Ecological Imaginations in the World Religions: An Ethnographic Analysis

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The field of religion and ecology is an emerging and growing movement that is becoming relevant and influential in the world. It seeks to analyse, encourage, inspire, use, compare, and combine religious traditions to engage and shape environmental issues. Tony Watling seeks to ethnographically analyse this important field and its expressions. In particular, he analyses and compares its explorations of different world religions for ecological themes and the resulting expressions of ecological visions, in what he terms 'religious ecotopias' - idealized, environmentally-friendly re-imaginings of nature and humanity, and correspondingly religion, which seek to influence environmental attitudes.

Reviews

"In this breath taking analysis across a wide variety of religious traditions from East and West, we are invited to explore the religious innovation that allows ecotopian visions to come to the surface in contemporary religious environmentalism. This book is valuable on a number of levels, not only for its accurate and penetrating analysis of an impressive range of religious ecological traditions, but also in the task of re-educating those who incorrectly believe that religion lacks a positive role in contemporary societies. I also believe that even those caught up to some extent as participants in this varied cultural ferment - such as ecotheologians like myself - have much to learn and appreciate from this fascinating and thought provoking study." - Professor Celia Deane-Drummond, Department of Theology and Religious Studies, University of Chester, UK
[This book] is an important research work into the "souls" of the world religious traditions and their visions on created things and the environmental problem. It is also an important book on comparative studies of world religions and ecology. It is a book of its kind and therefore, will be appreciated highly by all who want to know more about these religious traditions and the evolving ecological debates. -- Bibliographia Missionaria

Author Bio

Dr Tony Watling researched religious and scientific views in public debates on ecology and the environment as a Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) Research Fellow in the Faculty of Theology at Leiden University.