Climate Change, Religion, and our Bodily Future

This book explores the interface of bodies and religion by investigating the impacts of human-induced global warming on embodied and performed practices in ecologies of place. It advocates for a need to update religious studies theorization to take climate change seriously and offers case study examples of how scholars may better engage religious bodies within petrocultures.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 220 pages
Publication date: 15 March 2023
Publisher: Lexington Books

This captivating book delves into the intricate interplay between bodies and religion, shedding light on the profound impacts of human-induced global warming on the embodied and performed practices of religion within diverse ecologies of place. Through a multidisciplinary approach, drawing upon insights from religion and nature theory, posthumanism, queer ecologies, ecological animisms, indigenous knowledges, material feminisms, and performance studies, the author advocates for a crucial reimagining of how religious studies theorizes bodies and religion. In the first half of the book, the author compellingly argues for the significance of religious studies as a field and the academy as a whole to take the ongoing and detrimental future impacts of climate change seriously. They remind us that those engaged in religious studies scholarship and the communities they study are inherently bodies situated within material bio-ecological contexts, and this informs the critical questions they ask. The book posits that by embracing this understanding, religious studies scholars will embark on a transformative journey, producing engaged, liberatory scholarship that demands a different kind of scholarship and public advocacy for resilience in the face of climate change.

The second half of the book presents compelling case study examples that demonstrate how scholars can effectively engage religious bodies within petrocultures, while also attending to the emerging materialist posthuman assemblages of religious bodies. This book appeals to a wide range of scholars, including those in religious studies, the environmental humanities, and those who work at the intersection of the body and the natural world. It offers valuable insights and perspectives that will contribute to our understanding of the complex dynamics between bodies, religion, and the broader ecological context.

Weight: 290g
Dimension: 230 x 151 x 13 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781498534574