<i>World Christianity and Ecological Theologies</i>, edited by Raimundo C. Barreto, Graham McGeoch, and Wanderley Pereira da Rosa

This is the sixth and last volume of the World Christianity and Public Religion series, a long-term dialogue hosted by Princeton Theological Seminary and Faculdade Unida de Vitória, Brazil. The series, published from 2017 to 2024 in English and Portuguese, is oriented by an awareness of the growth and innovations of christianities in the Global South. It assumes the priority of standing with the poor and positions Christians worldwide as key actors in the public sphere as they contribute, practically and in theoretical analysis and reflection, on themes like citizenship, public witness, peace, justice, urbanization, interfaith relations, identity, race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, contemporary migration, and ecology. This list comprises many of the most pressing current challenges to ethics and theology. What makes this series unique and especially important is its inviting a great diversity of voices around the globe to the table among both seasoned and emerging scholars, very consciously engaging epistemologies from the South in a decolonial perspective but also (Eastern) Orthodox theology. It acknowledges that scholars of World Christianity and scholars of religion and ecology have not been sufficiently in dialogue to date. It also recognizes that the emergence of Christianity in the Global South (and, I would add, also in the Global North) has been shaped by preexisting religions, all too often made invisible. Thus, the present volume has authors from Baptist, Catholic, Lutheran, Methodist, Reformed, Pentecostal, and Orthodox traditions, from Abya Yala (“land in full maturity,” “land of vital blood,” the Kuna indigenous people’s name for what we today know as “South America”), Africa, Europe, North America, and Pasifika (a native rendering of a colonial expression). One third of the authors are women.The volume is divided in four parts. It starts with two key texts, one from German Reformed theologian Jürgen Moltmann (d. 2024), one of the first European theologians to engage with ecological issues and their bearings for theology. He was also one of the first (and still relatively few) to engage with Christianity worldwide, especially in Abya Yala and South Korea, on “Ecology as the Capacity for Love” in a world reconciled with God that enables Christians to “feel at home” in the universe in the hope of the restoration of all things. The second key text is from Ivone Gebara, a Catholic theologian and nun, immersed in the daily lives of poor women in Northeast Brazil, and a reference for ecofeminism, on “Interdependence, Christianity, and Environmental Crisis.” Hers is an approach that constitutively acknowledges “doubts, contradictions, and ambiguities” rather than a monolithic, single, and after all, totalitarian discourse about God, but also highlights the need for “imagination” about humans, the world, and “our possible beliefs” toward respect for life and better coexistence with the planet. Most other contributors dialogue more or less explicitly with these key chapters that open the book as an “invitation” to the dialogue on “Christian Ecological Engagement.”Part 2 draws a roadmap for the conversation, reflecting on the (supposed) North/South divide in ecotheology showcasing South Africa (Ernst Conradie), featuring African ecofeminist voices (Sue Rakoczy), formulating a response to climate injustice informed from its underside (Cynthia Moe-Lobeda), and presenting insights on eco-praxis and ecotheology from Eastern Orthodox Christianity (Nikolaos Asproulis). Part 3 brings together voices from distinct contexts and Christian traditions on solidarity with Mother Earth in African Christianity, with contributions from Indigenous African cosmology (Ben-Willie Kwaku Golo), human uniqueness and divine interrelationality in an ecofeminist perspective (Rubén Rosario Rodríguez), ecowomanism (Melanie L. Harris), the ecological dimension of Liberation Theology (Luis Martínez Andrade), and contemplative knowledge in the Orthodox tradition (Elizabeth Theokritoff). Finally, part 4 focuses on earth-keeping approaches from the Global South, on “Native Religions, and Hidden Moana Ecologies” (Jione Havea), the most clearly and explicitly decolonial approach in the volume; the “Green Reformation in Ghana’s Church of Pentecost” (David Douglas Daniels III, d. 2024), in what can be seen as a still little known and also little common Pentecostal ecological protagonism; “Asian Eco-Spirituality” (Kwangsun Choi), drawing on contributions from a variety of Asian religions; and “Christianity in Abya Yala: Motherland, Sustainability and Ecocide” (Yenny Delgado-Qullaw). A joint bibliography and index, both very useful for the reader, complete the book.This is certainly a pioneering primer of reflecting on a globally pressing but contextually very differently perceived (and, indeed, suffered) topic. Drawing both on rigorous reflection and data analysis, as well as practicing religious and cultural sensitivity by listening to ancient wisdom from a wide array of traditions, it brings to the fore many (too) little known but highly innovative and imaginative voices.