Forum on Religion and Ecology: Spotlights

Welcome Christiana Zenner, PhD   onto the podcast, Associate Professor of Theology, Science and Ethics in the Department of Theology at Fordham University. She is a deeply interdisciplinary scholar and teacher, so we cover a lot of exciting topics, including her research into emerging and established fresh water ethics, religious ecologies, the Anthropocene, the ecological turn in Catholic social...

This episode of Spotlights features Joshua Duclos, PhD , Instructor of Humanities and Philosophy at St. Paul's School in New Hampshire. We talk about his book, Wilderness, Morality, and Value (Lexington Books, 2022), where he rethinks the ethical implications of wilderness in light of the complex conditions of life in the Anthropocene. We discuss issues around anthropocentrism, intrinsic valu...

This is the inaugural episode of the fourth year of the Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology podcast. This episode features a prominent contributor to the field, Heather Eaton, PhD , professor of conflict studies in the faculty of human sciences at Saint Paul University, Ottawa, Canada. We talk about her numerous interdisciplinary contributions to the field of religion and ecology, including her eng...

In this episode of Spotlights , Sam Mickey reviews the newest book by the renowned scholar of comparative religion, Karen Armstrong, Sacred Nature: Restoring Our Ancient Bond with the Natural World (2022). It's an accessible and inspiring exploration of some of the ways that religious myths, practices, and disciplines can facilitate aesthetic and ethical appreciation of the natural world. The...

This episode of Spotlights features Freya Mathews, PhD, Emeritus Professor of Environmental Philosophy at Latrobe University, and author of several books, including The Ecological Self (1991, reissued with new intro in 2021), For Love of Matter: A Contemporary Panpsychism (2003), Reinhabiting Reality: Towards a Recovery of Culture (2005),  and her new book, The Dao of Civilization: a Letter to Chi...

This episode of Spotlights features Sigurd Bergmann, PhD, professor emeritus in the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, and founding contributor to the European Forum for the Study of Religion and the Environment . He discusses his transdisciplinary approach to eco-theology and the study of religion and ecology, taking a global pers...

This episode of Spotlights features Terra Schwerin Rowe, PhD , Associate Professor in the Philosophy and Religion Department at the University of North Texas. We discuss her most recent book, Of Modern Extraction: Experiments in Critical Petro-theology (Bloomsbury, 2022), where she draws on energy humanities in an intersectional-feminist analysis of extractivism, exploring material and discursive...

This episode of Spotlights features our host, Sam Mickey, discussing ecological existentialism, particularly in light of his book on the topic, Coexistentialism and the Unbearable Intimacy of Ecological Emergency (Lexington Books, 2016). Ecological existentialism (also called coexistentialism) extends insights from existential philosophy about meaning-making amid the paradoxes, absurdities, and un...

This episode of Spotlights features writer and scholar Beatrice Marovich, PhD , associate professor of theological studies at Hanover college. We talk a little about her path into theology through engagements with literature and journalism. Then we discuss her new book, Sister Death: Political Theologies for Living and Dying (Columbia University Press, 2023), diving into theological, philosophical...

This week’s episode of Spotlights focuses on metamodernism —an emerging cultural movement that recovers sincerity and big picture thinking following the postmodern focus on irony and skepticism. Our host Sam Mickey provides some context for thinking about metamodernism, especially as it relates to postmodernism. He notes how postmodern theory already includes metamodern ideas in several ways, both...

This episode of Spotlights features Joerg Rieger, PhD , Distinguished Professor of Theology and the Cal Turner Chancellor’s Chair of Wesleyan Studies at Vanderbilt University. He is also the founding director of the Wendland-Cook Program in Religion and Justice . We discuss his latest book, Theology in the Capitalocene: Ecology, Identity, Class, and Solidarity (Fortress Press, 2022), which explore...

This episode of Spotlights features Gopal D. Patel , a faith-based environmental activist, campaigner, and consultant. He is co-Founder and Director of Bhumi Global, an international Hindu faith-inspired NGO that works to promote environmental care. He is also a senior advisor for the Center for Earth Ethics, co-chair of the United Nations Multi-faith Advisory Council, and an advisor to the World...

This episode of Spotlights features Barbara Mahany , a freelance journalist, essayist, collector of stories, and author of five books. She discusses her latest book, The Book of Nature: The Astonishing Beauty of God’s First Sacred Text (Broadleaf Books, 2023). We talk about the myriad ways of reading the natural world and discovering its sacredness through practices of attention, including perspec...

This episode of Spotlights features Mallory McDuff . She is an author, educator, and mother, teaching environmental education at Warren Wilson College outside Asheville, North Carolina. Her writing stems from ordinary life–raising children and teaching students–amidst the enormity of our uncertain times, especially our changing climate. She talks about her new book, Love Your Mother: 50 States, 50...

This episode of Spotlights features Matthew Segall, PhD, Assistant Professor in the Philosophy, Cosmology, and Consciousness program at the California Institute of Integral Studies. Matt discusses a recent conference celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Center for Process Studies , which is a research center at the Claremont School of Theology at Claremont University, focusing particularly on t...

This episode of Spotlights features Larry Rasmussen, PhD, Reinhold Niebuhr Professor of Social Ethics, emeritus, at Union Theological Seminary.  He discusses his new book, The Planet You Inherit: Letters to My Grandchildren When Uncertainty's a Sure Thing . The book is composed of a series of letters that he wrote for his grandchildren. The letters talk about the uncertain future that his gra...

This episode of Spotlights features Amber X. Chen, a freelance journalist from Southern California whose work focuses on environmental justice. She contributed to several publications, including the climate and culture magazine  Atmos , where she recently wrote a piece about the relationship between psychedelics, climate change, and environmental justice, " Tripping for the Planet: Psychedeli...

This episode of Spotlights features Michael S. Northcott, PhD, Professor Emeritus of Ethics at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland. He talks about his new book, God and Gaia: Science, Religion and Ethics on a Living Planet (Routledge, 2023), which explores the overlap between traditional religious cosmologies and the scientific Gaia theory of James Lovelock. The book engages with traditional cos...

This episode of Spotlights features Sam Mickey and Kimberly Carfore in conversation with a topic Sam has been researching recently: contemplative posthuman design, which is a way of bringing design thinking into dialogue with contemplative studies and the ecological sensibilities of posthumanism. It is a design approach that works with contemplative practices to envision ways of harmoniously integ...

This episode of Spotlights features Kimberly Carfore, PhD, co-chair of the Religion and Ecology unit of the American Academy of Religion (AAR). The annual meeting of the AAR happened at the end of November. Dr. Carfore talks about the various panels hosted by the Religion and Ecology unit this year, including a panel on Dr. Christopher Carter’s book The Spirit of Soul Food , which was featured on...

This episode of Spotlights features Rowan Deer, PhD, author of Radical Animism: Reading for the End of the World (Bloomsbury, 2020), which brings together literary, philosophical, and scientific perspectives to rethink animism for the Anthropocene. She discusses the way her book juxtaposes authors like Virginia Woolf, Lewis Carroll, and William Shakespeare with the Copernican Revolution, Charles D...

This episode of Spotlights features our host, Sam Mickey, discussing eco-anxiety, which is generally defined as a chronic worry, distress, or fear concerning ecological devastation. Struggles with eco-anxiety have increased in recent years, and they have been exacerbated by the conditions of the coronavirus pandemic. Sam reflects on two recently published anthologies that he edited with Douglas A....

This week's episode of Spotlights features a short behind-the-scenes look at a team meeting for the Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology, with some brief remarks about the Forum from Tara Trapani, Elizabeth McAnally, Sam King, Anna Thurston, Mary Evelyn Tucker, and John Grim, including a final comment from our host, Sam Mickey. We hope you enjoy this little glimpse into our team meeting and get...

This episode of Spotlights pays tribute to the French philosopher and social theorist, Bruno Latour (1947-2022). His work has been widely influence for science and technology studies, philosophy, and ecological thought. Religion also figures into his work, although it is not as well known as his writings on science and ecology. Several good overviews of his life and thought have been published sin...

This week's episode of Spotlights features Daniel Scheid, PhD , the Director of Undergraduate Studies and Associate Professor of Theology at Duquesne University. We talk about his work with comparative theology and ecological ethics, including questions of interreligious dialogue, the cosmological context of religion and ecology, and the enduring value of Catholic Social Teaching. We also tal...