Course Objectives
To enable the students to understand critically the distress of earth from the vantage points of the subsistence communities who are disproportionately affected by the crisis and to become involved in the civil society interventions to resist the abuse of nature. To invite the students to critically look at our traditions of theology and biblical interpretations which have legitimized the plunder of earth, and to engage in deconstructing the doctrines and scriptures and traditions, using the hermeneutical key of the lived experiences of the dalits, tribals, adivasis, women, poor and other marginalized communities. To inspire the students to form concerned groups in their respective theological colleges, faith communities and civil society, and to engage in vocations of eco-justice ministries both in church and society in solidarity with the social movements of our times. To equip the students to transform the churches—local congregations—into intentional communities of creation-care and healing through their informed, committed, and creative involvement and leadership.
Course Outline
Week 1: Problematizing the Problem
Even though we are familiar with different ecological problems that we face today, we lack a deeper analytical and political engagement with the problems. So this section attempts to problematize the ecological problem, deconstructing our received knowledges. It also involves an attempt to critically look at our own faith traditions which theologically and scripturally legitimized the destruction of earth. Ecological problem will be problematized as a justice issue.
Suggested Readings:
Bastiaan Wielenga, Towards an Eco-just Society (Bangalore: CSA, 1999), 9-46.
Larry Rasmussen, Earth Community Earth Ethics (New York: Orbis Books, 1997), 1-180.
The Hindu Survey of the Environment
Week 2: Analytical Mediation
This section attempts to introduce and critically evaluate different philosophies and social theories that are used in contemporary environmental discourses to problematize and to engage in environmental issues such as deep ecology, social ecology, Gandhian philosophy and praxis, land ethic etc.
Suggested Readings:
Garrett Hardin, “The Tragedy of the Commons,” in Debating the Earth: The Environmental Politics Reader, edited by John S. Dryzek and David Schlosberg (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999), 23-34.
Rajaratnam, Development and Environmental Economics: The Relevance of Gandhi (Madras: CReNIO, 1993).
Ramachandra Guha, Environmentalism: A Global History (New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2000)
Week 3: Poverty, Globalization, Development, and Ecology
This section attempts to look at the distress of earth in the context of the colonization of the lifeworld with special focus on poverty, globalization and development. The focus is to approach the ecological crisis at the interface of the cry of the poor and the cry of the earth. Efforts will be made to learn from the social movements that are involved in proposing viable alternatives to the dominant model of development.
Suggested Readings:
Baastian Wielegna, Towards an Eco-just Society (Bangalore: CSA, 1999).
Cynthia Moe- Lobeda, Healing a Broken World: Globalization and God (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2002).
Daniel Chetty, ed., Ecology and Development: Theological Perspectives, George Zachariah, Alternatives Unincorporated: Earth Ethics from the Grassroots (London: Equinox, 2010)
John Mohan Razu, Global Capitalism as Hydra: A New Look at Market, Money and MNCs Ethical Dilemmas between the Idols of Death and God of Life (Delhi: ISPCK/BUILD, 2006).
K.C. Abraham, “Development: Some Theological and Ethical Reflections,” in Transforming Vision: Theological-Methodological Paradigm Shift, K. C. Abraham (Tiruvalla: CSS Books, 2006).
Rajula Annie Watson, Development and Justice: A Christian Understanding of Land Ethics (New Delhi: ISPCK, 2004).
Smitu Kothari, “Damming the Narmada and the Politics of Development,” in Toward Sustainable Development: Struggling Over India’s Narmada River, edited by William F. Fisher (Armonk: M.E Sharpe, 1995), 421-44.
Wofgang Sachs, ed., Development Dictionary: A Guide to Knowledge as Power (London: Zed Books, 1992).
Week 4: Modern Science and Technology and the Distress of Earth
How does modern science and technology contribute to the distress of earth? Modern science and technology acts hand in glove with nation states and the corporate world to continue their hegemony and control over communities and nature. Special attention will be given to feminist and postcolonial critiques of modern science and technology. New interventions in the field of agriculture through bio-technology will be critically evaluated.
Suggested Readings:
Ashis Nandy, ed., Science, Hegemony and Violence: A Requiem for Modernity (New York: Oxford University Press, 1988).
Claude Alvares, Science, Development and Violence: The Revolt against Modernity (Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1994).
Thomas, “Technology, Culture and Religion” in The Church’s Mission and Post-Modern Humanism, M. Thomas (Tiruvalla: CSS, 1996).
Meera Nanda, Prophets Facing Backward: Postmodern Critiques of Science and Hindu Nationalism in India (New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2003).
Sandra Harding, Is Science Multicultural? Postcolonialisms, Feminisms, and Epistemologies, (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1998).
Sarojini Henry, The Encounter of Faith and Science in Inter-Religious Dialogue (Delhi: ISPCK, 2005).
Shiv Visvanathan, “Knowledge, Justice and Democracy,” in Science and Citizens: Globalization and the Challenge of Engagement, edited by Melissa Leach et al. (New Delhi: Orient Longman, 2007), 87.
Week 5: Climate Change
This section attempts to do an in depth study of Climate Change as a model to analyze and to engage with contemporary environmental problems with special reference to Climate injustice and Climate apartheid.
Suggested Readings:
Andrew Hoerner and Nia Robinson, A Climate of Change: African Americans, Global Warming, and a Just Climate Policy in the US (California: Economic Justice and Climate Change Initiative, June 2008).
George Zachariah, “Musings on Climate Justice: Subaltern Perspectives,” Journal of Lutheran Ethics (April, 2009).
Michael Northcott, A Moral Climate: The Ethics of Global Warming (Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 2007).
Sallie McFague, A New Climate for Theology: God, the World, and Global Warming (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2008).
Week 6: Multi-Religious Perspectives on Creation Care
This section attempts to develop a multi-religious perspective by drawing from different religious traditions to understand their cosmogonies and their attitudes towards the non-human beings. It will also explore the possibility of inter faith dialogue in the context of the distress of the earth. Indigenous and primal religious traditions including dalit religious traditions will be studied in depth.
Suggested Readings:
Christopher Key and Mary Evelyn Tucker, eds., Hinduism and Ecology: The Intersection of Earth, Sky, and Water (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2000)
Christopher Key, ed., Jainism and Ecology: Nonviolence in the Web of Life (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2002).
Hava Tirosh-Samuelson, Judaism and Ecology: Created World and Reveled Word (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2002).
John A. Grim, Indigenous Traditions and Ecology: The Interbeing of Cosmology and Community (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2001).
Mary Evelyn Tucker and John Berthrong, eds., Confucianism and Ecology: The Interrelation of Heaven, Earth, and Humans (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1998).
Mary Evelyn Tucker, ed., Buddhism and Ecology: The Interconnection of Dharma and Deeds. (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1997).
N.J. Girardot, et al., eds., Daoism and Ecology: Ways within a Cosmic Landscape (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2001).
Paul F. Knitter, “A Common Creation Story? Inerreligious Dialogue and Ecology,” Journal of Ecumenical Studies (2000).
Paul F. Knitter, One Earth, Many Religions: Mutlifaith Dialogue and Global Responsibility (Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 1995).
Richard C. Foltz, et al., eds., Islam and Ecology: A Bestowed Trust (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2003).
Week 7: Women, Patriarchy, and Nature: Insights from Eco-womanist Theology
This section attempts to approach the issue at the interface of patriarchy and environmental crisis. The interconnectedness between violence against women and violence against nature will be explored and analyzed drawing from eco-feminist and womanist theologies. Special attention will be given to go beyond the essentialist category of eco-feminism to eco-womanism drawing from the struggles of subaltern social movements in India.
Suggested Readings:
Aruna Gnanadason, Listen to Women, Listen to the Earth (Geneva, WCC Publications, 2005). Gabriele Dietrich, A New Thing on Earth (Delhi/Madurai, ISPCK/TTS, 2001).
Heather Eaton and Lois Ann Lorentzen, eds., Ecofeminism and Globalization: Exploring Culture, Context and Religion (Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2003).
Ivone Gebara, Longing for Running Waters: Ecofeminism and Liberation (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1999).
Maria Mies and Vandana Shiva, Ecofeminism (New Delhi: Kali for Women, 1993).
Rosemary Radford Ruether, ed., Women Healing Earth: Third World Women on Ecology, Feminism, and Religion (New York, Orbis Press, 1996).
Sallie McFague, Models of God: Theology for an Ecological Nuclear Age (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1987).
Vandana Shiva, Staying Alive: Women, Ecology and Survival in India (New Delhi: Kali for Women, 1988).
Week 8: Dalit Perspectives on Green Theology
The ecological crisis has disproportionately affected the dalits. So this section attempts to explore the connection between environmental problems and caste system. It will also critically look at the saffronization process and the casteist nature of ecological movements and ecological interventions. Special attention will be given in drawing from dalit theological and cultural resources to construct alternate green theologies.
Suggested Readings
George Mathew Nalunnakkal, Green Liberation (Delhi: ISPCK, 1999).
Gopal Guru, “Dalits in Pursuit of Modernity,” in India another Millennium?, edited by Romila Thapar (New Delhi: Penguin Books, 2000).
James H. Cone, “Whose Earth Is It, Anyway?” in Earth Habitat: Eco-injustice and the Church’s Response, edited by Dieter Hessel and Larry Rasmussen (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2001), 23-32.
Week 9: Adivasi/Tribal Perspectives on Green Theology
This section attempts to look at the way ecological ethnicities such as adivasis and tribals have been disproportionately affected by the ecological crisis. Ethnic cleansing through displacement and the crisis of the environmental refugees will also be discussed. Attempts will be made to explore the creation-rich traditions of indigenous communities in constructing alternative theological and ethical reflections on earth.
Suggested Readings:
John A. Grim, Indigenous Traditions and Ecology: The Interbeing of Cosmology and Community (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2001).
Smithu Kothari, “Sovereignty and Swaraj: Adivasi Encounters with Modernity and Majority,” in Indigenous Traditions and Ecology: The Interbeing of Cosmology and Community, edited by John A Grim, Cambridge (MA: Harvard University Press, 2001).
Wati Longchar, An Emerging Asian Theology: Tribal Theology: Issues, Method and Perspective (Jorhat: Eastern Theological College, 2000).
Week 10: Hermeneutical Mediation
This section explores biblical resources to respond to the distress of earth. It further looks at relevant hermeneutical methods to deconstruct biblical texts to inspire communities to engage in the praxis of earth healing.
Suggested Readings:
Barbara Rossing, The Choice between Two Cities: Whore, Bride, and Empire in the Apocalypse
(Harrisburg: Trinity Press, 1999).
Norman Habel, Readings from the Perspective of Earth (Cleveland: The Pilgrim Press, 2000).
_____, The Earth Story in Genesis (Cleveland: The Pilgrim Press, 2000).
_____, The Earth Story in Wisdom Traditions (Cleveland: The Pilgrim Press, 2000).
_____, The Earth Story in the Psalms and the Prophets (Cleveland: The Pilgrim Press, 2000).
_____, The Earth Story in the New Testament (Cleveland: The Pilgrim Press, 2000).
Theodore Hiebert, The Yahwist Landscape: Nature and Religion in Early Israel (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996).
V.J. John, The Ecological Vision of Jesus: Nature in the Parables of Mark (Tiruvalla and Bangalore: CSS/BTTBPSA, 2002).
Week 11: Towards Alternative Green Theologies
In the light of the above discussions the attempt is to construct contextual alternative green theologies. Theological deconstructions are required in re-imagining the concept of God, developing a non-anthropocentric theological anthropology, subaltern earth bound Christology and re-interpreting redemption. While the deconstruction will use the hermeneutical key of the subaltern communities in India, other perspectives and traditions such as ecumenical, Orthodox, Roman Catholic, and evangelical will also be considered.
Suggested Readings
Aruna Gnanadason, Listen to Women, Listen to the Earth (Geneva, WCC Publications, 2005). Dieter Hessel and Rosemary Ruether, Christianity and Ecology: Seeking the Wellbeing of Earth and Humans (Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 2000). Gabriele Dietrich, A Thing on Earth (Delhi: ISPCK, 2001).
George Mathew Nalunnakkal, Green Liberation (Delhi: ISPCK, 1999).
K.C. Abraham, Eco-Justice: A New Agenda for Church’s Mission (Bombay: BUILD Publishers, 1992).
Poulose Mar Gregorios, The Human Presence: An Orthodox View of Nature (Geneva: WCC Publications, 1978).
Sebastian Kappen, Divine Challenge and Human Response (Thiruvalla: CSS Books, 2001).
Week 12: Towards Alternative Earth Ethics
The attempt in this section is to develop contextual and alternative earth ethics drawing from the discussions in the previous sections.
Suggested Readings:
Baastian Wielegna, Towards an Eco-just Society (Bangalore: CSA, 1999).
George Zachariah, Alternatives Unincorporated: Earth Ethics from the Grassroots (London: Equinox, 2010).
Ivone Gebara, Longing for Running Waters: Ecofeminism and Liberation (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1999).
K.C. Abraham, “Environmental Ethics: Some Challenges,” in Transforming Vision: Theological-Methodological Paradigm Shift, K. C. Abraham (Tiruvalla: CSS Books, 2006).
Larry Ramussen, Earth Community, Earth Ethics (New York: Orbis Books, 1996). Leonardo Boff, Cry of the Earth; Cry of the Poor (New York: Orbis Books, 1997).
Michael Northcott, The Environment and Christian Ethics (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996).
Rajula Annie Watson, Development and Justice: A Christian Understanding of Land Ethics (New Delhi: ISPCK, 2004).
Sallie McFague, Life Abundant: Rethinking Theology and Economy for a Planet in Peril (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2001).
Week 13: Eco-Spirituality: Ecological Re-imaginations of Worship and Proclamation
Green theology is an affirmation of eco-spirituality. It is the celebration of our connectedness with the Divine and the cosmos. How do we bring this eco-spirituality and ecological awareness into our proclamation and worship life? This section is an attempt to re-imagine proclamation and liturgy to make them channels of eco-justice ministry.
Suggested Readings
David Rhoads, Earth and the Word: Classic Sermons on Saving the Planet (New York: Continuum Press, 2007).
Michael S. Northcott, “Farmed Salmon and the Sacramental feast: How Christian Worship resists Global Capitalism,” in Public Theology for the 21st Century, edited by William F. Storrar and Andrew R. Morton (London: T & T Clark, 2004).
Week 14: Towards Green Congregations
Where do we go from here? How do we create congregations that are sensitive to ecological justice ministries? How do we help the church to do an ecological audit and observe ecological Sabbath? How do we help the church to develop social statements on ecological issues and government policies?
Selected Resources
www.webofcreation.org