Spring
Tuesday-Thursday 11:10-12:25
209 McMahon Hall
Instructor: Dr. William A. Barbieri
Office: 107A Caldwell Hall
Office Hours: M 1:00-3:00
Voice: (202) 319-4767
E-mail: barbieri@cua.edu
Description:
This course probes the links between religious traditions, ethical inquiry, and the role of humans in the natural world. Our compass will take in various Christian as well as Asian and indigenous traditions. The questions we will explore include: How do religious commitments shape environmental practices, and what is the theological significance of our ecological situation? What sorts of moral features may we attribute to the non-human world? What models is it appropriate to employ in religious and ethical discourse about nature? How is nature related to culture? How do philosophical and religious viewpoints differ in their approaches to environmental ethics? How does the American experience condition moral attitudes toward the environment? Is some sort of fundamental conversion or transformation of our attitudes and practices required if we are to aspire to a responsible ecological ethic, and if so, what sort? A central goal of the course is to aid students in developing the requisite tools for constructing an informed and critical stance in regard to issues of environmental ethics.
Learning Objectives:
- To familiarize students with a range of questions and problems surrounding the human relation to the natural world.
- To acquaint students with the discourse of ethics as a means of understanding and addressing these issues.
- To introduce students to important perspectives on these issues associated with the world’s major religious traditions.
- To equip students to think critically about the ethical and religious dimensions of ecology and to formulate and defend their own perspectives on the topic.
To enliven students to their own role and responsibilities with respect to ecological processes and problems.
- To promote concise and incisive writing on complex topics such as those investigated in the course.
Texts:
- Required text available at the CUA Bookstore:
Roger S. Gottlieb, ed., The Oxford Handbook of Religion and Ecology (New York: Oxford, 2006); cited as OHRE below
- Readings marked with * will be available on Blackboard or online
- Students are expected to track current events via appropriate media
Requirements:
1. Attendance and participation (10%)
This will be an interactive class. Preparation of the materials and active participation in class discussions are required. The readings average roughly thirty pages per class. For each class, students should come to class prepared to identify a passage in the assigned readings that raises salient issues for discussion. Attendance, of course, is essential. Students are allotted two missed classes without penalty. Thereafter, each unexcused absence will reduce the attendance and participation mark by one half of a letter grade. Absences may be excused only according to University guidelines and with full documentation.
2. Five short (two-page, single-spaced) “critique” papers (50%)
See guidelines below.
3. Class Project (15%)
See guidelines below.
4A. Mid-Term (10%) and Final (15%) Exams
The mid-term exam will be given on March 2. A study guide will be presented in advance. The final exam will be given on the date specified in the University calendar for our time slot (May 2). The final exam will focus on the second part of the course. A study guide will be distributed in advance.
or 4B. Service Learning Option (25%)
See guidelines below.
Grading System:
Student exams, papers, and other work will be evaluated using standard letter grades. For purposes of calculating the class grade, letter grades will be converted to numerical grades using the University’s four-point scale (e.g. A = 4.0, A- = 3.7, B+ = 3.3, etc.). See the University policy at: https://policies.cua.edu/academicundergrad/gradesfull.cfm#iii
Academic Honesty:
Academic honesty is required of all CUA students, even in an ethics course. See the University procedures on Student Academic Dishonesty at: integrity.cua.edu.
University Resources:
The university has several resources to help you succeed at CUA. These include (but are not limited to) the following:
- The Center for Academic Success (Mullen Library, Second Floor, https://success.cua.edu/services) offers a range of services to help you learn how to learn, manage your time, and generally succeed in college.
- The Writing Center (219 Mullen, https://english.cua.edu/wc/) can offer a variety of services to help you with written work. You may find them especially useful for early stages of thinking about an assignment, but they can also help you develop editorial skills useful in the late stages of writing. Their website specifies what they can and cannot do for you.
- The Undergraduate Advising Center (UAC) offers guidance to all undergraduates, especially first-year students, as they move toward their academic goals. The UAC can be found in B 10 McMahon Hall and at https://success.catholic.edu/.
- Disability Support Services: Any student with a documented disability should contact the instructor and Disability Support Services (at 202-319-5211, room 207 Pryzbyla Center) to coordinate reasonable accommodations. To read about the services and accommodations, visit the website at https://dss.catholic.edu/index.html.
Schedule of Topics and Readings:
INTRODUCTION
1/10 Denial
Film: An Inconvenient Truth (excerpts shown in class)
*Susan Opotow and Leah Weiss, “Denial and the Process of Exclusion in Environmental Conflict” (Blackboard)
1/12 Observing Nature
ASSIGNMENT: WRITE A HAIKU POEM
*Annie Dillard, “Spring” (Blackboard)
David Landis Barnhill, “The Spiritual Dimension of Nature Writing,” (OHRE Chapter 19, 419-445)
1/17 The Case Against Christianity
PAPER #1 DUE ONE HOUR BEFORE CLASS
Genesis, Chapters 1-3
*Lynn White, “The Historical Roots of Our Ecologic Crisis” (Blackboard)
*Willis Jenkins, “After Lynn White: Religious Ethics and Environmental Problems” (Blackboard)
THE BOUNDARIES OF MORAL COMMUNITY
1/19 Community and Society
*Wendell Berry, “The Ecological Crisis as a Crisis of Character” and “Does Community Have a Value?” (Blackboard)
*Murray Bookchin, “What Is Social Ecology?” (Blackboard)
1/24 The Bounds of Humanity
*Barry S. Gower, “What Do We Owe Future Generations?” (Blackboard)
*David L. Hull, “Are Species Really Individuals?” (Blackboard)
1/26 Animals (DISCUSSION BOARD #1)
*Desmond Stewart, “The Limits of Trooghaft” (Blackboard)
*Peter Singer, from Animal Liberation (Blackboard)
*Tom Regan, “The Case for Animal Rights” (Blackboard)
1/31 Land and Nature (Class concludes early for Mass of St. Thomas Aquinas)
*Aldo Leopold, from A Sand County Almanac
*Paul W. Taylor, “The Ethics of Respect for Nature”
2/2 Deep Ecology
PAPER #2 DUE
*James Lovelock, from The Revenge of Gaia
*Arne Naess, “The Environmental Crisis and the Deep Ecological Movement”
ECOLOGICAL FAITH
2/7 Religious Theory and Practice
Roger S. Gottlieb, “Introduction” (OHRE, 3-21)
2/9 Indigenous Religions (DISCUSSION BOARD #2)
Film: Koyaanisqatsi (viewed in class)
John A. Grim, “Indigenous Traditions: Religion and Ecology” (OHRE Chapter 9, 283-309)
2/14 Indian Religions
O. P. Dwivedi, “Hindu Religion and Environmental Well-being” (OHRE Chapter 6, 160-183
Christopher Key Chapple, “Jainism and Ecology: Transformation of Tradition” (OHRE Chapter 5, 147-159)
2/16 Buddhism (DISCUSSION BOARD #3)
Thich Nhat Hanh, “Earth Gathas” (Handout)
Stephanie Kaza, “The Greening of Buddhism: Promise and Perils” (OHRE Chapter 7, 184-206)
2/21 No Class—Administrative Monday
2/23 Chinese Traditions
Lao Tzu, from the Tao Te Ching (Handout)
James Miller, “Daoism and Nature” (OHRE Chapter 9, 220-236)
John Berthrong, “Motifs for a New Confucian Ecological Vision” (OHRE Chapter 10, 236-258)
2/28 Islam
PAPER #3 DUE
Qur’an, selections (Handout)
Richard C. Foltz, “Islam” (OHRE Chapter 8, 207-219)
3/2 MID-TERM EXAM
3/7 No Class—Spring Break
3/9 No Class—Spring Break
3/14 Judaism
Hava Tirosh-Samuelson, “Judaism” (OHRE Chapter 1, 23-64)
3/16 Orthodox Christianity (DISCUSSION BOARD #4)
John Chryssavgis, “The Earth as Sacrament: Insights from Orthodox Christian Theology and Spirituality” (OHRE Chapter 3, 92-114)
3/21 Protestantism
H. Paul Santmire and John B. Cobb Jr., “The World of Nature According to the Protestant Tradition” (OHRE Chapter 4, 115-146)
Calvin B. DeWitt, “The Scientist and the Shepherd: The Emergence of Evangelical Environmentalism” (OHRE Chapter 24, 568-87)
3/23 Catholicism
PAPER #4 DUE
John Hart, “Catholicism” (OHRE Chapter 2, 65-91)
*Pope Francis, Laudato Si’, selections (Blackboard)
*Thomas Berry, “The New Story” (Blackboard)
RELIGIOUS FRONTIERS
3/28 Environmental Racism and Ecojustice
Roger S. Gottlieb, “Religious Environmentalism in Action” (OHRE Chapter 21, 467-511)
3/30 Ecofeminism (DISCUSSION BOARD #5)
Rosemary Radford Ruether, “Religious Ecofeminism: Healing the Ecological Crisis” (OHRE Chapter 16, 362-375)
4/4 New Religious Movements
Bron Taylor, “Religion and Environmentalism in America and Beyond” (OHRE Chapter 25, 588-612)
4/6 Genetic Engineering and Transhumanism
Thomas A. Shannon, “Genetic Engineeering and Nature: Human and Otherwise” (OHRE Chapter 14, 326-347)
4/11 Population and Sustainability (DISCUSSION BOARD #6)
Daniel C. Maguire, “Population, Religion, and Ecology” (OHRE Chapter 13, 313-325)
4/13 Holy Thursday—No Class
4/18 Climate Change
*Jame Schaefer, “Religious Motivation for Mitigating Human-Forced Climate Change” (Blackboard)
*Sallie McFague, “Cities, Climate Change and Christianity”
4/20 University Research Day
Presentations
4/25 Otherkind
PAPER # 5 DUE
Andrew Linzey, “So Near and Yet So Far: Animal Theology and Ecological Theology” (OHRE Chapter 15, 348-361)
*Annie Dillard, “Teaching a Stone to Talk” (Blackboard)
4/27 Presentations
5/2 Final Exam—8:00-10:00 a.m.
Instructions for Class Assignments
- Critiques
The two-page “critique” paper is an exercise in which students have the opportunity to engage in critical reflection on the course readings and topics. One goal of the papers should be to relate specific readings to the broader objectives of the course as an inquiry into religious and ethical perspectives on ecological issues. Another goal should be the development of one’s own views on the topics addressed in the readings through critical assessments of the authors’ views. Papers may emphasize one of these approaches or combine them.
In form, papers should be:
- typed
- single-spaced
- no longer than two pages. You may set margins as you wish.
Papers must be clearly identified with regard to author, date and paper number. All quotes should be referenced with an author name and page number in parentheses.
It virtually goes without saying that papers should be flawlessly written. They will be marked down for errors of grammar or spelling.
With regard to content:
- Each paper should engage at least one of the class texts. The relevant texts for each paper are those assigned for the section of the course in which the paper is due.
- Without simply summarizing the content, the paper should demonstrate the student’s grasp of the reading or readings addressed.
- Finally, the papers should take account of the importance in ethics of posing the proper questions. Each paper should culminate in the formulation of an ethical question or set of questions raised by the readings and the author’s critique of them. This is an essential component of the papers, and those neglecting this element will be marked down accordingly.
N.B.: An additional purpose of the papers is to focus concerns for our inquiry as a class, and selected papers may be distributed in class as the basis for group discussions. To this end, papers are due on Blackboard ONE HOUR BEFORE CLASS on the date assigned. Students must also bring a hard copy to class.
Late paper policy: Extensions may be granted when compelling grounds exist. Otherwise, papers submitted at class time will be docked a third of a grade, and papers submitted after the due date will be marked down a full letter grade for each class day they are late.
- Service Learning Option
In lieu of taking the course exams, students may opt to carry out a service learning project. This involves arranging a volunteer placement with an environmental organization (e.g. Greenpeace, Compassion Over Killing) or an ecologically engaged religious organization (e.g. Maryknoll, Center of Concern) for two hours a week, periodically reporting briefly to the class on your activities, and writing a 6-8 page final paper critically reflecting on your experiences. Further details are available from the instructor.
- Student Projects
Students, working in groups of four, are to select a current ecological issue (e.g. climate change, genetic technologies, globalization, biodiversity, nuclear power, vegetarianism) and develop a presentation on its ethical and religious dimensions designed to run 25 minutes. Projects will be presented during the last week of the semester.
The presentations may take any form and adopt any media the students wish (special requirements, e.g. for video or power-point presentations, should be made known to the instructor well in advance). Be creative. However, each project should address the following:
- What are the crucial dimensions of the theme or problem you are addressing? Educate us!
- What are the ethical and/or religious issues involved? Challenge us!
- What concrete recommendations can you provide? Inspire us!
Moreover, in form, each presentation should include:
- A (preferably one-page) handout as a visual aid
- A one-page bibliography of written and electronic sources on the subject
- Clear contributions from each member of the group
- Interactive opportunities for the audience
A one-page proposal describing your planned project is due on 3/21.