Resource List for Caring for Creation

 

From Pr. Nancy Wright, Ascension, South Burlington, Vt., environmental liaison to the New England Synod.

 

Premise: the environmental crisis is so important that every religious leader can teach/preach about it (especially important on Earth Day and World Environment Day. Here are books and Web sites that have influenced me and taught me what I know. Enjoy!

 

Theology

 

Fox, Matthew. Original Blessing: A Primer in Creation Spirituality (Bear & Co., 1983)

 

McFague, Fallie. Models of God: Theology for an Ecological, Nuclear Age (Fortress, 1987)

 

Hessel, Dieter T., and Rosemary Radford Ruether, eds. Christianity and Ecology: Seeking the Well-Being of Earth and Humans (Harvard University Press, 2000) (If you buy one book, this should be the one. It is the collection of papers given by the key theologians presenting at the Conference on Christianity and Ecology, Harvard University)

 

Rasmussen, Larry. Earth Community, Earth Ethics. (Orbis Books, 199)

 

Santmire, H. Paul. The Travail of Nature: The Ambiguous Ecological Promise of Christian Theology (Fortress, 1985)

 

Sitler, Joseph. Evocations of Grace: Writings on Ecology, Theology, and Ethics (Eerdman’s, 2000)

 

Webb, Benjamin, ed. Fugitive Faith (Orbis, 1998)

 

Wright, Nancy, and Donald Kill. Ecological Healing: A Christian Vision (Orbis, 1993) (out of print but may be borrowed for study groups, email pastornancy@alcvt.org)

 

Economics

 

Daly, Herman E., and John B. Cobb, Jr. For the Common Good: Redirecting the Economy Toward Community, the Environment, and a Sustainable Future (Beacon, 1989). (What would our economy look like if nature mattered?)

 

Hopkins, Rob and Heinberg, Richard. The Transition Handbook: From Oil Dependency to Local Resilience (Chelsea Green, 2008)

 

McKibben, Bill.  Deep Economy: The Wealth of Communities and the Durable Future (Holt Paperbacks, 2008)

 

Moe-Lobeda, Cynthia. Healing a Broken World: Globalization and God (Augsburg Fortress, 2002) (the author is a Lutheran theologian and economist)

 

Our Common Future: The World Commission on Environment and Development (Oxford, 1987) (This book marks the first prominent definition of sustainability)

 

Interfaith

 

Tucker, Mary Evelyn. Worldly Wonder: Religions Enter Their Ecological Phase (Carus, 2003) (The author organized ten major conferences on world religions and ecology for the Forum on Religion and Ecology)

 

Church-centered caring for creation

 

Barnett, Tanya Marcovna, ed. and comp. Greening Congregations Handbook: Stories Ideas, and Resources for Cultivating Creation Awareness and Care in Your Congregation (Earth Ministry, www.earthministry.org)

 

Tutu, Desmund et al. The Green Bible (www.greenletterbible.com): essays by Desmond Tutu, N. T. Wright, and many others. verses and passages that speak to God’s care for creation highlighted in green; Green Bible index and study guide (HarperOne, 2008)

 

Web sites

 

www.webofcreation.org

www.forumonreligionandecology.org

http://environment.harvard.edu/religion/main.html (for the Religions of the World and Ecology series)

www.earthcharter.org

For the famous essay by Lynn White:”On the Historical Roots of our Ecological Crisis” see www.faithnet.org.uk/theology/lynnwhite.htm.

www.earthministry.org (to order the Greening Congregations Handbook: Stories, Ideas, and Resources for Cultivating Creation Awareness and Care in Your Congregation)

www.nccecojustice.org (for Earth Day resources)

www.nccecojustice.org/capsules to signup for e-newsletter, with liturgical ideas throughout the year

www.earthcharter.org

 

 

 

Additional Resources

 

ELCA

 

Check www.elca.org/advocacy/environment for the following:

 

Awakening to God’s Call to Earthkeeping study guide

 

ELCA Environmental Audit Guide for congregations, schools, and other groups

 

The Web of Creation site (www.webofcreation.org) includes a number of earthkeeping resources developed by professors and students at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago.

 

Caring for Creation: Vision, Hope and Justice, the ELCA social statement adopted in 1993. (www.elca.org/socialstatements/environment)

 

 

Interfaith Power & Light

 

Connecticut Interfaith Power & Light

Web site: www.ctipl.org

Contact:  Rabbi Andrea Cohen-Kiener; 860-231-8554; info@irejn.org

 

Maine Interfaith Power & Light

Web site: www.meipl.corg

Contact: Harry Brown, Executive Director; 207-721-0444; harry@meipl.org

 

Massachusetts Interfaith Power & Light

Web site: www.mipandl.org

Contact: Thomas Nutt-Powell, President; 617-821-6107; MIPandL@MIPandL.org

 

New Hampshire: There is no IPL in New Hampshire, but efforts are underway to launch one there.

 

Rhode Island Interfaith Power & Light

Web site: www.riipl.org

Contact: Howard Brown, Director; 401-267-0029; info@riipl.org

 

Vermont Interfaith Power & Light

Web site: www.vtipl.org

Contact: Betsy Hardy, VTIPL Administrator; 802-434-7307; info@vtipl.org

 

 

11/03/2008