Religion, Ethics, and the Environment
In this class we will consider the relationship between religion and ecology in some of the world’s great wisdom traditions, particularly Buddhism, Hinduism, Christianity and Judaism. Our approach will be comparative across traditions and attentive to a wide range of “big ideas” about human-nature relationships. We will explore the ways in which religious traditions perpetuate ideas of the bio-physical world that are both “nature-affirming” and “nature-denying,” considering such themes as stewardship, sacred geography and the interdependence of living beings. We will also examine how, in contemporary times, religious identity has fueled and shaped religiously-based environmental activism. (RELI 0110 or RELI 0130 or RELI 0160 or RELI 0190 or RELI 0295 or ENVS 0215) 3 hrs. sem.