More About the Author
John Hart is Professor of Christian Ethics at the Boston University School of Theology. Previously, he served as Professor of Theology and founding Director of Environmental Studies at Carroll College, Helena, Montana. He has authored four books: Sacramental Commons: Christian Ecological Ethics (Rowman & Littlefield, 2006); What Are They Saying About...Environmental Theology? (Paulist Press, 2004); Ethics and Technology: Innovation and Transformation in Community Contexts (Pilgrim Press,1997); and The Spirit of the Earth -- A Theology of the Land (Paulist Press, 1984). He has written chapters for five edited books, more than forty published articles and essays. His doctorate (1978) is from the Union Theological Seminary (New York), where he was Tutor in Christian Ethics (1974-76), and Tutor in Liberation Theology for Gustavo Guti'rrez (1976). He received his B.A. from Marist College, in New York (1966), and he studied Latin American literature at the Universidad Nacional Aut'noma de M'xico (Mexico City, 1966). He was Director of the Midwestern Catholic bishops' 12-state Heartland Project, and editor and principal writer of their land pastoral, Strangers and Guests: Toward Community in the Heartland (1980). He wrote the draft of Pope John Paul II's homily on land stewardship presented at the Living History Farms near Des Moines, Iowa (1979). He has worked with native spiritual leaders and human rights activists, been a Member of the Delegation of the International Indian Treaty Council (a Non-Governmental Organization accredited to the United Nations) to the U.N. International Human Rights Commission, Geneva, Switzerland (1987, 1990), and was an invited Observer at the World Conference of Indigenous Peoples, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil while participating in the United Nations Earth Summit (1992). He has been selected for three National Endowment for the Humanities programs: a Summer Stipend for research into Native American spirituality (1985), a Summer Seminar grant for postdoctoral study at the Harvard Divinity School (1986), and a Summer Seminar grant to participate in 'St. Francis in the Thirteenth Century' in Siena, Rome and Assisi, Italy (2003). He received an international 'Science-Religion Course Award' (1995) from the John Templeton foundation for his course 'Spirit, Science and Nature.' He was selected as a Lilly Teaching Scholar in Religion (1997-8), and for the Templeton Oxford Seminars in Science and Christianity (University of Oxford, England, summers, 1999-2001). He was the Project Writer and a member of the Steering Committee for the Western U.S. and Canada Catholic bishops' bioregional pastoral letter, The Columbia River Watershed: Caring for Creation and the Common Good (2001), on the ethics, economics and ecology of the region (MT, ID, OR, WA and B.C.); on behalf of this project he received a 'Sacred Gift for a Living Planet Award' (2000) in Bhaktapur, Nepal from the Alliance of Religions and Conservation (ARC) and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), presented by Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. He serves on the Board of the Montana Environmental Information Center. He has been involved with the Earth Charter as a participant in the World Council of Churches Ecumenical Center meeting on Benchmark II (Geneva, Switzerland, 1999); in the 'Earth Charter Ethics Seminar' as one of 25 invited scholars from four continents (Pocantico Conference Center, New York, 2002); and as a member of the delegation to Urbino, Italy for implementation planning meetings (2002). Internationally known for his work in social ethics and environmental ethics, he has given almost two hundred presentations, on four continents: in twenty-six U.S. states and in Canada, Brazil, Switzerland, Italy, Nepal and England. He and his wife, Jane, have two children pursuing professional careers.
