What Is Eco-theology/Eco-justice?
Introduction For many, many decades now, as humanity’s careless and pernicious actions have caused a global environmental crisis, the world has experienced increasing incidences of devastating droughts and water scarcity, catastrophic floods, widespread and destructive fires, dangerously rising sea levels, melting glaciers, damaging storms, and rapidly declining biodiversity due to habitat loss. Soil erosion and toxified land and water contribute to the swelling swaths of inhospitable landscapes. In an anthropogenic world, we are careening toward certain ruination. Eco-theology, a constructive, praxis-oriented, and liberation-leaning theology that emphasizes interrelationships between religion and nature, strives to break the cycle of anthropocentric dominance of nature and restore an ethos of preserving and healing the natural world, drawing upon the wisdom of religious traditions from around the world. Eco-justice brings into focus those people and ecosystems who suffer most from human-made natural disasters, industrial pollution, and a lack of clean air and water. Understanding Eco-Theology If we understand the term “eco-theology” as encompassing not only doctrines formulated by those who use the term “eco-theology” nor only doctrines that belong to theistic traditions, but instead understand “eco-theology” as encompassing all eco-friendly dimensions of religious doctrines around the world, then eco-theology could be said to have countless versions. These range from Christian teachings on stewardship to Islamic teachings on the signs of God in nature to Buddhist teachings on interdependence and on showing compassion to all creatures. The very first expositor of religious teachings in response to the environmental crisis, in particular, Dr. Seyyed Hossein Nasr, explained that the ecological crisis is rooted in a spiritual and intellectual crisis in which nature is no longer considered sacred, but, through modernism, has been viewed for its material dimension alone.1 Among the salient features of eco-theology is the re-establishment of a view of the sacred in nature, the rediscovery of metaphysics to see the cosmos and the human in light of the sacred, the examination of scriptures and religious teachings for their environmental wisdom, the study of religious and traditional practices for their positive environmental effects, and the development of ethics and discourses that could lead to a harmonious relationship between humanity and nature. Definitions of Eco-Theology As Ernst Conradie, a South African eco-theology expert, posited in 2004, “The danger of reading into the text randomly may be avoided if the articulation of such ecojustice principles is done in conjunction with historical, literary, and cultural modes of analysis.”2 Eco-theology must be rooted within context. It cannot ignore the destructive arc of human hubris that felled forests, reconfigured rivers, overtook habitat from plants, animals, and native cultures, and cratered and covered the land with impervious surfaces and structures. At the same time, it must heed the quantifiable realities of the ecological crisis, while lifting up Christian scriptures that encourage a more communal relationship with nature, and working with other faith communities to actively push for change. “I have come to understand eco-theology,” observed Rabbi Lawrence Troster, an environmental activist and eco-theologian, in 2013, “as the integration of the new scientific perspective on the natural world with traditional theological concepts, producing a new theological paradigm.”3 Kelebogile Thomas Resane, a research fellow for the Department of Historical and Constructive Theology at the University of the Free State in South Africa, adds, Ecotheology is a form of constructive theology that focuses on the interrelationships of religion and nature, with a special focus on environmental concerns. Ecotheology reflects the positive response and sagacious thinking of contemporary religious thinkers to the ecological crisis. It advocates and reconfirms the trinitarian relationship of God-humanity-nature to approve the sacredness of the natural world and to realise the harmonious coexistence between human beings and the cosmos.4 Origins of Eco-Theology Seyyed Hossein Nasr, an Iranian-American scholar and philosopher born in 1933, articulated a tie between spiritual dimensions and the environmental crisis in a series of lectures at the University of Chicago in May 1966, marking the first historical identification of the environmental crisis as being rooted in a spiritual crisis. In 1968, the lectures were published in an innovative and pioneering book titled Man and Nature: The Spiritual Crisis of Modern Man. In Man and Nature, Nasr speaks of a “disequilibrium between modern man and nature” caused by the “destruction of the harmony between man and God.”5 He also points to a disconnect between humanity’s outward and inward life. “For a humanity turned towards outwardness by the very processes of modernization,” he writes, “it is not so easy to see that the blight wrought upon the environment is in reality an externalization of the destitution of the inner state of the soul of that humanity whose actions are responsible for the ecological crisis.”6 Historian and University of California at Los Angeles professor, Dr. Lynn White, Jr., galvanized the Western eco-theology movement with his 1967 essay in the journal Science, “The Historical Roots of Our Ecological Crisis.” In his treatise about the historical underpinnings of humanity’s subjugation of nature, White states early, “All forms of life modify their contexts.”7 He goes on to trace developments in technology (as early as 800 AD) that started to harness water and wind power through modern times, noting the role that Christianity played in promoting the idea of humans as nature’s master. Both Nasr and White reference St. Francis of Assisi as a model of a humble man who revered nature. White proposes that Francis be a “patron saint for ecologists” since “present science and present technology are so tinctured with orthodox Christian arrogance toward nature that no solution for our ecologic crisis can be expected from them alone.”8 While Nasr considers St. Francis to be a good model for being in harmonious relationship with the environment, he sees that, moreover, religious traditions around the world have countless models, teachings, and even traditional sciences and crafts that we could learn from and see to apply today. Beliefs that Support Eco-Theology In his 2004 review of the Earth Bible Project,10 Conradie outlines the core principles and beliefs that underpin ecotheology. Page 128: Ecotheology believes that our world, and everything within it, has intrinsic worth. Every fungi, plant, animal, protista, and monera springs forth with innate value. Ecotheology understands that the Earth is an interconnected and interdependent community of living things. As Conradie notes, “We are deeply dependent on the complex web of relationships that allows life on Earth to flourish.”11 Ecothology gives voice to the Earth, in celebration and to call out injustice. Ecothology posits that the universe, Earth, and all of its components are part of a cosmic design, and each component plays a role in that system. Ecothology advocates a system of mutual custodianship. Responsible custodians should operate not as rulers but as partners with Earth to sustain essential balance and diversity. Ecothology respects Earth and its inhabitants’ ability to suffer from human-created crises, as well as the power to resist injustice. The Theology of Eco-theology One salient teaching of religious wisdom bearing on solutions to the environmental crisis is that the rupture of the balance between humanity and nature is rooted in a preceding rupture in the balance between humanity and Heaven. “The Earth is bleeding from wounds inflicted upon it by a humanity no longer in harmony with Heaven and therefore in constant strife with the terrestrial environment.”12 Poets, scientists, and clerics have long agreed that there is something divine within our natural world. George Washington Carver, a prominent agricultural scientist and inventor whose life spanned the 19th and 20th centuries, once wrote, “I love to think of nature as an unlimited broadcasting system through which God speaks to us every hour, if we only tune in.” In his 1854 book, Walden, naturalist, philosopher, and transcendentalist Henry David Thoreau asserted, “The pure Walden water is mingled with the sacred water of the Ganges.” In more recent times, as a largely agrarian society gave way to rampant colonization and industrialization, many people have lost touch with a contemplative, selfless spirituality of nature. These effects are most acutely felt in indigenous communities. In Braiding Sweetgrass, Robin Wall Kimmerer—Distinguished Teaching Professor and Director, Center for Native Peoples and the Environment at State University of New York, Environmental Science and Forestry—writes, “For all of us, becoming indigenous to a place means living as if your children’s future mattered, to take care of the land as if our lives, both material and spiritual, depended on it.”13 By reminding believers that Earth and its environment are sacred, Christian theologians can promote similarly relevant moral and ethical principles. As Willis Jenkins, the John Allen Hollingsworth Professor of Ethics and chair of the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Virginia, explains, “pragmatic theological creativity already characterizes lived Christian experience. As concerned communities confront problems by producing new ethical capacities from their traditions, they rediscover or invent the ecological dimensions of Christian experience.”14 Eco-Theology in Practice Eco-theologian Heather Eaton, professor of Conflict Studies at Saint Paul University in Ottawa, Ontario, suggested in 2004 that there are four clearly defined religious approaches to the present ecological crisis. The first tactic, promoting ecological stewardship among congregants, she notes, includes both “a biblical motif as well as an easily acceptable ecological paradigm for many Christians.”15 Theologically, the largely New Testament invitation is to take care of God’s creation by preserving and conserving natural resources. The second approach, which reveals a greater level of complexity within the ecological crisis, is eco-justice. Consonant with liberation theologies, eco-justice, Eaton asserts, illustrates how “ecological problems are enmeshed with other systemic social problems, such as discrimination based on ethnicity, class, or gender.”16 In this approach, the theological focus is on justice—how to make certain finite resources are distributed equitably to all, particularly to those who are disenfranchised or at society’s margins. Eco-feminism, an amalgam of ecological and feminist perspectives, draws from the nexus between women, nature, and their common mistreatment across time. As eco-feminist theologian Rosemary Radford Ruether wrote in 1974: “Women must see that there can be no liberation for them and no solution to the ecological crisis within a society whose fundamental model of relationships continues to be one of domination.”17 The role of cosmology, the important fourth approach, Eaton explains, is to illuminate “both the scientific understanding of the universe as well as the macro-narratives through which human communities appreciate their existence.” In her article in the 1990 book, Liberating Life: Approaches to Ecological Theology, theologian Sallie McFague states, “I propose that one theological task is an experimental one with metaphors and models for the relationship between God and the world that will help bring about a theocentric, lifecentered, cosmocentric sensibility in place of our anthropocentric one.”18 McFague’s cosmological reframing of “the world as God’s body” wrests eco-thelology from the yoke of destructive humanity. Eco-Justice: A Call to Action “Ecology, ” observes Conradie, “touches on virtually every single academic discipline so that the biophysical, geological, political, economic, health, safety, ethical, philosophical, religious, and theological dimensions of ecology all need to be factored in.”19 Eco-justice, precisely because ecology is so complex, strives to reveal and address multivalent consequences of environmental degradation that disproportionately affect impoverished and marginalized human communities as well as the rich profusion of plant and animal species. As German reformed theologian Jürgen Moltmann proclaimed in “The Great Ecological Transformation:” We need both a “great transformation” and ecological justice that gives the nature of the earth and the animals their rights. We also need to recognize that ecological justice is related to social justice and, especially, to the rights of future generations. We need a new understanding of nature that liberates the nature of the earth from its modern, alienated status as a mere object. We need a new understanding of humanity that embeds human beings in the community of creation. Finally, we need a new cosmic spirituality that sanctifies lived life and engenders “respect for life” for everything that lives.20 Centuries of environmental pillaging has wrought mass destruction of fragile ecosystems. Too often, as in the case of industrial pollution, toxified land and underground water supplies harm communities who have few resources to fight or no voice at all. The erosion of topsoil, essential for food production, can hurt us all, but will mostly harm those who are already food-insecure. In almost all cases, the effects of climate change will displace and destroy those life forms that lack the resources or adaptability to move to safety. Eco-justice concentrates on the attendant ills intrinsic to environmental degradation on a global scale. It fights ethically for what eco-theologians Mary Evelyn Tucker and John Grim describe as “new forms of equitable distribution of wealth and resources” worldwide.21 It asserts the rights of chronically disadvantaged populations and threatened species, and propels society toward a more sustainable model of existence. Pursuing an Eco-Justice Degree at United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities United added an Eco-Justice concentration to its MA degree program in early 2022. The MA in Eco-Justice offers students the opportunity to become uniquely prepared faith and spiritual leaders and academics in the areas of environmental ethics, ecological justice, and eco-theology. Equipped through the lens of a religiously-formed and scientifically-informed framework, these students will have the knowledge and skills to address pressing issues facing our planet: climate change, environmental crises, and ecological harm, as well as their embeddedness in spiritual and intellectual matters The Eco-Justice program at United seeks justice for the environment with recourse to the wisdom of religious traditions around the world. Dr. Munjed Murad, who successfully defended his ThD dissertation, “A Tale of Two Trees: Unveiling the Sacred Life of Nature in Islamic and Christian Traditions,” at Harvard Divinity School in 2022, joined United’s faculty the same year. In early 2023, he was installed into the Johnson-Fry Endowed Chair in World Religions and Intercultural Studies. In his courses, Dr. Murad helps students draw upon religious traditions from around the world for wisdom with which they can respond to the Anthropocene. He writes, “To undo [the global environmental crisis], we need a rediscovery of nature through the sacred. It is the sacred alone that can affirm fully and objectively the spiritual value of non-human creatures.”22 United has long supported greater awareness and action on issues related to ethics and eco-theology. For example, we regularly host the Picard Lecture on Environmental Theology and Ethics, supported by an endowment made possible through the generosity of United alum, the Rev. Frank Picard (’02), and other Picard family members. Launched in 2005, the purpose of the lectureship is to explore questions and issues concerning the state of the creation from theological and ethical perspectives. It seeks to raise questions such as the relation between our spiritual life and the state of the natural world, and the response of religious leadership to the decline of the planet. In establishing the endowment, the Picard family especially wishes to remember the deep appreciation for God’s creation they shared with the late David and Roland Picard. In April 2019, our guest speaker was Dr. Nathaniel Van Yperen, chair of the Religion Department at Princeton Theological Seminary, speaking about his 2019 book, Gratitude for the Wild: Christian Ethics in the Wilderness. Eco-feminist theologian Dr. Catherine Keller, the George T. Cobb Professor of Constructive Theology at the Theological School and Graduate Division of Religion within Drew University, appeared over Zoom in April 2022. Her speech was titled “Apocalypse After All? Climate, Politics and Faith in the Possible.” Held in October 2024, Dr. Kiara Jorgenson, associate professor of Religion and Environmental Studies at St. Olaf College, delivered an address titled “Hope through Tears.” Two respondents, Dr. Timothy Eberhart and Dr. Munjed Murad, presented brief reflections on Dr. Jorgensen's remarks. Even our Susan Draper White Lecture turned to eco-eschatology in 2022, when adjunct professor Rev. Dr. Nancy Victorin-Vangerud spoke. Her lecture—titled “Re-soil/ing the New Jerusalem: Dream-Reading Revelation (22:2) and Women’s Speculative Fiction for a Future that Feeds Us”—started with this startling statement: “Since colonization, erosion of the soils in Minnesota has increased 100-fold.” Because the need to address the world’s environmental crisis in meaningful ways grows more dire every year, United’s MA in Eco-Justice can allow students to pursue careers such as: A scholar or professor in a seminary, divinity school, or college An ethics teacher in a private school, church, or religious community A “public theologian” whose primary audience is society or the wider culture An environmental program leader A leader in a progressive eco-justice think tank A minister who makes eco-justice a central component of their church mission Conclusion “The Great Work now,” noted renowned cultural historian and religious scholar Thomas Berry in his 1999 book The Great Work: Our Way into the Future, “is to carry out the transition from a period of human devastation of the Earth to a period when humans would be present to the planet in a mutually beneficial manner.”23 Berry, who died at age 94 in 2009, knew what was at stake. The damage to our ecosystem from centuries of exploitation is incalculable, and the consequences are dire. The global climate crisis, caused largely by human activity, will continue to worsen without a worldwide effort to stem activities that exacerbate it. Empowered by religious understanding and a clear ethical compass, faith leaders can work at the vanguard of eco-theology and eco-justice. Their work is imperative since the effects of environmental degradation are too often visited on those least equipped to withstand them, and we all stand to lose as the environment deteriorates. References/Credit: Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Man and Nature (Chicago, IL : ABC International Group, 1997). Ernst M. Conradie, “Towards an ecological biblical hermeneutices: a review essay on the Earth Bible Project: review article,” Scriptura 85 (2004): 123–135. https://journals.co.za/doi/abs/10.10520/EJC100654 Lawrence Troster, “What Is Eco-Theology?” CrossCurrents 63, no. 4 (December 2013): 380–385. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/toc/19393881/2013/63/4 Kelebogile Thomas Resane, “Moltmann Speaking at the Ecoenvironmentalists’ Conference: Ecology and Theology in Dialogue,” Scriptura 120, no. 1 (2021):1–16. https://scriptura.journals.ac.za/pub/issue/view/173 Nasr, Man and Nature (Chicago, IL : ABC International Group, 1997): 20. Nasr, Man and Nature (Chicago, IL : ABC International Group, 1997): 3. Lynn White, “The Historical Roots of Our Ecological Crisis,” Science 155, no. 3767 (March 10, 1967): 1203–1207. White, 1207. Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Religion and the Order of Nature (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996). Conradie, “Towards an ecological biblical hermeneutics,” Scriptura 85 (2004): 128 Ibid. 127 Nasr, Religion and the Order of Nature, 3. Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants (Minneapolis, MN: Milkweed Editions, 2013): 9. Willis Jenkins, “After Lynn White: Religious Ethnics and Environmental Problems,” Journal of Religious Ethics 37, no. 2 (June 2009): 283–309. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1467-9795.2009.00387.x Heather Eaton, “This Sacred Earth: At the Nexus of Religion, Ecology and Politics,” Sciences Pastorales, 2004, pages 35-54. [ISSN: 0713-3383] Ibid. Rosemary Radford Ruether, New Woman/New Earth: Sexist Ideologies and Human Liberation (New York: Seabury Press, 1974): 204. Sallie McFague, “Imagining a Theology of Nature: The World as God’s Body,” Liberating Life: Approaches to Ecological Theology, eds. Charles Birch, William Eakin, and Jay B. McDaniels. (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books: 1990), 201–227. Ernst Conradie, “A Green Reformation of Christianity? Anthropological, Ethical, and Pedagogical Reflections on Ecology as an Ecumenical Theme,” Scriptura 120, no. 1 (2021): 1–10. https://scriptura.journals.ac.za/pub/article/view/2006 Jürgen Moltmann, “The Great Ecological Transformation,” trans. Steffen Lösel,Theology Today 80, no. 1 (2023): 9–17. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/00405736231151651 Mary Evelyn Tucker and John A. Grim, “Introduction: The Emerging Alliance of World Religions and Ecology,” Daedalus 130, no. 4, Religion and Ecology: Can the Climate Change? (Fall 2001): 1–22. Munjed M. Murad, “Perceiving Nature: Rūmī on Human Purpose and Cosmic Prayer,” I of the Heart: Texts and Studies in Honor of Seyyed Hossein Nasr, eds. Muhammad U. Faruque, Atif Khalil, and Mohammed Rustom (Leiden: Brill, 2025): 261–275. Thomas Berry, “The Great Work,” The Great Work: Our Way into the Future (New York: Bell Tower, 1999): 3.