Synopses & Reviews
<font face=Dax-Medium size=7><br/><p align=left></font><font face=Dax-Light color=#231f20 size=1>With temperatures warmer than they have been in decades and major hurricanes and storms occurring with increasing frequency, the fragility of the environment is on everyone's mind these days. For centuries, the Christian religion has preached a dominion of the earth, which has turned into one community's exploitation of the environment in the name of religion. As the sermons in Earth and Word demonstrate, a vast portion of the Christian community does not endorse or condone the destruction of the environment in the name of God. This singular collection gathers the voices of many environmentalists, theologians, preachers, and activists who have spoken in support of saving the planet. Included in this collection are compelling and provocative sermons from such infl uential fi gures as Wendell Berry, Thomas Berry, John Cobb, William Slone Coffi n, Bill McKibben, Sallie McFague, Joseph Sittler, and Barbara Brown Taylor. In each of these sermons, the authors explore the deep relationship between thinking religiously and thinking ecologically.</p><br/><p align=left>Rhoads has performed a great service in drawing together in one place these timeless and classic sermons on a vital topic for today.</p></font>>
Synopsis
<font face=Dax-Medium size=7><br/><p align=left></font><font face=Dax-Light color=#231f20 size=1>With temperatures warmer than they have been in decades and major hurricanes and storms occurring with increasing frequency, the fragility of the environment is on everyone's mind these days. For centuries, the Christian religion has preached a dominion of the earth, which has turned into one community's exploitation of the environment in the name of religion. As the sermons in Earth and Word demonstrate, a vast portion of the Christian community does not endorse or condone the destruction of the environment in the name of God. This singular collection gathers the voices of many environmentalists, theologians, preachers, and activists who have spoken in support of saving the planet. Included in this collection are compelling and provocative sermons from such infl uential fi gures as Wendell Berry, Thomas Berry, John Cobb, William Slone Coffi n, Bill McKibben, Sallie McFague, Joseph Sittler, and Barbara Brown Taylor. In each of these sermons, the authors explore the deep relationship between thinking religiously and thinking ecologically.</p><br/><p align=left>Rhoads has performed a great service in drawing together in one place these timeless and classic sermons on a vital topic for today.</p></font>>
Table of Contents
Earth and Word: Sermons on Nature and Faith
David Rhoads and George Zachariah, editors
Neddy Astudillo
"The Right to Love the Land"
Jeremiah 29:1-7
Karen Baker-Fletcher
"To Live as People of Spirit and Dust"
Genesis 2:7; Psalm 148:13; Matthew 25:40.
Peter Bakken
"Landscape of Grace: Home, Commons, Sanctuary"
Psalm 104:1-12; Romans 18:18-25; John 1: 1-5, 14
Tanya Barnett
"Expanding Our Circle of Compassion"
Psalm 148 and Isaiah 11:9
Dianne Bergant
"A New Understanding of Our Place in Creation"
Job 42:3
Wendell Berry
"Christianity and the Survival of Creation"
Psalm 24:1; Deuteronomy 33:13-16Thomas Berry
"Moments of Grace"
Psalm 148:13; Mark 1:15
Elizabeth Bettenhausen
"Jesus Vistis the Zoo: A Sermon for Children and Adults"
Luke 14:11
Shantilal Bhagat
"Living Simply: Imperative Now"
Matthew 6:25-33
Sally Bingham
"If Not Us, Then Who?"
Mark 12:28-34
Margaret Bullit-Jonas
"Conversion to Eco-Justice
Acts 9:1-4
Clare Butterfield
"The World and All That is in It"
Psalm 50:7-16
Steven Charleston
"The Isaiah Factor: Prophetic Words the People Can Hear"
Matthew 13:14b-15
John Chrysavgis
"The Cry of the Earth: The Cry of the Heart"
Matthew 12:40
John Cobb
"Scales Fell From His Eyes"
Acts 9:1-19
William Sloane Coffin
"A Passion for the Possible: A Message to US Churches"
Psalm 19:1
James Cone
"Whose Earth is it Anyway?"
Psalm 24:4
Ellen F. Davis
" . . . And In Him All Things Hold Together."
Colossians 1:11-23
J. Ron Engel
"Who Will Speak for the Spirit of These Waters"
Genesis 1:1-2; Amos 5:24
Heidi Hadsell
"Nature, Community, and Faithful Living"
Leviticus 25
Dieter Hessel
"The Lord's Prayer for Earth Community"
Matthew 7:7-13
Carter Heyward
"An Almost Unbearable Lightness of Being: In Celebration of Sister Angela"
Wisdom of Solomon 7:22-30
Theodore Hiebert
"First Things First"
Genesis 1:1
Carol Johnston
"Receiving God's Light for Earth's Energy"
John 1:5
Laurel Kearns
"Knowledge, Buildings, and Trees"
Revelation 22:1-2
Catherine Keller
"The Spirit Sighing for the New Creation"
Romans 8:22-26
Barbara Lundblad
"Matter Matters"
Ezekiel 47:9 and Luke 16: 19-21a
James B. Martin-Schramm
"Marriage as a ‘Yes' to God's Earth"
Psalm 103:19 and Revelation 21:1-2
Sallie McFague
"Can These Dry Bones Live?"
Ezekiel 37:3-5
Jay McDaniel
"Life in Christ as Deep Listening"
John 1:1
Bill McKibben
"The Comforting Whirlwind: God and the Environmental Crisis"
The Book of Job
Cynthia Moe-Lobeda
"Dry Bone . . .Breath Came into Them and They Lived"
Ezekiel 37:2, 11
Ched Myers
"'The Cedar Has Fallen': The Prophetic Word vs. Imperial Clear-Cutting"
Isaiah 14:8
John Paarlberg
"The Glad Soil Rejoices"
Joel 2:21-17
Carla Valentine Prynne
"Where Were You When I Created Leviathan?"
Job 38:1-33
Larry Rasmussen
"First and Everlasting Covenant"
Genesis 9:8-10
Barbara Rossing
"Pelicans, Great Blue Herons, and the Resurrection of the Body"
Mark 16:15
Rosemary Radford Ruether (Pacific School of Religion)
"The Biblical Vision of Eco-Justice"
Isaiah 24:4-6a and Isaiah 11:9
Paul Santmire
"The Earth is Your Neighbor"
John 14:27
Joseph Sittler
"The Care of the Earth"
Psalm 110 and Isaiah
Gordon Straw
"You Are My God . . . Lead Me to Level Ground"
Psalm 143:1-10
Barbara Brown Taylor
"Rest for the Land"
Leviticus 25:1-17JoAnne Terrell
"The Life Which is Life Indeed"
I Timothy 6:17-19
George Tinker
"Creation as Kin: An American Indian View"
Genesis 1:31
Dorothy Jean Weaver
"Hands On: A Faith to Handle, Taste, and Touch"Colossians 2
Vitor Westhelle
"The Glory Down Below"
Matthew 6:25-34