This course will direct systematic theological and practical reflection toward environmental issues and sustainable technologies for development. Further, the course will explore and suggest solutions for ethical problems related to economic globalization, southern hemisphere development and the health of the environment from global and local perspectives. Readings, presentations and brief papers will first acquaint us with the theological, ethical, economic and developmental issues regarding the preservation of “the creation.”
PROCEDURE:
A seminar format will be used. After initial lectures by the instructor, students will be responsible to lead in conversation and reflection on assigned texts. Individual environmental issues, as well as global diplomacy working toward resolution of such issues, will be studied. The course will eventually turn toward the learning of practical methods possible for the correction of environmental degradation. Students will also participate in leading the course with individual or team presentations of special projects that would address environmental ethical issues in their local cultures.
EVALUATION:
Evaluation will be based upon attendance and conversational participation (20%); leadership of seminar discussions (20%); two examinations (20%) and quality of the special project (whether team or individual) (40%).
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Required (Other articles will be assigned)
Barbour, Ian, Ethics In An Age of Technology ( New York: Harper and Row).
Cobb, John B., Jr., Is It Too Late? A Theology of Ecology, Revised Edition (Denton: Environmental Ethics Books, 1995).
Hall, Douglas John, Confessing the Faith ( Minneapolis: Fortress) pp.405-449. On library reserve.
Nebel, Bernard J. and Wright, Richard T., Environmental Science, 7 th ed. (Prentice Hall, 2000). This text will be on library reserve, with selected portions required for reading.
The Kyoto Agreement (available on line and in library)
This syllabus pertains to when the course was offered in 2007