Spirituality and Enviromentalism
An Ecology of Trauma and the Martyred Witness of Deep Incarnation
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Jane Grovijahn
In the beginning when God the Great Lover and Giver of all life created the heavens and the earth, Darkness covered the face of the deep. (Genesis 1) Over two millennia have passed offering persons of biblical faiths time to steep in praise of the great deep (tehom) of the primordial waters of creation. And yet: “Our oceans are dying.” So says, renowned oceanographer and marine botanist, Dr. Sylvia Earle. This death is a daily trauma for all sentient life on earth. Unbelievably, we are all witnesses to the daily traumas of earthen assaults upon this great deep that connect us to divine life and energy. As such, trauma has become an ecological reality, assaulting both anthropological and cosmological dimensions of our faith traditions. How might an ecology of trauma, open new vestiges within our faith responses? To respond, I offer trauma studies as a platform within our current ecological reality in conversation with Pope Francis’ work of Laudato Sí, in particular his presentation of an “integral ecology” and an “ecology of daily life.” Drawing from the powerful witness of two environmental martyrs, Sr. Dorothy Stang, defender of the Amazon rain-forests and Berta Isabel Cáceres, protector of the Gualcarque River in Honduras, I want to magnify a theological concept of “deep incarnation” introduced by Danish theologian, Neils Gregersen. He offers us a provocative way to envision God’s pervasive “reach into the very tissue of material and biological existence.” Both Stang and Cáceres’ entire embodied life demonstrate its redemptive power.
The Relationship Between Religiosity and Environmentalist Tendencies in Istanbul
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Betül Sarı, Sezai Doruk Soyata
The issue of eco-spirituality has mustered scholarly attention because of the growing ecological problems in the world, and the literature on the subject mostly consists of studies focusing on the relationship between Christianity and ecology, mostly conducted in the West. This study examines the relationship between Islamic religiosity and ecological tendencies in Istanbul, Turkey. The purpose of the study is to examine whether there is a relationship between religiosity and ecological tendencies that manifest themselves in pro-ecological awareness and behavior. Hence, besides the textual analysis of Islam on the environmental issues, environmental acts of Muslims and their relation to Islamic teachings are covered in the study. While some of the previous findings suggest a positive relation among religion, religiosity and ecological tendencies by showing that religion could be a factor in improving pro-ecological behavior or awareness, some of the literature rejects the positive relationship between two variables. Building on these, this research aims to shed light on the case of Islamic religiosity and ecological tendencies in Istanbul while trying to answer the following questions: Is there a relationship between Islamic religiosity and environmentalist tendencies? Does Islamic religiosity have an impact on the ecological behavior? What can be other factors such as gender, age and education that affect the ecological tendencies? In order to answer these questions, a survey will be conducted based on the revised New Ecological Paradigm (NEP) Scale and a religiosity scale among the participants who are dwellers of Istanbul and above the age of eighteen.
