1st Edition
Sacred Nature The Environmental Potential of Religious Naturalism
Sacred Nature examines the crisis of environmental degradation through the prism of religious naturalism, which seeks rich spiritual engagement in a world without a god. Jerome Stone introduces students to the growing field of religious naturalism, exploring a series of questions about how it addresses the environmental crises, evaluating the merits of public prophetic discourse that uses the language of spirituality. He presents and defends the concept of religious naturalism while drawing out the implications of religious naturalism for addressing some of the major environmental issues facing humans today. This book is designed for undergraduate and graduate students, as well as scholars specializing in contemporary religious thought or environmental studies.
Foreword
Introduction
Chapter One: Introducing Religious Naturalism
Chapter Two: Alternative Starting Points: Experiences of the Sacred and the Big Picture
Chapter Three: Appreciative Perception
Chapter Four: Spirituality for Naturalists
Chapter Five: The "G---d" Word
Chapter Six: Needed Paradigm Shifts
Chapter Seven: Learning from Indigenous Peoples
Chapter Eight: Religious Naturalism in the Public Square: Towards a Public Ecotheology
Conclusion
Index
Biography
Jerome A. Stone is a Professor Emeritus, Department of Philosophy, William Rainey Harper College, and formerly taught at Meadville Lombard Theological School. He is also a Community Minister affiliated with the Unitarian Church of Evanston, Illinois.
Stone not only makes the case that religious naturalism can incorporate a sense of sacredness that underwrites environmentalism; he also demonstrates that he is not alone in thinking this possible. This book describes a plethora of religiously naturalistic environmentalist positions, and makes clear that there has been for some time a community of the similarly-minded in this area. Andrew Dole, Amherst College, USA.
