On Being Public about Ecotheology

Abstract

Environmental issues can be examined from an ecocentric or anthropocentric perspective. The latter approach places human, religious and financial values above the values of nature and the universe. Ecocentric perspectives stress the centrality of all ecosystems, their integration, and planetary processes above any individual or species. Greenhouse gases in the atmosphere have increased by 50 per cent, and are expected to double during the twenty-first century. These are expected to produce unprecedented environmental change that could threaten the integrity of planetary life and systems. Jewish religious tradition views the entire complexity of creation, and commands us not to destroy any part of God’s universe. Hence modern ecological sciences and Jewish theology give us both warnings and guidelines to value, sustain, recycle and restore the natural balance. This paper provides an ecocentric integration of the latest discoveries in climate science with 4000 years of Jewish beliefs.