Journal for the Study of Religion, Nature and Culture

David L. Haberman, Loving Stones: Making the Impossible Possible in the Worship of Mount Govardhan

2020-11-20T01:56:43+00:00

David L. Haberman, Loving Stones: Making the Impossible Possible in the Worship of Mount Govardhan (New York: Oxford University Press, 2020), 328 pp., $35.00 (pbk), ISBN: 978190086725.

G.F. Wagenfuhr, Plundering Eden: A Subversive Christian Theology of Creation and Ecology

2020-12-30T21:15:37+00:00

G.F. Wagenfuhr, Plundering Eden: A Subversive Christian Theology of Creation and Ecology (Eugene, OR: Cascade Publications, 2020), 206 pp., $27.00 (pbk), ISBN: 9781532677427.

T.M. Luhrmann, How God Becomes Real: Kindling the Presence of Invisible Others

2021-03-19T14:55:58+00:00

T.M. Luhrmann, How God Becomes Real: Kindling the Presence of Invisible Others (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2020), xv + 235pp., $29.95 (cloth), ISBN: 9780691164465.

Glenn A. Albrecht, Earth Emotions: New Words for a New World

2020-10-18T22:27:29+00:00

Glenn A. Albrecht, Earth Emotions: New Words for a New World (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press), 256pp., $19.95 (pbk), ISBN: 9781501715242.

Anna M. Gade, Muslim Environmentalisms: Religious and Social Foundations

2020-12-20T02:10:39+00:00

Anna M. Gade, Muslim Environmentalisms: Religious and Social Foundations (New York: Columbia University Press, 2019), 324 pp., $35.00 (pbk), ISBN: 9780231191050.

Susan McHugh, Love in a Time of Slaughters: Human-Animal Stories Against Genocide and Extinction

2020-11-03T09:47:52+00:00

Susan McHugh, Love in a Time of Slaughters: Human-Animal Stories Against Genocide and Extinction (Philadelphia: Penn State University Press, 2019), 240pp., $32.95 (pbk), ISBN: 9780271083704.

Johan Elverskog, The Buddha’s Footprint: An Environmental History of Asia

2020-10-18T12:13:03+00:00

Johan Elverskog, The Buddha’s Footprint: An Environmental History of Asia (Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2020), xiii + 176pp., $55.00 (cloth), ISBN: 9780812251838.

Kenneth W. Kemp, The War that Never Was: Evolution and Christian Theology

2021-12-27T14:35:02+00:00

Kenneth W. Kemp, The War that Never Was: Evolution and Christian Theology (Eugene, OR: Cascade Books, 2020), 228pp., £21.00 (pbk), ISBN: 9781532694981.

John Clayton, Natural Rivals: John Muir, Gifford Pinchot, and the Creation of America’s Public Lands

2020-12-16T18:58:32+00:00

John Clayton, Natural Rivals: John Muir, Gifford Pinchot, and the Creation of America’s Public Lands (New York: Pegasus Books, 2019), xxii + 276 pp., $27.95 (cloth), ISBN: 978-1643130804.

Joy Harjo, LeAnne Howe, and Jennifer Elise Foerster(eds.), When the Light of the World Was Subdued, Our Songs Came Through: A Norton Anthology of Native Nations Poetry

2021-01-04T17:41:59+00:00

Joy Harjo, LeAnne Howe, and Jennifer Elise Foerster(eds.), When the Light of the World Was Subdued, Our Songs Came Through: A Norton Anthology of Native Nations Poetry (New York: W.W. Norton, 2020), xxix + 458 pp., $19.95 (pbk), ISBN 9780393356809.

Introduction

2022-06-01T15:23:09+00:00

The Case for Animal Spirituality—Part 1

2022-05-19T12:41:55+00:00

This is the first part of a two-part article that presents the theoretical and empirical case for nonhuman animal (hereafter, ‘animal’) spirituality. Part 1 discusses the relevance of evolutionary theory and species differences for understanding animals’ capacity to have spiritual experience, conceptual issues related to defining animal spirituality, and methodological considerations pertaining to the use of analogical reasoning and animalcentered anthropomorphism as heuristic strategies in the study of animal spirituality. Behavioral and ethological evidence bearing on the existence of awareness, perceptual experience, self-awareness, and meaning-making in the absence of human language in animals is presented. Part 2 examines evidence for six biopsychosocial capabilities in animals that are proposed building blocks of human spirituality—cognition, imagination, emotion, moral sense, personality, and value-life. Part 2 concludes with a discussion of the implications of animal spirituality for society’s treatment of animals, humanizing an inhumane human biocultural world, and advancing understanding of human spirituality.

The Case for Animal Spirituality—Part 2

2022-05-19T12:41:49+00:00

This is the second part of a two-part article presenting the theoretical and empirical case for nonhuman animal (hereafter, ‘animal’) spirituality. Part 1 discussed the relevance of evolutionary theory and species differences for understanding animals’ capacity to have spiritual experience, conceptual issues related to defining animal spirituality, and methodological considerations regarding analogical reasoning and animal-centered anthropomorphism as heuristic strategies in the study of animal spirituality. Issues related to the question of animal consciousness and the use of evolutionary panentheism as a philosophical/theological frame for theorizing about animal spirituality were discussed. Part 2 examines six biopsychosocial capabilities of animals that are building blocks of human spirituality—
cognition, imagination, emotion, moral sense, personality, and value-life (Maslow’s phrase)—and proposes an ontic pluralism of animal spiritualities. Part 2 concludes with a discussion of the wideranging implications for human society of consciously accepting the possibility of animal spirituality and capacity to have spiritual experience.

Catholic Sisters and Cornfield Activism

2022-05-19T12:41:43+00:00

Since 2016, the Adorers of the Blood of Christ, an international order of Catholic women, have partnered with a grassroots movement called Lancaster Against Pipelines (LAP) to resist construction of a $3B fracked-gas pipeline in rural Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Together, the groups built an outdoor chapel blockade that became a locus of earth-honoring ceremonies and a pilgrimage site for eco-activists in the region. It also served as the focal point for a series of peaceful direct actions against pipe-line construction that resulted in twenty-nine arrests. The Adorers–LAP partnership is an important case study in a growing movement of faith-fueled environmental activism across the United States today. Specifically, it offers valuable lessons on the possibilities for creative grassroots cooperation across religious divides, the use of religious ritual as a tool of resistance, the experience of women who often lead these movements, and current trends in judicial responses to faith-inspired eco-activism.