Protecting Nature, Saving Creation: Ecological Conflicts, Religious Passions, and Political Quandaries

Can religions help us tackle the ecological crisis we are now facing? Can we redefine our relationship with the Earth, giving spiritual depth to ecological issues? This book attempts to answer these questions by exploring the relationship between ecology and theology.

Table of Contents:
Introduction; Pasquale Gagliardi Ariadne and the Minotaur: A Thread Winding Through the Labyrinth (A Guide for Readers); Anne Marie Reijnen PART I: PROCEEDINGS OF THE 'DIALOGUE' 1. Taking in the Real: Human Beings and the Earth (Opening Speech); Angelo Scola, Patriarch of Venice 2. Ecological Conflicts and Religious Passions: a Patchwork of Beliefs 3. 'Nature' or 'Creation'? Difficult choices of the Church Fathers; Izabela Jurasz 4. 'Dame Nature cares nothing for us'; Simon Schaffer 5. Creation and Salvation; Bruno Latour 6. Harmonious Cosmos and the World of the Fall: Natural and Counter-natural in the Orthodox Christian Tradition; Elizabeth Theokritoff 7. Transforming the World, Contemplating the Cosmos: A Protestant Trajectory; Anne Marie Reijnen 8. Roman Catholic Contributions to Address the Current Ecological Crisis; Andrea Vicini 9. The 'cosmism' of Islam as a Possible Response to the Current Ecological Crisis; Eric Geoffroy 10. Economies and Ecologies of the Sacred in Zimbabwe; Matthew Engelke 11. Economic Development, Anthropomorphism, and the Principle of Reasonable Sufficiency; Eduardo Viveiros de Castro 12. Economic and Ecological Challenges: Is There a Role for Religion?; Ignazio Musu 13. Modernization as Liberation Theology; Ted Nordhaus and Michael Schellenberger PART II: AFTERTHOUGHTS A Preliminary Notice; Pasquale Gagliardi 1. Afterthought: Of Maker's Knowledge; Simon Schaffer 2. Thoughts after the Dialogue…; Izabela Jurasz 3. Mobilizing Religions for the Ecological Crisis: An Urgent but Difficult Task; Ignazio Musu 4. Evolve: Modernization as the Road to Salvation; Michael Schellenberger and Ted Nordhaus 5. My Manifesto for the Dialogue; Bruno Latour 6. The Balance of Nature. What Can Be Learned from the History of the Earth and Life; George Theokritoff 7. Conclusive Remarks: Roman Catholic Commitment to Promoting Sustainability; Andrea Vicini 8. What is My Personal Outcome From this Dialogue ?; Eric Geoffroy 9. Part of Creation Calledto be Gods: Further Thoughts on the Place of Humans; Elizabeth Theokritoff 10. Defining the Commonplace as the Common Place: Cosmopolitanism and the Cross; Anne Marie Reijnen

About the Author :
Angelo Scola, Patriarch of Venice, Roman Catholic Church, Italy Izabela Jurasz, Institut Catholique de Paris, France Simon Schaffer, University of Cambridge, UK Bruno Latour, Sciences Po, France Elizabeth Theokritoff, University of Cambridge, UK Andrea Vicini, Boston College, USA Eric Geoffroy, University of Strasbourg, France Matthew Engelke, London School of Economics, UK Eduardo Viveiros de Castro, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Ignazio Musu, University Ca 'Foscari University of Venice, Italy Ted Nordhaus, Breakthrough Institute, USA Michael Schellenberger, Breakthrough Institute, USA George Theokritoff, University of Cambridge, UK

Review :
"Why is it proving so frustratingly difficult to determine and implement the measures necessary to protect our planet from the ravages of exploitation? Can the god of technology save us from the destruction we ourselves unleash, or must we turn to traditional religions for the passion to energize and mobilize constructive ecological policies? These urgent questions were recently examined by leading academics at a multi-disciplinary conference held in Venice, their deliberations faithfully recorded in this unusual and illuminating book. Privileged to eavesdrop on their conversations, we see more clearly than before why the achievement of consensus in political ecology is so very elusive." - John Hedley Brooke, Emeritus Professor of Science & Religion, University of Oxford, UK "For what shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul?" The Gospel of Mark's reflection provides the inspiration for this remarkable collection of essays and dialogues that tackles nothing less than the future of our planet. Gathering together an internationally renowned collection of philosophers, sociologists and theologians, Protecting Nature, Saving Creation is a passionate, sometimes conflicted, yet always urgent, and absolutely essential account of the vital questions facing the relations between religion, nature, ecology and theology for our century. Celebrating the best scholarly traditions of the dialogue between art and science, religious and secularlife, this collection provides compelling new directions for the humanities and social sciences'." - Jerry Brotton, author of A History of the World in Twelve Maps Professor of Renaissance Studies, Queen Mary University of London, UK