This episode of Spotlights features our host reviewing the latest book by Robin Wall Kimmerer, The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World, focusing specifically on the idea of a gift economy. The book invites us to transition from the extractive and exploitative market economy that is dominant around the globe to a gift economy oriented around abundance, reciprocity, and gratitude. It is an informative and inspiring book that works as a good introduction to Kimmerer's work for those unfamiliar with her while also adding more depth for those who have already read her previous works, like Braiding Sweetgrass. More information can be found on the publisher's website: https://www.simonandschuster.com/book… This episode was released on January 20, 2025.
This episode of Spotlights focuses on the enduring legacy of President Jimmy Carter (1924-2024). We feature a plenary address that Carter gave for the American Academy of Religion in San Diego on November 24, 2014. The Plenary Panel was called The Role of Religion in Mediating Conflicts and Imagining Futures: The Cases of Climate Change and Equality for Women. He led with comments on women’s issues as his book on women had just been published, A Call to Action: Women, Religion, Violence and Power. This was followed by an interview with Mary Evelyn Tucker and Steven Kepnes. He addressed many issues, including climate change, energy, China's approach to Ecological Civilization, nuclear issues, the Earth Charter, peace, and more.
This episode of Spotlights features Kimberly Carfore, PhD, co-chair of the religion and ecology unit at the American Academy of Religion. We discuss the religion and ecology events at this year's annual meeting of the AAR, including some of the panel presentations, receptions, overarching themes, and future directions for this unique unit. Hope, happiness, Indigenous values, and feminist theology are among the topics we cover. Many previous podcast guests are mentioned in the process, underscoring how much the field of religion and ecology is a community built on shared concerns & solidarity.
This episode of Spotlights features Ricardo Rozzi, PhD, a Chilean ecologist and philosopher who is a professor at the University of North Texas and the Universidad de Magallanes (UMAG). His research combines ecology and philosophy through the study of the interrelations between the ways of knowing and inhabiting the natural world, proposing a dynamic continuous reciprocal feedback between both domains. We discuss his work with biocultural conservation, field environmental philosophy, and liberation theology, with particular attention to the unique cultural, ecological, and political context of Chile and Latin America.
This episode of Spotlights features Beth Norcross, founder and director of the Center for Spirituality in Nature, which provides numerous programs that offer spiritual guidance for developing deep, sustained, loving relationships with nature. She is also the co-author (with Leah Rampy) of a forthcoming book, Discovering the Spiritual Wisdom of Trees, which will be published with Broadleaf Books on Earth Day (April 22) 2025. We discuss her perspective on the intersection of spirituality and nature, and her deep appreciation for the wisdom of trees. More information about the Center for Spirituality in Nature can be found here: https://www.centerforspiritualityinna… More information about the book can be found at the publisher's website: https://www.broadleafbooks.com/store/…
This episode of the FORE podcast features Paul Waldau, an educator, activist and scholar who works at the intersection of animal studies, law, ethics, religion, and cultural studies. Former professor at Canisius College in Buffalo, New York, where he is the senior faculty for the Master of Science program in Anthrozoology, he is an author and editor of several books on animal studies, including The Specter of Speciesism: Buddhist and Christian Views of Animals (Oxford University Press, 2001), Animal Studies: An Introduction (Oxford University Press, 2013), and A Communion of Subjects: Animals in Religion, Science, and Ethics, edited with Kimberey Patton (Columbia University Press, 2006). We talk about animals, sentience, dialogue between science and religion, and much more.
This episode of Spotlights features Philip Arnold, PhD, Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Religion at Syracuse University, Director of the Skä·noñh—Great Law of Peace Center, and President of the Indigenous Values Initiative. He is interviewed by John Grim, PhD, co-founder and co-director of the Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology. They talk about many facets of Phil’s work, especially in light of his new book, The Urgency of Indigenous Values (Syracuse University Press, 2023). More information about the book can be found on the publisher’s website: https://press.syr.edu/supressbooks/58…
Welcome to the beginning of the fifth year for the Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology podcast. In this short episode, our host welcomes everyone to a new season, while also giving a brief refresher about what religion and ecology is all about. It is an academic field of study as well as a moral force for personal and social change, examining the problems and promise that religious traditions hold for facilitating the emergence of a sustainable and just Earth community.
