Teaching Scriptures and Ecology

Abstract

Abstract Any course in religion and ecology can include some discussion of foundational texts, including a critical reading of the literary portrayal of other-than-humans. This article will focus on teaching scriptures and ecology as illustrated in a course entitled “The Bible and the Environment,” which introduces students to an ecojustice reading of the Christian Bible and secondary sources. The article also concerns my adaptation of Felder and Brent’s recommendations for encouraging students to actively engage in class discussion. Since I wanted to introduce more written reflection, I adapted their methods to giving pop quizzes at the beginning, middle, and end of some class sessions. This proved successful in that students were better prepared for class, were more attentive participants in class discussion, and had better comprehension of content, including the ability to apply the concepts of anthropocentrism and ecocentrism to primary and secondary sources.