Ecospirituality: An Introduction

Ecospirituality, for the first time, comprehensively introduces and lays the foundation for further individual growth in the burgeoning field of ecospirituality.

Rachel Wheeler covers the background for environmentally oriented spirituality in the Christian tradition, beginning with expressions of creation care and creation degradation in the Judeo-Christian Scriptures, and moving through important moments and figures in the history of Christian spirituality. With this foundation in place, she reveals how expressions of renewed interest in creation care are showing up amid our compromised living habitats today, and shows what ideas laid the groundwork for beginning to speak of God, human identity, and human responsibility in certain ways. Turning to ecospiritual practice, Wheeler presents specific practices from a variety of global religious traditions, paying particular attention to Indigenous spiritual traditions. She also explores interdisciplinary areas that have combined some essential aspects of their own focus of engagement with ecology and, furthermore, with ecospirituality. Such areas as ecojustice, ecofeminism, ecowomanism, and ecopoetics all provide points of contact with the work that ecospirituality makes possible and have important implications for personal and social transformation.

Wheeler's concise introduction to ecospirituality is not only a foundation-laying tool for educators, but also a concise, thorough way for individuals and students to gain a comprehensive understanding of ecospirituality and why it matters.

Rachel Wheeler is assistant professor of spirituality at the University of Portland, where she teaches courses on Bible and spirituality. She has graduate degrees in English and monastic studies from Humboldt State University and Saint John's School of Theology and Seminary, respectively, and a PhD in Christian spirituality from the Graduate Theological Union. Her work focuses on ecospiritual practice, desert spirituality, and the use of the arts in spiritual formation. She is also the author of Desert Daughters, Desert Sons: Rethinking the Christian Desert Tradition.