Modernity, as Marx and other social theorists have noted, is characterized by flux and change. Political and economic forces span the globe creating broad, often negative changes to human communities and ecosystems. Global capitalism, industrialization, resource extractivism, state-centered political systems and technologically mediated forms of communications (e.g., the Internet) have resulted in displacement, ecological destruction, alienation and placelessness. Anthropogenic climate change, with rising global temperatures, rising sea levels and other associated environmental changes, now threatens the very existence of human and non-human species on the planet. We now recognize this unprecedented era in which humans have become a dominant planetary force as the Anthropocene (Crutzen and Stoermer 2000; Ziegler 2019). In this time of planetary environmental change, we find people increasingly live decentered, disembedded livesâdisconnected from nature and their fellow humans. Some argue there has been a hollowing out and destruction of communities, a dehumanization and de-sacralization of social life (Nixon 2011; McFague 2008).
The goal of this book is to explore the role religious traditions play in countering the tumultuous environmental and social changes being wrought in the Anthropocene. The key question we seek to elucidate is how religious traditions and belief systems provide a continuing source of wisdomânormative moral frameworksâfor living in this moment of change and uncertainty. Despite the growth of secularism and scientific world views, religion remains an important frame of reference for many peoples and cultures around the world (Tse 2014). Given the importance of religion to the day-to-day lives of people and to the institutions that govern societies, it is critical to examine how religious traditions inform conversations about how to promote and achieve environmentally and socially sustainable communities: a moral geography, if you will, for the twenty-first century.
There are few multidisciplinary studies that bring together religious and sustainability studies. Until recently, the study of religion and sustainability has been divided into distinct areas of scholarly study. Within religious studies, the study of religion and ecology has long been recognized as a subfield (Bohannon 2014; Gottlieb 2006; Grim and Tucker 2014; Hart 2017; Jenkins et al. 2016). Working in this subfield, scholars have explored how religious groups engage with ecological ideas and environmentalism. For Johnston (2014), the study of religion and ecology needs to turn its attention to the role of religion in the growing social movements engaged explicitly in sustainability work. He writes there is âa dearth of attention to the religious dimensions of sustainabilityâ and that âlittle attention has been paid to the interdependence of sustainability and religionâ (Johnston 2014, 4). His book tries to remedy this through an ethnographic study of how religious and spiritual ideas influence the leaders of key non-governmental sustainability organizations. What is missing from the book is how different religious and faith groups are themselves engaged in the construction of sustainability discourses and practices.
On the other hand, the field of sustainability studies has been marked by a lack of engagement with the humanities and especially religious studies (Sze 2018). A review of recently published undergraduate sustainability textbooks reveals an emphasis on environmental science, a focus upon the environmental impacts of economic growth, and the discussion of technological fixes that will lead to sustainability (Brinkmann 2016; Caradonna 2014; Mulligan 2018; Robertson 2017; Thiele 2013). There is little or no discussion in these texts of how social values, including spirituality, religion and faith influence sustainability. Koehrsen (2018, 4) notes that the ârapidly growing field of sustainability transitions,â a subfield of sustainability studies, âbarely considers religion.â More generally, Robinson (2004, 378) writes that sustainability cannot be achieved solely through new technology and greater efficiencies, but that the âsocial dimensions of sustainability must be integrated with biophysical ones.â Implied in his notion of the âsocial dimensions of sustainabilityâ is the need to consider religion and faith traditions. He (Robinson 2004, 379) writes:
the meaning and value of sustainability are rooted partly in different philosophical and moral conceptions of the appropriate way to conceive of the relationship between humanity and nature. This means that what can and should be done to achieve a sustainable society is not fundamentally a scientific or technical issue.
Szeâs (2018) recent edited collection is one of the few books (also see Agyeman 2013) that seek to remedy this lack of attention to social dimensions in sustainability studies. It is an interdisciplinary collection of studies that focus on how social justice concerns intersect with sustainability and sustainable development. Szeâs volume, while recognizing that sustainability must engage social values and issues of equity, does not focus upon nor âsituateâ religion and faith as part of its examination of sustainability and sustainable development (Sze et al. 2018, 6).
One reason for this lack of attention to religion in the field of sustainability studies may be that environmental scientists and economists want to appear objective and rational, and seek to avoid the coloration of their work as faith-based, or even faith-influenced. Upon closer inspection, however, we find that the landscape of sustainability scholarship is unavoidably in dialogue with various religious ideas and practices. For example, the scholarship on âclimate justiceâ often employs a language with strong religious roots. Here is a line from an article in the prominent journal Global Environmental Politics:
âŠ(T)he groups most exposed to the shocks and stresses caused by climate change âmarginalized and poor communities comprising precarious and informal laborers, peasant farmers, Indigenous peoples, forest dwellers, residents of informal settlements, and women of all agesâare the most underrepresented in decision-making arenas⊠(Brown and Spiegel 2019, 157)
Compare that to this line from the Old Testament prophet Isaiah:
The LORD enters into judgment against the elders and leaders of his people: âIt is you who have ruined my vineyard; the plunder from the poor is in your houses. What do you mean by crushing my people and grinding the faces of the poor?â declares the Lord, the LORD Almighty. (NIV Isaiah 3:14â15)
The language of these two statements is different, but the overall moral structure is parallel: the powerful are oppressing the weak, and the land suffers as a result. Climate disruption is a moral issue, made recognizable as such by the teachings and legacy of faith traditions.
Our goal here is to showcaseâthrough case studies from different geographic locales and religious traditionsâthe sustainability and moral imaginaries of religious and spiritual communities. Our authors explore the ways sustainability, as a social, economic and environmental discourse, intersects with religious beliefs and practices; how different faith traditionsâwith specific visions of the good lifeâcan aid in the construction of ethical relationships of people, place and the planetâs ecosystems. Through our multidisciplinary engagement with diverse religious traditions, we hope to provide a resource for scholars, students and the public to re-conceptualize how religious belief systems and practices inform efforts to create moral geographies and sustainable relationships between people, places and environments.
Ideas and beliefs are made consequential in the here and now of constructing places and landscapes. We not only live out all our lives in places that are dependent on natural systems, but we transform those places through our lived practices, which are political, economic and cultural (Cresswell 2004). So, it matters greatly where we engage in sustainable practicesâon farms, in power plants, on streets, sidewalks and highways, in our factories and offices, in our villages. And the reality of human behavior is that faith traditions are and will continue to be part of our engagement with the environment and creation of place, providing beliefs and a system of practices that give meaning to place and shape the materiality of place in accordance with a normative vision of what constitutes the good life and the healthy relationship with the natural world and oneâs fellow human beings.
This book contains chapters by authors from diverse disciplinary and methodological backgrounds. Yet we have organized it to follow a logical arc from: (1) theological reflection and faith-based ideas about sustainability expressed in a range of sacred texts to (2) theological and faith-based sustainabl...