Earth and Spirit: The Spiritual Dimension of the Environmental Crisis

This book is an outgrowth of a 1990 conference in Seattle sponsored by the Chinook Learning Center on Whidbey Island. Participants examined the implicit connections between the environmental crisis and a spiritual perspective and response. The contributors, including a theologian, a journalist, a biologist, a mailman, a priest and a poet, claim that we need to create a new relationship with the natural world. In these thoughtful and provocative essays, Stephanie Kaza ( The Hungry Heart ) offers a Buddhist philosophy; David Spangler says we must develop a new image of the earth; Daniel Martin discusses the joining of humanity, earth and spirit. Agreeing that environmentalism and religion are compatible, all suggest that we move away from anthropocentrism. Hull is a founder of the Chinook Learning Center and director of the Institute of Earth & Spirit. (Aug.)