The Role of Nature in the Construction of Ethics
A Study among Contemporary Pagans in Ontario, Canada
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/jsrnc.v7i1.49Keywords:
Nature, Paganism, ethics, image-sets, CanadaAbstract
To elucidate the concept of nature religion in contemporary Paganism, it is useful to contemplate the role nature itself plays in the process of Pagan formulations of ethics. To do this, I conducted focus groups with Pagans in Canada. I conclude that nature takes on, or is given, a variety of roles in the process of moral reasoning. This variety allows for multiple ethical perspectives from people holding more or less similar worldviews. Thus, my project does not allow me to come up with a singular Pagan environmental ethic or even a singular Pagan ethical process. Rather, a recognition of the complexity of roles nature holds for these particular Pagans leads to a caution to avoid simplistic labels of contemporary Paganism as ‘environmental’ and/or ‘nature-friendly’—labels which over the broad spectrum of eco-discourse are largely unhelpful.
References
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Bowman, Marion. 2000. ‘Nature, the Natural and Pagan Identity’, Diskus 6. Online: http://www.basr.ac.uk/diskus/diskus1-6/bowman6.txt.
diZerega, Gus. 2000. ‘Nature Religion and the Modern World: The Returning Relevance of Pagan Spirituality’, Sacred Cosmos: CUUPS Journal of Liberal Religious Paganism 1.1. Online: www.dizerega.com/natmod.pdf.
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Klassen, Chris. 2008. Storied Selves: Shaping Identity in Feminist Witchcraft (Lanham, MD: Lexington Books).
———. 2011. ‘Nature Religion and the Ethics of Authenticity: “I won’t speak for all of you”’, Environmental Ethics 33: 295-305. Doi: 10.5840/enviroethics201133330.
———. 2012. ‘The Metaphor of Goddess: Religious Fictionalism and Nature Religion within Feminist Witchcraft’, Feminist Theology 21.1: 91-100. Doi: 10.1177/0966735012451832.
McFague, Sallie. 1993. Body of God: An Ecological Theology (Minneapolis: Fortress Press).
———. 1997. Super, Natural Christians: How We Should Love Nature (Minneapolis: Fortress Press).
Oboler, Regina Smith. 2004. ‘Nature as a Cultural System? Sources of Environmentalist Action and Rhetoric in a Contemporary Pagan Community’, The Pomegranate 6.1: 86-106. Doi: 10.1558/pome.6.1.86.31681.
Pearson, Joanne, Richard Roberts, and Geoffrey Samuel. 1998. ‘Introduction’, in Pearson, Roberts, and Samuel 1998b: 1-7.
Pearson, Joanne, Richard Roberts, and Geoffrey Samuel (eds.). 1998b. Nature Religion Today: Paganism in the Modern World (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press).
Rolston, Holmes. 1979. ‘Can and Ought We to Follow Nature?’, Environmental Ethics 1: 7-30.
Ruether, Rosemary Radford. 1975. New Woman/New Earth: Sexist Ideologies and Human Liberation (San Francisco: Harper & Row).
———. 1989. ‘Toward an Ecological-Feminist Theology of Nature’, in J. Plant (ed.), Healing the Wounds: The Promise of Ecofeminism (Philadelphia: New Society Publications): 145-50.
Starhawk. 1999 [1979]. The Spiral Dance: A Rebirth of the Ancient Religion of the Great Goddess (San Francisco: Harper & Row).
Strmiska, Michael. 2005. Modern Paganism in World Cultures: Comparative Perspectives (Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO).
Taylor, Bron. 2010. Dark Green Religion: Nature Spirituality and the Planetary Future (Berkeley: University of California Press).
Van Wensveen, Louke. 2000. Dirty Virtues: The Emergence of Ecological Virtue Ethics (Amherst, NY: Humanity Books).
Williams, Raymond. 1980. Problems in Materialism and Culture: Selected Essays (London: NLB).
Beyer, Peter. 1998. ‘Globalisation and the Religion of Nature’, in Pearson, Roberts, and Samuel 1998b: 11-21.
Bowman, Marion. 2000. ‘Nature, the Natural and Pagan Identity’, Diskus 6. Online: http://www.basr.ac.uk/diskus/diskus1-6/bowman6.txt.
diZerega, Gus. 2000. ‘Nature Religion and the Modern World: The Returning Relevance of Pagan Spirituality’, Sacred Cosmos: CUUPS Journal of Liberal Religious Paganism 1.1. Online: www.dizerega.com/natmod.pdf.
Fox, Matthew. 1988. The Coming of the Cosmic Christ: The Healing of Mother Earth and the Coming of a Global Renaissance (San Francisco: Harper & Row).
Francis of Assisi and Clare of Assisi. 1982. Francis and Clare: The Complete Works (trans. R.J. Armstrong and I.C. Brady; New York: Paulist Press).
Harvey, Graham. 1997. Contemporary Paganism: Listening People, Speaking Earth (Washington Square: New York University Press).
Hutton, Ronald. 1999. The Triumph of the Moon: A History of Modern Pagan Witchcraft (Oxford: Oxford University Press). Doi: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198207443.001.0001.
Ivakhiv, Adrian. 2005. ‘Nature and Ethnicity in East European Paganism: An Environmental Ethic of the Religious Right?’, The Pomegranate 7.2: 194-225.
Klassen, Chris. 2008. Storied Selves: Shaping Identity in Feminist Witchcraft (Lanham, MD: Lexington Books).
———. 2011. ‘Nature Religion and the Ethics of Authenticity: “I won’t speak for all of you”’, Environmental Ethics 33: 295-305. Doi: 10.5840/enviroethics201133330.
———. 2012. ‘The Metaphor of Goddess: Religious Fictionalism and Nature Religion within Feminist Witchcraft’, Feminist Theology 21.1: 91-100. Doi: 10.1177/0966735012451832.
McFague, Sallie. 1993. Body of God: An Ecological Theology (Minneapolis: Fortress Press).
———. 1997. Super, Natural Christians: How We Should Love Nature (Minneapolis: Fortress Press).
Oboler, Regina Smith. 2004. ‘Nature as a Cultural System? Sources of Environmentalist Action and Rhetoric in a Contemporary Pagan Community’, The Pomegranate 6.1: 86-106. Doi: 10.1558/pome.6.1.86.31681.
Pearson, Joanne, Richard Roberts, and Geoffrey Samuel. 1998. ‘Introduction’, in Pearson, Roberts, and Samuel 1998b: 1-7.
Pearson, Joanne, Richard Roberts, and Geoffrey Samuel (eds.). 1998b. Nature Religion Today: Paganism in the Modern World (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press).
Rolston, Holmes. 1979. ‘Can and Ought We to Follow Nature?’, Environmental Ethics 1: 7-30.
Ruether, Rosemary Radford. 1975. New Woman/New Earth: Sexist Ideologies and Human Liberation (San Francisco: Harper & Row).
———. 1989. ‘Toward an Ecological-Feminist Theology of Nature’, in J. Plant (ed.), Healing the Wounds: The Promise of Ecofeminism (Philadelphia: New Society Publications): 145-50.
Starhawk. 1999 [1979]. The Spiral Dance: A Rebirth of the Ancient Religion of the Great Goddess (San Francisco: Harper & Row).
Strmiska, Michael. 2005. Modern Paganism in World Cultures: Comparative Perspectives (Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO).
Taylor, Bron. 2010. Dark Green Religion: Nature Spirituality and the Planetary Future (Berkeley: University of California Press).
Van Wensveen, Louke. 2000. Dirty Virtues: The Emergence of Ecological Virtue Ethics (Amherst, NY: Humanity Books).
Williams, Raymond. 1980. Problems in Materialism and Culture: Selected Essays (London: NLB).
Published
2013-04-03
Issue
Section
Articles
How to Cite
Klassen, C. (2013). The Role of Nature in the Construction of Ethics: A Study among Contemporary Pagans in Ontario, Canada. Journal for the Study of Religion, Nature and Culture, 7(1), 49-64. https://doi.org/10.1558/jsrnc.v7i1.49
