Protecting Nature, Saving Creation ― Ecological Conflicts, Religious Passions, and Political Quandaries

This book is drawn out of a 'Dialogue', held in Venice at the Cini Foundation in September 2010, aimed at exploring the relationship between ecology and theology. The meeting involved experts from different disciplines (theologians, anthropologists, ecologists, economists, philosophers, and historians), sharing the awareness that the gamut of passions mobilized by ecology so far has not reached the level or intensity required for the huge task facing humanity today concerning the fate of the Earth. Can religions help us tackle the ecological crisis we are now facing? Can we redefine our relationship with the Earth, giving spiritual depth to ecological issues? How to mobilize the notions, cosmologies and rituals characterizing some religious traditions without overlooking the conflicts underlying the ecological debate and the essential role of politics?

Pasquale Gagliardi is Secretary General at the Fondazione Giorgio Cini, Italy.

Anne Marie Reijnen is Professor of Theology, Institut Catholique de Paris, France.

Philipp Valentini is a researcher in the Centro Studi di Civilta e Spiritualita Comparate at the Fondazione Giorgio Cini, Italy.