Ecology of Vocation: Recasting Calling in a New Planetary Era [Hardcover]

Critically surveying various approaches to Christian ecological ethics alongside the vexing moral ambiguities of the Anthropocene, Ecology of Vocation offers an integrative approach to responsible living vis ? vis one of Protestantisms key theological resources the doctrine of vocation. Drawing on H. Richard Niebuhrs germinal ethical framework with a decidedly ecofeminist perspective, Kiara A. Jorgenson demonstrates how vocations emphasis on right relationship practically speaks to the embodied realities of planetary interrelatedness. By excavating the ecological promise of the early Reformers democratized renderings of calling and linking their concerns to the contemporary context, she argues that vocation cannot be reduced to the particular aim of monetized work, nor to an elitist escape from it. Rather, vocation must be recast as the dynamic and vibrant space among the myriad roles any of us inhabits at any given time in a particular place. When understood in this light, vocation signals much more than a job, a passion, or a quest for self-discovery. An alternative understanding of vocations very ecology can extend Christian conceptions of the neighbor beyond the human and lead the church to more faithfully pursue lives characterized by humility, restraint, wisdom, justice, and love.Kiara A. Jorgenson is assistant professor of religion and environmental studies and the director of the environmental conversations program at St. Olaf College in Northfield, MN.

A prime task of ecotheology and ethics today is to retrieve and repurpose classic Christian doctrines.
Jorgenson has done that brilliantly for the Protestant doctrine of vocation. Yet the book is much more. Her command and critique of the full range of options in ecotheology and ethics is the best Ive seen. A splendid volume! Larry Rasmussen, Union Theological Seminary New York, emeritus

This intellectually impressive book offers a panoramic view of Christian ecological ethics. By redeflƒ9