Spiritual Ecology
One Anthropologist’s Reflections
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/jsrnc.v1i3.340Keywords:
Spiritual EcologyAbstract
Spiritual ecology is described as a preferable and thought-provoking designation for the study of religion and nature. Some of its main past contributions and limitations within cultural anthropology are outlined. Several key needs for future teaching, research, and publication are identified. Selected citations place the subject in broader perspective and provide a convenient entry for those wishing to pursue this exciting and promising new multidisciplinary arena of scientific and scholarly research, instruction, and practical action.
References
Alley, K.D. 2002 On the Banks of the Ganges: When Wastewater Meets a Sacred River (Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press).
Anderson, E.N. 1996 Ecologies of the Heart: Emotion, Belief, and the Environment (New York: Oxford University Press).
Astin, A.W., et al. 2004 ‘The Spiritual Life of College Students: A National Study of College Student’s Search for Meaning and Purpose’ (Los Angeles, CA: UCLA Higher Education Research Institute). Online: http://www.spirituality.ucla.edu.
Barbour, I.G. 2000 When Science Meets Religion: Enemies, Strangers, or Partners? (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco).
Bassett, L., J.T. Brinkman, and K.P. Pedersen (eds.) 2000 Earth and Faith: A Book of Reflection and Action (New York: United Nations Environmental Program Interfaith Partnership for the Environment).
Bolle, K.W. 2005 ‘Animism and Animatism’, in L. Jones (ed.), Encyclopedia of Religion, I (New York: Thomson Gale, 2nd edn): 362-68.
Bowie, F. 2006 ‘Religion, Culture, and Environment’, in Fiona Bowie, The Anthropology of Religion: An Introduction (Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing): 107-37.
Byers, B.A., R.N. Cunliffe, and A.T. Hudak 2001 ‘Linking the Conservation of Culture and Nature: A Case Study of Sacred Forests in Zimbabwe’, Human Ecology 29.2: 187-218. doi:10.1023/A:1011012014240
de Quincey, C. 2002 Radical Nature: Rediscovering the Soul of Matter (Montpelier, VT: Invisible Cities Press).
Edwards, J., and M. Palmer (eds.) 1997 Holy Ground: The Guide to Faith and Ecology (Northamptonshire, UK: Pilkington Press).
Gardner, G. 2006 Inspiring Progress: Religions’ Contributions to Sustainable Development (New York: W.W. Norton).
Gottlieb, R.S. 2006 A Greener Faith: Religious Environmentalism and Our Planet’s Future (New York: Oxford University Press).
Grim, J.A. (ed.) 2001 Indigenous Traditions and Ecology: The Interbeing of Cosmology and Community (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press).
Harris, M. 1979 Cultural Materialism: The Struggle for a Science of Culture (New York: Random House).
Harvey, G. 2006 Animism: Respecting the Living World (New York: Columbia University Press).
Hultkrantz, A. 1987 ‘Ecology’, in M. Eliade et al. (eds.), The Encyclopedia of Religion, IV (New York: Macmillan): 581-85.
Kinsley, D. 1995 Ecology and Religion: Ecological Spirituality in Cross-Cultural Perspective (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice–Hall).
Lerner, M. 2000 Spirit Matters (Charlottesville, VA: Hampton Roads Publishing).
Lett, J. 1999 ‘Science, Religion, and Anthropology’, in S.D. Glazier (ed.), Anthropology of Religion: A Handbook (Westport, CT: Praeger): 103-20.
McGraith, A. 2003 The Reenchantment of Nature: The Denial of Religion and the Ecological Crisis (New York: Doubleday/Galilee).
McNeley, J.K. 1997 Holy Wind in Navajo Philosophy (Tucson, AZ: University of Arizona Press).
Metzner, R. 1994 The Well of Remembrance: Rediscovering the Earth Wisdom Mythology of Northern Europe (Boston, MA: Shambhala).
Palmer, M., and V. Finlay 2003 Faith in Conservation: New Approaches to Religions and the Environment (Washington, DC: World Bank).
Posey, D.A., et al. (eds.) 1999 Cultural and Spiritual Values of Biodiversity (London: Intermediate Technology Publications/UNEP).
Ramakrishnan, P.S., S.G. Saxena, and U.M. Chandrashekara (eds.) 1998 Conserving the Sacred for Biodiversity Management (Enfield, NH: Science Publishers).
Rue, L.D. 2005 Religion is Not About God: How Spiritual Traditions Nurture Our Biological Nature (New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press). Saint-Laurent, G.E.
Spirituality and World Religions: A Comparative Introduction (Mountain View, CA: Mayfield Publishing).
Santmire, H.P. 2003 ‘Ecotheology’, in J. Wentzel Vrede van Hyussteen (ed.), Encyclopedia of Science and Religion, I (New York: Thomson Gale): 247-51.
Schneiders, S.M. 1989 ‘Spirituality in the Academy’, Theological Studies 50.4: 676-97.
Smith, H. 2001 Why Religion Matters: The Fate of the Human Spirit in the Age of Disbelief (San Francisco, CA: HarperSanFrancisco).
Sponsel, L.E. 2001 ‘Do Anthropologists Need Religion, and Vice Versa? Adventures and Dangers in Spiritual Ecology’, in C.L. Crumley (ed.), New Directions in Anthropology and Environment: Intersections (Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira Press): 177-200.
a ‘Anthropologists’, in Taylor 2005a: 94-96.
b ‘Biodiversity’, in Taylor 2005a: 179-82.
c ‘Noble Savage and the Ecologically Noble Savage’, in Taylor 2005b: 1210-12.
‘Religion, Nature and Environmentalism’, Encyclopedia of Earth. Online: http://www.eoearth.org/article/Religion,_nature_and_
environmentalism.
Sponsel, L.E., and P. Natadecha-Sponsel 2004 ‘Illuminating Darkness: The Monk-Cave-Bat-Ecosystem Complex in Thailand’, in R.S. Gottlieb (ed.), This Sacred Earth: Religion, Nature, Environment (New York: Routledge): 134-44.
Sponsel, L.E., P. Natadecha-Sponsel, N. Ruttanadakul, and S. Juntadach 1998 ‘Sacred and/or Secular Approaches to Biodiversity Conservation in Thailand’, Worldviews: Environment, Culture, Religion 2.1: 155-67.
Stenmark, M. 1997 ‘What is Scientism?’, Religious Studies 33.1: 15-32. doi:10.1017/S0034412596003666
Takacs, D. 1996 The Idea of Biodiversity: Philosophies of Paradise (Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins University Press).
Tanner, R., and C. Mitchell 2002 Religion and the Environment (New York: Palgrave).
Taylor, B.R. 2001a ‘Earth and Nature-Based Spirituality (Part I): From Deep Ecology to Radical Environmentalism’, Religion 31.2: 175-93. doi:10.1006/reli.2000.0256
b ‘Earth and Nature-Based Spirituality (Part II): From Earth First! and Bioregionalism to Scientific Paganism and the New Age’, Religion 31.3: 225-45.
‘Conservation Biology’, in Taylor 2005: 415-18.
Taylor, B.R. (ed.) 2005a The Encyclopedia of Religion and Nature, I (London and New York: Continuum).
b The Encyclopedia of Religion and Nature, II (London and New York: Continuum).
Tucker, M.E., and J.A. Berling 2003 Worldly Wonder: Religions Enter their Ecological Phase (LaSalle, IL: Open Court Publishing).
Turner, E. 1992 ‘The Reality of Spirits: A Tabooed or Permitted Field of Study’, ReVision 15.1: 28-32. Repr. in J. Narby and F. Huxley (eds.), Shamans through Time: 500 Years on the Path to Knowledge (New York: Jeremy P. Tarcher/Putnam, 2001).
Viveiros de Castro, E. 1992 From the Enemy’s Point of View: Humanity and Divinity in an Amazonian Society (Chicago: University of Chicago Press).
Womersley, M. 2005 ‘National Religious Partnership for the Environment’, in Taylor 2005b: 1158-59.