In a time of darkening environmental prospects, frightening religious fundamentalism, and moribund liberalism, the remarkable and historically unprecedented rise of religious environmentalism is a profound source of hope. Theologians are recovering nature-honoring elements of traditional religions and forging bold new theologies connecting devotion to God and spiritual truth with love for God's creation and care for the Earth. And religious people throughout the world are transforming the meaning of their faiths in the face of the environmental crisis. The successes and significance of religious environmentalism are manifest in statements by leaders of virtually all the world's religions, in new and "green" prayers and rituals, and in sophisticated criticisms of modern society's economy, politics, and culture. From the Evangelical Environmental Network to the Buddhist prime minister of Mongolia, the National Council of Churches to tree-planting campaigns in Zimbabwe, religious environmentalism has become a powerful component of the world environmental movement.
In A Greener Faith, Roger S. Gottlieb chronicles the promises of this critically important movement, illuminating its principal ideas, leading personalities, and ways of connecting care for the earth with justice for human beings. He also shows how religious environmentalism breaks the customary boundaries of "religious issues" in political life. Asserting that environmental degradation is sacrilegious, sinful, and an offense against God catapults religions directly into questions of social policy, economic and moral priorities, and the overall direction of secular society. Gottlieb contends that a spiritual perspective applied to the Earth provides the environmental movement with a uniquely appropriate way to voice its dream of a sustainable and just world. Equally important, it helps develop a world-making political agenda that far exceeds interest group politics applied to forests and toxic incinerators. Rather, religious environmentalism offers an all-inclusive vision of what human beings are and how we should treat each other and the rest of life.
Gottlieb deftly analyzes the growing synthesis of the movement's religious, social, and political aspects, as well as the challenges it faces in consumerism, fundamentalism, and globalization. Highly engaging and passionately argued, this book is an indispensable resource for people of faith, environmentalists, scholars, and anyone who is concerned about our planet's future.
"Gottlieb's depiction of globalization as a non-democratic system of commodification of humans and environment is incisive. Religious environmentalism needs to face both its profound diversity and the inequality which globalization produces. Eminently readable, this book would make student discussions far more knowlegable and sophisticated. It provides insights to religious environmentalists and helps broaden the views of the despirers of religion. Above all, this is a hopeful and wise book." --Environmental Ethics "Roger S. Gottlieb has written a seminal book examining the emerging debate on environmental ethics among the world's great faith traditions and what that means for the future of environmental stewardship."--Carl Pope, Executive Director, The Sierra Club "Roger S. Gottlieb presents a comprehensive view of the nexus of religion and the environment. The specific stories of faith-based environmentalism provide a bright picture of the faith community's capacity for caring for God's creation. If we actively follow his lead, we will go a long way toward being more effective stewards of our fragile planet."--Dr. Bob Edgar, General Secretary, National Council of Churches USA "At last someone has not only noticed the extraordinary story of the rise of religious participation in the environemnetal movement, but has written a book which tells this story in an engaging way. Gottlieb chronicles the increasing role played by faith groups but is also very good at pinpointing the areas of disagreement and tension with an often dismissive secular world. This should be vital reading for anyone who thinks they know what the future of the environmentalmovement is. Gottlieb will show many people worlds they didn't even think existed! A timely book; a wonderful collection of stories; and some hard questions. Excellent."--Martin Palmer, Secretary General of the Alliance of Religions and Conservation "Roger S. Gottlieb is the foremost voice in joining spirituality, environmentalism, and progressive politics. In this critically important book, he creates a needed sense of community, engenders hope, gives us direction, and impels us to act on behalf of the earth and all its beings."--David Landis Barnhill, editor of At Home on the Earth: Becoming Native to Our Place "Roger S. Gottlieb's A Greener Faith: Religious Environmentalism and Our Planet's Future offers a superb insight into the larger issues of an integral Earth-human survival...a most needed guide."--Father Thomas Berry, author of The Great Work: Our Way into the Future "This should be vital reading for anyone who thinks they know what the future of the environmental movement is. Gottlieb will show many people worlds they didn't even think existed! A timely book; a wonderful collection of stories; and some hard questions. Excellent."--Martin Palmer, Secretary General of the Alliance of Religions and Conservation "Beautifully written, carefully researched, and insightful...A stunning achievement and must read for students and scholars interested in religiously inflected sustainable living in the face of eco-injustice and the loss of hope in our time."--Mark I. Wallace, author of Finding God in the SingingRiver: Christianity, Spirit, Nature "A Greener Gaith does an excellent job of detailing the vast, diverse facets of contemporary religious environmentalism, drawing on the author's extensive knowledge and familiarity of the movement. In so doing, Gottlieb provides some impassioned and well-argued reasons for why religion (of a certain type) should play a prominent role in environmental politics."--H-Environment, H-Net Reviews
Roger S. Gottlieb is professor of philosophy at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. He is the author or editor of sixteen books and more than 100 articles on environmentalism, religious life, contemporary spirituality, political philosophy, ethics, the Holocaust, femin-ism, and disability. He is internationally known for his work as a leading analyst and ex-ponent of religious environmentalism, for his passionate and moving account of spiri-tuality in an age of environmental crisis, and for his innovative and humane description of the role of religion in a democratic society. He is editor of six academic book series, on the editorial boards of several journals, and contributing editor to Tikkun Magazine. Gottlieb's writings have appeared in top academic journals such as the Journal of Philosophy, Journal of the American Academy of Religion, Conservation Biology, and Ethics; in popular publications such as E Magazine online, The Boston Globe, and Orion Afield; and in anthologies celebrating the best of Jewish writing, environmental ethics, religious life, spirituality, the Holocaust, and disability. Widely respected for his unique range of interests, combination of personal and political passion, clarity of writing, and originality, he is probably the only American intellectual to be reviewed or interviewed in publications as disparate as San Francisco Chronicle, Environmental Ethics, the Boston Globe, Christianity Today, Philosophical Review, Journal of Harvard Divinity School, New Age Journal, Socialism and Democracy, Discover, Chronicle of Higher Education, Sierra Club Magazine, Shambhala Sun, and The American Prospect. For the last fifteen years Gottlieb has concentrated on the religious, spiritual, and eth-ical dimensions of the environmental crisis and on the place of religion in a democratic society. His anthology This Sacred Earth: Religion, Nature, Environment is known inter-nationally as the first comprehensive collection on the topic. His 1999 book, A Spirituali-ty of Resistance: Finding a Peaceful Heart and Protecting the Earth was called by Prot-estant theologian John Cobb "a true spiritual guide for our day," and excerpted in Tikkun and Orion Afield. His 2002 book Joining Hands: Politics and Religion Together for Social Change received advance praise from Harvey Cox and Bill McKibben. Gottlieb's recent work on religious environmentalism, A Greener Faith: Religious En-vironmentalism and our Planet's Future and The Oxford Handbook on Religion and Ecology establishes him as the leading commentator and exponent of this unprece-dented political, environmental, and religious movement. Bob Edgar, head of the Na-tional Council of Churches, said A Greener Faith provided "a bright picture of the faith community's capacity for caring for God's creation" and that following Gottlieb's lead would help us "go a long way toward being more effective stewards of our fragile pla-net." Carl Pope, Executive Director of the Sierra Club, called it a "seminal book examin-ing the emerging debate on environmental ethics among the world's great faith tradi-tions." Thomas Berry, one of the world's leading ecotheologians said it offers "superb insight" and is a "most needed guide." Gottlieb newest work is Engaging Voices: Tales of Morality and Meaning in an Age of Global Warming a collection of related but distinct short stories in which Gottlieb ex-plores moral, political, intellectual, and spiritual dilemmas provoked by the environmen-tal crisis; and asks how, in the face of powerful emotions and deeply contested views, we can live and talk to each other. [Read the Introduction to Engaging Voices.] As a speaker Gottlieb combines intense analytic intelligence, a personal and humo-rously engaging style, and an inspiring message of personal responsibility, social change, and spiritual vision. Audiences from universities, churches, synagogues, and community and environmental organizations have found him a riveting presenter whose message resonates long after his formal presentation is done and can lead people to act as well as think and feel. He lives in Boston with his wife, noted psychotherapist and author Miriam Greenspan, and shares in the care of his daughters, Anna and Esther. The spiritual and political di-mensions of his relation to Esther, who has multiple disabilities, forms part of Chapter 8 of Joining Hands.
This review is from: A Greener Faith: Religious Environmentalism and Our Planet's Future (Hardcover)
I just had no idea about the scope of religious environmentalism and what a hopeful sign it is. Gottlieb does a great job of describing the movement's ideas, and what is being done by people around the world. Unlilke most books by academics, this one is written to be understood by a normally intelligent person, not a scholar.
At times the book is really inspiring. Gottlieb puts forth a visionary account of how linking nature to God and spirituality can lead to fundamental social changes; and to changes in how we think about ourelves. I also very much enjoyed the chapter on new 'green' rituals and his description of how much spirituality there is and has always been in the the 'secular' environmental movement.
Great book for environmentalists and for people who think religion has something to do with caring for life.
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This review is from: A Greener Faith: Religious Environmentalism and Our Planet's Future (Hardcover)
A Greener Faith discusses the role of religion and spirituality in the environmental movement. Gottlieb does an admirable job in pulling in resources from all of the world's major religions - Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism. He writes about the great benefits that people of faith can bring to the discussion of the environment and issues of social justice that are integral to environmental degradation. The writing is scholarly but accessible to the lay person, but don't expect this to be a quick read. It is a deep and thought-inspiring study. My only problem with the book is that Gottlieb tends to bring his own perspective of liberalism to the table, although he owns up to this when he does so (and I agree with his perspective). He offers strong defenses for the more liberal theological perspective. In spite of this, A Greener Faith is well worth delving into and absorbing.
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This review is from: A Greener Faith: Religious Environmentalism and Our Planet's Future (Hardcover)
I had this book on my wish list because I'm very interested in the topic, as an active Episcopalian and as a river conservationist. But I learned that Gottlieb made a big deal in the book about the famous "every part of the Earth is sacred to my people" speech attributed to Chief Seattle from 1854. That "speech" was actually from a work of fiction written in 1970, incorporated into the narration in an environmental documentary film called _Home_. The producers of the film (ironically enough, it was the media wing of the Southern Baptist Convention) decided to suppress the fictional status of the text and promote it as Chief Seattle's actual words. The hoax-status of the speech means that any well-meaning environmentalists or creation-care advocates who cite it instantly expose themselves and their cause to scorn and embarrassment from conservative critics who seek to discredit sustainable conservation and smart growth. Gottlieb should have known better. He makes the rest of us look like flakes in the process. We don't really need Chief Seattle's buy-in anyway.
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