Devoted to Nature: The Religious Roots of American Environmentalism

摘要

In Devoted to Nature, Evan Berry, Associate Professor of Philosophy and Religion at American University, examines the role of religion in the development of the 20th century North American environmental movement. Berry argues that religious resources were foundational to the movement at multiple levels, providing its "central conceptual ingredients, playing crucial roles in shaping ideas about the natural world, establishing practices of engaging with environments and landscapes, and generating modes of social and political interaction" (5). While many other scholars have pointed to the religious influences on environmentalism, Berry goes further by arguing that the North American movement had a "demonstrable genealogical affinity with Christian theological tradition," emerging out of longstanding popular concerns and not solely from the innovative works of figures such as Thoreau and Muir (2). While Berry focuses on a relatively short period of time (the 1920s and 1930s) and a limited geographical range (the u.s. Pacific Northwest), the volume nonetheless contributes important primary data and analysis to the ongoing and evolving scholarly discussion of the relationships between religious attitudes and environmental behaviors. The work should be of interest to high level undergraduate and graduate students as well as academic researchers in North American environmental history, ecotheology, religion and ecology, and the environmental humanities.