"In this innovative and deeply felt work, Bron Taylor examines the evolution of ""green religions"" in North America and beyond: spiritual practices that hold nature as sacred and have in many cases replaced traditional religions. Tracing a wide range of groups-radical environmental activists, lifestyle-focused bioregionalists, surfers, new-agers involved in ""ecopsychology,"" and groups that hold scientific narratives as sacred-Taylor addresses a central theoretical question: How can environmentally oriented, spiritually motivated individuals and movements be understood as religious when many of them reject religious and supernatural worldviews? The ""dark"" of the title further expands this idea by emphasizing the depth of believers' passion and also suggesting a potential shadow side: besides uplifting and inspiring, such religion might mislead, deceive, or in some cases precipitate violence. This book provides a fascinating global tour of the green religious phenomenon, enabling readers to evaluate its worldwide emergence and to assess its role in a critically important religious revolution."
By:
Bron Taylor
Imprint: University of California Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions:
Height: 229mm,
Width: 152mm,
Spine: 20mm
Weight: 499g
ISBN: 9780520261006
ISBN 10: 0520261003
Pages: 360
Publication Date: 03 November 2009
Audience:
Professional and scholarly
,
Undergraduate
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
Preface Readers' Guide 1. Introducing Religion and Dark Green Religion 2. Dark Green Religion 3. Dark Green Religion in North America 4. Radical Environmentalism 5. Surfing Spirituality 6. Globalization with Predators and Moving Pictures 7. Globalization in Arts, Sciences, and Letters 8. Terrapolitan Earth Religion 9 .Conclusion: Dark Green Religion and the Planetary Future Afterword on Terminology Acknowledgments Appendix: Excerpts with Commentary on the Writings of Henry David Thoreau Notes Bibliography Index
Bron Taylor is Professor of Religion and Nature at the University of Florida. He is Editor-in-Chief of the multi-volume Encyclopedia of Religion and Nature and the Journal for the Study of Religion, Nature and Culture, and Editor of Ecological Resistance Movements: The Global Emergence of Radical and Popular Environmentalism.
Reviews for Dark Green Religion: Nature Spirituality and the Planetary Future
"""This ambitious work seeks to set forth a new religious tradition characterized by its central concern for the fate of the planet."" Nova Religio: The Journal Of Alternative & Emergent Religions ""Dark Green Religion is intelligent, well-written, and very much worth reading."" Worldviews ""Taylor aims to illustrate the existence of an ideological current in contemporary North American society that has nature as its focus, and to argue that this is socially and politically significant."" -- Emma Tomalin Environment & History ""Names levels of spirituality that are often unacknowledged, unattended to, or rejected, and demonstrates how a new global spirituality (DGR) is becoming a force for positive change on our planet."" Isle: Interdis Stds In Lit & Environ ""Recommended."" Choice"
