Table Of ContentECOFEMINISM
and fhe
saCRED
Carol J. Adams, editor
“An engaging, passionate, and compelling book!* — Choice
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ECOFEMINISM
and the
SACRED
Edited by
Carol J. Adams
CONTINUUM • NEW YORK
1995
The Continuum Publishing Company
370 Lexington Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Copyright © 1993 by The Continuum Publishing Company
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a
retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the written
permission of The Continuum Publishing Company.
Printed in the United States of America
Library of Congress Cataloging-in~Publication Data
Ecofeminism and the sacred / edited by Carol J. Adams
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references
ISBN 0-8264-0586-X; 0-8264-0667-X (pbk.)
1. Ecofeminism—Religious aspects. I. Adams, Carol J.
HQ1233.E25 1992
305.42-dc20 92-36883
CIP
Portions of SaUie McFague’s “An Earthly Theological Agenda” appeared in The Christian
Century, January 2-9,1991 © 1991 Christian Century Foundation, reprinted with permission
of the foundation. Other portions appeared as an article in Spirit and Nature: Why the
Environment is a Religious Issue, ed. Stephen C. Rockefeller and John Elder, © 1992 Beacon
Press, and are reprinted with the permission of the publisher.
Jane Caputi’s “Nuclear Power and the Sacred: Or, Why a Beautiful Woman is Like a
Nuclear Power Plant,” is based on an article that appeared originally in Women's Studies
International Forum, vol. 14, no. 5 © 1991 Pergamon Press, and is reprinted with permission
of the Forum.
Ellen Cronan Rose’s “The Good Mother: From Gaia to Gilead,” first appeared in Frontiers:
A Journal of Women Studies, vol. 12, no. 1, and is reprinted with permission of Frontiers.
Excerpts from Charlene Spretnak’s States of Grace: The Recovery of Meaning in the Post¬
modern Age © 1991, HarperCollins Publishers, are reprinted with the permission of the
publisher.
Judith Plaskow’s “Feminist Judaism and Repair of the World” is excerpted and adapted
from Standing Again at Sinai © 1990, HarperCollins Publishers, and is reprinted with the
permission of the publisher.
In Memory of
Petra Kelly
1947-1992
“We must make it clear
that we will not
just go away...
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[Earth] is perceived, ironically, as other, alien, evil, and threat¬
ening by those who are finding they cannot draw a healthful
breath without its cooperation. While the Earth is poisoned,
everything it supports is poisoned. While the Earth is
enslaved, none of us is free.
Our thoughts must be on how to restore to the Earth its
dignity as a living being; how to stop raping and plundering
it as a matter of course. We must begin to develop the con¬
sciousness that ever3dhing has equal rights because existence
itself is equal. In other words, we are all here: trees, people,
snakes, alike. We must realize that even tiny insects in the
South American jungle know how to make plastic, for
instance; they have simply chosen not to cover the Earth with
it.
Beyond feeding and clothing and sheltering ourselves, even
abundantly, we should be allowed to destroy only what we
ourselves can re-create. We cannot re-create this world. We
cannot re-create “wilderness.” We cannot even, truly, re-cre¬
ate ourselves. Only our behavior can we re-create, or create
anew.
—excerpts from Alice Walker’s
“Everything Is a Human Being”
in Living by the Word: Selected Writings, 1973-1987
We women want to call attention to the fact that environ¬
mental issues also have to do with human solidarity and with
the distribution of wealth and equity.... A social order cre¬
ated by a culture lacking fundamental values of human soli¬
darity gives rise to the conditions that perpetuate poverty.
Both poverty and environmental deterioration are products
of the same world view of how human beings should cohabit
the earth. Nothing short of a transformation of our culture is
needed.
—Margarita Arias, the first woman candidate
for President of Costa Rica,
keynote speaker at the 1991 Women’s World Congress
for a Healthy Planet
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