Earth-honoring faith : religious ethics in a new key

475 Pages·2013·2.674 MB·English

by  Rasmussen, Larry L

Earth-honoring Faith
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EARTH-HONORING
FAITH
Religious Ethics in a New Key
z
LARRY L. RASMUSSEN

1
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Rasmussen, Larry L.
Earth-honoring faith : religious ethics in a new key / Larry L. Rasmussen.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index.
ISBN 978-0-19-991700-6 (hardcover : alk. paper) 1. Human ecology—Religious aspects—Christianity.
2. Ecotheology. 3. Christian ethics. I. Title.
BT695.5.R375 2013
241(cid:99).691—dc23 2012004162
1 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2
Printed in the United States of America

on acid-free paper
To St. Olaf College
Th e United Church of Santa Fe
and
GreenFaith
Our whole life is startlingly moral.
—Henry David Thoreau, Walden
Using the same old materials of earth, air, fi re, and water,
every twenty-four hours, God creates something new out of
them . . . . Every morning you wake up to something that in
all eternity never was before and never will be again. And
the you that wakes up was never the same before and will
never be the same again either.
—Frederick Buechner, Wishful Th inking: A Th eological ABC
Contents

Acknowledgments ix
Prelude 3
PART ONE
1. Th e Creature We Are 11
2. Th e World We Have 43
3. Th e Faith We Seek 80
4. Th e Ethic We Need: Change and Imagination 111
5. Th e Ethic We Need: Good Th eory 127
6. Th e Ethic We Need: Community Matrix 160
7. Th e Ethic We Need: Tilling and Keeping 191
Interlude 226
PART TWO
8. Asceticism and Consumerism 239
9. Th e Sacred and the Commodifi ed 255
10. Mysticism and Alienation 285
viii Contents
11. Prophetic-Liberative Practices and Oppression 305
12. Wisdom and Folly 332
13. Closing 357
Postlude 367
Notes 369
Bibliography 421
Index 441
Index of Scripture Passages 4 61
Acknowledgments
st. olaf college, the United Church of Santa Fe, and GreenFaith: Inter-
faith Partners in Action for the Earth have all drawn, critically, upon cher-
ished traditions in order to be the best Earth citizens they can. Each has
nurtured its Earth-honoring mission for the sake of present and future gener-
ations. And each has shown exemplary leadership in creation awareness and
care. I am grateful and pleased to dedicate this volume to them.
I have others to thank. Ghost Ranch, Abiquiu, New Mexico, has hosted
an annual June seminar on Earth-honoring Faith. Beit Tikva Congregation,
Santa Fe, New Mexico, has graciously invited me into the choir for “Th e Days
of Awe” (the High Holy Days) and introduced me to materials I have used in
this volume. Friends have read portions of this manuscript and responded
with good advice: Andrew Black, Rita Nakashima Brock, Th omas Chris-
tensen, James Cone, Jacquelyn Helin, Dieter Hessel, Karen Marrolli, Kevin
O’Brian, Aana Vigen, Steven Rockefeller, Cynthia Moe-Lobeda, Brandon
Johnson, Glen Stassen, Chester Topple, and Andrew Rasmussen. Charlotte
Steinhardt and Cynthia Read at Oxford University Press responded promptly
to every query about manuscript preparation. Andrew Attaway of Making
Words Behave ( www.makingwordsbehave.com ) supplied valuable editorial
comment. Nicole Dunn, fi ber artist, Los Alamos, New Mexico ( www.dun-
nquilting.com ), created the quilt that is this book’s cover image; and Wendy
McEahern of Wendy McEahern Photography, Santa Fe ( wmphotosantafe.
com ), photographed it. Nyla Rasmussen has been part of creating and re-
vising this volume at every point.
I am also thankful for invitations to share ideas for this volume as they
developed. Materials include the Robert McAfee Brown Lectures, First Pres-
byterian Church, Palo Alto, California; the Batalden Lectures, Augsburg