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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 09 September 2014
Ecology has become a religious concern, but its religious significance remains ambivalent, and politically it is open to exploitation by the right and the left. An ecological ethic needs to be related to the justice tradition with its correlative concepts of rights and responsibilities as these apply to “nature,” but it also needs an interreligious foundation. Buddhism and Christianity are able to make complementary contributions toward formulating an ecological ethic. “Justice” in the West has both biblical and Roman origins, but the Western concept of ius may also be correlated with the Indian concept of dharma as universal harmony and order. Justice may also be placed in the larger context of an ethic of care based on disinterested love of all beings and the transcendence of conflict. The concept of responsibility, however, remains central to the formulation of an ecological ethic and poses specific, though complementary, challenges to both Buddhist and Christian traditions.
1 Kung, Hans, Global Responsibility In Search of a New World Ethic (LondonSCM, 1991)Google Scholar, has recently proposed the project of formulating a global ethos on the basis of a dialogue of the world religions, which could create the milieu for the kind of ethic envisaged here. Kung succeeded in getting a 5,000-word document on “A Global Ethic” accepted by about 250 religious leaders at the commemorative World's Parliament of Religions in Chicago (August 28 to September 4, 1993), though reportedly not all were willing to sign it because it was too “Western” in conception.
2 See Now Is the Time: The Final Document and Other Texts from the World Convocation on Justice, Peace and the Integrity of Creation, Seoul, Republic of Korea, March 5-12, 1990 (Geneva: W.C.C., 1990);Google Scholar and Kinnamon, Michael, ed., Signs of the Spirit: Official Report, Seventh Assembly, Canberra, Australia, February 7-20, 1991 (Geneva: W.C.C.; Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1991).Google Scholar
3 Chung's speech is reproduced in Kinnamon, , Signs of the Spirit, 37–47;Google Scholar see also May, J. D., “The Dance of the Spirit: A Theological Reflection on the VIIth Assembly of the W.C.C.,” Doctrine and Life 41 (1991): 305–11.Google Scholar
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5 This misunderstanding is finally laid to rest by Nash, James A., Loving Nature: Ecological Integrity and Christian Responsibility (Nashville: Abingdon, 1991), chap. 3.Google Scholar
6 Fintan O'Toole, criticizing industrial relations practices in the environmentally friendly Body Shop chain of Roddick, Anita, in The Irish Times, 02 19, 1992.Google Scholar
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10 The incompatibility of human rights language with a liberationist stance is pointedly expressed by Pieris, Aloysius SJ, “Human Rights Language and Liberation Theology” in The Future of Liberation Theology Essays m Honor of Gustavo Gutierrez, ed Ellis, Marc H and Maduro, Otto (Maryknoll, NYOrbis, 1989), 299–310Google Scholar
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39 See Jonas, Imperative of Responsibility. In the German original, Jonas speaks of the Staatsmann rather than the Politiker, but in the interests of both inclusive and alliterative language I translate “politician.”
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