Table of Contents
Acknowledgments xi
Abbreviations xiii
Foreword Gustavo Gutiérrez xv
Introduction xvii
The Contemporary Global Context: Planetary Emergency xix
Ecological Emergencies xx
Emergencies of Material Poverty and Economic Disparity xxii
Politics, Legitimacy, and the Task of Theology xxiii
Theology and the Need for an Ecological Theology of Liberation xxv
The Structure of the Argument xxvii
Part I Structuring Eco-Liberationist Discourse
1 Toward an Ecological Theology of Liberation 3
Methodological Commitments for a Christian Eco-Liberationist Discourse 4
Privileging Political Ecology 4
Affirming a Qualified Anthropocentrism 9
The Two "Books" of Revelation: Reading the Signs of the Times in Light of the Word of God 13
Salvation: Turning to the Organizing Theme of the Book of Scripture 17
The Foundations and Context of Liberation Theology in the Thought of Gutiérrez 20
History Is One 21
The Preferential Option for the Poor 22
The Language of Liberation as Ideology Critique and Imminent Expectation 26
The Limits and Promise of Gutiérrez's Vision for Eco-Liberationist Discourse 31
An Ecological Theology of Liberation: Stating the Question, Defining the Terms 34
Conclusion 36
2 Integral Ecology: A Liberationist Concept 38
Integral Liberation 39
The Internal Dynamism of Integral Liberation 43
Integral Liberation and Integral Communion 48
Integral Liberation: A Dynamic Process Rooted in the Word of God 51
The Meaning of the Concept of Integral Ecology 52
The Theological Level of Integral Ecology 53
The Socio-Structural Level of Integral Ecology 57
The Cultural/Ideological Level of Integral Ecology 59
The Dynamism of Integral Ecology 61
Conclusion 62
Part II Interpreting the Word of God
3 Reading Genesis Theologically in a Politico-Ecological Key 67
Creation, Vocation, Fall, City: Genesis 1-4 68
God, Gardener, and the Image of God: Genesis 2:4-25 72
Genesis 3: The Fall-Breaking of the Bonds of Communion 76
Cain and Abel 82
De-Creation, Re-Creation, Covenant, and the People of God 84
The People of God and the Vocation of Gardener 87
Joseph the Righteous, the Vocation of Gardener, and the Fate of the City 90
Joseph, Potiphar, and Potiphar's Wife 90
Joseph and His Brothers 92
Joseph's Land Reforms 94
Conclusion 101
4 The Jubilee of Liberation 102
Exodus and the Political Ecology of Sin and Salvation 102
The People of God, Pharaoh, and YHWH 105
Manna, Covenant, and Law: Recovering Imago Dei 108
Promise and the Political Ecology of Sin and Salvation 110
The Political Ecology of Jerusalem 111
The Prophets and the Promise 114
Jesus and the Promise 118
The Political Ecology of God's Reign 119
The Inauguration of Sabbath Peace 123
The Proclamation of Jubilee 124
Meekness, Obedience, and the New Adam: Jesus Christ the Gardener 127
New Adam, New Creation, New Jerusalem 131
The Contrasting Political Ecologies of Revelation and the Victory of God 133
Conclusion 137
Part III Christian Praxis in a Globalizing World
5 Making and Sustaining the Planetary Emergency 141
The Technocratic Paradigm within the 500-Year Project 142
Market Society and the Technocratic Paradigm 143
The Technocratic Paradigm and the Extractive Zone 146
Extracting Land and Labor from the "Hinterland" into the "City" 149
Slavery, Racism, and Technocratic Paradigm 154
Ecological Debt and Unequal Exchange 161
The Globalization Project: A False and Superficial (Political) Ecology 166
Legitimization or Obfuscation? 168
Sustainable Development and Hegemonic Power 170
Uncovering the False Ecology of the Globalization Project 175
Sustainable Development 175
Ecological Modernization 178
Material Inequality and Democracy 180
The Culture-Ideology of Consumerism: Holding Together the Unsustainable 183
Conclusion 186
6 Bearing Witness to a Humane World 187
The Globalization Project: Judgment in Light of the Word of God 188
Ideology, Utopia, and the Praxis of the Gardener 192
The Way of the Gardener in the Space of the Globalization Project 197
Sustaining an Ecological Spirituality of Liberation: The Dispositions of the Gardener 200
Discipleship and the Practice of Sabbath 207
Dimensions of Sabbath Observance 208
Rest and Restraint 209
Mercy, Protest, and Solidarity 209
Discernment 210
Convocation 210
Celebration 211
Conclusion 212
Epilogue 215
Index 217
