Faith in Nature: Environmentalism as Religious Quest (Weyerhaeuser Environmental Books) [Paperback]

Thomas R. Dunlap (Author), William Cronon (Foreword)

Book Description

Series: Weyerhaeuser Environmental Books | Publication Date: September 2005

The human impulse to religion - the drive to explain the world, humans, and humans' place in the universe - can be seen to encompass environmentalism as an offshoot of the secular, material faith in human reason and power that dominates modern society. "Faith in Nature" traces the history of environmentalism - and its moral thrust - from its roots in the Enlightenment and Romanticism through the Progressive Era to the present. Drawing astonishing parallels between religion and environmentalism, the book examines the passion of the movement's adherents and enemies alike, its concern with the moral conduct of daily life, and its attempt to answer fundamental questions about the underlying order of the world and of humanity's place within it.Thomas Dunlap is among the leading environmental historians and historians of science in the United States. Originally trained as a chemist, he has a rigorous understanding of science and appreciates its vital importance to environmental thought. But he is also a devout Catholic who believes that the insights of religious revelation need not necessarily be at odds with the insights of scientific investigation. This book grew from his own religious journey and his attempts to understand human ethical obligations and spiritual debts to the natural world.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Dunlap undertook this book in reaction to a discussion in which the argument that "wilderness" is a social construct arose. The resistance to that conception, Dunlap thought, was like Christian fundamentalists' reactions to historical-critical reading of the Bible--an analogy that prompted thinking of the resistance as "religiously" motivated. Dunlap argues that environmentalism has effectively been a religious quest, even when it has been unconscious of, or openly hostile to, religion, and he uses environmentalism as a sort of case study to turn attention to interrelations among religion, science, and technology. His definition of religion is broad but shaped by the American experience of the Judeo-Christian tradition. Perforce, he focuses on the individualist slant in American environmentalism, which, citing Aldo Leopold, he identifies as a problem for a movement that seeks not only to affect but also to transform society. Dunlap's accessible, informative history of environmentalism in the U.S. is particularly useful for this attention to the Americanness of the movement and its roots, via Emerson, in a distinctly American Protestantism. Steven Schroeder
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Review

"This is an insightful interpretive treatment that is not only well written but of considerable depth and substance. " -- Choice

"[A] gracefully written and thoughtful book that traces the moral and spiritual aspects of American environmentalism." -- H-Environment

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 206 pages
• Publisher: University of Washington Press; annotated edition edition (September 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0295985569
• ISBN-13: 978-0295985565
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,512,451 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Faith in Nature, July 17, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Faith in Nature: Environmentalism as Religious Quest (Weyerhaeuser Environmental Books) (Hardcover)

First of all, Dunlap does not approach this necessarily from an "anti-environmental" viewpoint, (nor does he seem to have any radical agenda) but from a (limited) historical and cultural perspective. Dunlap uses William James's definition of religion (and the Hebrew Thought approach), though Websters defines religion as:
1) man's expression of his his acknowledgment of the divine; or
2) a system of beliefs and practices relating to the sacred and uniting its adherents in a community; or

3) something which has a powerful hold on a person's way of thinking, interests, etc. (is beer my religion?)

To Dunlap, "religion is how we make (ultimate) sense of our lives in the context of the universe", and he seems to support the possibility that any ideology or world-view can be thought of, and even benefit from, a religious approach. He uses sources from his own (devout) Catholic background to selectively define words such as "spirituality" (why not just use the dictionary), and litters the text with loaded language (preach, spirit, scripture, sacred, beliefs, etc.) that does nothing to justify assertions (because they can be inserted in critique of any ideology, movement or cause). For example, without adequate explanation or clarification, he says "people hung prints (of Ansel Adams)....in much the same spirit and...fervor as immigrant Catholics placing the Sacred Heart of Jesus..." (why was it similar, and why is this different than hanging a picture of MLK, or any other "honored" person, place, or thing), and states that action was needed to incorporate a quest for "scriptures" that expressed (environmentalism's) deepest convictions (as if there was a call to an environmental saint to write it all down). To his credit, he uses numerous endnotes, quotes, and references (though many are dubious in relationship to what environmentalism really "seeks" or how they support any but the broadest assertion).

As a limited historical documentation on the origins of the American environmental movement alone, this often disjointed account might be worth a read, and a few valid "similarities" between religiosity and environmentalism are presented; however, the fundamental assertion that "environmentalism is a religion" is not backed up by any significant compelling evidence (perhaps only if one is *very* loose with what constitutes religion). In his flawed analysis, Dunlap subscribes to notions such as "faith in science", a "Marxist faith", and even says that Steven J. Gould (among others) "argues" that "science is all we need", something that was certainly not SJG's position at all. He states that there was the need for an "environmental myth" (to form a coherent vision to counter incompatible modern environmental enlightenment and blind consumptivism, and because of some of the movements failures) that was played out by things such as exclamations about our bodies feeding the earth's cycles, the Good of saving the plant, and Evil destruction of nature's processes.

In short, his knowledge of American environmental history is deep, while his conclusions are forced. He asserts that environmentalists seek to answer ethical/moral questions (OK), and environmentalism is a religion because:
-*certain people* involved in the movement *have used* religious terminology;
-*some* view wilderness (as a state or place) as sacred, and the real connection (ecological, evolutionary, etc.) we actually have to the natural world is manifested in some as a "spiritual" connection;
-some seek to evangelically educate people and influence public behavior to change habits known to be detrimental to the biosphere; and
-most say humans are not the only important thing on the planet, and challenge anthropocentric assumptions.

Apparently to Dunlap, all of these "ideas", and more, prove that environmentalism seeks to find answers to basic religious questions (we came from and are a part of the earth), holds a belief in the sacred (i.e. wilderness as a temple) that results in worship of nature (road trip in the fall to "wild" New Hampshire to pray before the multi-colored maples), and tries to "convert" those that don't agree.

Worst of all, the book is "Amerocentric" in it's focus (barely touching on Europe and nothing about any other part of the world where environmentalism is a significant force), glosses over such fundamental complex issues such as those apparently confused religious environmentalists (Buddhists, Native Americans, Rev. John: Greenpeace member), fails to provide a coherent explanation as to what prayers, ceremonies, codes, scriptures, etc (all basic to any religion) Environmentalism as religion is based around, and does not even discuss his fundamental assumption (or methodology in religious analysis) as to why Marxism, science, atheism, capitalism, (ad infantum) may also be viewed on as religions (because this is critical to the analysis and his conclutions).

Though the book is pretty flawed and jumps around quite a bit, it's worth a read for anyone interested in religion, philosophy, and/or environmentalism.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A Guide for "What NOT To Do When Writing History", March 12, 2011

By 

Dusty J, Summit "Be a Skeptic" (Wonderful Washington State!) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Faith in Nature: Environmentalism as Religious Quest (Weyerhaeuser Environmental Books) (Paperback)

Robert Dunlap has attempted to write a book "suspended from academic judgments" in order to establish a better understanding of the roots of environmentalism. Whereas much of common literature has linked environmental degradation to Christian ideologies of improvement and dominion over the natural world, Dunlap has hastily supplied the notion that Christianity actually nurtures environmental roots. Dunlap declares himself a longtime Christian, and argues that Christianity played a major role in the growth and evolution of environmentalism.

Just as many other scholars have done before him, Dunlap outlines the beginnings of environmentalism with nineteenth century ecology movement. Early ponderings of the natural world and ecosystems were done by religious men and therefore hold within them not only religious characteristics but religious jargons and lessons. John Burroughs may have written and cleverly titled his book The Gospel of Nature and John Muir may have transplanted every religious idea to fit grandeur of the Sierras but the fact remains that Christianity played a much larger role in the destruction of the natural world than in the preservation of it. That particular point has been argued much more successfully by Carolyn Merchant in her many works.

Dunlap spends the second half of the book attempting to relate the efforts of post-industrial humanity to get back to its natural roots with some sort of a religious quest. The half developed argument is that humans (though he truly only focuses on Westerners) have for one hundred years or so been developing environmental and natural experiences into religious experiences. To supplement his argument Dunlap touches up on well known environmental histories like Rachel Carson's rise to fame, and the ecology movement of the 1960's.

Faith in Nature takes an awkward twist towards the end when Dunlap begins suggesting a dozen different ways the environmentalists can improve their methods by observing a religious model. It becomes clear to the reader that Dunlap's scant attempt at remolding environmental history was to set up this proposed partnership between environmentalism and religion in the modern world. Crinkled eyebrows, chuckles, and the realization of lost time accompany the reader in the concluding chapter.

Aside from my discrepancies above, there are many flaws in Dunlap's scholarship. Firstly, Dunlap misrepresented the intentions of a few major scientific figures of the past (Sagan and Darwin come to mind). His argument could be more convincing if he used more evidence and less rhetoric. Dunlap was overly blatant in his use of selective vocabulary. Whenever possible, he used words like prophecy, hymn, sacred, disciple, faith etc. He always used these sorts of religious words in reference to ecologist, environmentalists, or environmental ideas. Even some of the chapter titles are suspicious. Chapter 1, "Newton's Disciples," suggests that Newton is like Jesus. Chapter 2, "Emerson's Children," suggests that Emerson is like God. Dunlap ceases to use this sort of word placement during his long examination of William Cronon's contribution to environmentalism. (It should be noted that Cronon wrote the "Foreword" to this book and placed Dunlap on pedestal while doing so.)

Dunlap typically would begin and end a chapter with a humble tone of shared exploration between author and reader. However, the content of the chapter was tattered with useless comparisons and selective vocabulary in an attempt to convince the reader of a distant argument. Supplementing these comparisons were many choppy, and short quotes that more resembled tabloid headlines than academic analysis.

0 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Of interest, December 28, 2009

By 

Mr. Robin Pryor "RJPryor" (Australia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: Faith in Nature: Environmentalism as Religious Quest (Weyerhaeuser Environmental Books) (Paperback)

No time to read over Christmas, but a quick look through the book confirms my interest in reading this approach. A lot of yellow highlighting of text is a bit distracting, but I assume it lowered the price !