SDG Detail

The Bible and Ecology

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Project description

In 2010, HarperCollins published The Green Bible, which claims to help readers �understand the Bible�s powerful message for the earth.� What precisely is the Bible�s �message for the earth�? Does the Bible even contain one unified message about the relationship between God, human beings, and the natural world? For many, the question of �what the Bible says� about the environment has become urgent in the midst of the intersecting environmental crises of our day, from global warming to the sixth mass extinction. And yet, there does not seem to be an easy answer to this question; the Bible has been used both to support ethics of conservation and to justify exploitation of the earth�s resources. In this course, we will analyze key passages employed in contemporary discourse about the Bible and the environment from a historical-critical perspective. At the same time, we will investigate how these texts are being invoked today in support of various agendas. Along the way, we will discover and interrogate the profound influence of biblical cosmologies, anthropologies, and eschatologies in shaping attitudes towards the earth and its nonhuman inhabitants. No prior knowledge of biblical literature is expected.