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Organizing Partners:
· Drew Theological School
· GreenFaith

Co-sponsors:
· Genesis Farm
· Interweave

Ecological crisis has provoked the faith traditions to rethink our relation to the earth. The struggle for ecosocial justice may seem to be losing ground within the dominant forms of politics, economics and religion. Nonetheless-- slowly and unsurely, religious institutions are becoming conduits of awareness and action on behalf of the creation. After a long history of neglect, the earth’s ensemble of vulnerable peoples and species is getting religious attention. In the United States, a primary consumer and waster of planetary resources, no ecological politics can really succeed without theological arguments to convince people that such concern is part of their practice of faith. So the awakening of faith to its earth-ground is grounds for hope indeed.

The fifth annual transdisciplinary theological colloquium at Drew, in collaboration with GreenFaith of New Jersey, will provide a forum for reflection upon the relation of religion and ecology as the ground of a more vital democracy. The earth is the ground of all social contexts. Yet it was pushed long ago into the background of social history. Wester religions in particular have been formative of this earth-transcending, earth-demeaning attitude. Indeed some religious concepts of “nature,” such as fallen, may work against both environmental protection and democratic justice. Yet the scriptural traditions contain extraordinary potentials for the greening of faith. This conference pulls the earth-ground out of the background and focuses on the many resources available for laity, pastors, activists and scholars committed to raising ecological concerns in circles of faith.

This conference is being planned by Drs. Catherine Keller and Laurel Kearns of Drew Theological School, and Fletcher Harper of GreenFaith. For details and further information about the speakers and the upcoming event, contact GreenFaith, at info@greenfaith.org.

 

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