The Nature of Church Camp: An Environmental History of Outdoor Ministry, 1945–1980

The Nature of Church Camp explores the history of religious camps and retreat centers in the mid-twentieth century, revealing how they reacted to ecological critiques and provided a new way to explore spirituality and ecology. It shows how environmental stewardship became the dominant paradigm for Protestant environmentalism, but it is flawed and fractious and has stalled.

Format: Hardback
Length: 254 pages
Publication date: 15 December 2023
Publisher: Lexington Books

The Nature of Church Camp: An Environmental History of Outdoor Ministry,1945–1980, written by Christopher W. Anderson, delves into the mid-twentieth-century history of religious camps and retreat centers to offer fresh perspectives on the history of environmentalism in the United States. Ecumenical Protestantism and the ecology movement significantly impacted American morality after World War II. Anderson's research, conducted through archival material, case study visits, and oral histories, reveals that these institutions often responded to ecological critiques with temperate but gradual reforms. However, camps and outdoor ministries, owing to their natural settings and vast acreage, soon provided a unique avenue to explore the history of spirituality and ecology, moving away from the conference campus and employing nostalgia for the frontier to make arguments about the meaning of the American nation and the value of democracy. This new way of thinking permeated throughout the camps and was enthusiastically endorsed by decentralized small-group camping.

By examining the conduct of church camps and conferences before, during, and after the ecological era, Anderson demonstrates how environmental stewardship emerged as the dominant paradigm for Protestant environmentalism, why this model is flawed and contentious, and why it has stagnated.

This book is a valuable contribution to the study of environmental history, religion, and society, providing insights into the complex relationship between these three domains and offering a new perspective on the development of American environmentalism.

Weight: 514g
Dimension: 159 x 237 x 23 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781666915648