God is Green: An Eco-Spirituality of Incarnate Compassion

At this time of climate crisis here is a practical Christian ecospirituality. It emerges from the pastoral and theological experience of Reverend Robert Shore-Goss who worked with his congregation by making the earth a member of the church by greening worship and by helping the church building and operations attain a carbon neutral footprint. Shore-Goss explores an ecospirituality grounded in incarnational compassion. Practicing incarnational compassion means following the lived praxis of Jesus and the commission of the risen Christ as Gardener. Jesus becomes the green face of God. Restrictive Christian spiritualities that exclude the earth as an original blessing of God must expand. This expansion leads to the realization that the incarnation of Christ has deep roots in the earth and the fleshly or biological tissue of life. This book aims to foster ecological conversation in churches and outlines the following practices for congregations: meditating on nature inviting sermons on green topics covenanting with the earth and retrieving the natural elements of the sacraments. These practices help us recover ourselves as fleshly members of the earth and the network of life. If we fall in love with Gods creation says Shore-Goss we will fight against climate change. If I had to recommend a single recently published text as a must-read for a course on Christianity and ecology especially climate change it would be Robert Shore-Gosss wide-ranging and clearly written God Is Green: An Eco-Spirituality of Incarnate Compassion. Not only does he include almost all important books from his preferred kenotic theology to rituals for embodiment and practice but he also delivers a one-volume analysis and critique of the field. We are all in his debt for a useful and passionate call for a theological conversion with accompanying radical action to help save our planet. --Sallie McFague Professor of Theology Emerita Vanderbilt University Divinity School; Distinguished Theologian in Residence the Vancouver School of Theology British Columbia; author of Blessed Are the Consumers Robert Shore-Goss has written a beautiful meditative overview of greening in Christianity. [It is] not simply a fact-following-fact landscape but a weaving of the reader and author as participants in contemporary Christian ecological locations. Like a Compostela pilgrimage the journey of reading here is challenging communal and playful all the way. --John Grim Codirector Forum on Religion and Ecology at Yale The Reverend Dr. Shore-Goss has pulled together a much-needed and beautifully compiled message for Christians on ecological theology. God is Green will give the reader a true understanding of what the human role and relationship is with Earth. He points out Jesus call for protection and love for Creation. This is a direct and honest look at Gods intention for the human purpose supported by many theologians and including Francis of Assisi. He argues that we are the gardeners. --Sally G. Bingham President The Regeneration Project Interfaith Power & Light An author known for his queer theology expands his horizons to find what spirituality can do to entice people of faith to freen the Earth. God Is Green traces the roots of human contact with the sacred all the way to our mythological roots from the soil and fashioned by Gods all-purposing hands we embody the sacreds commitment to a life connected with all living things. Ignoring this rootedness this connectedness is a dangerous game played by industrial cultures. Robert calls us all back to the Earth and our interrelatedness to all living things as essential to a healthy whole and full life. --John C. Dorhauer General Minister and President of the United Church of Christ There is a way of pushing the needed panic button with mere panic and there is a way of pushing it with wisdom scholarship and compassion. We are blessed t