Inspiring Progress: Religions' Contributions to Sustainable Development

Author: Gary Gardner
ISBN: 0-393-32832-5
Paperback
211 pages
 

“Inspiring Progress is an easy-to-read reminder that religion—in most any form—calls us to care for one another and the world in which we live. Our faith compels us to nothing less.”
—John Podesta, President and CEO, Center for American Progress

“Brilliant and fascinating, this is a veritable 'bible’ of the religious involvement in ecology—and of the need that ecology has for religion.”
—Martin Palmer, Secretary General, Alliance of Religions and Conservation

“Inspiring Progress is a powerful addition to the linkage of science and religion in the environmental cause.”
—Edward O. Wilson, Professor of Biology, Emeritus, Harvard University

“Finally, someone has pulled together a comprehensive book on the influence of religion on cultural change. Inspiring Progress is just that—an informative accounting of the diverse ways that faith communities will lead and inspire a more sustainable lifestyle.”
—Rev. Sally Bingham, Executive Director, Regeneration Project/Interfaith Power and Light
 

Inspiring Progress explores the need to reconnect with religions’ core tenets of moderation, compassion, and stewardship of the Earth to solve the growing environmental crisis.
 

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Part One—Progress Unraveling

Chapter 1. The Power of Vision: Worldviews Shape Progress
Chapter 2. The Paradox of Progress in the 20th Century
Chapter 3. Tools for Course Correction: Religions’ Contributions

Part Two—Progress Re-Rooted

Chapter 4. New Vision: Nature, Then Economies
Chapter 5. Nature as Sacred Ground
Chapter 6. Warming to the Climate Challenge

Part Three—Progress Re-Imagined

Chapter 7. New Vision: Choosing Well-Being
Chapter 8. Hungry for More: The Consumption Challenge
Chapter 9. Mindful Investments

Part Four—Inspiring Progress

Chapter 10. New Vision: Toward an Ethics of Progress
Chapter 11. Getting to a New Progress