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Quakers, Ecology, and the Light
Series:
As the community of life on this planet experiences the anthropogenic climate crisis, what tools from faith traditions can help us meet the coming challenges? By expanding the metaphor of light within the Christian and Quaker traditions to include light’s role in ecosystems, this project develops an ecotheology of light that aims to answer this question. Cherice Bock and Christy Randazzo draw on their contexts in the Religious Society of Friends, placing the Quaker Inward Light in dialogue with the Bible, and light in Eastern Orthodox, ecological, and interdependence theologies. The Quaker ecotheology of light developed argues that Light is a vitally important and mutually translatable metaphor providing a common language that can aid humanity, reinterpreting traditions to meet this moment with spiritual grounding to transition to a just and sustainable future for the Earth, our common home. Bock and Randazzo connect this ecotheology of light with implications for Friends testimonies.
Cherice Bock, Ph.D. candidate, M.S. environmental studies, Antioch University New England (2019), M.Div., Princeton Theological Seminary (2009), teaches, writes, and organizes at the intersection of religion and environment. She co-edited Quakers, Creation Care, & Sustainability (Friends Association for Higher Education, 2019).
Christy Randazzo, Ph.D. (2018), University of Birmingham. Affiliate Faculty at Montclair State University. They have published articles and chapters on Quaker theology, Liberal Quaker history, peacemaking, and ecotheology, including the recent work Liberal Quaker Reconciliation Theology: A Constructive Approach (Brill, 2019).
Christy Randazzo, Ph.D. (2018), University of Birmingham. Affiliate Faculty at Montclair State University. They have published articles and chapters on Quaker theology, Liberal Quaker history, peacemaking, and ecotheology, including the recent work Liberal Quaker Reconciliation Theology: A Constructive Approach (Brill, 2019).
"The book is well-written and concise, and the authors have a firm grasp of both the science of light and the depiction of spiritual Light throughout Christian and Quaker history. They draw on a diverse array of sources to build their theological position and the resulting portrayal of Light has broad appeal." Sarah Werner in Journal for the Study of Religion, Nature, and Culture vol. 18 (2024).
"The goal of Cherice Bock and Christy Randazzo’s Quakers, Ecology, and the Light is to share tools from faith traditions to assist the community of life on earth to meet the climatic challenges of our times, ultimately aiming to shift understanding toward an interconnected community, collaborating to sustain life on earth. More immediately, it seeks to articulate a Quaker ecotheology in such a way that is simultaneously acceptable and challenging to the diverse Quaker traditions. Although this is no small task the authors rise to the challenge." Tim Gee in Quaker Religious Thought vol. 141 (2023)
Contents
Abstract
Keywords
1 Introduction
2 Ecotheology and the Science of Light
3 Light in the Christian Tradition
4 Quakers and the Inward Light
5 Building an Ecotheology of Interdependence
6 Constructing a Quaker Ecotheology of Light
Bibliography
Index
Abstract
Keywords
1 Introduction
2 Ecotheology and the Science of Light
3 Light in the Christian Tradition
4 Quakers and the Inward Light
5 Building an Ecotheology of Interdependence
6 Constructing a Quaker Ecotheology of Light
Bibliography
Index
Those interested in ecotheology, Christian responses to climate change, Quakers and the Religious Society of Friends, the spiritual metaphor of light, ecological implications of a theology of light, and light as an aspect of interdependence.