Eco-Reformation: Grace and Hope for a Planet in Peril

In 2017 Christians around the world will mark the five hundredth anniversary of the Reformation. In the midst of many appeals for reformation today a growing number of theologians scholars and activists around the world believe Reformation celebrations in 2017 and beyond need to focus now on the urgent need for an Eco-Reformation. The rise of industrial fossil fuel-driven capitalism and the explosive growth in human population endanger the fundamental planetary life-support systems on which life as we know it has evolved. The collective impact of human production consumption and reproduction is undermining the ecological systems that support human life on Earth. If human beings do not reform their relationship with Gods creation unspeakable suffering will befall many--especially the weakest and most vulnerable among all species. The conviction at the heart of this collection of essays is that a gospel call for ecological justice belongs at the heart of the five hundredth anniversary observance of the Reformation in 2017 and as a--if not the--central dimension of Christian conversion faith and practice into the foreseeable future. Like Luthers Ninety-Five Theses this volume brings together critical biblical pastoral theological historical and ethical perspectives that constructively advance the vision of a socially and ecologically flourishing Earth. Five hundred years ago the Reformation shook European societys foundations by challenging a corrupted religious order. In recent decades Protestant churches have joined those who care for the earth aiming to shake the foundations of our hyper-capitalist technocratic world order that violates the integrity of creation on a titanic scale. These essays from leading voices from within the Protestant eco-reformation issue the challenge and inspiration we all need to hear. --Fletcher Harper Executive Director GreenFaith In the footsteps of the religious reformer Martin Luther who called attention to the spiritual urgencies of his day the authors in this timely volume express a critical and an expansive Lutheran voice for the urgent care of creation and the common good. The essays make a compelling point that honoring and choosing life in its different forms belongs at the center of the re-orientation and paradigm shifts with the Reformation legacy. --Kirsi Stjerna Lutheran History and Theology Chair Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary of California Lutheran University It is refreshing to see the power of argument and of organizing inherent in these words. For people of faith these questions could not be more real or timely. --Bill McKibben from the Foreword Lisa E. Dahill is Associate Professor of Religion at California Lutheran University Thousand Oaks California. From 2005 to 2015 she served on the faculty of Trinity Lutheran Seminary Columbus Ohio. She is a scholar and translator of Dietrich Bonhoeffer and the author of Reading from the Underside of Selfhood: Bonhoeffer and Spiritual Formation (Pickwick 2007) and many other works on spirituality worship eco-theology and the larger ecological expression of Christian life. James B. Martin-Schramm is Professor of Religion at Luther College in Decorah Iowa. He is an ordained member of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and holds a doctorate in Christian ethics from Union Theological Seminary in New York City. He is the author or coauthor of several publications including Climate Justice: Ethics Energy and Climate Policy (2010) and Earth Ethics: A Case Method Approach (2015).