Religion and Urban Ecology

Event description: 

March 1-2, 2024

Albertus Magnus College
New Haven, CT, USA

Event site

Rapid global urbanization and its environmental pressures led to the emergence of “Urban Ecology,” examining urban ecosystems through disciplines across the natural sciences, social sciences, and humanities. Meanwhile, Religious Studies has seen the recent emergence of scholarship on Religion and Cities and Religion and Ecology. This conference seeks to catalyze a conversation that has so far received little direct attention: Religion and Urban Ecology.

Presenters from a variety of fields will present their research on the interaction between religion and urban ecology. Scholars, practitioners, and community members are welcome to attend. This academic conference is hosted by the Urban Studies program, co-sponsored by the Eckhart Center, and supported by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Conference Schedule:

Friday, March 1
4-4:45pm: Check-in
4:45-5pm: Welcome and Announcements
5-6pm: Keynote Address (Karen Seto, Yale School of the Environment)
6-7pm: Dinner (Sanctuary Kitchen)

Saturday, March 2
9-9:30am: Breakfast buffet (Atticus Market)
9:30-9:45am: Announcements
9:45-11am: Connections Between Human and Non-Human Subjects

  • James Dechant (Fordham University), “Manifold and Divided Goodness: Biodiversity Loss and Christian Ethics”
  • Erik Assadourian (The Gaian Way), “Connecting People to Gaia in Places Where Gaia is Hardest to Hear”
  • Respondent: Rebecca Brogan (Albertus Magnus College)

11-11:15am: Break
11:15am-12:30pm: Place, Religion, and Ecology

  • Christy Randazzo (Montclair State University, New Jersey), “A Quaker Theology of the City”
  • Dan McKanan (Harvard Divinity School), “The New Sacred Groves: Ancestral Devotion and Urban Ecology”
  • Respondent: Matt Waggoner (Albertus Magnus College)

12:30-1:30pm: Lunch (Avocado Haven)

1:30-3pm: Connections to Economics and Politics

  • Isaiah Ellis (University of Toronto),”Theopathologies: The Common Economy of the Urban and the Religious”
  • Phil Scholer (Harvard Divinity School), “Tennessee's New South: Marquita Bradshaw and her Call for Environmental Justice”
  • Na'l'Cesses McKether (Yale University), “'Am I Not a Man and a Brother?': Toward an eco-theology for prison abolition.”
  • Respondent: Ross Edwards (Albertus Magnus College)

3-3:15pm: Break
3:15-3:25pm: Mini-Presentation: Tess Dufrechou (Harvard Divinity School)
3:25-3:45pm: General Discussion and Cross-Talk
3:45-4pm: Closing