web in which we all live.

Leading scholars from a wide range of disciplines and religious traditions, including Marc Bekoff (cognitive ethology), Wendy Doniger (study of myth), Peter Singer (animals and ethics), Jane Goodall (biology), and Thomas Berry (theology), have supplied original material for this volume. They address issues such as sacrifice, animal consciousness, suffering, and stewardship in innovative methodological ways. By grappling with the nature and ideological features of these religious views, the contributors cast religious teachings and practices in a new light. They also reveal how we either intentionally or inadvertently marginalize "others," whether they are human or otherwise, and the ways in which we construct value.

Though it is an ancient concern, the topic of "religion and animals" has yet to be systematically worked out by modern scholars. This groundbreaking collection takes the first steps toward a meaningful analysis.

Paul Waldau is the director of the Center for Animals and Public Policy at Tufts University's Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine in Boston. He is also cochair of the Animals and Religion Consultation at the American Academy of Religion and president of the Religion and Animals Institute. Kimberley Patton is professor in the comparative and historical study of religion at Harvard Divinity School. She is the author of many books, including the forthcoming The Sea Can Wash Away All Evils: Modern Marine Pollution and the Ancient Cathartic Ocean (Columbia).

Columbia University Press, 2006
$60.00/£ 38.50 cloth
ISBN: 0-231-13642
640 pages/13 illus., 1 table

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When Worlds Converge: What Science and Religion Tell Us about the Story of the Universe and Our Place in It
Edited by Clifford Matthews, Mary Evelyn Tucker, and Philp Hefner

This new book is the result of dialogue between scientists and theologians regarding the story of the universe. These scholars convened at the 1999 Parliament of World Religions Meeting to consider questions regarding the religious implications of science, how science effects our religious interpretations of the universe, and what type of narrative(s) can be found to be both spiritually satisfying and in accordance with scientific findings. For more information regarding this title, contact:

Open Court Publishing Company
30 Grove Street
Suite C
Peterborough, NH 03458
Phone: 1–800–815–2280

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Worldwatch Paper 164
"Invoking the Spirit: Religion and Spirituality in the Quest for A Sustainable World"
Gary Gardner

The Worldwatch Institute has published an important paper discussing the emergence of a new, worldwide pro-environmental coalition between religious and environmental organizations.

Forthcoming Books

Booklet