This course explores how various religious communities are responding to environmental injustice. The course begins by studying specific local religious communities engaged in creation care and environmental justice. These faith communities then serve as reference points from which the course takes up larger questions of ecotheology and ethics, public religious leadership, and interfaith work for justice. Some central questions of the course include: What strategies do religious communities use to address environmental degradation? What can we learn about other religions through the entry point of environmental engagement? What are specific Lutheran theological/ecclesial resources for engaging ecological concerns? What do religious ways of knowing contribute to questions of ecological/environmental well being?
The course addresses a number of degree program outcomes:
- MDiv, MAM, MATS 3: Demonstrates a knowledge of and ability to communicate the diversity of the Christian heritage, especially in its Lutheran expressions, that is faithful to Scripture, ecumenically sensitive, and intellectually defensible; with an ability to evaluate, interpret, and integrate that heritage in light of contemporary knowledge and experience.
- MDiv, MAM, MATS 4: Demonstrates ability to think contextually, is culturally sensitive, and creatively engages a pluralistic world in interpreting the message of the gospel.
- MDiv, MAM 5: Demonstrates leadership skills for service in the ministries of worship, preaching, outreach, pastoral care, and education (or in the ministry practice for which student is preparing).
- MDiv 6: Demonstrates the ability to empower the ministry of the people of God and serve collegially within a local congregation or other ministry setting.
Course Learning Outcomes
- …describe the various emphases spiritual and theological emphasis of different religious traditions in responding to environmental injustice
- …articulate the contributions of religion (in its practices and ways of knowing) in efforts toward environmental justice
- …identify the strategies by which religious groups contest environmental injustice
- …formulate a publically compelling case for action in the cause of environmental justice—a case that is both grounded in one’s own theological tradition and informed by the wisdom of other traditions
Bibliography:
Gottlieb, Roger. The Oxford Handbook of Religion and Ecology
LaDuke, Winona. Recovering the Sacred: The Power of Naming and Claiming
McDuff, Mallory. Natural Saints: How People of Faith Are Working to Save God’s Earth
Moe-Lobeda, Cynthia. Resisting Structural Evil: Love as Ecological-Economic Vocation
Moore, Kathleen Dean, and Michael P. Nelson. Moral Ground: Ethical Action for a Planet in Peril