Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Earth-honoring Faith: Religious Ethics in a New Key



Earth-honoring Faith: Religious Ethics in a New Key by Larry L. Rasmussen (Author). Considerate observers agree that the planetary disaster we now face-climate change; species extinction; the destruction of complete ecosystems; the pressing need for a more simply economic-political order-is pushing human civilization to a radical turning level: change or perish. However exactly find out how to change stays an open question.

On Earth-honoring Faith, Larry Rasmussen answers that question in a dramatically new way of thinking about human society, ethics, and the continuing health of our planet. Rejecting the fashionable assumption that morality applies to human society alone, Rasmussen insists that we must derive a religious and ecological ethic that accounts for the properly-being of all creation, in addition to the primal elements upon which it depends: earth, air, fire, water, and sunlight. He argues that good science, needed as it’s, won’t be enough to inspire basic change.


We should draw on spiritual resources as properly to make the troublesome transition from an industrial-technological age obsessive about consumption to an ecological age that restores wise stewardship of all life. Earth-honoring Religion advocates an alliance of spirituality and ecology, in which the material necessities for planetary life are reconciled with deep traditions of spirituality across religions, traditions that embody mysticism, sacramentalism, prophetic practices, asceticism, and the cultivation of wisdom. It’s these shared spiritual practices that can produce a refrain of world faiths to counter the consumerism, utilitarianism, alienation, oppression, and folly that have pushed us to the brink.

Written with passionate dedication and deep insight, Earth-honoring Religion reminds us that we must live within the current with the data that the eyes of future generations will look back at us.

A longer evaluation will follow. The underside line is that this e-book must be required reading for anybody who cares about the future of our planet as a liveable place for humanity. While the e book is written by a Christian theologian and ethicist, it will almost actually enchantment to those of almost any religion community. Prof. Larry Rasmussen is awfully properly versed in most of the world non secular traditions and writes from the angle that all faith communities have an inherent ethic to honor and care for the Earth. The one minor issue I had while reading this ebook are 1) that it’s a bit wordy at instances and a pair of) from my perspective as a research scientist, some technical subjects are introduced in an overly simplistic style without at least acknowledging the complexity of the issues. Backside line, a powerful and thought provoking book.

Earth-honoring Faith: Religious Ethics in a New Key
Larry L. Rasmussen (Author)
480 pages
Oxford University Press, USA (November 2, 2012)


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