World Christianity and Ecological Theologies brings attention to the intersection of religion and ecology as they have developed, especially in the Global South, highlighting the kinds of ecological theologies that have emerged in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, and the Pacific. For this volume, two pioneering scholars, Latin American ecofeminist liberation theologian Ivone Gebara and German political theologian Jürgen Moltmann--who have both contributed distinctively to the development of ecological theologies globally--provide two anchor essays on the trajectories and roles of ecological theologies. The gradual process of restructuring and refining their respective theologies led Gebara and Moltmann to explore multiple contexts, including political and militant debates, male-female theologian interactions, and North/South, East/West cross-cultural relationships. This volume builds on this dialogical dynamic present in Gebara's and Moltmann's theological trajectories, and invites scholars in religious studies and theology from different continents and contexts to continue this North-South dialogue on environmental ethics, political ecology, and ecofeminism.
Through the global pandemic, the connection between environmental rapacity, religion, and political interests has once again called scholarly attention to the important conversation on public religion and global environment-related issues.
On the one hand, more scholars of religion engaging with ecological issues are using the language and concepts of scholars from the Global South, adopting such terms as "coloniality/decoloniality" to frame their critical analysis. Acknowledging a deficit among scholars of World Christianity in addressing environmental concerns and limited language to frame those concerns in the field, this aims to bring the fields of study that became known as "World Christianity" and "Religion and Ecology" into a sustained conversation, with the goal of expanding the theoretical horizons of both fields.
World Christianity and Ecological Theologies builds on the understanding that Christianity in the Global South emerges from a social matrix conditioned culturally and linguistically by pre-existing religions. It reiterates that all Christian theologies are contextual, as they shape and are shaped by specific historical and cultural circumstances. It aims at showcasing the ways in which the intersection of religion and ecology is approached by scholars in religious studies and theology in the Global South or by those in conversation with them in the Global North, pointing to what can be generated if these bodies of scholarship are engaged as dialogue partners to investigate new patterns of religious environmentalism.
