Blessed Are the Consumers: Climate Change and the Practice of Restraint

by Sallie McFague

Overview

In a world bent on consumption, it is imperative that people of religious faith realize the significant role they play in advocating for the earth, and a more humane life for all. Sallie McFague argues that the root of restraint lies in the ancient Christian notion of Kenosis, or self-emptying, which she introduces through the life stories of John Woolman, Simone Weil and Dorothy Day.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780800699604
Publisher:	1517 Media
Publication date:	03/01/2013
Pages:	208
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Sallie McFaguewas the Carpenter Professor of Theology at VanderbiltDivinity School, where she taught for thirty years. She is now Distinguished Theologian in Residence at the Vancouver School of Theology in Vancouver, British Columbia. Among her many influential works, all from Fortress Press, are:

Life Abundant: Rethinking Theology and Economy for a Planet in Peril (2000)

Super, Natural Christians: How We Should Love Nature (1997)

The Body of God: An Ecological Theology (1993)

Models of God: Theology for an Ecological, Nuclear Age (1987), which received the American Academy of Religion's Award for Excellence

Metaphorical Theology: Models of God in Religious Language (1982)

"Sallie McFague is a prominent figure among the growing number of theologians who have been attempting to rethink the Christian understanding of God's and humanity's place in the physical world."

-Chronicle of Higher Education

"The power of McFague's work is in its ability to speak to the American Protestant mainstream, challenging Christians with models of God that reflect both ecological sensitivity and concern for justice."

-Sharon Welch, Harvard Divinity School

Table of Contents

Preface: Religion, Ecology, and Economics ix

1 "But Enough about Me": What Does Augustine's Confessions Have to Do with Facebook? 1

2 "Where Are We?": Living Well on Planet Earth 17

3 The Lives of the Saints: John Woolman, Simone Weil, and Dorothy Day 39

4 The Practice of the Saints 1: Voluntary Poverty in Order to Pay Attention to the Material Needs of Others 81

5 The Practice of the Saints 2: The Development of the Universal Self at Local and Global Levels 111

6 "It's Not About You": Kenosis as a Way to Live 141

7 Kenotic Theology 171

8 What Next?: Living the Kenotic Life Personally, Professionally, and Publicly 207

Index 217