Ecotheology and the Practice of Hope

Looks at how ecotheology has created a new vision of the natural world and the place of humans within it.
Is there any hope for a more sustainable world? Can we reimagine a way of living in which the nonhuman world matters? Anne Marie Dalton and Henry C. Simmons claim that the ecotheology that arose during the mid-twentieth century gives us reason for hope. While ecotheologians acknowledge that Christianity played a significant role in creating societies in which the nonhuman world counted for very little, these thinkers have refocused religion to include the natural world. To borrow philosopher Charles Taylor’s concept, they have created a new “social imaginary,” reimagining a better world and a different sense of what is and what should be. A new mindset is emerging, inspired by ecotheological texts and evident in the many diverse movements and activities that operate as if the hope imparted by ecotheology has already been realized. While making this powerful argument, Dalton and Simmons also provide an essential overview of key ecotheological thinkers and texts
Anne Marie Dalton is Professor of Religious Studies at Saint Mary’s University in Halifax. She is the author of A Theology for the Earth: The Contributions of Thomas Berry and Bernard Lonergan. Henry C. Simmons is Professor Emeritus of Christian Education at the Union Presbyterian Seminary. He is coauthor (with James C. Fisher) of A Journey Called Aging: Challenges and Opportunities in Older Adulthood and (with Jane Wilson) Soulful Aging: Ministry through the Stages of Adulthood.