Theology and Ecology
University of Notre Dame Department of Theology
Instructor: Fr. Terry Ehrman, C.S.C
I. Course Description and Goals
A. Course Description
We live and act in an ecological theater created by God that includes all other living organisms and their ecosystems within the biosphere. Urgent questions abound today about what our relationship is to the rest of the natural world. This course investigates the Christian understanding of God as Creator, creation, and our human relationship to God, one another, and the natural world. We will examine the theology of creation beginning with Scripture and the Creed and progressing through the Early Church, Medieval, and modern time period. We will also address theological anthropology in terms of our identity and mission regarding our ecological home. To this end, we will apply Pope Francis’ notion of integral ecology to the specific case of the Great Lakes watershed in which we live, examining topics such as biodiversity and invasive species, water, agriculture, and energy. As ecological citizens and creatures of God, we will address the connection between liturgy and ecology. This course will have a special appeal to students interested in the intersection of theology and science, especially ecology and environmental studies.
B. Course Goals
Upon successful completion of this course, you will be able to
1. understand the concept of integral ecology and apply it to contemporary situations.
2. understand Jesus Christ as the Wisdom of God and apply how this relates to ecology.
3. understand the identity of Christians as ecological and ecclesiological citizens.
4. explain the meaning of creation as a philosophical and theological term.
5. understand humankind’s creaturely identity and response to God the Creator, the human community, and the natural world.
6. critically analyze and evaluate debates in ecology as they relate to God, Scripture, the Church, and creation.
II. Texts
A. Required Texts (available at the Bookstore)
Dan Egan. The Death and Life of the Great Lakes. New York: W. W. Norton and Co., 2017.
Jame Schaefer. Theological Foundations for Environmental Ethics: Reconstructing Patristic and Medieval Concepts. Washington, D.C. Georgetown University Press, 2009.
Norman Wirzba. Food and Faith: A Theology of Eating. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011.
B. Book chapters, articles, and other documents
Week 1
Wed Aug 28: Introduction
Sakai: Donald Worster, “Watershed Democracy: Recovering the Lost Vision of John
Wesley Powell.”
Week 2
Mon Sept 2: Christianity and the Ecological Crisis
Genesis 1:1-2:3; 2:4-3:24
Sakai: Lynn White. “The Historical Roots of the Ecological Crisis.” Science 155 (1967), 1203–1207.
Schaefer 1:17-32/42, Valuing the Goodness of Creation
Laudato Si’ §63-75, 78
Wed Sept 4 Creation: Goodness of Creation/Priest of Creation
Psalm 19, 33
Schaefer 1:17-32/42, Valuing the Goodness of Creation
Sakai: Kallistos Ware, “Through Creation to the Creator,” in Toward an Ecology of Transfiguration, ed. John Chryssavgis and Bruce Foltz (New York: Fordham Press, 2013), 86–105.
Week 3
Mon Sept 9: Creation and Scripture: Beauty of Creation/Praise of God
Schaefer 2:43-57/63, Appreciating the Beauty of Creation
Psalms 104, 136, 148; Daniel 3:1-68; Sirach 43;
Schaefer 4:103-114/120, Respecting Creation’s Praise for God
Wed Sept 11: Creation and Scripture: Wisdom Christology and Fear of the Lord
1 Kings 4:29-34 (or 5:9-14); Proverbs 8-9; Wisdom 7-9; Job 38-39;
Sirach 6:18-37; 24:1-31; 51:23-30
John 1:1-18; Colossians 1:15-20; Phil 2:6-11; Matthew 11:28-30;
Laudato Si’ §96-100
Week 4
Mon Sept 16: Creation and Tradition
Sakai: Janet Soskice, “Creatio ex nihilo: its Jewish and Christian foundations,” 24–39.
Sakai: Denzinger: Council of Constantinople (#150); Lateran IV (800); Council of Florence (1330–31)
Wed Sept 18: Creation and Scripture: Sacramentality
Wisdom 13:1-9; Romans 1:19-23
Schaefer 3:65-93/102, Reverencing the Sacramental Universe
Week 5
Mon Sept 23: Ecology and Creaturely Kinship and Companionship
Schaefer 6:149-176/191, Acknowledging Kinship and Practicing Companionship
Laudato Si’ §89-92
Wed Sept 25: Ecosystem Ecology: Integrity of Creation
Schaefer 5:121-138/148, Cooperating within the Integrity of Creation
Laudato Si’ §1-26; 209-221
Sakai: Peter M. Vitousek. “Beyond Global Warming: Ecology and Global Change.” Ecology 75 (7) 1994: 1861-1876
Week 6
Mon Sept 30: Integral Ecology
Schaefer 7:193-215/228, Using Creation with Gratitude and Restraint
Laudato Si’ §222-232
Wed Oct 2: Integral Ecology /Great Lakes
Laudato Si’ §93-95, 137-162
Egan 1:3-35
Week 7
Mon Oct 7: Great Lakes Biodiversity and Invasive Species
Egan 1:3-35
Egan 2:36-74, Three Fish
Wed Oct 9: Great Lakes Biodiversity/Invasive Species
Egan 4:108-147, Noxious Cargo
Egan 6:187-211, Conquering a Continent
Laudato Si’ §32-42, 76-88
Week 8
Mon Oct 14: Great Lakes Biodiversity/Invasive Species
Egan 3:75-107, The World’s Greatest Fishing Hole
Egan 5:151-186, Continental Undivide
Wed Oct 16: Great Lakes Water
Sakai: Maghrebi et al. “Water Quantity as a Driver of Change . . .”, 84-89.
Sakai: Jetoo et al. “Governance and Geopolitics as Drivers of Change. . .”, 108-111.
Sakai: Schulte, “The Great Lakes Water Agreements,” 165-170.
Egan 8:247-276, Plugging the Drain
_______________________________Break
Week 9
Mon Oct 28: Great Lakes Water: Toxic Algal Blooms/Sewage
Egan 7:212-246, North America’s “Dead” Sea
Egan 5:161-164, Continental Undivide
Sakai: “Sanitation in Chicago”; “Saving the Chicago River from Sewage”
Sakai: Chicago Deep Tunnel (TARP)
Sakai: The Kalamazoo River in Dave Dempsey, Ruin and Recovery, 1-5, 142-148.
Wed Oct 30: Water: Baptism
Gen 1:1; 2:10-14; 6-9; Exodus 14:1-31; 17:1-7; Ezekiel 36:16-38; 47:1-12
John 4:1-42; 7:37-39; 13:1-38; 19:31-37; Romans 6:1-11; Revelation 22:1-5
Sakai: Rite of Baptism
Sakai: Laudato Si’ §27-31; Compendium CST §484-485;
Sakai: Benedict XVI, World Water Day 2007
Week 10
Mon Nov 4: Water: Human and Natural Ecology
Sakai: John Paul II, Centesimus Annus §38-39
Sakai: Benedict XVI, Caritas in Veritate §51
Sakai: Paul VI, Humanae Vitae §7-14
Wed Nov 6: Water: Sacrament of Marriage and Aquatic Ecosystems
Sakai: Susan Jobling and Richard Owen, “Ethinyl Oestradiol in the Aquatic Environment,” 279-289, 294-297, in Emerging Lessons from Ecosystems.
Sakai: Larry Barber et al, “Endocrine Disrupting Alkylphenolic Chemicals and Other Contaminants in Wastewater Treatment Plant Effluents, Urban Streams, and Fish in the Great Lakes and Upper Mississippi River Regions.” Science of the Total Environment 571 (2015), 195-206.
Week 11
Mon Nov 11: Food and Agriculture: Hunger/Sabbath
Wirzba 1:1-34, Thinking Theologically about Food
Wirzba 2:35-70, The “Roots” of Eating: Our Life Together in Gardens
Wed Nov 13: Food and Agriculture: Industrial Agriculture
Wirzba 3:71-109, Eating in Exile: Dysfunction in the World of Food
Week 12
Mon Nov 18: Food and Agriculture: CAFOs /Eucharist
Wirzba 4:110-143, Life Through Death: Sacrificial Eating
Wirzba 5:144-178, Eucharistic Table Manners: Eating Toward Communion
Wed Nov 20: Food and Agriculture: Priests of Creation
Wirzba 5:144-178, Eucharistic Table Manners: Eating Toward Communion
Wirzba 6:179-210, Saying Grace
Week 13
Mon Nov 25: Great Lakes: Energy
Sakai: Brianne Kelly et al. “Energy as a Driver of Change in the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Basin.” Journal of Great Lakes Research 41 Supplement 1 (2015), 59-68.
Sakai: Alana M. Bartolai et al. “Climate Change as a Driver of Change in the Great Lakes St. Lawrence River Basin.” Journal of Great Lakes Research 41 Supplement 1 (2015), 45-58.
Egan 9:277-299, A Shaky Balancing Act: Climate Change and the Fall and Rise of the Lakes
Wed Nov 27: Thanksgiving Break
Week 14
Mon Dec 2: Great Lakes: Energy Ethics; Renewable Energy
Sakai: Erin Lothes Biviano et al. “Catholic Moral Traditions and Energy Ethics for the Twenty-First Century.” Journal of Moral Theology 5.2 (2016), 1-36.
Sakai: Jacobson and Delucchi, “Providing All Global Energy with Wind, Water, and Solar Power,” Energy Policy 39 (2011): 1154-69
Sakai: www.eia.gov/energyexplained
– (Renewable Sources: Wind; Solar)
Wed Dec 4: Great Lakes: Nuclear
Sakai: Jessica Morrison, Uranium: History of an Element
Sakai: Peter Burns and Ginger Sigmon: Uranium: Cradle to Grave
Sakai: www.eia.gov/energyexplained
– (5 subheadings under “Nonrenewable”/“Nuclear”
Week 15
Mon Dec 9 Priests of Creation
Schaefer 8:231-246/253, Living Virtuously within the Earth Community
Schaefer 9:255-263/266, Loving Earth
Wed Dec 11: Liturgy and Ecology
Sakai: Kevin Irwin, “World as God’s Icon,” 149-167.
Laudato Si’ §233-245
____________________________________________________________________Exam Week