Ecotheology

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources in this article. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Ecotheology" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (December 2008) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Part of a series on the
History of Christian theology
Background Christian theology Diversity in early Christian theology Adoptionism Arianism Docetism Gnosticism Marcionism Montanism Early Christianity Proto-orthodox Christianity Timeline History of Christianity Template:History of Christianity Ecclesiastical polity Trinitarianism Nontrinitarianism Christology Paterology Pneumatology Mariology Biblical canon Deuterocanon Hermeneutics Theological hermeneutics African American Asian American Philosophical theology Christian philosophy Christian apologetics Persecution and tolerance Historical theology
Ecumenical Creeds Apostles' Nicene Chalcedonian Athanasian
Patristics and Councils Great church ante-Nicene period Church Fathers Apostolic Fathers Cappadocian Fathers Desert Fathers Desert Mothers Augustine Nicaea Ephesus Chalcedon
Post-Nicene development Heresy Monophysitism Monothelitism Byzantine Iconoclasm Gregory I Alcuin Photios East–West Schism Scholasticism Aquinas Anselm Palamas
Reformation Martin Luther Theology 95 Theses John Calvin Radical Evangelicalism theology Five solae Book of Concord Arminianism English Counter- Trent Jansenism
From the Reformation to the World Wars Natural Onto- Practical Pietism John Wesley Great Awakenings Holiness movement Restoration Movement Dispensationalism Covenant theology Existentialism Dogmatics Fundamental/foundational Liberal Catholic Anglo-Catholic Critical realism Political
Since the World Wars Vatican II of religions Situational ethics Nouvelle théologie (Ressourcement) Death of God Postliberal  • Narrative Continental philosophy Radical orthodoxy Neo-orthodoxy Reconciliation Analytic in Thomism Theopoetics Ecumenism Digital Transmodernism Systematic theology Biblical theology Constructive Eco- Environmental Public
Contextualisation and Inculturation Indigenous church mission theory Sino-Christian Feminism in Feminist theology Asian Womanist New Queer Liberation Black Dalit Latin American Minjung Palestinian Postcolonial
Fourth Great Awakening Christian Zionism Paleo-orthodoxy Dominion theology extraterrestrial life Moderate Christianity Conservative Christianity Emerging church Progressive Christianity Confessing Movement
Christianity portal
v t e

Ecotheology is a form of constructive theology that focuses on the interrelationships of religion and nature, particularly in the light of environmental concerns. Ecotheology generally starts from the premise that a relationship exists between human religious/spiritual worldviews and the degradation or restoration and preservation of nature. It explores the interaction between ecological values, such as sustainability, and the human domination of nature. The movement has produced numerous religious-environmental projects around the world.

The burgeoning awareness of environmental crisis has led to widespread religious reflection on the human relationship with the earth. Such reflection has strong precedents in most religious traditions in the realms of ethics and cosmology, and can be seen as a subset or corollary to the theology of nature.

It is important to keep in mind that ecotheology explores not only the relationship between religion and nature in terms of degradation of nature, but also in terms of ecosystem management in general. Specifically, ecotheology seeks not only to identify prominent issues within the relationship between nature and religion, but also to outline potential solutions. This is of particular importance because many supporters and contributors of ecotheology argue that science and education are simply not enough to inspire the change necessary in our current environmental crisis.^[1]

There is not a clear distinction between environmental theology and ecotheology, though the term environmental theology might indicate a theology in which environmental ethics is established prior to one's understanding of the meaning of God.