Environmental Ethics, Ecological Theology and Natural Selection

ISBN: 0231126603

Author: Sideris, Lisa

Condition: New

ReviewThis book offers a detailed, thoughtful exploration of alternative scientific and theological conceptions of the environment. -- Amy K. Wolfe - EnvironmentReaders of this journal should pay special attention to a book such as this. It is as clear a demonstration as exists of the import of scientific theorizing and the fusion between the culture of the sciences and that of the humanities. -- Michael P. Nelson, University of Idaho - Environmental ConservationThis critique ought to generate debate and responses...for the questions it asks are crucial to our common project. -- Anna L. Peterson - Environmental EthicsThere is much to commend in this admirably clear and readable book. -- Michael S. Northcot - EcotheologyProduct DescriptionIn the last few decades, religious and secular thinkers have tackled the world's escalating environmental crisis by attempting to develop an ecological ethic that is both scientifically accurate and free of human-centered preconceptions. This groundbreaking study shows that many of these environmental ethicists continue to model their positions on romantic, pre-Darwinian concepts that disregard the predatory and cruelly competitive realities of the natural world. Examining the work of such influential thinkers as James Gustafson, Sallie McFague, Rosemary Radford Ruether, John Cobb, Peter Singer, and Holmes Rolston, Sideris proposes a more realistic ethic that combines evolutionary theory with theological insight, advocates a minimally interventionist stance toward nature, and values the processes over the products of the natural world.About the AuthorLisa H. Sideris is an assistant professor at the McGill School of Environment and the Faculty of Religious Studies, McGill University, Montreal.