Taught By:
Ariel Mayse
Assistant Professor of Religious Studies
Stanford University
Course Description:
The world today is in the midst of a major ecological crisis that is manifested in extreme weather events; loss of biodiversity; depletion of fisheries; pollution of air, water, and soil; prolonged draughts; and mass extinction of species. Since the 1970s world religions have begun to grapple with the religious significance of the environmental crisis, examining their own scriptures, rituals and ethics in order to articulate religious responses to the ecological crisis. This course explores how certain religions—Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Buddhism and Hinduism—have addressed the ecological crisis for the past 50 years.
Student Campaigns:
Preserving the distinctiveness of each religious tradition, this seminar examines: the issue of religion as the cause of the environmental crisis; the resources for ecological responses within each tradition; the emergence of new religious ecologies and ecological theologies; the contribution of world religions to environmental ethics; and the degree to which the environmental crisis has functioned—and will function—as the basis of inter-faith collaboration. We will work to develop a shared vocabulary in environmental humanities, and special attention will be given to the contribution of religion to animal studies, ecofeminism, religion and the science of ecology, and the interplay among faith, scholarship, and activism.
This course also serves as an introduction to the field of religious ethics with an eye to the questions of comparison. To that end, each session will twin specific primary- and secondary-source readings dealing with the climate crisis with writings dealing with essays that address different understandings of the ethical frameworks of these religious traditions. Issues and questions explored will include: what is the relationship between religious ethics and moral philosophy in regard to the good life, right conduct, proper social relations, and concern for the environment?; how do the ethical frameworks of these religious traditions.