REL 210: RELIGION & THE NATURAL WORLD

Perceptions of and actions upon the natural world are deeply connected to religious traditions and practices. The way we encounter, destroy, enhance, consume, honor, and attend to the natural world is related to human understandings of creation, beauty, responsibility, community, justice, interconnection, human identity, the value of non-human sentient life, and expectations of the future, all of which are often related to religious teaching and commitments. In a world currently characterized by environmental crisis and conflict, it has never been more important to examine the role of religion in human understandings of the natural world. This class offers students an opportunity to investigate the connection between religion and nature in the current 21st Century context of urgent eco-anxiety, as well as stubborn hopefulness for a just and sustainable relationship with the Earth.