Religion, Sustainability, and Place

Steven E. Silvern is Professor of Geography and Sustainability at Salem State University. His research has appeared in journals such as Political Geography, Cultural Geographies, Historical Geography, and American Indian Culture and Research Journal. He is also editor of The Northeastern Geographer. Edward H. Davis is Professor and Chair in the Department of Geography and Environmental Studies at Emory & Henry College in Virginia, USA. He has published extensively on rural and agricultural change in the US and Central America. Funded by the USDA, his explorations for seed savers in the Southern US led to the collection of dozens of rare heirloom Brassica varieties for the national seed bank. He serves on the board of the Geography of Religions and Belief Systems Specialty Group of the American Association of Geographers.

1. Introduction: Religion, Sustainability and Place.- 2. By Their Fruits Ye Shall Know Them: Religion as Practice.- 3. Finding/Revealing/Creating Judaism’s Indigenous Core.- 4. Water Law in Muslim Countries Revisited: A Study of the Qur’anic Sources.- 5. Emerging Places of Repair: A Sustainable Urbanism Approach to Living in and with Cities, Inspired by Vine Deloria, Jr.’s Agent Ontology of Place.- 6. Saving Mount Shasta’s Sacred Water: The Spiritual Campaign against Crystal Geyser.- 7. Land Cover Change in a Ghanaian Sacred Forest.- 8. Role of Faith-based Social Groups in Promoting Sustainable Food Security in Nigeria.- 9. Protecting Ethiopia’s Church Forests: The Disconnect between Western Science and Local Knowledge.- 10. Religion and Spirituality in Hungarian Eco-villages.- 11. Resource Nationalism and Spiritual Pathways to Sustainability in Kyrgyzstan.- 12. Grounded in Community: Christianity and Environmental Engagement in Scotland.- 13. Christian Ideas Influencing U.S. FoodMovements.- 14. The Jewish Food Movement: A Sustainable and Just Vision for Place, Identity and Environment.- 15. A Womanist and Interfaith Response to Climate Change.

“The book is a potentially fabulous teaching resource, especially for courses where religion is a relevant secondary variable. … The thread of chapters that take up food and sustainability … would make for an engaging module on religion, food, and sustainability. Scholars researching or teaching on the religious aspects of sustainability movements will find much on offer in this volume.” (Evan Berry, Journal for the Study of Religion, Nature and Culture, March 2, 2023)