The New Holy Wars

by Nelson, Robert H.

• ISBN13: 9780271035819
• ISBN10: 0271035811
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2010-01-31
• Publisher: Pennsylvania State Univ Pr

Summary

The present debate raging over global warming exemplifies the clash between two competing public theologies. On one side, environmentalists warn of certain catastrophe if we do not take steps now to reduce the release of greenhouse gases; on the other side, economists are concerned with whether the benefits of actions to prevent higher temperatures will be worth the high costs. Questions of the true and proper relationship of human beings and nature are as old as religion. Today, environmentalists regard human actions to warm the climate as an immoral challenge to the natural order, while economists seek to put all of nature to maximum use for economic growth and other human benefits.Robert Nelson interprets such contemporary struggles as battles between the competing secularized religions of economics and environmentalism. The outcome will have momentous consequences for us all. This book probes beneath the surface of the two movements' rhetoric to uncover their fundamental theological commitments and visions.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. ix
Acknowledgments	p. xxiii
Introduction: Economic and Environmental Religions	p. 1
The False God of Economic Salvation	p. 19
What Is "Economic Theology"?	p. 23
Theologies of 9/11	p. 42
How Much Is God Worth?	p. 58
Sustainability, Efficiency, and God	p. 70
All in the Name of Progress	p. 87
Environmental Calvinism	p. 103
Unoriginal Sin	p. 112
Calvinism Minus God	p. 131
Environmental Creationism	p. 161
Ecological Science as a Creation Story	p. 170
Environmental Creationism and Christian Creationism	p. 197
Re-creating the Creation	p. 220
Environmental Colonialism: "Saving" Africa from Africans	p. 257
Environmentalism and Libertarianism	p. 277
Frank Knight and Economic Calvinism	p. 282
Libertarian Environmentalism	p. 303
Conclusion: Religious Challenges	p. 332
Notes	p. 351
Index	p. 379
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