Ecological Aspects to War: Religious and Theological Perspectives (A Forum for Theology in the World: Volume 3 : No.2/2016) - Softcover

Kieth Dyer

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1925643204 ISBN 13: 9781925643206

Publisher: ATF Press, 2017

Synopsis

Ecological Aspects of War reflects on warfare in the larger context of planetary relationality – not only the limits that must be respected in human conflicts, but also the impact of war on the larger created order. From the ancient legal constraint that fruit trees should not be destroyed in siege warfare (Deuteronomy 20) to the incarnational embedding of Christ in the material world, there is a broad range of theological issues to consider in re-imagining our relationships within the biosphere. This admirable Australian discussion demonstrates afresh how Christian theological traditions envisage an inter-species responsibility, and in addition, takes the necessary step of including Muslim and Buddhist perspectives on these most pressing issues.
 

Australians’ ecological footprints are among the heaviest on earth. Australia is a combatant in its longest running war. Despite this, ecological, economic and military crises and are largely absent from public discourse and most Australians continue to live, and our governments continue to operate, as if the earth had no limits and the war did not exist. Situating questions of war and peace in an ecological framework, contributors use varied faith perspectives and approaches to highlight the interconnectedness of all life and the interrelationships between war and violent economic systems that normalise destructive commercial-industrial practices and promote irresponsible patterns of consumption and waste production. Ecological Aspects of War has the potential to help us muster the collective spiritual, moral and cultural resources needed to come to grips with the ecological, economic and military crises in which we are complicit and to imagine and create non-violent life-giving alternatives. It is a timely and important contribution.

About this title

About the Authors

Keith Dyer teaches New Testament at Whitley College, and is an Associate Professor of the University of Divinity, Melbourne. He is New Testament Editor for the Australian Biblical Review.

Anne Elvey is an honorary research associate of Trinity College Theological School, and a member of the Centre for Research in Religion and Social Policy, University of Divinity, Melbourne, and an adjunct research fellow in the School of Languages, Literatures, Cultures and Linguistics, Monash University, Melbourne.

Deborah Guess is an ecotheologian, research associate and lecturer in Christianity and Ecology with Pilgrim Theological College, University of Divinity, Melbourne.

Edition details

• Publisher: ATF Press
• Publication date: 2017
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1925643204
• ISBN 13: 9781925643206
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 163
• Editor: Kieth Dyer, Anne Elvey, Deborah Guess