Religion and Nature in a Globalizing World
Journal Title: Religions - Year 2017, Vol 8, Issue 3
Abstract
Despite the recent series of electoral victories by populists seeking to capitalize on antipathy about globalization, our world remains radically interconnected. The planet’s ecosystems are just as dependent on global climatic processes as before; the world’s societies continue to experience intensifying levels of cultural exchange; and economies still operate with increasing disregard of limits, be those political borders or environmental tipping points. This historical moment seems fragile—it is, of course—but persons and communities remain as dynamic as ever in finding new ways to understand and respond to mounting environmental crises. Many scholars have, for the past several decades, attended to the role played by religion as a source for this dynamism.1 This Special Issue of Religions seeks to advance this expanding body of knowledge by paying particular attention to questions and issues related to globalization.2 The term globalization is put to work by people for whom it serves a range of purposes. For some, it is a descriptive term that captures the various processes of current historical period of intensified cultural and economic exchange among societies.3 For others, it designates a homogenization through which cultural differences and local livelihoods are eroded by the deracinating forces of international capitalism.4 Ironically, where this normative critique was once the province of leftist theoreticians, it now also circulates as a key talking point in resurgent rightwing nationalisms where traditionally powerful groups decry the arrival of immigrants and new cultural forms. Conceived nearly two years ago, at a time of apparent cosmopolitanism, this Special Issue aspires to capture the rich variety of relationships between religion and nature in a world characterized by vibrant cultural intermingling, by the exchange of knowledge and ideas across borders, and by concern about the threat of climate change shared by leaders in every country around the globe. That threat looms more largely than ever, and people—with their ideas, traditions, and gods—continue to circulate amongst one another with an intensity unprecedented in human history. However, conversations about religion and nature might seem more appropriately focused on local circumstances, parochial environmental knowledge, and community engagement. This is indeed the scholarly enterprise taken up in the several articles conjoined here, and yet, each of these essays points beyond the particular concerns of local religious communities toward broader conditions of globalization that are inherently woven into the fabric of contemporary religious life.
Authors and Affiliations
Evan Berry
Keywords
Related Articles
- EP ID EP25685
- DOI https://doi.org/10.3390/rel8030032
- Views 321
- Downloads 8
A Feasibility Study of Taste & See: A Church Based Programme to Develop a Healthy Relationship with Food
Holistic approaches which include a religious element are a promising intervention within obesity, but have not been explored in the UK. Objective: To conduct a feasibility study of a three-month, Christian-based intui...
The Roman Catholic Tradition in Conversation with Thomas Berry’s Fourfold Wisdom
Taking the threatening anthropogenic global environmental destruction—the anthropocene—as a starting point, this paper examines the Catholic tradition, which has remained relatively indifferent to this looming crisis,...
The Historical Foundations of Religious Restrictions in Contemporary China
The ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) abolished its total ban on religious activities in 1982. However, the distrust that the CCP feels for religions remains obvious today, and the religious restrictions in contempo...
Miracles, Media, Mezuzot: Storytelling among Chabad Hasidim
In 1994 the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Menachem Schneerson, died leaving no successor. His group split into two groups: messianists who maintained that the Rebbe had not died and was Moshiach, the Jewish Messiah, and the non m...
How a Model of Communication Can Assist Nurses to Foster Hope When Communicating with Patients Living with a Terminal Prognosis
Nurses play a central role in joint decision-making and person-centred care, whereby care is focused on the needs of an individual patient. A key part of person-centred care is the way nurses engage with patients becau...