The Environment, The Bible, and Moral Debate
RELI 217
Spring 2024
| Section:
01
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| Crosslisting:
ENVS 217, CJST 219 |
The environment is a pressing concern for many people and is the center of much modern debate. Within this debate, many people draw on biblical texts for a source of religious or moral superiority. These biblical texts have been used to support many different, and often contradictory, arguments within the environmental debate. So what does the bible actually say about the environment? Is there a singular "biblical" view about what the environment is and how one should treat it? This course aims to look at how the bible has been used in environmental debate and then look at the texts cited, analyzing both in a modern and ancient context. |
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| Credit: 1 |
Gen Ed Area Dept:
SBS RELI |
| Course Format: Discussion | Grading Mode: Graded |
| Level: UGRD |
Prerequisites: None |
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Fulfills a Requirement for: (ENVS-MN)(ENVS)(RELI-MN)(RELI) |
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Past Enrollment Probability: 50% - 74% |
| SECTION 01 |
Major Readings: Wesleyan RJ Julia Bookstore
All readings will be available online.
The New Oxford Annotated Bible with Apocrypha: New Revised Standard Version
Brian Doak, "Consider Leviathan"
Ken Stone, "Reading the Hebrew Bible with Animal Studies"
Brent Strawn, "What is Stronger than a Lion?"
Yitzhaq Feder, "Purity and Pollution in the Hebrew Bible: From Embodied Experience to Moral Metaphor"
Eve Levavi Feinstein, "Sexual Pollution in the Hebrew Bible"
Horrel et. all, "Appeals to the Bible in Ecotheology and Environmental Ethics: A Typology of Hermeneutical Stances"
Kenneth Way, "Animals in the Prophetic World: Literary Reflections on Numbers 22 and 1 Kings 13"
Pauline Albenda, "Assyrian Royal Hunts: Antlered and Horned Animals from Distant Lands"
James A. Nash, "The Bible vs. Biodiversity: The Case against Moral Argument from Scripture"
Art Kohl, "The Bible speaks on animal rights"
Matt Slick, "What is the Christian Position on Animal Rights?"
Dan Story, "Is Animal Rights a Biblical Concern?"
Saul M. Olyan, "Are there Legal Texts in the Hebrew Bible that Evince a Concern for Animal Rights?"
Marco Damonte, "God, the Bible and the Environment: An Historical Excurses on the Relationship between Christian Religion and Ecology"
John Collins, "The Bible and the Environment"
M. Raof, "Mesopotamian Kings and the Built Environment" in EXPERIENCING POWER, GENERATING AUTHORITY: COSMOS, POLITICS, AND THE IDEOLOGY OF KINGSHIP IN ANCIENT EGYPT AND MESOPOTAMIA
Paul Harrison, "The Bible and the environment: from dominion to destruction"
Lynn White, "The Historical Roots of our Ecological Crisis,"
Richard T. Ritenbaugh, "The Bible and the Environment"
Marcia Bunge, "Biblical Views of Nature: Foundations for an Environmental Ethic"
Richard E. Friedman and Shawna Dolansky, BIBLE NOW (2011), chapter 5
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Examinations and Assignments:
3 Reading Responses (1 Page Each)
An In-class Midterm
A Short Presentation (10 minutes)
A Final Paper (12-15 pages) or Project |
Additional Requirements and/or Comments:
This course counts toward the "Historical Tradition" or "Thematic Approach" requirement for the Religion major/minor. |
| Instructor(s): Walker,Tanner Ethan Times: ..T.R.. 10:20AM-11:40AM; Location: RUSSMILLET; |
| Total Enrollment Limit: 19 | | SR major: 0 | JR major: 7 | | |
| Seats Available: 10 | GRAD: X | SR non-major: 4 | JR non-major: 4 | SO: 4 | FR: 0 |
| Drop/Add Enrollment Requests | | | | | |
| Total Submitted Requests: 0 | 1st Ranked: 0 | 2nd Ranked: 0 | 3rd Ranked: 0 | 4th Ranked: 0 | Unranked: 0 |
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