The Forum on Religion and Ecology Newsletter
1.1 (September 2007)
Contents
I. Editorial: Whitney Bauman
II. Essay From the Field: Mark MacDonald, First National Anglican Bishop of Canada
III. Focus on the Website: Annotated Bibliographies
IV. Events
I. Introductory Editorial
Greetings! I hope that you enjoy the first issue of the Forum on Religion and Ecology Newsletter. We plan to publish it monthly during the academic year (September-May). We see this as an opportunity to: a) keep you up to date with what is going on at the Forum, b) learn about what other people in the “religion and ecology” field are doing, c) discover more about the Forum’s web-site, and d) learn of upcoming events in “religion and ecology.” Toward these ends, if you have items of news or upcoming events that you would like for us to consider including, please send them to Whitney Bauman (whitneybauman@religionandecology.org).
In this brief introductory editorial, I would like to share with you some of the exciting things going on with the Forum this academic year.
First, it is my privilege and honor to take on the role of Research Associate and Web Content Manager for the 2007-2008 academic year. This position involves a combination of updating and maintaining the information on the FORE website, helping out with FORE meetings/conferences as needed, editing the monthly FORE newsletter, and pursuing research interests in religion and ecology.
Second, the Forum also welcomes Tara Maguire Knopick as the new Administrative Assistant. She has recently completed her Master’s degree at Yale Divinity School. During this time she took courses with the directors of the Forum, Mary Evelyn Tucker and John Grim, in world religions and ecology. We are delighted to welcome Tara into this work of re-imagining human-Earth relations. She will work closely with Mary Evelyn and John and can be reached through the general Forum email: fore@religionandecology.org.
Tara is taking over the role and work of two people, Ann Keeler Evans and Donna Rosenberg. The work of the Forum on Religion and Ecology has been greatly assisted over the past three years by Ann and Donna. Mary Evelyn and John are deeply grateful for their excellent work, especially during their years in Berkeley. Their help has been indispensable.
Third, as many of you may know, the co-directors of the Forum, Mary Evelyn and John, have accepted teaching positions at Yale University. They look forward to moving ahead with the Forum’s work now based at Yale’s School of Forestry and Environmental Studies and Yale Divinity School. They also have appointments in Religious Studies and with the Center for Bioethics in the Institution for Social and Policy Studies.
In what follows, you will find a very engaging “From the Field” piece by Bishop Mark MacDonald, the newly appointed first National Indigenous Anglican Bishop for Canada. Following this, you will find a brief “focus on the FORE website” piece designed to familiarize the reader with what information can be found on the website. Finally, a list of Forum events and other “religion and ecology” events ends the first edition of this newsletter. As stated in the opening paragraph, we hope that this will be a valuable resource to those interested in the Forum and in “religion and ecology” in general. Suggestions for things to include in future issues are welcome.
Whitney Bauman
2007-2008 Research Associate
The Forum on Religion and Ecology
whitneybauman@religionandecology.org
II. From the Field
“Aboriginal Christianity/Ecological Christianity: A Church of and for Turtle Island”
Something New in North America
The recent installation of a National Indigenous Anglican Bishop in Canada is significant in many ways; the most obvious being in the way it re-thinks the relationship of Christian faith and aboriginal identity and authority. What may not be so obvious is the way it re-imagines the relationship of a community of faith with the environment.
Central to the proposal to develop a truly indigenous American Christianity – the Gospel of and for Turtle Island – is the re-conception of the communion of God and humanity as essentially a communion between God and Creation. This communion is conceived as a dynamic ecological relationship between all that is and the Creator. Humanity plays an important but entirely dependent role – dependent upon the integrity of the web of life itself, with Spirit at the center. It is critical to note that this point of view contradicts many of the central premises of the missionary efforts of the Western churches, especially among the indigenous peoples of North America and around the world.
The Cosmology of the West
The West’s view of creation was and is shaped both by materialistic scientism and economically conceived individualism. These forces eclipsed the West’s own Biblical and theological roots long ago. As a contemporary and startling example of this eclipse, consider the “Creation Science” of Euro-American fundamentalism – a phenomenon that reveals more about the pervasiveness of the Western cultural framework than the more science friendly reworking of theology by the old-line western churches.
The fundamentalists insist that their controversial view of both Science and Scripture should be normative for all institutions in the West; that everyone, including Science, should endorse their position. Though their old-line counterparts sharply disagree, there is significant agreement between the two groups. They are both in total harmony with the basic shape and values of the hidden Western Cosmology – materialistic scientism.
The cosmology of the West, still prevalent in many contemporary “mission” efforts, was an unchallenged partner of the colonizing churches. It is significant that after 500 years of systematic proselytism the rejection of this aspect of the West is one of the defining characteristics of indigenous spiritual identity and renewal. This is true even among aboriginal Christians, as the Canadian developments demonstrate.
As the need to articulate their own indigenous faith grew, aboriginal communities in the Anglican Church of Canada began to speak of a need for a National Indigenous Bishop. Such a Bishop would: 1) Speak for them in the councils of the Church; 2) Interpret and help navigate those councils for Indigenous Peoples; and 3) Speak for the living relationship that the Indigenous Peoples of the Americas have with the Land. This third item, which is our focus here, has two components that are intimately and necessarily related: first, to give voice to the Land itself and its ecological integrity and, second, to speak for the living relationship with the Land and aboriginal communities
Aboriginal Christianity/Ecological Christianity
The appointment of a bishop is not significant in itself. It is the communal articulation of faith by indigenous peoples that, in ways that cannot be numbered or predicted, is an inspiration and challenge. This is especially true for communities of faith and spirituality that are concerned about the environment. We are witnessing the emergence of a spiritual community that conceives of itself theologically and ecologically. This points to a communal spiritual consciousness different from the churches that operate in a Western cultural framework. We may look for a spirituality inspired not only by the past and its traditions, but also by the future, a hope-filled imagining of what a renewed family of Creation might be.
The living relationship between humanity and Creation is a defining element of aboriginal identity and the source of its on-going conflict with the West. As a frequent participant and observer in the back and forth between aboriginal communities and Western organizations, I can say that this is one of the most, if not the most, significant distinctions between them. The Gwich’in, for example, have had a hard time making the larger society, even environmentalists, understand their living relationship to the ecological community they live in. They are saying, quite clearly, that they do not exist in any meaningful way apart from the ecological community that gave their nation its birth and sustains it to this day.
As seen in this example, Western development can often pose human rights issues for the aboriginal nations. Development can involve the destruction of an ecological community, not just a restructuring of economic resources. To aboriginal communities, God or Spirit created this ecological community as an irreducible moral absolute for humanity. Without this community we don’t exist in any way that can be construed as human. Oxygen may be processed in our lungs, blood may be pumped in our hearts, but we will be something quite a bit less than human.
Over time, it has become clear that many people in the West cannot understand the living relationship that is involved in the ecological community of life. In aboriginal societies, this relationship is often spoken of in family terms, underlining its importance and intimacy. In contrast, though the environment may have a high value to the West, it appears that humanity can exist apart from it or that science can create a substitute for it. The destruction of the environment, however tragic, is not the end of human life, in this view. The relationship between humanity and eco-system is a mechanical or chemical exchange, and not a reciprocal one.
Related to the concerns raised above, is the sharp difference between Western notions of ownership, now impacting every area of life around the globe, and those of Indigenous value systems. For the West, everything can be bought and sold – everything. In traditional indigenous thought, such conceptions are often treated as blasphemous, absurd, and destructive. That which is possessed by the individual is held in trust for the larger community of life. If all share, there will be enough for all and more; if we hoard, there will never be enough for anyone. There are things that it is simply not conceivable to buy or sell – land, water, air, and life itself.
It is the Western restructuring of life, especially when phrased in economic terms, which is problematic to indigenous communities around the world. In the Western cultural framework, the consequences of environmental demise have been measured in human centered terms, mostly economic. This is a sharp contrast to the theological, moral, and eschatological terms that are the basis of Aboriginal cosmology. This disagreement grows in significance as the environmental crisis reaches greater levels of danger and urgency. This conflict is, for the aboriginal nations, more problematic now than at any time since the military battles of the 19th Century. It is seen not only in disagreement over development but also in regard to the privatization of resources like water and the patenting of life and Aboriginal pharmacology by Western commercial interests.
This may come as fresh news to many, even among environmentalists. Though the Fourth World of the Indigenous Nations experiences poverty and political disempowerment that is similar to the Two-Thirds World, their situation is often hidden. First, they are often found in the shadow of the wealth of nations like Canada, US, and Australia (a wealth their oppression helped to achieve). Second, the identification of the Fourth World with the Land also obscures their reality from cultures that cannot conceive of life in ecological terms.
A Prophetic Challenge
There is, as we have noted above, much more that can be said regarding these developments among aboriginal Christians in the Americas. This short piece is far from definitive and, at best, broadly suggestive. We could have noted, for example, the important point that aboriginal Christians have achieved this understanding within an orthodox and Theo-centric theological framework, which may be a surprise to many observers – a hopeful surprise given the theological orientation of many North Americans. They have discovered an unexpected pre-Western artery of Theo-ecological understanding in the primal elements of Christian faith.
The developments in the Anglican Church of Canada are a part of a larger pattern that can be seen in Indigenous groups around the world. We are witnessing an unprecedented cultural renewal and renaissance despite, or perhaps, speaking in a prophetic mode, because of its context in a threatened universal ecology. This pattern has both moral and ecological significance to all, but especially to people of faith. There is much here for all to see and understand. Aboriginal peoples provide a unique and essential prophetic challenge in our world today. Attention to their situation and struggle, at all levels, should be one of the highest priorities for us all.
–The Rt. Rev. Mark MacDonald
First National Indigenous Bishop of Canada
(To read more about Bishop MacDonald, visit: http://www.anglican.ca/news/news.php?newsItem=2007-01-04_nibbio.ans)
© 2007 by Mark MacDonald
III. Focus on the Website
Annotated Bibliographies in “Religion and Ecology.”
If you are like I was before I started working for the Forum, you may have missed the fact that the Forum website has (among other things) annotated bibliographies for all of the major world religions and ecology. In fact, once I realized what a valuable resource was right there on the website, I also realized I could have saved a lot of time researching the bibliographies for my dissertation!
So, if you are a student researching “religion and ecology” or a professor teaching anything having to do with “religion and ecology” please direct your and/or your students’ attention to the following URL: http://environment.harvard.edu/. From there you can visit a specific tradition, e.g., Hinduism. On the main page for each given tradition, you will find a link to a “bibliography,” e.g., for Hinduism: http://environment.harvard.edu/religion/religion/hinduism/bibliography.html. Each bibliography is available in annotated, pdf format (via a link at the top of the page).
The good news is that we have recently updated the html and pdf versions of the bibliographies through 2006. The searchable database, for various “technical” reasons, has not yet been updated to reflect these changes, but we are working on updating it. In the meantime, if you are searching for things pre-2000, you can find them in the searchable database. Otherwise, you can find a full annotated bibliography for each of the world religions in pdf format that is updated through 2006.
One of the great things about the information on this web-site is that it is living and evolving. We are working to keep the information up-to-date with the changing field. Of course, we will not catch everything! So, if you would like to participate in the life and growth of the website, please let us know if we are missing something or if some information is incorrect. You can do so by sending an email to: whitneybauman@religionandecology.org. Next month the “Focus on the Web-site” will be on the “Professional Development” section.
IV. Upcoming Event Highilights in Religion and Ecology
Upcoming FORE Events
Forum on Religion and Ecology Luncheon (RSVP only)
November 16, 2007
American Academy of Religion
San Diego, CA
For more information, contact: fore@religionandecology.org
Forum on Religion and Ecology “Renewal” Conference
February 29 – March 2, 2008
Yale University
New Haven, CT
For more information, contact: fore@religionandecology.org
Other Religion and Ecology Events
Complete List of AAR Religion and Ecology Events
American Academy of Religion Meeting
San Diego, CA
November 16-20, 2007
http://environment.harvard.edu/
“The Re-Enchantment of Nature across Disciplines: Critical Intersections of Science, Ethics, and Metaphysics”
January 17-20, 2008
Second Conference of the International Society for the Study of Religion, Nature, and Culture
Morelia, Mexico
http://www.religionandnature.com/society/upcoming.htm
“Ecological Theology and Environmental Ethics”
June 2-6, 2008
Orthodox Academy of Crete
Chania, Greece
http://www.oac.edu.gr/
“Thinking Through Nature: Philosophy for an Endangered World”
June 19-22, 2008
University of Oregon
Eugene Oregon
http://www.uoregon.edu/
Links to Religion and Ecology Event Calendars
Below is the very beginning of what we hope will grow into a comprehensive list of links to various calendars of “religion and ecology” events. As you will note, the list reflects my own geographic and cultural location. As a reader of the Forum’s Newsletter, I invite you to submit links to other calendar’s devoted to “religion and ecology” events. Thanks in advance!
Forum on Religion and Ecology:
http://fore.research.yale.edu/calendar/
Canadian Forum on Religion and Ecology:
http://www.cfore.ca/
Earth Ministry:
http://www.earthministry.org/
International Society for the Study of Religion, Nature, and Culture:
http://www.religionandnature.com/society/upcoming.htm#ISSRNCconference
Schumacher College:
http://www.schumachercollege.org.uk/prospect/News.html
Sophia Center, Holy Names College:
http://www.hnu.edu/sophia/
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