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Biodiversity and the Religious Imagination
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Biodiversity and the Religious Imagination

A special issue of Religions (ISSN 2077-1444).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2022) | Viewed by 8592

Special Issue Editor

Dr. David J. Bryant

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Religious Studies, Eckerd College, Saint Petersburg, FL 33711, USA
Interests: religion and nature; religion and culture (especially science, politics, and the fine arts); contemporary Christian thought; history of Christian thought; hermeneutics; religious anthropologies

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

There have been numerous examinations of interconnections between religion and nature since the 1970s, and few if any issues related to this theme remain untouched in the academic literature. Yet the issues are often complex and wide-ranging in scope, and their intersection with religion is likewise multifaceted and fraught with ambiguity. Without doubt, then, there are still many areas worth further examination. Biodiversity is such an area, especially since current rates of extinction add urgency to considerations of the subject. This Special Issue intends to respond to this urgency by adding to our understanding of connections between religion and the diversity of species, as well as the ecosystems that sustain them.

The term biodiversity can refer to the genetic variations within a species, the variety of species, or the different habitats that are their homes. Essays in this Special Issue may deal with any of these types of diversity, but the primary meaning intended is the diversity of species.

A focus on the religious imagination provides a rubric that encompasses a range of possible topics, including (but not limited to): how religions envision the nature and significance of the rich array of species; religious practices that impact the survival (or not) of species; and the ways that the diversity of species influence religious thought and practice. The concern is not primarily animal rights, understood as the rights of individual members of species, important though that is; rather, it is the rich diversity of life as an important dimension of the context for religious practices, narratives, and beliefs.

Approaches to this theme can focus on the past or present utilizing a variety of methodologies. They may also be primarily descriptive or prescriptive.

Articles will contribute to the already ongoing conversation by providing something original in terms of information, insight, or proposals for future actions and investigations. My hope is that these essays will help to bring this critical concern a little more visibility and add to our understanding of how religions have and might impact the species that share the planet with us.

Dr. David J. Bryant
Guest Editor

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 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

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-blind 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.

Keywords

  • Biodiversity
  • religion
  • habitat
  • ecosystem
  • mass extinction
  • conservation
  • preservation
  • value of nature
  • anthropocentrism
  • biocentrism
  • ecocentrism
  • myth
  • ritual
  • religious convictions
  • religious ethics
  • religious practice

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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10 pages, 224 KiB  
Article
Are Ashes All That Is Left? Grace Jantzen’s Aesthetics and the Beauty of Biodiversity
by Dorothy C. Dean
Religions 2022, 13(5), 407; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel13050407 - 29 Apr 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1667
Abstract
As the climate crisis continues to worsen and it becomes apparent that the earth faces its sixth mass extinction event, it is more important than ever to find an alternative to the disordered thinking that prevents meaningful environmental reform in nations of the [...] Read more.
As the climate crisis continues to worsen and it becomes apparent that the earth faces its sixth mass extinction event, it is more important than ever to find an alternative to the disordered thinking that prevents meaningful environmental reform in nations of the Global North with large carbon footprints such as the United States. Informed by affect theory, I revisit Grace Jantzen’s late work on death and beauty in the context of biodiversity to develop the beginnings of a theological affect of responsiveness to ecological beauty. Juxtaposing Jantzen’s theory of the displacement of beauty with Kevin O’Brien’s theological ethics of biodiversity, I suggest that biodiversity can be key to an ecotheology that combats human exceptionalism and prioritizes responsiveness to beauty. I contend that an aesthetics of natality requires responsiveness to the beauty of biodiversity in order to combat both human exceptionalism and the culture of necrophilia that Jantzen critiqued. Ultimately, I conclude that beauty, natality, and biodiversity may be able to inform an ecological theology centered on nonexceptional theological affects. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biodiversity and the Religious Imagination)
28 pages, 657 KiB  
Article
Everything but the Squeal: The Politics of Porcinity in the Livre des Propriétés des Choses
by Sven Gins
Religions 2021, 12(4), 260; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel12040260 - 8 Apr 2021
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 3401
Abstract
Mediaeval encyclopaedias described nonhuman animals in terms of their corporeality and cosmic significance by combining zoological and theological knowledge. Such descriptions were therefore prescriptions of normative parameters for how animals were supposed to function within Christian society, rather than objective observations. As mediaeval [...] Read more.
Mediaeval encyclopaedias described nonhuman animals in terms of their corporeality and cosmic significance by combining zoological and theological knowledge. Such descriptions were therefore prescriptions of normative parameters for how animals were supposed to function within Christian society, rather than objective observations. As mediaeval conceptualisations of species were highly malleable, particular animals that shared no biological relation could be considered kin, and animals who behaved against their prescribed nature could become a different animal altogether. This paper investigates how several species were implicated in the mediaeval invention of what it meant to be (like) a pig. My counter-hegemonic reading of the Livre des propriétés des choses, a fifteenth-century French encyclopaedia, draws attention to how late mediaeval Christian scripts of porcinity simultaneously defined the nonhumanity of pigs and of ‘other’ humans. These render the idea of the pig inseparable from what it meant to be human. I contend that the Livre des propriétés des choses employs discourses of porcinity to self-define and -stabilise particular notions of human identity by debasing and othering human and nonhuman animals with seemingly porcine traits. Additionally, I underline how such fabrications of humanity are often mired in practices that devaluate and harm real animals, including other humans. Mediaeval studies need to further address the crucial roles of animal suffering in human history. This way, historians can add valuable insights to present debates about anthropocentrism and its devastating socio-ecological consequences. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biodiversity and the Religious Imagination)

Other

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12 pages, 263 KiB  
Essay
Biophilia, Biodiversity, and the Bible
by William P. Brown
Religions 2021, 12(11), 981; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel12110981 - 9 Nov 2021
Viewed by 2193
Abstract
For all its anthropocentric focus on human agency in history and creation, the Hebrew Bible’s valuing of nonhuman life and its diversity cannot be gainsaid among certain traditions. Such is the case in three major creation texts: Genesis 1, Psalm 104, and Job [...] Read more.
For all its anthropocentric focus on human agency in history and creation, the Hebrew Bible’s valuing of nonhuman life and its diversity cannot be gainsaid among certain traditions. Such is the case in three major creation texts: Genesis 1, Psalm 104, and Job 38–41. Each in its own way, these biblical accounts affirm the intrinsic worth of biodiversity, the expansiveness of life, and a God who values the flourishing of all creation. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biodiversity and the Religious Imagination)
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