EGJ:OBC Readings

Readings for Winter/Spring 2012 – 2013

** READINGS FOR SESSION #1 Friday, September 28, 2012 **

Required Readings

• Genesis 1:1 – 2:4
• Psalm 104
• Hansen, James. “Game Over for the Climate.” The New York Times, May, 9, 2012.
• Hansen, James. “Climate Change is Here – And it’s Worse than We Thought.” The Washington Post, August 3, 2012.
• Johnson, Elizabeth “Creator Spirit in the Evolving World,” Chpt. 9 in: Quest for the Living God (London: Continuum, 2007), 181-201.
• McKibben, Bill, “Global Warming’s Terrifying New Math,” Rolling Stone, July 19, 2012.
• Rasmussen, Larry, “New Wineskins,” Interpretation 65, no.4 (2011), 364-376.

 

Recommended Readings

• Berry, Wendell, “Christianity and the Survival of Creation”
• Cook, John. 10 Indicators of a Human Fingerprint on Climate Change
• Romm, Joe. 8 Must-Have Charts.
• Stewart, Robert R. “Oceanworld”
• UEN. Cycles.
• White, Lynn, “The Historical Roots of our Ecologic Crisis”

 

** READINGS FOR SESSION #2 Friday, October 26, 2012 **

Required Readings

• Wendell Berry: “Agrarian Standard”
• Common Ground: “Limits to Growth: 1972 ‘Collapse’ Prediction Still on Track”
• Ellen Davis, “Reading the Bible through Agrarian Eyes”
• David James Duncan: “Who Owns the West?”
• Mason Gaffney & Fred Harrison: “The Corruption of Economics” (excerpts)
• Genesis 12 – 13
• Genesis 41, 47, 50, Exodus 1
• Nathan Gronewold: “New School of Thought Brings Energy to ‘The Dismal Science'”
• Leviticus 25 – 26
• Fred Pearce: “The Land Grabbers: The New Fight Over Who Owns the Earth” (excerpts)

Recommended Readings

• Wendell Berry: ” The Gift of the Good Land”
• Genesis 2 – 13, Genesis 41 – 50, Exodus 1
• James Glanz: “Power, Pollution and the Internet”
• Ched Myers: Isaiah’s Love Song for the Vineyard as Prophetic Ecojustice (Part 1)
• Ched Myers: Isaiah’s Love Song for the Vineyard and Ecojustice (Part 2)
• Erik Rutkow: “American Canopy: Trees, Forests, and the Making of a Nation” (excerpts)
• Matt Stoller: “How Coal Brought Us Democracy, and Oil Ended it: Lessons from the New Book of ‘Carbon Democracy'”

 

** READINGS FOR SESSION #3 – Friday, November 30, 2012 **

Required Readings

• Luke 3:21-22; 4:1-21
• Exodus 1:1 – 7:7
• Alperovitz, Gar: “Naked Capitalism”
• Hellwig, Monica: Guests of God: Stewards of Divine Creation, pp. 7-13
• Macy, Joanna: Active Hope, pp. 213-238
• O’Connor, Elizabeth: Cry Pain, Cry Hope, pp. 75-92 Three chapters: “Two Worlds,” “On Hearing Call,” and “Resistance and Surrender to Call”
• Peck, Don: “How a New Jobless Era Will Transform America”
• Soelle, Dorothy: To Work and to Love, chapter 4
• Wolff, Richard D.: Capitalism Hits the Fan, pp. 200-203

Recommended Readings

• Exodus 1 – 15; 16 – 30; 31 – 40
• Luke 9:10-17
• Berry, Thomas: “The Great Work” pp. 189 – 195
• Brueggeman, Walter: “Sabbath as Antidote to Anxiety”
• Brueggeman, Walter: “The Myth of Scarcity and the Liturgy of Abundance”
• Ketcham, Christopher: “Monopoly is Theft”
• Stockman, Lorne, Steve Kretzmann, & David Turnbull: “Oil Industry Blowing Past Climate Limits”

 

** READINGS FOR SESSION #4 Friday, January 25, 2013 **

Note: The Ched Myers articles will be available here through Friday, January 25, 2013. After that date the articles can be accessed on Ched Myers’ website: test.chedmyers.org.

Required Readings

• Read one Book of a Propet OR one of the Gospels. (Pick any prophet or gospel. See the final pages in A Lineup of Rulersbelow for ideas on prophets.) – Assignment: Come to class with two lists. 1. A list of the economic practices critiqued or condemned by the prophet/Jesus. 2. A list of the economic practices advocated or required by the prophet/Jesus.
• A Lineup of Rulers- from the Study Bible by Augsburg Fortress
• Luke 16:1-13
• Hudson, Michael. “America’s Deceptive 2012 Fiscal Cliff: Part 1.” NakedCapitalism.com, Dec. 28, 2012
• Hudson, Michael. “America’s Deceptive 2012 Fiscal Cliff: Part 2 – The Financial War Against the Economy at Large.” Naked Capitalism.com, Dec. 31.2012.
• Lazonick, William. “Robots Don’t Destroy Jobs: Rapacious Corporate Executives Do.” NakedCapitalism.com, Jan. 2, 2013.
• Magdoff, Fred. “Global Resource Depletion: Is Population the Problem?” Monthly Review, Jan. 2013
• The Mondragon Experience – BBC Video – Please focus on the bank’s role
• Myers, Ched. “The First Temptation – Israel, Jesus and Sabbath Economics” (2009)
• Myers, Ched. “From Capital to Community: Discipleship as Defection in Jesus’ Parable about a ‘management of injustice’ (Luke 16:1-13) (2012)
• Tollefson, Jeff. “Methane leaks erode green credentials of natural gas.” Nature.com, Jan. 2, 2013.

Recommended Readings

• A Call to Integration. Founding Statement of FEET < Faith, Economy, Ecology, Transformation.
• Editorial. Monthly Review, Jan. 2013
• Myers, Ched. “The Gift Must Always Move – An Interview with Ched Myers on Sabbath Economics.” (2002)
• Romm, Joe. “IEA’s ‘Golden Age of Gas Scenario’ leads to more than 6 degree F Warming and Out-of-Control Climate Change.” Thinkprogress.org, June 7, 2011.
• The Royal Society. “People and the Planet: Summary and Recommendations, April 2012.”
• Sufficient, Sustainable Livelihood for All (1999 ELCA Social Statement).

 

** READINGS FOR SESSION #5 Friday, February 22, 2013 **

Required Readings

• Brian Swimme – Radiance (video)
• Neil deGrasse Tyson – The Most Astounding Fact (video)
• Hubble Telescope – any YouTube video, the link goes to a list of several options
• Reflection Questions
• Chinook Tribal Prayer
• Poem – Hymn to the Body of the Universe by Drew Dillinger
• The Christian Future and the Fate of the Earth by Thomas Berry
• Earth as Sacred Community by Thomas Berry
• “Who are we as a Species?,” from Creativity by Matthew Fox
• The Powers of the Universe by Brian Swimme
• The Twelve Principles of the Universe by Thomas Berry
• Worldly Wonder – by Mary Evelyn Tucker
• Religion, Science, and Spirit by David Korten

Recommended Readings

The following are recommended books for going deeper into the subject.

• Swimme, Brian and Thomas Berry. The Universe Story: From the Primordial Flaring Forth to the Ecozoic Era, A Celebration of the Unfolding of the Cosmos. San Francisco: Harper, 1992
• Berry, Thomas. The Great Work: Our Way into the Future. New York: Bell Tower, 1999.
• Dowd, Michael. Thank God for Evolution! How the Marriage of Science and Religion Will Transform your Life and our World. Tulsa, OK: Council Oak Books, 2007.
• Fox, Matthew. Creativity: Where the Divine and Human Meet. New York: Putnam, 2002
• Primack, Joel R. and Nancy Ellen Abrams. The View from the Center of the Universe. New York: Riverhead Books, 2006.

 

** READINGS FOR SESSION #6 Friday, March 22, 2012 **

Required Readings

• Poem – Lost by David Wagoner
• Poem – Hieroglyphic Stairway by Drew Dillinger
• Awakening to the Universe Story by Brian Swimme
• Thomas Berry’s “Great Work” by Herman F. Greene
• If Your House is on Fire by Mary DeMocker
• “Hildegard and 21st Century Science” by Matthew Fox
• No Salvation Apart from the Earth by Mark Brocker
• Can Religion Save the Planet by Shannon Wianecki
• The Babylonian Creation Myth
• The Creation Cabal
• Discussion Question

 

Recommended Readings

The following are recommended books for going deeper into the subject.

• Berry, Thomas. Dream of Earth. San Francisco: Sierra, 1988.
• Berry, Thomas. Evening Thoughts: Reflecting on Earth as Sacred Community. San Francisco: Sierra, 2006.
• Berry, Thomas. The Christian Future and the Fate of the Earth. Maryknoll, New York: Orbis, 2009
• Fox, Matthew. The Reinvention of Work. A New Vision of Livelihood for Our Time. San Francisco: HarperCollins, 1995.
• Goodenough, Ursula. The Sacred Depth of Nature. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 1998.
• Harvey, Andrew. The Hope: A Guide to the Sacred Activism. New York: Hay House, Inc., 2009.
• Swimme, Brian. The Hidden Heart of the Cosmos: Humanity and the New Story. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 1996.

 

** READINGS FOR SESSION #7 – Friday, April 26, 2013**

Colleagues: This list is a series of 16 (mostly) short articles for April 26 at St. Andrew. In this session, we get down to ground level: What are the elements of Biocommons, and what does it take to make it happen?

Spirituality

• A Vision, Wendell Berry (1 page)
• “The Climate Change Crisis: What’s a Christian to do?” St. James Lutheran Church bulletin item, written by Willard Kniep and Gerry Grover (1 page)
• Full text of the homily given by Pope Francis at his inagural (3 pages)
• “Can Religion Save the Planet,” Spirituality and Health magazine (4 pages)

Energy & Growth

• “The Coming Crash: Our Addiction to Endless Growth on a Finite Planet [with photo slideshow],” by Tara Lohan, Alternet, March 27, 2013. Interview with Richard Heinberg about the book, Energy: Overdevelopment and the Delusion of Endless Growth. (8 pages)

Localism

• “Local Schmocal: Why Small-scale solutions Won’t Save the World,” Susie Cagle. Grist, March 29, 2013. Review of Greg Sharzer’s No Local: Why Small-Scale Alternatives Won’t Change the World. (3 pages)

Climate Change Strategy

• “Victory at Hand for the Climate Movement?” Paul Gilding (independent Australian analyst.) March 20,2013 (16 pages)
• “Yale Pole Finds Climate Change Action is a Political Winner,” Joe Romm, Climate Progress, January 29, 2013. (3 pages)

Fossil Fuel Organizing

• “Preliminary Proposal to the Oregon Synod (ELCA) Urging Disinvestment from Fossil Fuel Corporations,” Submitted by the Church Council and Environmental Stewardship Committee, St. Luke Lutheran Church. (2 pages)
• “As Obama Ponders Fat of Keyston XL, Major ExxonMobil Oil Spil in Arkansas is Warning for Risks We Take,” Amy Goodman, Democracy Now, April 1, 2013. Alternet. (3 pages)
• “4 Things Every American Should Know About Tar Sands Pipelines,” Alternet, April 3, 2013 Burne is Executive Director of the Sierra Club. (3 pages)
• “The Case for Fossil-Fuel Divestment,” Bill McKibben, Rolling Stone, February 22, 2013. Update (8 pages)
• “McKibben Must-Read,” Joe Romm, Climate Progress, February 26, 2013. Graph on emission sources, analysis of McKibben’s case. (3 pages)
• “Coal Exports: Two Weeks of Good News,” Clark Williams-Derry, Sightline, April 3, 2013. (2 pages)
• “The Reality of Coal Jobs, Canadian Edition,” Eric de Place, Sightline, March 28, 2013. Chart on jobs by sector. Job creation is the chief argument used by coal firms to convince legislators. (2 pages)
• “I hear the (coal) train a comin’,” Steve Duin, OregonLive.com, March 30, 2013. A hard look at coal and politics in Oregon and Washington. (2 pages)

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Click here for readings from the Winter 2012 EGJ:OBC session