Religion and Ecology in the Anthropocene

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue of Religions features scholarship at the leading edge of the broad area of study referred to variously as "religion and nature", "religion and the environment", and "religion and ecology". In combination with the urgencies of the ecological crisis, the intensive interdisciplinarity and theoretic rigor of this area of study have turned it into one of the most innovative in the field of religious studies. The numerous comparative, historical, philosophical, theological, ethical, and political issues that emerge within this broad area of study have led to the creation of new academic journals, graduate programs, and professional organizations. But as important as all of this scholarly innovation may be, to think at the intersection of religion and ecology in the early 21st century-in the midst of the epochal geo-cultural transition marked by the concept of the Anthropocene, and in the midst of planetary ecological crisis and massive climate injustice-is to think at the edge of some of the most vital questions the human species has ever faced. These include, among others, questions relating to the future of the history of the human species; questions of social and environmental justice in an economically, politically, and ecologically asymmetrical world; questions about the value, dignity and agency of animal, vegetable, and mineral life; questions regarding the dependence of human life on other- and more-than human life; and, of course, questions about the diverse functions of religion in relation to the socio-cultural practices and political economic systems that drive the urgency of these other questions. With questions such as these in mind, the articles in this issue of Religions present creative interventions in several interrelated and increasingly important areas of inquiry: the political and moral significance of religious naturalism and theologies of immanence in a time of ecological crisis and climate injustice; the mutual reconfigurations of philosophies of religion and nature engendered by the geo-cultural shifts marked by the discourse of the Anthropocene; the moral and political disjunctions between the planetary scale of the climate crisis, the contingent cultural and historical roots of its causes, and the unevenness of its impacts; and new ways of performing economy, politics, and religious community in response to the insecurities and contradictions of late global capitalism. Through these focal concerns the purpose of this Special Issue is to bring the most vital scholarly work in religion and ecology to bear on some of the most urgent moral and political challenges the human species has ever faced.

Prof. Dr. Michael S. Hogue
Guest Editor

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