1st Edition
Ecoflourishing and Virtue Christian Perspectives Across the Disciplines
This book brings together the interdisciplinary reflections of Christian scholars and poets, to explore how ecological virtues can foster the flourishing of our home planet in the face of unprecedented environmental change and devastation. Its central questions are: What virtues are needed for us to be better caretakers of our home planet? What vices must we extinguish if we are to flourish on the earth? What is the connection between such virtues and vices and the flourishing of all creatures? Each contribution offers insight on ecological virtue ethical questions through disciplinary lenses ranging from biology, geology, and economics, to literature, theology, and philosophy. The chapters feature the legacy and lessons of senior scholars reflecting on a lifetime of earthkeeping work, highlight global concerns and perspectives, and include compelling poetic reflections. Focusing on the way in which human vices and virtues drive so many of our ecological problems and solutions, the volume engages timely issues of environmental importance – such as environmental racism, interfaith dialogue, ecological philosophies of work and economics, marine pollution, ecological despair, hope and humility – encouraging fresh reflection and action. It will be of interest to those working in theology and religious studies, philosophy, ethics, and environmental studies.
Foreword
Bill McKibben
Acknowledgements
Credits
Poetic Reflection: Materfamilias Luci Shaw
Introduction
I. Gifts in Retrospection: Mentors in Ecoflourishing
Poetic Reflection: Of This World Todd Davis
1 From Shenandoah to the Mountain West
Holmes Rolston III
2 Crossing Lehigh Gap: Discerning Christian Contributions and Misdirection in Wilderness Preservation
Susan Power Bratton
3 Beholding Earth through the Eye of its Maker
Calvin B. DeWitt
4 Prophets and Poets: The Capture of the Creative Vision
Luci Shaw
5 A Table and a Planet: From Hearthkeeping to Earthkeeping
Mary Ruth Wilkinson and Loren Wilkinson
Poetic Reflection: In the Garden Todd Davis
II. Grounding Narratives of Ecoflourishing and Virtue: Stories Worth Telling
Poetic Reflection: Disarm Laura Kathryn Dvořák
6 When Good Christians Destroy the Earth: The Virtue of Limits and the Limits of Virtue
Jonathan A. Moo
7 "Ecoflourishing" and Story: Fantasy, Science Fiction and Hope
Loren Wilkinson
8 ‘I all-creation sing’: Christina Rossetti’s Cosmic Liturgy and Challenge to Anthropocentrism
Joshua King
9 John Muir, Deep Time, and the Hope of Ecoflourishing
Michael Kunz
Poetic Reflection: Homes for Prayer Laura Kathryn Dvořák
III. Biblical and Theological Soundings: Ecological Ruin, Restoration, and Community Virtues
Poetic Reflection: Humphrey’s Basin Paul Willis
10 Subverting Metaphor, Transforming Identity: An Eco-Anthropological Analysis of Job’s Shift from Ruler to Member of the Creation Community
Alexander W. Breitkopf
11 Paul, Generosity, and Ecological Flourishing
Julien C. H. Smith
12 Ecoflourishing: Life, Death and Natural Disasters
Robert S. White
Poetic Reflection: San Rafael Mountain Paul Willis
IV. Global Ecoflourishing: Biospheric, Intercultural, and Interreligious
Poetic Reflection: A Common Sight Pattiann Rogers
13 Interdisciplinary Voices of the Ecoflourishing ‘Glocal’ Dialogue from Non-Western Cultural and Literary Perspectives
Graciela Susana Boruszko
14 Becoming Citizens of the Biosphere: Character, Ecoflourishing, and Control in Our Newfound Common Home
Calvin B. DeWitt
15 Becoming Human, Intercultural, and Inter-creational: Movements toward Achieving Ecoflourishing
Anthony Le Duc
Poetic Reflection: The Family Is All There Is Pattiann Rogers
V. Philosophical Remedies: Relationship, Work, Economy
Poetic Reflection: Still Life George David Clark
16 Primary Encounters: Relational Ontology and Ecoflourishing
Amy E. Smallwood
17 Toward a Christian Ecological Philosophy of Work
Karl Clifton-Soderstrom
18 Fairy Tales and True Stories: Economic Talk for Ecological Flourishing
Kathryn D. Blanchard
Poetic Reflection: Shiversong George David Clark
VI. Virtue and Vice in Ecological Practice: Confronting Current Challenges
Poetic Reflection: Garden Micheal O’Siadhail
19 The Christian Ethics of Waste, Contaminants, and Emerging Pollutants in Marine Ecosystems
Susan Power Bratton
20 Reconciling the Food Chain with the Great Chain of Being: A Philosopher’s Reflection on Raising Sheep for Meat
Gregory S. Poore
21 Justice, Biocentrism, and White Supremacy: John Muir’s Romantic Christian Ethics
Russell C. Powell
22 The Virtue of Intersectionality in Environmental Ethics
Kevin J. O’Brien
Poetic Reflection: Forebears Micheal O’Siadhail
Conclusion
Index
Biography
Steven Bouma-Prediger is Professor of Religion at Hope College in Michigan, USA. He is best known for his book – For the Beauty of the Earth: A Christian Vision for Creation Care and his most recent book Earthkeeping and Character: Exploring A Christian Ecological Virtue Ethic. At Hope he oversees the Environmental Studies program and co-chairs the Campus Sustainability Advisory Committee.
Nathan P. Carson is Associate Professor and Program Director of Philosophy at Fresno Pacific University in Fresno, California, USA, directing also its Sierra Program which integrates wilderness, conservation, and community with environmentally thematized courses. His philosophical publications have appeared in Dao, Philosophy and Literature, International Philosophical Quarterly, History of Philosophy Quarterly, and Journal of Chinese Philosophy.
"This book is essential reading for every student and scholar alike. By focusing on one of the most important themes of our generation – articulating the place of virtue in ecological flourishing – it challenges the reader to weave together the insights of diverse disciplines both practically and creatively. The overall intent is to build a more constructive approach to thinking and acting differently in a rapidly changing and globalized world. The editors can be congratulated for bringing together a superlative line up of essayists whose approaches to earthkeeping from a variety of disciplines serve to complement each other. A predominance of essays by Christian scholars alongside a handful of poems in this collection, reinforces the argument in a way that will touch both hearts and minds." - Celia Deane-Drummond, Director, Laudato Si’ Research Institute, and Senior Research Fellow, Campion Hall, University of Oxford.
"This rich anthology shows the down-to-earth power of Christian virtue ethics in this time of global ecojustice crisis. Carry this book with you. Dip into it often. Be inspired." - Paul Santmire, author of seven books on ecological theology, including The Travail of Nature and EcoActivist Testament.
"Few books in the study of Christian environmental virtue ethics engage such a far-ranging set of issues from multiple disciplinary perspectives – and by each field’s leading scholars and writers on top of it. This volume will be a guide for years to come for those intentional about reflecting on what it means to be better caretakers of planet earth." - Gretel Van Wieren, Professor of Religious Studies and Philosophy, Michigan State University.
