The Music of the Spheres in the Western Imagination describes various systematic musical ecologies of the cosmos by examining attempts over time to define Western theoretical musical systems, whether practical, human, nonhuman, or celestial. This book focuses on the theoretical, theological, philosophical, physical, and mathematical concepts of a cosmic musical order and how these concepts have changed in order to fit different worldviews through the imaginations of theologians, theorists, and authors of fiction, as well as the practical performance of music. Special attention is given to music theory treatises between the ninth and sixteenth centuries, English-language hymnody from the eighteenth century to the present, polemical works on music and worship from the last hundred years, the Divine Comedy of Dante, nineteenth- and twentieth-century English-language fiction, the fictional works of C.S. Lewis, and the legendarium of J.R.R. Tolkien.

This book is a collection of essays about the interaction between God, humans, and nature in the context of the environmental challenges and Biblical studies. Chapters include topics on creation care and Sabbath, sacramental approaches to earth care, classical and medieval cosmologies, ecotheodicy, how we understand the problem of nonhuman suffering in a world controlled by a good God, ecojustice, and how humans help to alleviate nonhuman suffering. The book seeks to provide a way to understand Judeo-Christian perspectives on human-to-nonhuman interaction through Biblical, literary, cultural, film, and music studies, and as such, offers an interdisciplinary approach with emphasis on the humanities, which provides a broader platform for ecotheology.

This book promotes Christian ecology and animal ethics from the perspectives of the Bible, science, and the Judeo-Christian tradition. In an age of climate change, how do we protect species and individual animals? Does it matter how we treat bugs? How does understanding the Trinity and Christ's self-emptying nature help us to be more responsible earth caretakers? What do Christian ethics have to do with hunting? How do the Foxfire books of Southern Appalachia help us to love a place? Does ecology need a place at the pulpit and in hymns? How do Catholic approaches, past and present, help us appreciate and respond to the created world? Finally, how does Jesus respond to humans, nonhumans, and environmental concerns in the Gospel of Mark?