Dark Green Religion Nature Spirituality and the Planetary Future

About this book

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.

Contents

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

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Biography

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.