Eco-Theology: Interrelationships of Religion, Nature, and Common Life

Dear Colleagues,

The encyclical letter Laudato Si'. On care of our common home, signed by Pope Francis on May 24, 2015, is inscribed in the global ecological upheaval. Francis, in an unprecedented way, calls everyone to responsibly reflect on what is happening to our common home, while substantiating the concept of integral ecology in word and deed.

This Special Issue of Religions welcomes contributions from different areas of knowledge, geographies, religions, cultures, and political systems, which may help to re-think the performativity of the metaphor common home in eco-theology and to articulate the concept of integral ecology as applied to planet Earth. Contributors are invited to explore the metaphor common home, and common life, and the danger of complacency of superficial ecologies (see LS 59), in view of  finding ways to foster an integral ecology that sustains the biological identity of planet Earth. Contributions shall aim to investigate how a common life is possible in our one common home, in a time when worldviews, epistemologies, and specifically theologies and ethics of the earth show a growing sensitivity and shift from anthropocentrism and anthropomorphism towards urgently needed integral and sustainable forms of a common life in our one common home.

In critical dialogue with contextual hermeneutics in regard to the concept of common home, researchers from different parts of the world are invited to identify and correlate concepts of religion and of nature that may configure new ways of how humans related to the natural world today; to study, in context, statutes and patterns of relationships between religion, nature, and the common life; and to explain strengths and weaknesses, opportunities, and obstacles of this relation in the contemporary context of our planetary ecological crisis.

We are genuinely looking forward to your contributions.

Abstract Submission Information

We request that interested authors initially submit a proposed title and an abstract of 200–300 words summarizing your intended contribution. Please send it to Professor Isabel Varanda (mivaranda@ucp.pt) and Professor Franz Gassner (franz.gassner@usj.edu.mo) or to Ms. Joyce Xi, the Assistant Editor of Religions (joyce.xi@mdpi.com). Abstracts will be reviewed by the Guest Editors for the purposes of ensuring proper fit within the scope of the Special Issue.

Dr. Maria Isabel Pereira Varanda
Dr. Franz Gassner
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the Special Issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Religions is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.