In the seminal 1967 essay by historian of technology Lynn White Jr. entitled “The Historical Roots of the Ecological Crisis,” the author, a Christian himself, suggested that Christianity was the major cause of the ecological crises that were then becoming apparent.

In the decades since, first a trickle and then a deluge of responses to that essay have emerged. The fields of Sacred Natural Sites, Spiritual Ecology, Religion and Nature, Ecotheology and Religion and Ecology have all sprung up in the last several decades, each seeking to document, cajole or reorient the world’s religious and spiritual traditions in light of the increasingly dire environmental crises we face. Christianity in particular, which birthed contemporary Western Science and modernism, has had to wrestle with claims of deep anthropocentrism, toxic world denial, rampant materialism and destructive industrial exploitation of the earth that has resulted in pollution, an extinction crisis and anthropogenic global warming.

Many contemporary practitioners of various faiths and spiritualities have responded by ‘greening’ traditional religious views. This can take place by retrieving or reinterpreting traditional and authoritative teachings. Others have called for a more post-religious or at least religiously plural approach to ecological spirituality that often references various indigenous spiritualities.

This course will explore these emerging responses to the environmental crisis on the part of the religions and contemporary spirituality through a variety of theoretical writings and case studies. We will ask whether or not the environmental crisis is primarily a moral crisis; whether the religions might offer their weight to solving these interconnected problems, or, whether they are an impediment to their resolution.

Various scanned and online sources will be used in this course. 

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