This fourth volume in the series exploring religions and the environment investigates the role of the multifaceted Hindu tradition in the development of greater ecological awareness in India. The 22 contributors ask how traditional concepts of nature in the classical texts might inspire or impede an eco-friendly attitude among modern Hindus, and they describe some grass-roots approaches to environmental protection. They look to Gandhian principles of minimal consumption, self-reliance, simplicity and sustainability. And they explore forests and sacred groves in text and tradition and review...

Until now, no single work has been devoted to both a scholarly understanding of the complexities of the Daoist tradition and a critical exploration of its contribution to recent environmental concerns. The authors in this volume consider the intersection of Daoism and ecology, looking at the theoretical and historical implications associated with a Daoist approach to the environment. They also analyze perspectives found in Daoist religious texts and within the larger Chinese cultural context in order to delineate key issues found in the classical texts. Through these analyses, they assess the...

The 2500-year-old tradition of Jainism, which emphasizes nonviolence as the only true path leading to liberation, offers a worldview seemingly compatible with the goals of environmental activism. But can Jainism adopt a sociocentric environmentalism without compromising its own ascetic principles and spiritual tradition? How does traditional Jain cosmology view the natural world? How might a Jain ethical system respond to decisions regarding the development of dams, the proliferation of automobiles, overcrowding due to overpopulation, or the protection of individual animal species? Can there...

This volume intends to contribute to the nascent discourse on Judaism and ecology by clarifying diverse conceptions of nature in Jewish thought and by using the insights of Judaism to formulate a constructive Jewish theology of nature.

This volume outlines the Islamic view of the cosmic order and reviews the ways an Islamic world view can be interpreted, reassessed and applied to such environmental problems as pollution and water scarcity.

Confucianism demonstrates a wealth of resources for rethinking human-earth relations. This second volume in the series on religions of the world and the environment includes 16 essays that address the ecological crisis and the question of Confucianism from three perspectives: the historical describes this East Asian tradition's views on nature, social ethics and cosmology, which may shed light on contemporary problems; a dialogical approach links Confucianism to other philosophical and religious traditions; and examination of engaged Confucianism looks at its involvement in concrete...

In this volume, prominent Buddhist scholar Donald Swearer posits that the future requires a radical shift toward living in recognition of the interdependence of all life forms and the consequent ethic of communality and a life style of moderation or enoughness that flows from that recognition, which he calls an ecology of human flourishing. Swearer has assembled world-class thinkers to explore and imagine several dimensions of an ecology of human flourishing: economic, sociological, religious, ethical, environmental, historical, literary; how notions of human flourishing, quality of life, and...