Planetary Health and Spiritual Transformation

This article examines planetary health in the Anthropocene through a relational ontology that recognizes nonhuman agency and conceptualizes ecological spirituality as a relational and practice-oriented mode of ethical responsiveness within planetary entanglements. Although recent ecological discourses increasingly acknowledge the agency of nonhuman beings, planetary health debates have developed sophisticated scientific and policy-oriented frameworks, yet often remain oriented toward material causality or technocratic governance, while comparatively underarticulating relational, more-than-human, and practice-oriented ethical and spiritual dimensions. This study argues that an adequate response to the planetary crisis requires clarifying how nonhuman agency becomes perceptible and actionable within everyday ethical practice. Methodologically, the article adopts a comparative theoretical approach. First, it engages Jane Bennett’s concept of “thing-power” to reinterpret spirituality as an immanent sensitivity arising from material vitality. Second, drawing on Catherine Keller’s theology of planetary entanglement, it reframes planetary ethics as “response-ability” grounded in interdependence rather than mastery. Third, it examines the Donghak’s practice of gyeongmul (revering all beings) as a non-Western model of embodied ethical reverence. By placing new materialism, ecological theology, and Korean indigenous thought in dialogue, the article reconceptualizes ecological spirituality as a relational mode of responsiveness. It concludes by reinterpreting planetary health as a relational and practice-oriented condition that gestures toward a broader horizon of planetary well-being, rather than environmental stability alone.