Description
Divided into four parts-Earth, Air, Fire, and Water-this book takes an elemental approach to the study of religion and ecology. It reflects recent theoretical and methodological developments in this field which seek to understand the ways that ideas and matter, minds and bodies exist together within an immanent frame of reference. The Bloomsbury Handbook of Religion and Nature focuses on how these matters materialize in the world around us, thereby addressing key topics in this area of study.
The editors provide an extensive introduction to the book, as well as useful introductions to each of its parts. The volume’s international contributors are drawn from the USA, South Africa, Netherlands, Norway, Indonesia, and South Korea, and offer a variety of perspectives, voices, cultural settings, and geographical locales.
This handbook shows that human concern and engagement with material existence is present in all sectors of the global community, regardless of religious tradition. It challenges the traditional methodological approach of comparative religion, and argues that globalization renders a comparative religious approach to the environment insufficient.
Table of Contents
List of Contributors
1. Introduction, Laura Hobgood (Southwestern University, USA) and Whitney Bauman (Florida International University, USA)
Part One: Earth2. Backyard Gardens as Sacred Spaces: An Emerging Research Agenda of Africana Spiritual Ecology for Ecowomanist Thought, Elonda Clay (VU University, Amsterdam, The Netherlands)3. In a Body on Wheels in Touch with the Earth: Cycling as Religion and Response, Laura Hobgood (Southwestern University, USA)4. Pressure, Gestures: Sacral Work: Bodies Poetics, Bobbi Patterson (Emory University, USA)5. Blood in The Soil: The Racial, Racist, and Religious Dimensions of Environmentalism, Christopher Carter (University of San Diego, USA)6. To Eat or Be Eaten? That’s the Question, Ernst Conradie (University of Western Cape, South Africa)Part Two: Air7: The Personhood of Air: The Ammatoan’s Indigenous Perspective, Samsul Maarif (Gadjah Mada University, Indonesia)8. Changing Atmospheres of Religion and Nature, Forrest Clingerman (Ohio Northern University, USA)9. Eco-Dao: An Ecological Theology of the Dao, Heup Young Kim (Kangnam University, South Korea)10. Remembering the Air: Aesthetic, Ethical, and Spiritual Dimensions of Wind Energy, Lisa Sideris (Indiana University, USA)11. Conspiring Together: Breathing for Justice, Laurel Kearns (Drew University, USA)Part Three: Fire12. Recovering/Uncovering Animality, Paul Waldau (Canisius College, USA)13. Feral Becoming and Environmentalism’s Primal Future, Sarah Pike (California State University, Chico, USA)14. From Burning Bush and Refiner’s Fire to Refinery Fires: Reflections on the Combustive Element of Fire, Marion Grau (Norwegian School of Theology, Norway)15. Fire, Religion, Nature and Shona Culture, Bella Mukonyora (Western Kentucky University, USA)16. Protective Occupation, Emergent Networks, Rituals of Solidarity: Comparing Alta (Sápmi), Mauna Kea (Hawai`i), and Standing Rock (North Dakota), Siv Ellen Kraft (University of the Arctic, Tromsø, Norway) and Gregory Johnson (University of Colorado, USA)Part Four: Water17. Buddhism, Bodhisattvas, and Compassionate Wisdom of Water, Elizabeth McAnally (Yale University, USA)18. Mountains of Memory: Confronting Climate Change in Sacred Mountain Landscapes, Elizabeth Allison (California Institute of Integral Studies, USA)19. At The Mercy Of Sacred Waters: Sanctification, Fetishization, Permeation and Responsiveness, Sigurd Bergman (Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Norway)20. Water from a Stone: Dams, Deserts, and the Miracle of Moses in the Modern World, Catherine Newell (University of Miami, USA)21. Concluding Reflections, Jay McDaniel (Hendrix College, USA)BibliographyGlossaryIndex
