Eco Bible: Volume 1: An Ecological Commentary on Genesis and Exodus
255
Eco Bible: Volume 1: An Ecological Commentary on Genesis and Exodus
255eBook
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Overview
What does the Bible say about ecology? As people face huge ecological challenges-including growing hurricanes, floods, forest fires, and plastic pollution-the groundbreaking Eco Bible dives into this question. Drawing on 3,500 years of religious ethics, it shows how the Bible itself and its great scholars embrace care for God's creation as a fundamental and living message. Eco Bible both informs the reader and inspires spiritual commitment and action to protect all of God's creation.
This 'earth Bible' is a great read for those interested in Jewish and Christian social issues. It also represents an important contribution to eco theology, and to the spiritual ecology movement.
Publishers Weekly called the book an "insightful analysis," which "will inspire contemplation on how to live in harmony with nature and the power of conservation. Ecologically minded readers interested in the Hebrew Bible will love this."
Volume 1 explores Genesis and Exodus; Volume 2 (2021) explores Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. Together they cover 450 verses in the Five Books of Moses / Pentateuch / Old Testament. By linking faith and science, the book connects religion with contemporary scientific thought regarding human health, biodiversity, and clean air, land, and water.
Professor Bill Brown, Professor of Old Testament at Columbia Theological Seminary, calls Eco Bible "a rich repository of insights...for people of faith to move forward with wisdom, inspiration, and hope, all for the sake of God's good creation."
Eco Bible reveals what Rabbi Shlomo ben Aderet calls "the ever-increasing number of fresh understandings of the Bible's verses," while quoting over 100 rabbis from Biblical times to the present. Until now, their ecological insights on the Bible could only be found scattered across hundreds of books.
Applying Biblical ethics to stewardship, conservation, and creation care is not just an idea for today, but is essential for a future where we live in balance and thrive on a planet that remains viable for all life. At a time of both ecological and spiritual crisis, an ecological reading of the Bible can have profound impact on human behavior, since billions of people worldwide consider it a holy book.
This green Bible commentary affirms a spiritually grounded vision for long-term sustainability and immediate environmental mindfulness and action, including many suggested action items. Eco Bible uniquely explores the Bible's deep inspiration for fulfilling the blessing of all life, changing course to preserve God's creation, and sustaining human life in harmony with nature and all God's creatures.
Rabbis Yonatan Neril and Leo Dee are co-editors and lead contributors.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781735338811 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Interfaith Center for Sustainable D |
| Publication date: | 10/11/2020 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 255 |
| Sales rank: | 851,515 |
| File size: | 1 MB |
About the Author
Leo Dee received a Master's in Engineering from Cambridge University in Engineering, a Master's in Public Health from Hebrew University, and rabbinical ordination in Israel. However, it was a trip around the least affluent countries in Asia and South America that woke him up to the tremendous poverty that exists in the world. Encountering people who owned not much more than the clothes on their back, he began to understand the huge impact of lack of food, water and power suffered by half of humanity. So, following six years as a community Rabbi in the United Kingdom, he moved to Israel where he has developed a passion for changing hearts and minds in order to encourage sustainable development - initially among the Israeli financial community, and then within the field of Responsible Investment. He served as director of programs at The Interfaith Center for Sustainable Development. He lives near Jerusalem with his wife, Lucy, and their five children.
Table of Contents
Book of Genesis
Chapter 1, verse 1: Caring for Creation 3
1:3: Sustainability and Spiritual Awareness 4
1:5: Previous and Current Extinction Events 4
1:9: Water and Dry Land 4
1:11-12: Edible Trees 5
1:22: God Blesses Fish and Birds 5
1:26: On Eating Animals 6
1:28: Will Humans Rule, or Animals? 7
1:29: A Plant-Based Diet for People 8
1:30: Vegan Crocodiles 9
1:31: Creation Was "Very Good" 9
2:5: Praying for Creation 10
2:8: Re-Creating Paradise 10
2:15: The Stewardship Paradigm 11
2:17: Forbidden Fruit and Self Control 13
2:19: Learning from Animals 13
3:6: Holy Eating 14
3:11: All Creations Are Connected 15
3:17: Eating the Forbidden Fruit 16
3:18: Edible Weeds 16
3:19: Connected to the Earth 17
4:9: Taking Responsibility for Others 17
4:13: From Farmer to Refugee 18
6:16: The Ark and Green Building 19
vi · Eco bible
6:18: Population and Restraint 20
6:19: Noah as Earth Steward 21
6:21: Caring for Creatures 23
7:23: Plastic, Fish, and People 23
8:6: Saving the Raven 24
9:13: Rainbows and Responsibility 24
9:20: Floods and Fairtrade 26
11:1-3: Lording over Nature 26
11:4: The Limits of Technology 27
11:6: Diversity Sustains Life 28
12:1: Palace on Fire 30
12:10: Famine in Genesis 30
13:6: Sustainable Coexistence 31
13:10: The Dead Sea Is Dying 32
13:17: Hiking the Land 33
14:10: Stuck in Crude Oil 33
14:22-23: Abraham and Self-Satisfaction 35
15:5: Finding God Outdoors 35
15:13-14: The Cure before the Sickness 36
18:4: Resilience of Trees 37
18:7: Veal Then and Now 37
19:24: Sodom and Acid Rain 38
19:24: Morality and Ecology 39
19:25: Abraham and the Burning Kiln 40
21:33: Sustainable Peace 41
23:4: Sarah and Sustainable Burial 42
23:13: Relationship with Earth 43
23:17-18: Sarah and Trees 44
24:14: Rebecca's Kindness to Camels 45
24:63: Praying in the Fields 46
25:23: Sustainable Luxuries 47
25:27: The Conflict of Jacob and Esau 48
25:28: Love of Meat 49
25:30: Holy Eating 50
25:34: Fast and Slow Food 52
Eco Bible · vii
26:12, 15: Isaac and Water Mapping 53
26:20: Water Wars 54
27:6-9: Hunters and Farmers 55
27:28: Doing All We Can 56
28:11: Sleeping Alone in Nature 57
28:13: Connecting with the Earth 58
28:20: Jacob's Simplicity 59
28:21: Jacob as Spiritual Activist 59
31:10-13: Jacob's Spiritual and Material Dreams 60
31:18: Large Herds of Livestock 61
32:24: Small Vessels 62
33:9-11: Being Content with What We Have 64
33:12-14: How Fast We Move 65
33:18: Building Infrastructure 66
37:2: Shepherd Consciousness 68
37:12: Nature and Violence 70
37:14: Nature and Our Work 71
37:25: From Silk Route to Air Freight 72
40:7: Considering Others 73
40:11, 17: Wine and Bread 74
41:1: On the Nile River 76
Additional 22 commentaries on Genesis 77-97
Book of Exodus
1:7-9: Soaring Population 99
1:11: Ecological Liberation 100
2:3: Bitumen: Biblical and Modern 101
2:16: Precious Groundwater 101
3:1: Shepherds Become National Leaders 102
3:2: Renewable Divine Fire 103
3:2: Holy Land 104
4:3-9: Water, Staff, Snake, and Leprosy 104
6:6: Hard Labor and Work's Yoke 106
7:5: The Plagues and Nature 106
7:17: Gratitude to Nature 107
7:18: Waking Up in Time 108
Additional 71 commentaries on Exodus: 108-176
Biographical Details 177
Glossary 183
Notes 185
Index 223
About the Co-editors and Lead Contributors 231