Boundaries of the Sacred
The Politics of Belonging in Religious Ecological Imaginaries in Germany and Canada
In: WorldviewsSearch for other papers by Carrie B. Dohe in
Current site
Google Scholar
Abstract
Biodiversity loss, climate change, and mass migration are driving changes in worldmaking across the religious spectrum. As planetary dynamics reveal the interconnectedness and precariousness of life on Earth, religious actors are also rearticulating relationality with other humans and species. Yet these relational re-articulations are informed by historical and contemporary debates about who belongs within a given territory and has sovereignty over it. This article examines sites of ecological religious worldmaking in Germany and Canada to show how longstanding national debates over who or what belongs within state territory shape this worldmaking in different ways. Focusing on actors with varying forms of social status—based on majority and minority religious and ethnic positions—it explores the conditions under which claims of planetary belonging supersede national ones, when planetary worldmaking is mobilized to justify claims to national belonging, and when assertions of national belonging are used to reject others’ efforts to belong.
Purchase
Buy instant access (PDF download and unlimited online access):
Institutional Login
Log in with Open Athens, Shibboleth, or your institutional credentials
Personal login
Log in with your brill.com account
-
Bauder, Harald. 2014. “Re-Imagining the Nation: Lessons from the Debates of Immigration in a Settler Society and an Ethnic Nation.” Comparative Migration Studies 2(1): 9–27. https://doi.org/10.5117/CMS2014.1.BAU2.
-
Blanc, Julia. 2023. “Besser Leben dank einer grüneren Religion?” Zeitschrift für Pastoraltheologie 42(2): 113–118. https://doi.org/10.17879/ZPTH-2022-4599.
-
Bundesregierung. 2024. “Promoting Social Participation.” Bundesregierung.de, January 19. Online: https://www.bundesregierung.de/breg-de/aktuelles/modernisation-citizenship-law-2254382.
-
Chakrabarty, Dipesh. 2021. The Climate of History in a Planetary Age. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. https://doi.org/10.7208/9780226733050.
-
Chappell, Bill. 2023. “The Vatican repudiates ‘Doctrine of Discovery,’ which was used to justify colonialism.” NPR, March 30. https://www.npr.org/2023/03/30/1167056438/vatican-doctrine-of-discovery-colonialism-indigenous.
-
City of Toronto. 2016. Bees of Toronto: A Guide to Their Remarkable World. https://www.toronto.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/8eb7-Biodiversity-BeesBook-Division-Planning-And-Development.pdf.
-
Colla, Sheila. R. and MacIvor, J. Scott. 2017. “Questioning public perception, conservation policy, and recovery actions for honeybees in North America.” Conservation Biology 31(5): 1202–1204. https://doi.org/10.1111/cobi.12839.
-
Cooper, Risa. 2021. Zoom talk with Shoresh co-founder Risa Cooper, 15 May.
-
Doganay, Tanju. 2013. “‘Grüne’ Moschee.” Paper presented at Act Ecologically, even in God’s Name! Religiously and Culturally Sensitive Climate and Environmental Protection Conference, Protestant Academy of Loccum, Germany, March 1 to 3.
-
Dohe, Carrie. 2016. Jung’s Wandering Archetype: Race and Religion in Analytical Psychology. Abingdon: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315713465.
-
Dohe, Carrie. 2012. Notes, June 30 (unpublished).
-
Dohe, Carrie. 2022a. Notes, September 22 (unpublished).
-
Dohe, Carrie. 2022b. “Schützen die Religionen die Natur zusammen? Wie eine interreligiöse Initiative für biologische Vielfalt in Deutschland Religion und Naturschutz ändert.” In Handbuch der Religionen 73, edited by M. Klöcker and U. Tworuschka, 1–30. Hohenwarsleben: Westarp Science.
-
Dohe, Carrie B. 2023. “‘What Does Religion Have to Do with Nature Conservation?’ Investigating the Tensions in an Interreligious Nature Conservation Project in Germany.” In Religious Environmental Activism: Emerging Conflicts and Tensions in Earth Stewardship, edited by Jens Köhrsen, Julia Blanc, and Fabian Huber, 176–197. London: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003017967-12.
-
Dohe, Carrie. 2024. “Creating community through church-based pollinator gardening.” Worldviews: Global Religions, Culture, and Ecology 28 (2): 168–188. https://doi.org/10.1163/15685357-02802008.
-
Dohe, Carrie. 2025. “Of Green Roosters and Solar Crosses: The Greening of Established Christian Churches in Germany?” Zeitgeschichte/Contemporary Church History 38 (1): 131–145.
-
Dohe, Carrie. 2026. “Dark green religion or humanizing nature? Exploring how nature and its conservation is understood in the religions for biological diversity project in Germany.” Journal of the Study of Religion, Nature and Culture (forthcoming).
-
Rat der EKD/DBK: Rat der Evangelischen Kirche in Deutschland und Deutsche Bischofskonferenz (Rat der EKD/DBK). 1985. “Verantwortung wahrnehmen für die Schöpfung.” https://www.ekd.de/schoepfung_1985_verantwortung3.html.
-
FARN: Fachstelle Radikalisierungsprävention und Engagement im Naturschutz. 2023. Die extreme Rechte und Menschenfeindlichkeit in der Umweltbildung. Berlin: Eigenverlag. https://www.nf-farn.de/extreme-rechte-menschenfeindlichkeit-umweltbildung.
-
Fenske, Michaela. 2015. “Zeichentrickfiguren als Retter? Das Bienenaussterben in der populären Unterhaltung.” In Menschen und Bienen: Ein nachhaltiges Miteinander in Gefahr, edited by S. Lorenz and K. Stark, 61–72. Munich: Oekom.
-
Fenske, Michaela. 2025. “Becoming aware of insects: Dangers and endangerments in the Anthropocene.” In Human–Bug Encounters in Multispecies Networks, edited by L. Hollsten, O. Latva, S. Lillbroända-Annala, S. Rytty, and T. Räsänen, 27–49. Leiden: Brill.
-
Francis. 2015. Laudato Si’. Encyclical letter of the Holy Father Francis on Care for Our Common Home. http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/encyclicals/documents/papa-francesco_20150524_enciclica-laudato-si.html.
-
Friedhof Lebt. 2026. Der Friedhof lebt—Interreligiöse Archegärten in Deutschland. https://der-friedhof-lebt.de/.
-
Gross, Michael. 2004. The War against Catholicism: Liberalism and the Anti-Catholic Imagination in Nineteenth-Century Germany. University of Michigan Press. https://doi.org/10.3998/mpub.17623.
-
Haraway, Donna. 2016. Staying with the Trouble: Making Kin in the Chthulucene. Durham: Duke University Press. https://doi.org/10.1215/9780822373780.
-
Harvey, Graham. 2007. “Inventing Paganisms: Making Nature.” In The Invention of Sacred Tradition, edited by J. Lewis and O. Hammer, 277–290. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
-
Hele, Karl S. 2023. “The Doctrine of Discovery.” The Canadian Encyclopedia. https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/doctrine-of-discovery.
-
Hobsbawm, Eric J. 1992. Nations and Nationalism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
-
Höchst, Nicole. 2022. “Invasive Arten 2.0. Von der Natur lässt sich in diesen Zeiten einiges lernen—sofern man die richtigen Schlüsse zieht.” Journalistinwatch, 27 November. https://journalistenwatch.com/2022/11/27/hoechst-brisant-invasive-arten-2-0/.
-
Institut für Theologische Zoologie e.V. 2026. https://theologische-zoologie.de/.
-
Jesuit Forum for Social Faith and Justice. 2026. https://jesuitforum.ca/.
-
Köhrsen, Jens, Julia Blanc, and Fabian Huber, eds. 2023. Religious Environmental Activism: Emerging Conflicts and Tensions in Earth Stewardship. London: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003017967.
-
Klinkhammer, Gritt, Frese, Hans-Ludwig, Satilmis, Ayla, and Seibert, Tina. 2011. Interreligiöse und Interkulturelle Dialoge mit MuslimInnen in Deutschland. Bremen: University of Bremen.
-
McNallen, Stephen. 1985. “Metagenetics.” https://www.humanbiologicaldiversity.com/articles/McNallen,%20Stephen%20A.%20%22Metagenetics.%22%20RuneStone,%201985.pdf.
-
McNallen, Stephen. 1999. “Genetics & Beyond: Metagenetics—An Update.” Reprint from Runestone #26. https://www.humanbiologicaldiversity.com/articles/McNallen,%20Stephen%20A.%20%22Metagenetics%20-%20An%20Update.%22%20RuneStone,%201999.pdf.
-
McNallen, Stephen. 2007. “Wotan vs. Tezcatlipoca” Voxnr.fr, 2025 [posted] https://www.voxnr.fr/6286-2.
-
Müller, Corinna. 2023. “Rassismus in rechten Diskursen.” PhD diss., University of Marburg. https://archiv.ub.uni-marburg.de/diss/z2024/0044/pdf/rcm.pdf.
-
N.N. 2026. “Welchen Migrationshintergrund haben Muslime in Deutschland?” Mediendienst Integration, March 10. https://mediendienst-integration.de/bevoelkerung/muslime-in-deutschland/welchen-migrationshintergrund-haben-muslime-in-deutschland.
-
NourEnergy. 2014. NourEnergy e.V.—Dein Partner für Nachhaltigkeit und werteorientierte Lösungen, January 5. https://www.nour-energy.com/ [no longer accessible].
-
Pickel, Gert. 2019. Weltanschauliche Vielfalt und Demokratie. Gütersloh: Bertelsmann Stiftung.
-
Preston, Claire. 2019. Bee. London: Reaktion.
-
Rasmussen, Larry L. and Society of Christian Ethics. 1995. “The Integrity of Creation: What Can It Mean for Christian Ethics?” The Annual of the Society of Christian Ethics 15: 161–175. https://doi.org/10.5840/asce1995159.
-
Robischon, Marcel. 2015. “Wenn der Schwarm kommt ….” In Menschen und Bienen, edited by S. Lorenz and K. Stark, 73–84. Munich: Oekom.
-
Rosga, Anna. 2021. “Die Anastasia-Bewegung: Schnittstelle zwischen Ökologie, Esoterik and rechter Ideologie.” In Ökologie und Heimat: Gutes Leben für alle oder die Rückkehr der braunen Naturschützer. Jahrbuch Ökologie, edited by P. Ibisch, H. Leitschuh, A. Brunnengräber, R. Loske, J. Sommer, and M. Müller, 81–89. Stuttgart: Hirzel.
-
Schnetzer, Simon, Hampel, Kilian, and Hurrelmann, Klaus. 2024. Jugend in Deutschland 2024: Verantwortung für die Zukunft? Ja, aber. Memmingen: Kurier.
-
Schnurbein, Stephanie von. 1993. Göttertrost in Wendezeiten: neugermanisches Heidentum zwischen New Age und Rechtsradikalismus. Munich: Claudius.
-
Shoresh. 2026. Shoresh: Canadian Soil. Jewish Roots. https://shoresh.ca/.
-
Staudenmaier, Peter. 2011. “Fascist Ecology: The ‘Green Wing’ of the Nazi Party and its Historical Antecedents.” In Ecofascism Revisited: Lessons from the German Experience, edited by J. Biehl and P. Staudenmaier, 13–42. Porsgrunn: New Compass Press.
-
Truth & Reconciliation. 2015. Honouring the Truth, Reconciling for the Future. Summary of the Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. Winnipeg: National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation.
-
United Nations. 2007. United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. https://www.un.org/development/desa/indigenouspeoples/wp-content/uploads/sites/19/2018/11/UNDRIP_E_web.pdf.
| All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 72 | 72 | 72 |
| Full Text Views | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 8 | 8 | 8 |
Boundaries of the Sacred
The Politics of Belonging in Religious Ecological Imaginaries in Germany and Canada
In: WorldviewsSearch for other papers by Carrie B. Dohe in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Abstract
Biodiversity loss, climate change, and mass migration are driving changes in worldmaking across the religious spectrum. As planetary dynamics reveal the interconnectedness and precariousness of life on Earth, religious actors are also rearticulating relationality with other humans and species. Yet these relational re-articulations are informed by historical and contemporary debates about who belongs within a given territory and has sovereignty over it. This article examines sites of ecological religious worldmaking in Germany and Canada to show how longstanding national debates over who or what belongs within state territory shape this worldmaking in different ways. Focusing on actors with varying forms of social status—based on majority and minority religious and ethnic positions—it explores the conditions under which claims of planetary belonging supersede national ones, when planetary worldmaking is mobilized to justify claims to national belonging, and when assertions of national belonging are used to reject others’ efforts to belong.
| All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 72 | 72 | 72 |
| Full Text Views | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 8 | 8 | 8 |
