Ecotheology: A Christian Conversation

by Kiara Jorgenson, Alan G. Padgett

Just as God loves creation, so are Christians called to care for it. Now, amid the accelerating degradation of our global environment, that task has taken on greater urgency than ever. How should Christians respond to the climate crisis and widespread pollution of earth’s shared commons, water and air? How might Christian communities think about human responsibility to other living creatures?  In roundtable format, Richard Bauckham, Cynthia Moe-Lobeda, Steven Bouma-Prediger, and John F. Haught navigate the layers of what it means for humans to live in right relationship with earth’s lifesystems. After each contributor’s essay, the other three contributors issue a response—including points of disagreement and questions—thereby modeling for readers productive and respectful dialogue. The ecumenical conversations in  Ecotheology  represent the diverse viewpoints of contributors’ theological and practical commitments, exploring creation care through a variety of frameworks, including natural science, biblical studies, systematic theology, and Christian ethics.

240 pages, Paperback

Published September 24, 2020

Reviews

[Ruth · Rating 4 out of 5]

The four primary voices in this conversation provide a rich, though incomplete, portrait of the current state of ecotheology in American Christianity today. It is deep enough to engage people with an academic theological background but not so heady as to scare off those coming to the topic from an ecological or climate-based focus.

[Rohen · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is primarily a rating on if I’d recommend reading this. I’m a hard layperson at theology, so I read many interesting ideas here that just flew right past me. But it all supports the case that there is a lot of discourse and theory about ecological offerings in Christian theology.