Can Faith Save the Earth?

Catalog description

We live in an unprecedented moment of human and Earth history, a time when the future of life on the planet is under threat, and we ask: will human beings and other living creatures survive? Can religious faith help us learn to live in a healthy and sustainable relationship with the rest of Earth? This course begins with a basic overview of the challenges of sustainability, merging science, economics, and ethics to address issues like climate change and fresh water. Next, we turn to the role various religious traditions can play in inspiring new ways of thinking about humanity?s relationship to the planet. We will address ideas like: how important ?nature? is for understanding what it means to be human and what we experience as sacred or divine; what ethical principles religious traditions offer; how religious traditions can diagnose the spiritual and ethical roots of the ecological crisis; and how religious and spiritual practices might foster the mutual flourishing of humankind and the rest of nature.