The Future of Creation: Foundations for a Just and Sustainable World

Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago

T-467, Spring 2001

The Future of Creation explores science, religious ethics, and theology as a basis for making informed, reasoned environmental decisions. This course will be a review of scientific, ethical and theological dimensions of environmental issues and will introduce resources needed to be effective leaders in these matters for both the church and the larger society. The course will include a field trip. Additional resources are to be found at the Web of Creation site on ecological resources for faith-based communities, at www.webofcreation.org.

Before the course begins, students are required to view the video tape Mindwalk (available at video stores) and read Frank B. Golley. A Primer for Environmental Literacy. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1998.

The course meets Tuesday nights, 7:00-10:00PM. Students taking the course for credit will also meet at 5:30 PM before each class for a common meal and additional discussion, and attend an all day field trip.

Course Coordinators are

Dr. David Rhoads 773-256-0774 drhoads@lstc.edu

Andrea Orcutt. 847-475-2262 alorcutt@mediaone.net

SECTION ONE: SCIENTIFIC FOUNDATIONS

Week One -March 27, 2001 - The Way Life Works on Earth

Paul Heltne will give an introduction to how ecological systems function; how we function within those systems; our primate origins; our struggle to find our place within these systems or to separate ourselves from them.

Focus Questions:

How does the Earth-system work? How does it work where I live? How do humans fit in (relationship to) the Earth-system, locally and globally?

Required Reading:

Barbour, Ian. Scientific and Religious Perspectives on Sustainability. In Rosemary R. Ruether and Dieter Hessel, Christianity and Ecology. Harvard University Press, 2000.

Golley, Frank B. A Primer for Environmental Literacy. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1998.

Chicago Tribune, Rand McNally Chicagoland Map: Chicago Street Map and Regional Metro Map.

Essay Reflection (One page/single spaced):

Based on Golley's work, write a reflection on what does it mean to think ecologically about the Earth?

Week Two -April 3, 2001 -People and Resources: State of the World

How many people are there; how do these numbers match against resources; implications for the Earth including its humans; what are some of the things we can do including restoration activities

Focus Questions:

What are signs of over-population? How can urbanites establish a healing, reverent relationship with the land?

Required Reading:

Barney, Gerald. Threshold 2000: Critical Issues and Spiritual Values for a Global Age. Conexus Press, 1999.

Brown, Lester R., et al. State of the World 2001. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2001. Read selected chapters. (TBA)

Essay Reflection (One page/single spaced):

Based on the issues presented in your reading, how would you characterize the nature and scale of the problem humans face?

Week Three -April 10, 2001 -A Sense of Place

How one can know a place; an example; preparations for an all-day field trip to explore Chicago and its functioning.

The field trip will be on Chicago Waterways: We will explore the current rivers and canals, investigate the indications of the past, place ourselves on the continental divide, and recognize how these features were involved in the historical development and current functioning of the region of Chicago. The field trip will be on Friday April 13 from 9-3:30PM.

Focus Questions:

Where do we live in space and time? What tools would you use to learn to know the place where you grew up or the place where you conduct your ministry?

Required Reading:

Hill, Libby. The Chicago River: A Natural and Unnatural History. Chicago: Lake Claremont Press, 2000.

Essay Reflection (One page/single spaced):

Based on your reading, what factors are involved in having an ecological sense of plane in a region?

SECTION TWO: RELIGIO-ETHICAL FOUNDATIONS

Week Four -April 17, 2001 - Religio-Ethical Models for Global Transformation

Ron Engel will give the introduction to this section, on Ethical Paradigms of Justice and Sustainability ñ Building on Our Responsibility for the Evolving Community of Life in Which We Participate. This section involves a review of the kinds of transformations needed for a just and sustainable world, making use of The Earth Charter as a framework. It will also include reflection on the enormous changes in philosophical and religious ethics. In contrasting our present situation with needed transformations for the future, the first session will cover the emergence of the discipline of environmental ethics and introduce the proposals now offered for a Global Ethic.

Focus Questions:

According to Daly and Cobb in their book For the Common Good, what is the dominant paradigm governing contemporary economic thought and activity? What are the primary features of the new paradigm of "persons in community" that they propose? On what empirical, historical, ethical, and religious bases do they criticize the dominant economic paradigm and propose a new one?

How does the Earth Charter express the new ethic of persons in community and the religious vision of the biosphere proposed by Daly and Cobb? Do you consider the Earth Charter, building on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, to be an adequate global ethic for the 21st century?

Required Reading:

Herman Daly and John Cobb, For the Common Good (Beacon Press, revised and expanded edition), Introduction, Part Two, and Chapter 20.

Universal Declaration of Human Rights (handout)

The Earth Charter (handout)

Essay Reflection (One page/single spaced):

State as clearly and concisely as you can, the major argument of Part Two of Cobb and Daly's book. Be prepared to discuss in class how that argument informs the Earth Charter.

Week Five -April 24, 2001 -Urban Models

Lecturer, Steve Perkins, Ph.D. Associate Director, Center for Neighborhood Technology will give an analysis of what is going on in Chicago, which typifies modern development that moves away from sustainability and justice. The focus will be on issues of transportation, economic systems, living patterns, urban sprawl, and over-development. It will include proposals for directions to transform the public conversations and key entry points for future changes.

Focus Questions:

What are the distinctive characteristics of cities that can make them an answer to the global ecological crisis?

What does it take to wean people from auto dependence?

Required Reading:

Cobb, John Jr. and Herman Daly. For the Common Good: Redirecting the Economy Toward Community, the Environment, and a Sustainable Future. Beacon Press, 1994. (Selected Chapters TBA).

"Using The Hidden Assets of America's Communities and Regions" By Scott Bernstein (handout)

Chicago Wilderness (magazine).

Global Ethic- Council for a Parliament of the World's Religions (handout)

Case Studies in Transportation and Environmental Justice (handout)

The $650 Billion Decision: Citizen Transportation Plan for Chicago Region (handout)

Essay Reflection (One page/single spaced):

Based on your reading, what are the distinctive ecological problems and possibilities posed by urban areas?

Week Six - May 1, 2001 -Ecclesial Models of Action and Transformation

Dieter T. Hessel, Director, Program on Ecology, Justice and Faith and Director of TEMEC will speak on the response of the national and international religious community.

Clare Butterfield- Associate Director, Interreligious Sustainability Project will speak on the responses of churches in the Chicago region, problems and creative possibilities.

Focus Questions:

Dieter Hessel: What theological postures and insights do the churches bring to the environmental crisis? What major eco-justice issues have brought out a strong response by churches?

Clare Butterfield: Consider and attempt to identify one text of their own choosing which they read when they feel troubled, or need support.

How do we support people (and ourselves) in the grief, which inevitably will occur when we examine the ecological crisis and allow ourselves to admit the extent of the problem?

Though it is important to understand the factual underpinnings of our position in the environment, and the factual underpinnings of the grossly inequitable distributions of wealth in the world, how do we frame these facts in order to motivate people to change? What motivates you?

Required Reading:

Hessel, D. "Where Were/Are the Churches in the Environmental Movement?" in Hessel, ed., Theology for Earth Community: A Field Guide. Orbis, 1996. pp. 199-207.

Hessel, D. "Ecumenical Christianity and the Earth Charter," Journal of Liberal Religion, Meadville Theological School, April, 2000, (on line at www.meadville.edu/jlr.htm)

Hessel and Ruether, eds., Christianity and Ecology (Harvard Univ. Press, 2000), Chapters in Part V especially:

L. Rasmussen, "Global Eco-Justice: The Church's Mission in Urban Society," pp. 515- 29.

NRPE Leaders, "Partnership for the Environment among U.S. Christians," pp. 573-90.

R. Ruether, "Eco-Justice at the Center of the Church's Mission," pp. 603-13.

Kingsolver, Barbara. Prodigal Summer. Harpercollins. 2000.

One Creation, One People, One Place. Will be distributed.

Students will be expected to browse two web sites (in addition to the JLR site): www.webofcreation.org and www.earthministry.org (click on EarthLetter)

Essay Reflection (One page/single spaced):

In light of your reading ñ including the novel ñ what creative contributions could religious communities offer?

SECTION THREE: THEOLOGICAL FOUNDATIONS

Week Seven -May 8, 2001 -Meeting the Ecological Challenge: Science and Theology in Concert

Philip Hefner will coordinate the third three-session section, on theology. He will give the first session and summarize the scientific issues that theology must address; how theology itself incorporates models from science; and how theology conceptualizes the environmental issues. He will focus both on the resources of traditional Christian theology as well as process and liberation theologies. Special attention to readings by Sittler, Santmire, Ruether, Haught, and Hefner.

Focus Questions:

What are the theological resources from the Christian tradition for meeting the ecological challenge? What are the most important current interpretations that add to or revise traditional theology? Why is it important for theology to take the scientific materials into account?

Required Reading:

Hefner, Philip. "The Care of the Earth: The LSTC Legacy" pp. iv-viii; "The Sacramental Paradigm of Nature," pp. 3-5; and "Beyond Exploitation and Sentimentality: Challenges to a Theology of Nature," all in Creation and the Future of Humanity: LSTC Writings on the Environment.

Howell, Nancy. "Ecofeminism: What One Needs to Know. Zygon: Journal of Religion and Science. June 1997. (Vol 32. no.2) pp. 231-42.

Ruether, Rosemary Radford. Gaia and God: an Eco-feminist Theology of Earth Healing. San Francisco, CA: Harper San Francisco, 1992. pp. 1-58.

Santmire, Paul. "In God's Ecology: A Revisionist Theology of Nature," Christian Century, vol. 117, No. 35 (December 13, 2000) pp. 1300-1305.

Sittler, Joseph. Evocations of Grace: Writings Ecology, Theology and Ethics. Eds Steven Bouma-Prediger and Peter Bakken. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Pub Co. 2000. pp. 1-31, pp. 191-201, and . pp. 207-222

Essay Reflection (One page/single spaced):

In what ways is it important for theology to take into account ecological science?

Week Eight -May 15, 2001 -Meeting the Ecological Challenge: Resources from Bible and Spirituality

Ted Hiebert, Prof. of Old Testament, McCormick Theological Seminary will survey the current attempts to interpret biblical texts in ways that provide resources for meeting the ecological challenge, including his own foundational work, (See bibliography) Mary Frohlich, Asst. Prof. of Spirituality, Catholic Theological Union will introduce traditions of spirituality that can also serve as resources, particularly those that focus on the significance of place. Readings from Bergant, Hiebert, and Santmire will be emphasized.

Focus Questions:

What are Hiebert's most important re-interpretations of the Bible? Why are they important? What do the resources from spirituality contribute to the theological and biblical resources for meeting the ecological challenge?

Required Reading:

Eliade, Mircea. "Sacred Space and Making the World Sacred," in The Sacred and the Profane: The Nature of Religion (New York: Harcourt, Brace & World, Inc. 1959), 20-65.

Hiebert Theodore. The Yahwist's Landscape: Nature and Religion in Early Israel (New York: Oxford University Press, 1996), 3-38, 51-82, 140-162.

Huffaker, Creative Dwelling (Scholars 1998), pp. 125-135.

Lane, Belden. Landscapes of the Sacred: Geography and Narrative in American Spirituality (Paulist, 1988), Prologue and ch. 1, pp. 3-33.

Essay Reflection (One page/single spaced):

Why is it important for Christians to have Biblical and spiritual resources to face the ecological crisis?

Week Nine -May 22, 2001 - Meeting the Ecological Challenge: Theological Concepts of Nature and Creation

Dr. Anna Case-Winters, Assoc. Prof. of Theology, McCormick Theological Seminary and Philip Hefner will explore more deeply how Christian theology has understood the world of nature, and how it can be imaginatively developed to be a resource in the present time of ecological challenge. Readings from Santmire, Moltmann, Case-Winters, and Hefner will receive special attention.

Focus Questions:

How important is a theological understanding of nature for our task? Explain your views on this question.

Required Reading:

Anna Case-Winters handouts.

Hefner, Philip. "Nature, God's Great Project" pp. 6-13, and "That Amazing Mother Nature: How Well Do You Know Her?" pp. 80-86, In Creation and the Future of Humanity: LSTC Writings on the Environment. Eds., Jan Harbaugh, Linda Kersten, David Rhoads.

Hefner, Philip. Can Nature Truly be Our Friend?" -handout

Lundblad, Barbara. "Matter Matters" In Creation and the Future of Humanity: LSTC Writings on the Environment. Eds., Jan Harbaugh, Linda Kersten, David Rhoads. Pp.14-16.

Rolston, Holmes. Does Nature Need to be Redeemed?" Zygon: Journal of Religion and Science, June 1994, (Vol 29, no. 2) pp. 205-29.

Sittler, Joseph. Evocations of Grace: Writings Ecology, Theology and Ethics. Eds Steven Bouma-Prediger and Peter Bakken. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Pub Co. 2000. pp. pp. 148-179.

Westhelle, Vitor. "Cross, Creation and Ecology" , In Creation and the Future of Humanity: LSTC Writings on the Environment. Eds., Jan Harbaugh, Linda Kersten, David Rhoads. Pp. 56-60.

Essay Reflection (One page/single spaced):

What factors should be involved in developing a theology of nature?

SECTION FOUR: CONCLUSION

Week Ten -May 29, 2001 ñ Where Do We Go From Here?

The last session will be an opportunity for the registered students to present their major learnings about a just and sustainable world and to project the direction of their future leadership, with reflective responses by instructors in science, global ethics, and theology.

Summation Paper:

Students will present a 3-5 page single spaced summation pager articulating their theological and ethical positions on the ecological crisis and projecting the nature and style of their future eco-justice leadership in church and society.

Recommended Reading List for Weeks One through Three

Barbour, Ian. When Science Meets Religion. San Francisco: Harper San Francisco, 2000.

Board on Sustainable Development, National Research Council. Our Common Journey: A Transition Toward Sustainability.

Washington, D.C.: National Research Council Press, 1999.

Capra, Fritjof. The Turning Point : Science, Society, and the Rising Culture. Bantam Doubleday Dell Pub. Reissue edition (May

1988).

Daily, Gretchen C., ed. Nature's Services: Societal Dependence on Natural Ecosystems. Washington, D.C.: Island Press, 1997.

Donnelley, Strachan, ed. Nature, Polis, Ethics: Chicago Regional Planning. A Hastings Center Special Supplement, November ñ

December 1998.

Ehrlich, Paul R., Anne H. Ehrlich, and Gretchen C. Daily. The Stork and the Plow: The Equity Answer to the Human Dilemma. New

Haven: Yale University Press, 1995.

Leopold, Aldo. A Sand County Almanac and Sketches Here and There. New York: Oxford University Press, 1949.

Meadows, Donella H., Dennis L. Meadows, and Jorgen Randers. Beyond the Limits: Confronting Global Collapse, Envisioning a

Sustainable Future. Post Mills, Vermont: Chelsea Green Publishing Company, 1992.

Stevens, William K. Miracle Under the Oaks: The Revival of Nature in America. New York: Pocket Books, 1995.

Solzman, David M. The Chicago River: An Illustrated History and Guide to the River. Chicago: Wild Onion Books, 1998.

Wackernagel, Mathis and William Rees. Our Ecological Footprint: Reducing Human Impact on the Earth. New Society Publishers,

1996.

Recommended Reading List for Weeks Four through Six

Bakken, Peter , Joan Engel, J. Ronald Engel, "Critical Survey," in Ecology, Justice, And Christian Faith: A Critical Guide To The

Literature. Greenwood, 1995.

Berry, Thomas. The Great Work. Bell Tower, 1999.

Braybrooke, Marcus. Stepping Stones To A Global Ethic. SCM Press, 1992.

Council for a Parliament of World Religions, "Towards a Global Ethic"

Cronon, William. Nature's Metropolis: Chicago and the Great West. W.W. Norton & Company, 1992.

Dower, Nigel. World Ethics: The New Agenda. Edinburgh University Press, 1998.

Engel, J. Ronald. "The Ethics of Sustainable Development," in J. Ronald and Joan G. Engel, eds., The Ethics Of Environment And

Development. University of Arizona Press, 1991.

Hessel Dieter and Rasmussen, Larry. Earth Habitat: Eco-Injustice and the Church's Response. Fortress Press, May, 2001.

Leopold, Aldo. Sand County Almanac. Oxford University Press, 1948.

Rasmussen, Larry. Earth Community, Earth Ethics. Orbis, 1997.

Sturm, Douglas. "Identity and Otherness: Summons to a New Axial Age, Perspective on the Earth Charter Movement.

Weisman, Alan. Gaviotas : A Village to Reinvent the World. Chelsea Green Pub Co, 1999.

Recommended Reading List for Weeks Seven through Nine

Bergant, Dianne. Israel's Wisdom Literature: A Liberation-Critical Reading. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress PR., 1997.

Bergant, Dianne. The Earth is the Lord's: The Bible, Ecology and Worship. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 1998.

Berry, Thomas. The Great Work: Our Way into the Future. Bell Tower, 1999.

Burton-Christie, Douglas. "Mapping the Sacred Landscape: Spirituality and the Contemporary Literature of Nature." Horizons 21

(Spring 1994).

Hefner, Philip J. The Human Factor: Evolution, Culture and Religion. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 1993.

Hefner, Philip. Beyond Exploitation and Sentimentality: Challenges to a Theology of Nature" pp. 68-79. and "That Amazing Mother

Nature: How Well Do You Know Her?" pp. 80-86. In Creation and the Future of Humanity: LSTC Writings on the

Environment. Eds., Jan Harbaugh, Linda Kersten, David Rhoads.

Hefner, Philip. Nature, Good and Evil In press. Routledge Press, 2001.

Hiebert, Ted. The Yahwist's Landscape: Nature and Religion in Early Israel. New York, NY: Oxford U. Press, 1996.

Goodenough, Ursula. The Sacred Depths of Nature. New York NY: Oxford University Press, 1998.

Haught, John F. The Promise of Nature: Ecology and Cosmic Purpose. New York NY: Paulist Press, 1993.

Lane, Belden. Landscapes of the Sacred: Geography and Narrative in American Spirituality. New York NY: Paulist Press, 1988. ch.

1.

Rhoads, David. "Reading the New Testament in the Environmental Age" in Creation and the Future of Humanity: LSTC Writings on

the Environment, pp. 96-100.

Rochelle, Jay C. "Creation Spirituality" in Creation and the Future of Humanity: LSTC Writings on the Environment, pp. 101-105.

Santmire, Paul H. The Travail of Nature: the Ambiguous Ecological Promise of Christian Theology. Philadelphia: Fortress Press,

1985.

Santmire, Paul. Nature Reborn: The Ecological And Cosmic Promise Of Christian Theology. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1999.

Swimme, Brian. The Hidden Heart of the Cosmos: Humanity and the New Story. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1996.

Swimme, Brian and Thomas Berry. The Universe Story: From the Primordial Flaring Forth to the Ecozoic Era--A Celebration of the

Unfolding of the Cosmos. San Francisco, CA: Harper San Francisco, 1994.