This signal volume gathers theologians from around the world to address three pressing questions: How can Christianity and Christian churches rethink themselves and their roles in light of the endangered earth? What "earth-honoring" elements does justice-oriented Christianity have to contribute to the common good? And how can local communities and churches respond creatively and constructively on a level to these vast global forces?

This volume captures the chief themes and presentations from the October 1998 conference on social justice, ecology, and church, entitled "Ecumenical Earth" and held at Union Theological Seminary. Among the 18 contributors to this trailblazing conference are Rasmussen and Hessel, James Cone, Kusumita Pedersen, Brigitte Kahl, Ibrahim M. Abu-Rabi, Steven Rockefeller, Havid Hallman, Ernst Conradie, Peggy Shepard, and Troy Messenger.

Among the topics treated are: Christian ethics as community ethics Charting the moral life Elements of character formation Character and social structure Decision making The nature and role of biblical authority Uses of Scripture in Christian ethics

Western society today lives from community fragments and moral fragments alone, and these fragments are being destroyed more quickly than they are being replenished. Larry Rasmussen assesses the long-term reasons for this situation and then proposes the forms and tasks that churches can undertake to help mend and improve civil society.

Grand Winner of the 2014 Nautius Book Awards
Thoughtful observers agree that the planetary crisis we now face-climate change; species extinction; the destruction of entire ecosystems; the urgent need for a more just economic-political order-is pushing human civilization to a radical turning point: change or perish. But precisely how to change remains an open question.
In Earth-honoring Faith, Larry Rasmussen answers that question with a dramatically new way of thinking about human society, ethics, and the ongoing health of our planet. Rejecting the modern assumption that morality applies to human society alone, Rasmussen insists that we must derive a spiritual and ecological ethic that accounts for the well-being of all creation, as well as the primal elements upon which it depends: earth, air, fire, water, and sunlight. He argues that good science, necessary as it is, will not be enough to inspire fundamental change. We must draw on religious resources as well to make the difficult transition from an industrial-technological age obsessed with consumption to an ecological age that restores wise stewardship of all life. Earth-honoring Faith advocates an alliance of spirituality and ecology, in which the material requirements for planetary life are reconciled with deep traditions of spirituality across religions, traditions that include mysticism, sacramentalism, prophetic practices, asceticism, and the cultivation of wisdom. It is these shared spiritual practices that can produce a chorus of world faiths to counter the consumerism, utilitarianism, alienation, oppression, and folly that have pushed us to the brink.
Written with passionate commitment and deep insight, Earth-honoring Faith reminds us that we must live in the present with the knowledge that the eyes of future generations will look back at us.

Thoughtful observers agree that the planetary crisis we now face-climate change; species extinction; the destruction of entire ecosystems; the urgent need for a more just economic-political order-is pushing human civilization to a radical turning point: change or perish. But precisely how to change remains an open question. In Earth-honoring Faith, Larry Rasmussen answers that question with a dramatically new way of thinking about human society, ethics, and the ongoing health of our planet. Rejecting the modern assumption that morality applies to human society alone, Rasmussen insists that we must derive a spiritual and ecological ethic that accounts for the well-being of all creation, as well as the primal elements upon which it depends: earth, air, fire, water, and sunlight. He argues that good science, necessary as it is, will not be enough to inspire fundamental change. We must draw on religious resources as well to make the difficult transition from an industrial-technological age obsessed with consumption to an ecological age that restores wise stewardship of all life. Earth-honoring Faith advocates an alliance of spirituality and ecology, in which the material requirements for planetary life are reconciled with deep traditions of spirituality across religions, traditions that include mysticism, sacramentalism, prophetic practices, asceticism, and the cultivation of wisdom. It is these shared spiritual practices that can produce a chorus of world faiths to counter the consumerism, utilitarianism, alienation, oppression, and folly that have pushed us to the brink. Written with passionate commitment and deep insight, Earth-honoring Faith reminds us that we must live in the present with the knowledge that the eyes of future generations will look back at us.

What led Dietrich Bonhoeffer to his momentous decision to be involved in the plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler on July 20, 1944? What is the relation between his resistance activities and his theological and ethical reflections? Exploring these and other intriguing and complex relationships in Bonhoeffer's life and throughout the turbulent 1930s and 1940s, Larry Rasmussen characterizes Bonhoeffer's resistance as an enactment of his Christology lived out with utter seriousness. Originally published in 1972 and now updated with a new introduction by the author, "Dietrich Bonhoeffer" remains the defining study of Bonhoeffer's views of Jesus Christ, his ethics, and his resistance against Hitler and the Nazi regime.

How can a church in the richest and most powerful nation on earth respond to the needs of the poor, the hungry, and the oppressed? The authors of this book describe this issue with clarity and power, and explore the biblical perspectives that offer guidance toward a viable and more equitable future for both church and society.The authors call for a radical change in life-style based on a revolution in perspective and basic values.

Ethics for a Small Planet offers complementary studies by two major social ethicists on these issues. Daniel C. Maguire indicts our male-dominated religions for the problems they have caused for our ecology and reproductive ethics. He raises the controversial questions of whether the very concept of God is a problem and whether Christianity's notions of afterlife and a divinized male have done more harm than good. Larry L. Rasmussen also recognizes that the problems of our planet are largely male-made and rich-dominated. He writes that Europeans packaged a form of earth-unfriendly capitalism and shipped it all over the world with missionary zeal. He ably scans the long history that led to the current manic rush to push the earth beyond its limits, and goes on to suggest moral norms and policy guidelines for sustainable communities and genuinely shared power. Both authors argue that there are positive and renewable moral energies in the world's religions and that unless religion, understood as a response to the sanctity of life, animates our ethical debates, the prospects for the world are grim. The sense of the sacred is presented here as the nucleus of the good and the only force that can bring about the lifestyle changes and power reallocations that are necessary to prevent terracide.