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Resources
We hope the following links and resources will be helpful as you explore the connections between faith and environment. [Note: A link to any resource does not constitute its endorsement or recommendation by the University of the South. The University takes no responsibility for a link's operation or content.]
Selected Faith/Denominational Links
Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life
Conference of Catholic Bishops Environmental Justice Program
Disciples Home Missions
The Episcopal Ecological Network
The Friends of the Western Buddhist Order
Greek Orthodox Church in America
Islamic Foundation for Ecology and Environmental Science
Lutheran Earthkeeping Network of the Synods (LENS)
Mennonite Central Committee – Care for Creation
Nazarene Compassionate Ministries
Presbyterian Church USA
Quaker Earthcare Witness
Reformed Church in America
Southern Baptist Environment and Climate Initiative
United Church of Christ
United Methodist Board of Church and Society, Economic and Environmental Justice Program
Other Selected Links
Au Sable Environmental Institute
An evangelical academic institute promoting environmental stewardship through academic and community programs, as well as retreats and outreach
Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education
An association of colleges and universities that are working to create a sustainable future
A Rocha
An international Christian conservation organization
Buddhist Peace Fellowship
A network of engaged Buddhists in Asia and the United States working to alleviate suffering and bring peace in a number of areas, including the environment
A Catechism of Creation: An Episcopal Understanding
A cathechism that explores the implications of the statement "through Christ all things were made."
Christians for the Mountains
A network of persons committed to advocating that Christians and their churches recognize their God-given responsibility to live compatibly and sustainably upon this earth God has created, particularly with respect to the practice of mountain top removal
Creation Care for Pastors
A collaboration between environmental scientists and evangelicals to provide creation care resources to pastors
Environmental Studies and Related Programs at Sewanee
Evangelical Environmental Network
An organization dedicated to educating, inspiring, and mobilizing Christians to care for environmental in actions and policies
Green Sangha
An organization dedicated to restoring our sense of oneness—healing our communities and the earth through mindful practice and awakened action
GreenFaith
An interfaith partnership to inspire, educate and mobilize people of diverse religious backgrounds for environmental leadership
The Green Seminary Initiative
A movement among seminaries designed to foster an ethic of ecological care for God’s Creation on its various seminary campuses
Interfaith Power and Light
An interfaith ministry mobilizing a national religious response to global warming while promoting renewable energy, energy efficiency and conservation
National Religious Partnership for the Environment
An association of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, the National Council of Churches USA, the Coalition of the Environment and Jewish Life, and the Evangelical Environmental Network offering resources of religious life and moral vision to a universal effort to protect the Earth
The Natural Step
An international not-for-profit organization involved in research and dialogue on the science of sustainability and its real world applications, particularly within the business community
Religious Campaign for Forest Conservation
A coalition of Christian and Jewish denominations and organizations which promote an end to the cutting of old growth forests and an end to commercial logging on public lands
Second Nature
Second Nature’s mission is to accelerate movement toward a sustainable future by serving and supporting senior college and university leaders in making healthy, just, and sustainable living the foundation of all learning and practice in higher education
U.S. Green Building Council
The U.S. Green Building Council is a non-profit community of leaders working to make green buildings available to everyone within a generation; LEED-certified green building program
Web of Creation
A Web site for faith-based communities to provide resources and support in efforts to live sustainably
Selected Literature
This is just a sampling of the literature on environment, sustainability, and religion:
Austin, Richard C. 1987. Baptized into Wilderness: A Christian Perspective on John Muir. Atlanta: John Knox Press.
Explores Muir’s sense of religious expression in his commitment to the world of nature
Bingham, Sally G. 2009. Love God, Heal Earth: 21 Leading Religious Voices Speak Out on Our Sacred Duty to Protect the Environment. Pittsburgh: St. Lynn’s Press.
Brings together 21 highly regarded spiritual leaders from diverse faiths to make the case for environmental stewardship and show how their faith communities are tackling the issue of religion and environment
Brown, Lester R. 2008. Plan B 3.0. Mobilizing to Save Civilization. NY: W. W. Norton.
An influential analysis of the major challenges to sustainability in the world and a proposal for dealing with them
Daly, Herman E. and John B. Cobb, Jr. For the Common Good: Redirecting the Economy Toward Community the Environment, and a Sustainable Future. Boston: Beacon Press.
A seminal book by an economist and a theologian critiquing modern economic thought and proposing a model based on giving priority to regional and national community and future generations
Gatta, John. 2004. Making Nature Sacred: Literature, Religion, and Environment in America from the Puritans to the Present. NY: Oxford University Press.
Explores how the quest for seeking “revelation” in nature has been pursued through successive phases of American literary and intellectual history up through the current “spiritual renaissance” in current environmental writing
Gottfried, Robert R. 1995. Economics, Ecology, and the Roots of Western Faith: Perspectives from the Garden. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield.
An examination of how the Judeo-Christian perspective, ecology, and economics work together to provide insight into the nature of a sustainable economy
Gottlieb, Roger. 2006. A Greener Faith: Religious Environmentalism and Our Planet’s Future. NY: Oxford University Press.
Chronicles the promises of the religious environmental movement and analyzes the movement’s religious, social and political aspects and the challenges it faces
The Green Bible. 2008. New Revised Standard Version. NY: Harper Collins.
In addition to environmentally-related verses printed in green, contains excellent essays written by key figures drawn from a variety of denominations along with study resources on environment and religion
Hawken, Paul, Amory Lovins, and L. Hunter Lovins. 1999. Natural Capitalism: Creating the Next Industrial Revolution. NY: Little, Brown and Co.
Along with Hawken’s The Ecology of Commerce, a seminal book on green business that at times has religious overtones
McDonald, Barry, ed. 2003. Seeing God Everywhere: Essays on Nature and the Sacred. Bloomington, IN: World Wisdom.
Essays by authors across the religious spectrum on the experience of seeing God in nature
McDonough, William and Michael Braungart. 2002. Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things. NY: North Point Press.
A seminal book on an ecological approach to how we produce and build things
Wilson, Edward O. 2007. The Creation: An Appeal to Save Life on Earth. NY: W. W. Norton.
One of the world’s most prominent biologists and environmental thinkers argues that secular humanists like himself and believers in God can find common ground in the glory of nature and our desire to work together to save it