RELT10242
Religion, Ethics and the Environment
20
Semester 2
Undergraduate
Level 1
Kamran Karimullah
Unit coordinator
Religions & Theology
1
FHEQ level (Framework for Higher Education Qualifications) ' First part HE study/Bachelors '
European Credit Transfer & Accumulation System Rating : 10.0
<p>Scientists have declared that we have entered a new geological era, the anthropocene. For the first time, humans are causing profound changes to long-term geological processes—including climate change and mass extinction. Humans have always thought hard about the ethics of their relationships with animals and with the cosmos, but the crisis has forced them to think in new ways. This course will look at the resources religious traditions provide for thinking about ethics and the environment. We will examine the ways in which contemporary thinkers have variously applied, adapted and revolutionised those resources. And we will also ask to what extent religious ethics might have been to blame for the crisis, as some have alleged, and how useful it is to analyse environmentalism as a secular form of religious ethics.</p><p> </p>
<p>Scientists have declared that we have entered a new geological era, the anthropocene. For the first time, humans are causing profound changes to long-term geological processes—including climate change and mass extinction. Humans have always thought hard about the ethics of their relationships with animals and with the cosmos, but the crisis has forced them to think in new ways. This course will look at the resources religious traditions provide for thinking about ethics and the environment. We will examine the ways in which contemporary thinkers have variously applied, adapted and revolutionised those resources. And we will also ask to what extent religious ethics might have been to blame for the crisis, as some have alleged.</p><p> </p>
<ul> <li style="margin-left: 18pt;"> To introduce you to a variety of religious responses to the contemporary environmental crisis</li> <li style="margin-left: 18pt;"> To encourage you to think critically about different views on the relationship between religion and environmentalism</li></ul>
<p>The diverse scope of traditions analysed in the course will enhance student awareness of and sensitivity required for dealing with social diversity.</p><p>The diverse range of traditions further provides training in critical analysis of a broad range of sources material.</p>
<ul><li>Understand the role of religion in shaping historical attitudes towards nature</li><li>Understand a wide array of philosophical and theological arguments concerning nature and the environment</li></ul>
<ul><li>Critically evaluate philosophical and theological views about nature and the environment</li><li>Synthesise secular and religious outlooks about the environment</li><li>Express reasoned arguments for a particular point of view using philosophical, religious and historical perspectives</li></ul>
<ul><li>Effective exchange of viewpoints about the environment</li><li>Critically evaluate the academic and intellectual value of online resources and the use of generative AI tools</li></ul>
<ul><li>Communicate in contexts in which diverse religious perspectives are represented</li><li>Independently formulate a programme of research</li><li>Demonstrate ethical appreciation of religious diversity and how this can intersect with issues of race and gender</li></ul>
Analytical skills
- The diverse scope of traditions analysed in the course will enhance student awareness of and sensitivity required for dealing with social diversity.
Other
-The diverse range of traditions further provides training in critical analysis of a broad range of sources material.
-Analysing the very wide range of views expressed by theorists regarding the origin and remedy of ecological crisis, will train students in assessing the strengths and weaknesses of arguments.
<p>11 x 2hr lectures 11 x 1hr seminars Information will be made available on Canvas.</p>
0
Other
100%
<p> </p><figure class="table"><table><tbody><tr><td><strong>Assessment Task</strong> </td><td><strong>Formative or Summative</strong></td><td><strong>Length</strong></td><td><strong>Weighting within unit</strong></td></tr><tr><td>Essay outline</td><td>Formative</td><td>500 words</td><td>N/A</td></tr><tr><td>Essay</td><td>Summative </td><td>1500 words</td><td>50%</td></tr><tr><td>Exam</td><td>Summative </td><td>1500 words</td><td>50% </td></tr></tbody></table></figure><p> </p>
<figure class="table" style="width:662px;"><table border="1" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td style="width:321px;">Feedback method</td><td style="width:340px;">Formative or Summative</td></tr><tr><td>Written feedback on essay outline</td><td>Formative</td></tr><tr><td style="width:321px;">Written feedback on essay</td><td style="width:340px;">Summative</td></tr><tr><td style="height:7px;width:321px;">Written feedback on exam</td><td style="height:7px;width:340px;">Summative</td></tr></tbody></table></figure><p> </p>
Y
<ul> <li> Bauman, W. A. and Bohannon, R. R. I. (2011). Inherited Land: The Chang- ing Grounds of Religion and Ecology. Wipf and Stock Publishers, Eugene, OR</li> <li> Cruikshank, J. (2007). Do glaciers listen?: local knowledge, colonial encounters and social imagination. UBC Press, Vancouver</li> <li> Darlington, S. M. (2012). The ordination of a tree: The Thai Buddhist environmental movement. SUNY Press, New York</li> <li> Deane-Drummond, C., Bergmann, S., and Szerszynski, B. (2015). Techno- futures, Nature and the Sacred: Transdisciplinary Perspectives. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., Farnham</li> <li> Dunlap, T. R. (2006). Environmentalism, a secular faith. Environmental values, pages 321– 330</li> <li> Laidlaw, J. Ethical traditions in question: Diaspora jainism and the environmental and animal liberation movements. In Pandian, A. and Ali, D., editors, Ethical Life in South Asia, pages 61–80. Bloomington: Indiana University Press</li> <li> Sponsel, L. E. (2012). Spiritual ecology: A quiet revolution. ABC-CLIO, Santa Barbara</li> <li> Taylor, B. (2009). Dark green religion. UC Berkeley Press, Berkeley CA</li> <li> Tucker, M. E. and Grim, J. A. (1994). Worldviews and ecology: Religion, philoso- phy, and the environment. Orbis Books, Maryknoll, NY</li></ul><p style="margin-left:17.85pt;"> </p>
Lectures
22
Seminars
11
0
167