Planetary Solidarity: Pre-order the Book

I am thrilled that our new co-edited book, Planetary Solidarity: Global Women’s Voices on Christian Doctrine and Climate Justice (Fortress Press) with Dr. Hilda P. Koster will be released September 1, 2017. You can pre-order the book now.

Climate change is one of the most important issues of our time. As people of faith, we all need to work towards climate justice and gender justice.

Book Description

Planetary Solidarity brings together leading Latina, womanist, Asian American, Anglican American, South American, Asian, European, and African woman theologians on the issues of doctrine, women, and climate justice. Because women make up the majority of the world’s poor and tend to be more dependent on natural resources for their livelihoods and survival, they are more vulnerable when it comes to climate-related changes and catastrophes. Representing a subfield of feminist theology that uses doctrine as interlocutor, this book ask how Christian doctrine might address the interconnected suffering of women and the earth in an age of climate change.

While doctrine has often stifled change, it also forms the thread that weaves Christian communities together. Drawing on postcolonial ecofeminist/womanist analysis and representing different ecclesial and denominational traditions, contributors use doctrine to envision possibilities for a deep solidarity with the earth and one another while addressing the intersection of gender, race, class, and ethnicity. The book is organized around the following doctrines: creation, the triune God, anthropology, sin, incarnation, redemption, the Holy Spirit, ecclesiology, and eschatology.

Table of Contents:

Foreword: Celia Deane-Drummond

Introduction: Grace Ji-Sun Kim & Hilda P. Koster

Part I. Reimagining

1. An Earth-Centric Theological Framing for Planetary Solidarity by Heather Eaton

 Re-Imaging with Laudato Si’

2. Imagining and Incarnating an Integral Ecology: A Critical Ecofeminist Public Theology by Rosemary P. Carbine
3. Women’s Suffering, Climate Injustice, God, and Pope Francis’s Theology: Some Insights from Brazil by Ivone Gebara
4. Not Only for the Sake of Man: Asian Feminist Theological Responses to Laudato Si’ by Sharon A. Bong

 Part II. Doctrines and Situations

God, Creation, and Humanity

5. Reimagining the Triune God for a Time of Global Climate Change by Sallie McFague
6. And G*d Saw That It Was Good— Imago Dei and Its Challenge to Climate Justice by Wanda Deifelt

 Sin and Evil

7. The Fire Alarm Is Off: A Feminist Theological Reflection on Sin, Climate Change, Energy, and the Protection of Wilderness in Iceland by Arnfríður Guðmundsdóttir
8. Trafficked Lands: Sexual Violence, Oil, and Structural Evil in the Dakotas by Hilda Koster

 Incarnation

9. “Ukugqiba inkaba”—Burying the Umbilical Cord: An African Indigenous Ecofeminist Perspective on Incarnation by Fulata Lusungu Moyo
10. Motherhood and Christ in an African Ecofeminist Theology for Climate Justice by Isabel Mukonyora

Cross and Salvation

11. Seeds, Cross, and a Paradox of Life from Death: A Postcolonial Eco-Christology by Jea Sophia Oh
12. Salvation for All! Cosmic Salvation for an Age of Climate Injustice: A Korean Perspective by Meehyun Chung

 Spirit

13. Ecowomanist Wisdom: Encountering Earth and Spirit by Melanie L. Harris
14. The Spirit as Moral-Spiritual Power for Earth-Honoring, Justice-Seeking Ways of Shaping Our Life in Common by Cynthia Moe-Lobeda

 Mary and the Church

15. Virgins: Resources for an Ecotheological Praxis by Theresa A. Yugar
16. Environmental Activism in the Philippines: A Practical Theological Perspective by Joyce Ann Mercer

 Hope and Eschatology

17. ¡Somos Criaturas de Dios!—Seeing and Beholding the Garden of God by Nancy Pineda-Madrid
18. Reimagining Eschatology: Toward Healing and Hope for a World at the Eschatos by Barbara Rossing

Select Bibliography

Endorsements

“We are standing at the end of the modern age, and at the beginning of the ecological future of our world if our world is to survive. Planetary Solidarity is a gateway to the green reformation of Christian theology and ethics and spirituality. In solidarity we hear the cry of the poor and the cry of the earth, and see the earth is still taking care of us. Leading feminist theologians from around the world address issues of women and climate, and climate crimes and the dying earth. This rich book is an eye-opener and a ‘must’ for theologians and ecologists.” Jurgen Moltmann, Professor Emeritus of Systematic Theology at the University of Tubingen

“A magnificent choir of women’s voices rises up on behalf of a shared future: across a powerful diversity of theological feminisms, cultures, creatures, and doctrines, this energizing cantata sings its solidarity in the face of climate change and in the key of courage.” Catherine Keller, George T. Cobb Professor of Constructive Theology, Drew Theological School. Author of Cloud of the Impossible: Negative Theology and Planetary Entanglement.

“An insightful, path-breaking and timely collection of female voices on the impact of climate justice on the ways we understand and articulate the fundamental Christian beliefs. The survival not only of humanity but also of the entire planet depends on how this vision of “planetary solidarity” is put into practice. What an awesome challenge this book lays before us, believers and non-believers alike!” Dr. Peter C. Phan, The Ignacio Ellacuria , S.J. Chair of Catholic Social Thought

“An excellent, challenging, inspiring book! Anyone who thinks social justice, climate change, and Christian doctrine are separate issue will be enlightened to see how inseparable they actually are as women’s voices uncover the deep connections. Even more valuable, anyone who unthinkingly takes all three to be gender-neutral will be stimulated to realize the opposite. The approach through a gender lens lifts up insights from poor women struggling for life amid ecological damage, women politically active to protect the earth, both connected with women wrestling with the meaning of inherited Christian belief in an ecologically disintegrating world. A breathtaking contribution that cannot be ignored.” Elizabeth Johnson, Distinguished Professor of Theology, Fordham University, New York City.

“Solidarity involves more than taking a stance (like Martin Luther did) or marching for a cause (like Martin Luther King Jr did). As the editors astutely observe, it entails building stronger communities where power is shared and relationships are fostered. In the context of climate injustice such solidarity has to be planetary in scope. It is tested where powerful interests are at stake and when love grows cold. It comes as no surprise that women are taking the lead in understanding what solidarity with the victims of climate change entails. In this volume such solidarity prompts reflection – on nothing less than the deepest convictions that support Christian forms of solidarity. The varied voices included in this volume should be echoed all around the world.” Dr. Ernst M. Conradie, Senior Professor, University of the Western Cape

“The editors are to be congratulated on mobilising a major response both to the challenge of climate justice and to Pope Francis’ influential encyclical Laudato Si’. Importantly, they do so through an array of women theologians – including major names such as Eaton, Gebara and McFague – all of them contributing important insights from a whole range of contexts. They address the crucial point that planetary insecurity resulting from climate change falls especially heavily on women, but these reflections are important well beyond feminist and womanist circles. I expect to draw on this book very extensively in both research and teaching.” Dr. Christopher Southgate, Associate Professor in Interdisciplinary Theology, University of Exeter, UK.

About the Author