Living God's Love Values - Generosity, Joy, Imagination and Courage
Living God's Love Values - Generosity, Joy, Imagination and Courage

Climate Reading Lists

A booklist (part 1) to help widen your understanding of climate change issues in relation to your faith, and (part 2) to suggest ideas for worship.

With thanks to Margaret Leeming, Manager of St John’s Cornerstone Bookshop, Edinburgh, who helped with this compilation.

 

Booklist – Part 1

TitleAuthorPublisherDescription
Angels with trumpets - the Church in a time of global warmingPaula CliffordDarton, Longman and Todd with Christian Aid 2009A handy-sized paperback which packs a punch! It could be used as a basis for small group discussion on 'how to move on from re-cycling and light bulbs' to become a more profoundly prophetic community.
Care for Creation -  a Franciscan spirituality of the earth Ilia Delio St Anthony Messenger Press, Cincinnati, Ohio 2007. (The Franciscan International Study Centre in Canterbury may have this book in their library)Franciscan theology has traditionally seen the earth as our sister and mother.  It offers a delightful and practical contribution to eco-theology for our times.
Christianity and the Renewal of NatureSebastian Kim and Jonathan Draper (eds)SPCK2011 
Christianity, Climate Change and Sustainable LivingNick Spencer and Robert WhiteSPCK 2007This book derives from the Ebor Lecture Series and has been developed as a response to the growing need for theology to interact with contemporary public issues. 
Climate and Christ - a prophetic alternativeEdward P EchlinThe Columba Press Dublin 2010Living locally sustainable lives and providing prophetic alternatives to contemporary, individualised economics - a template for parishes to model a lifestyle of quality, earth-care and sharing.
Creation - a Biblical Vision of the EnvironmentMargaret BarkerT&T Clark 2009 
Creation in CrisisRobert White (ed)SPCK 2009 
Creation set free: the Spirit as Liberator of NatureSigurd BergnannEerdmans 2005 
Eco-TheologyCelia Deane-DrummondDarton, Longman and Todd 2008A wide-ranging and scholarly resource covering such diverse fields as the global nature of ecological reflection, the wisdom tradition, eco-feminist theology and how ecology can be integrated into the heart of Christian faith.
Planetwise - Dare to Care for God's worldDave BooklessInter-Varsity Press (IVP) 2008For all of us still making token gestures towards global warming, read this and be inspired! Bookless's theology is grounded in a life and ministry utterly committed to developing a Christian response to the environmental crisis.
Towards a Theology of the EnvironmentPaul HaffnerGracewing 2008 
The Sacred Universe - Earth, Spirituality and Religion in the 21st  CenturyThomas BerryColumbia University Press New York 2009Berry wrote that to hear the natural world is to hear the divine.  Our modern alienation from nature and all that flows from that, is just one of many prophetic insights from the essays of this author.
Transition Movement for Churches: a prophetic imperative for todayTimothy Gorringe and Rosie BeckhamCanterbury Press, Norwich  2013Outlines the main principles of Transition, explores how churches can make links to Transition communities - and offers a guide to the visionary and prophetic aspects of Transition.
A Christian Guide to Environmental IssuesMartin Hodson and Margot R HodsonBible Reading FellowshipA thoroughly readable and practical book covering eight contemporary eco issues: biodiversity, climate change, water, human population and consumption, energy, soil, food and environment and development.
There are plenty of eco tips and useful biblical references for group study and at the end a Covenant for Hope.
Places of Enchantment: meeting God in LandscapesGraham B UsherSPCK, 2012Many people find great spiritual benefit from climbing a mountain or walking in nature. This book describes how God can be experienced “infusing, sustaining and renewing a whole web of interconnections in an enchanted world, of which we as humans are just a part.”
It is also a useful resource for preachers and study groups during the Season of Creation in the four weeks leading up to the feast day of St Francis of Assisi.
The Earth Will Teach YouKevin DurrantWide Margin, 90 Sandyleaze, GL2 0PX;This is a delightful book. If you are an environmentally committed lay person who sometimes gets called on to ‘do the sermon slot’ for a family service, you will find it invaluable. It weaves together poetry, art and historical and current events within a Biblical matrix.
Earthed: Christian Perspectives on Nature ConnectionEds. Bruce Stanley and Steve HollinghurstMystic Christ Press, 2014If you feel, as many people now do, that we need to nurture a spirituality that recognises how far humanity has become disconnected from an understanding of our dependence on nature for our very life, then this book is an excellent place to start. It is written by people with practical and theological experience in this field, including the Right Rev Anne Hollinghurst and her husband Steve who ran a Forest Church in St Albans Diocese for about five years until they moved away when Anne was appointed a Suffragan Bishop in the Diocese of Birmingham.
Place, Ecology and the Sacred: the Moral Geography of Sustainable CommunitiesMichael S NorthcottBloomsbury Academic, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc 2015In his timely exploration of the growing worldwide quest for resilient and sustainable local economies, Northcott argues that “Christianity can be a powerful source of redemption and repair to the pathologies of extreme mobility, placelessness and ecological destruction that characterise contemporary life.”
From Teilhard to Omega : co-creating an Unfinished Universe Ed. Ilia DelioOrbis Books, Maryknoll, New York, 2014The French Jesuit and scientist Pierre Teihard de Chardin (1881-1955) devoted his life to bringing Christianity and evolution together in a unified vision. He handed onto future generations the task of developing his ideas about God, Christianity and Science itself. In this book thirteen scholars take the story on from where Teilhard left off, sharing new insights on God and evolution, secularity and spirituality and the wisdom needed to forge the future.

Booklist – Part 2

Resources for Worship

TitleAuthorPublisher
A Heart for Creation - worship, resources and reflections on the environmentChris PolhillWild Goose Publications 2010
Cherish the Earth - reflections on a living planetMary LowWild Goose Publications 2003
Lord of Creation - a resource for creative Celtic spiritualityBrendan O'MalleyMorehouse Publishing New York 2008
Praying for the Earth - remembering the environment in our public and private prayers of intercessionChurch of England Newcastle Diocese

downloadable here - Newcastle diocese


 

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