An Introduction to Christian Environmentalism ─ Ecology, Virtue, and Ethics

Christians share a common concern for the earth. Evangelicals emphasize creation care; mainline Protestants embrace the green movement; the Catholic Church lists “10 deadly environmental sins”; and the Eastern Orthodox Patriarch has declared climate change an urgent issue of social and economic justice.

This textbook examines seven contemporary environmental challenges through the lens of classical Christian virtues. Authors Kathryn Blanchard and Kevin O’Brien use these classical Christian virtues to discover a “golden mean” between extreme positions by pairing each virtue with a pernicious environmental problem.

Students are thus led past political pitfalls and encouraged to care for other creatures prudently, to develop new energy sources courageously, to choose our food temperately, to manage toxic pollution justly, to respond to climate change faithfully, to consider humanity’s future hopefully, and to engage lovingly in advocacy for God’s earth. Readers will emerge from this text with a deeper understanding of contemporary environmental problems and the fundamentals of Christian virtue ethics.

Kathryn D. Blanchard is Associate Professor of Religious Studies at Alma College.

Kevin J. O'Brien is Associate Professor of Religion at Pacific Lutheran University.