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Balancing Critique and Commitment: A Synthetic Approach to Teaching Religion and the Environment
Author(s) -
O'Brien Kevin J.
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
teaching theology and religion
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.165
H-Index - 11
eISSN - 1467-9647
pISSN - 1368-4868
DOI - 10.1111/teth.12201
Subject(s) - faith , sociology , trustworthiness , field (mathematics) , environmental education , environmental ethics , critical thinking , epistemology , pedagogy , psychology , social psychology , philosophy , mathematics , pure mathematics
Abstract Courses about religion and the environment should work toward a synthesis of critical thinking – teaching students to examine and question the interplay of environmental degradation, religious traditions, and new religious movements – and advocacy – helping students to embrace, articulate, and refine their own environmentalist commitments, in religious terms when appropriate. To meet these goals, teachers of religion and the environment can learn from literature on balancing faith and critical analysis in other religion courses. This literature will help us to clarify the goals of our courses, critically examine the environmental movement with our students, and remain trustworthy to those who do not share environmentalist commitments. See a companion essay in this issue of the journal ( J ennifer R . A yres, “Learning on the Ground”) and a response to both of these essays ( F orrest C lingerman, “Pedagogy as a Field Guide to the Ecology of the Classroom”) also published in this issue of the journal.