Spiritual Activism ─ Leadership As Service

Provides a clear look at spiritual activism and the ways it can help us to be better activists, better leaders, and more comfortable with our own spirituality Over the past half century, our understanding and awareness of spirituality has changed in nature, as have the issues facing activists. Spirituality is rising up the agenda for activists because it offers distinct, tried and tested approaches to deep questions such as Where did it all go wrong? What does it mean to be human? What is the place of leadership? What is the nature of power? This book starts from scratch, defining spirituality for a generation sometimes dazzled by the claims of materialism. Where others attempt to distinguish science and religion, Spiritual Activism instead contrasts spirituality and materialism. The text is peppered with tales from the authors' activist experience and includes case studies of inspirational spiritual activists that demonstrate the transformative power of spiritual principles in action.

Matt Carmichael is a climate activist, English teacher, writer and homemaker with a degree in theology from University of Durham, England. He was a founder board member of Schumacher North, a forum devoted to exploring and promoting the ideas of deep ecology, sustainable development and social transformation pioneered by E.F. Schumacher, and is the creator of the Delta Course, an intensive course on spirituality for groups of people from any or no religious background. He blogs at deeperdarkness.net Alastair McIntosh is a Scottish writer, scholar, broadcaster, and activist on social, environmental, and spiritual issues. He is a fellow of the Centre for Human Ecology, an honorary fellow in the School of Divinity at Edinburgh University, and an honorary senior research fellow in the College of Social Sciences at Glasgow University. He has written numerous books, including Hell and High Water: Climate Change, Hope and the Human Condition; Radical Human Ecology; and Soil and Soul: People versus Corporate Power. Matt Carmichael is a climate activist, English teacher, and writer. He was a founder board member of Schumacher North, a forum devoted to exploring and promoting the ideas of deep ecology, sustainable development, and social transformation, and is the creator of the Delta Course, an intensive course on spirituality for groups of people from any or no religious background. Alastair McIntosh is a Scottish writer, scholar, broadcaster and activist on social, environmental and spiritual issues, raised on the Isle of Lewis. A Fellow of the Centre for Human Ecology, an Honorary Fellow in the School of Divinity at Edinburgh University, and an Honorary Senior Research Fellow in the College of Social Sciences at Glasgow University, he holds PhD in liberation theology and land reform from the University of Ulster. He has written numerous books. Soil and Soul has been described as "world changing" by George Monbiot, "life changing" by the Bishop of Liverpool and "truly mental" by Thom Yorke of Radiohead. He now lives in Govan where he is a founding director of the GalGael Trust for the regeneration of people and place. A Quaker, he lectures around the world at institutions including WWF International, the World Council of Churches, the Russian Academy of Sciences and the UK Defence Academy (on nonviolence). Alastair McIntosh is a Scottish writer, scholar, broadcaster, and activist on social, environmental, and spiritual issues. He is a fellow of the Centre for Human Ecology, an honorary fellow in the School of Divinity at Edinburgh University, and an honorary senior research fellow in the College of Social Sciences at Glasgow University. He has written numerous books, including Hell and High Water: Climate Change, Hope and the Human Condition; Radical Human Ecology; and Soil and Soul: People versus Corporate Power. Matt Carmichael is a climate activist, English teacher, and writer. He was a founder board member of Schumacher North, a forum devoted to exploring and promoting the ideas of deep ecology, sustainable development, and social transformation, and is the creator of the Delta Course, an intensive course on spirituality for groups of people from any or no religious background. More