From the black walnut tree in our backyard…
Black Walnut Seed Pods in Spring
From Communion to Kenosis: Toward an Integral Ecology of the Cross
This paper develops the framework of an integral ecology of the cross by weaving together principles from integral ecology, Christian theology, and phenomenology. Building upon the five principles outlined in The Variety of Integral Ecologies (particularly communion, subjectivity, and agency), I argue that the theological concept of kenosis (self-emptying) and the practice of ecological intentionality offer essential deepening for ecological ethics and spiritual engagement. Drawing from thinkers such as Thomas Berry, Leonardo Boff, Catherine Keller, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, and Edith Stein, the paper proposes a vision of ecological participation grounded in humility, interdependence, and sacramental presence. A case study of fire, examined through Indigenous stewardship practices and Christian sacramental symbolism, serves as a focal point for integrating liturgical, ecological, and metaphysical dimensions. Reimagining the cross not as a symbol of abstract salvation but as a paradigm of relational descent, the paper invites faith communities and scholars alike to consider new modes of ecological formation rooted in attention, vulnerability, and shared becoming. In an age of planetary crisis, an integral ecology of the cross offers a constructive theological and ethical response: one that honors suffering, performs peace beyond the human, and nurtures communion in the face of collapse.
Wording the Between: Toward an Ecological Metaphysics of Communion through Liturgy and Language
I’m uploading a few papers I’ve written lately on the subjects of spiritual ecologies and metaphysics. Here’s the first of those papers which focuses on the work of Catherine Pickstock and William Desmond to derive a notion of ecological liturgy for our modern period. I also delve into understandings of ancient and pre-historical uses of language and intention, which I find a fascinating topic.
Camp Croft Picnic with Little One
We spent a good deal of “Pandemic Time” camping around South Carolina’s State Parks once they reopened. I think back fondly on those times, even as uncertain as they were. We’ve been pass holders to our incredible State Park system ever since. With the move back to Spartanburg last year, I think this might be the summer we get a lot more usage out of the pass!
Camp Croft is just a few miles from our home now, so Lily and I decided to enjoy a picnic by Lake Craig there this morning to celebrate the end of her school year as well as mine (first year of PhD studies is in the books!). She was excited about the baby geese and the Pop-Tarts she had smuggled in. I was excited to see her enjoying such a beautiful place.
Let’s hope our current government leaders don’t do anything as misguided as wrecking state park systems, as they’ve managed to do with our federal parks and Forest Service.
Croft | South Carolina Parks Official Site:
Once an army training base, Croft State Park covers more than 7,000 acres of rolling, wooded terrain just a few miles from downtown Spartanburg. The park offers over 20 miles of biking and hiking trails, a playground, picnicking and camping, as well as fishing and boating in one of two lakes.
Beyond Technocracy: Embracing an Ecological Metaphysics of Communion
Republican Budget Bill Aims to End I.R.A. Clean Energy Boom – The New York Times:
Over the past three years, companies have made plans to invest more than $843 billion across the United States in projects aimed at reducing planet-warming emissions, driven by lucrative tax credits for clean energy provided by the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act.
But only about $321 billion of that money has actually been spent, with many projects still on the drawing board, according to data made public on Tuesday by the Clean Investment Monitor, a joint project of the Rhodium Group and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Now, much of the rest, about $522 billion, will depend on action playing out on Capitol Hill. Starting on Tuesday, Republicans in Congress will begin a contentious debate over proposals to roll back tax credits for low-carbon energy as they search for ways to pay for a roughly $4 trillion tax cut package favored by President Trump.
Recent political debates, such as those surrounding the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), highlight a troubling reliance on technocratic solutions to address the climate crisis. While investments in clean energy are essential, they are insufficient without a deeper transformation in our collective consciousness and ethical frameworks.
The IRA represents a substantial federal investment in clean energy, aiming to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and promote the development of renewable energy sources. However, as political dynamics shift, the stability and longevity of such initiatives come into question.
For instance, recent legislative proposals have sought to roll back key provisions of the IRA, including clean energy tax credits. These political maneuvers highlight the fragility of technocratic solutions that rely on shifting political will.
Addressing the climate crisis requires more than policy changes; it demands a fundamental shift in how we perceive our relationship with the natural world. Philosophers like Catherine Pickstock and William Desmond advocate for a return to liturgical language and metaphysical frameworks that emphasize communion and participation with the environment.
Pickstock argues that true language is inherently liturgical, fostering a participatory relationship with reality. Desmond’s concept of the “metaxological” emphasizes the importance of the “between”—the relational space that enables genuine connection and ethical engagement with others, including the non-human world.
By embracing liturgical practices and ecological ethics, we can cultivate a sense of reverence and responsibility toward the environment. This approach moves beyond viewing nature as a resource to be managed and instead recognizes it as a sacred community to which we belong.
Such a transformation encourages practices that are sustainable not only environmentally but also spiritually and culturally. It fosters communities that are attuned to the rhythms of nature and committed to the well-being of all life forms.
While technocratic solutions like the IRA play a role in mitigating climate change, they are insufficient on their own. Lasting change arises from a profound transformation in consciousness, one that reestablishes our connection to the natural world through liturgy, language, and ethical living. Only by addressing the metaphysical and psychological roots of our ecological crisis can we hope to create a sustainable and harmonious future.
Coffee and Ecology
Important thread here on Reddit regarding Western coffee consumption from areas such as Vietnam (a major source of coffee beans for the United States now) as well as our ecological intentions…
Our coffee addiction is sucking the earth dry. : r/collapse:
My guess is that coffee prices will keep increasing because of climate change disruptions in weather patterns. That would mean more and more, deeper and deeper wells. Until there’s truly nothing left in the ground.
Orbital
I finally got around to picking up Orbital and can’t wait to read it in the next few weeks. This line with the author Samantha Harvey’s interview in The Guardian stuck out to me as something that very few of us discuss openly, but is certainly a reality of modernity…
“I pretty much hit 40 and became anxious,” she says. “I don’t know why. I think maybe I just decided it was time to have some sort of crisis.” Suddenly, she could no longer sleep. “I was finding the world kind of abrasive. Everything was too noisy and too busy and too huge.”
The human gave names to all…
I’ve been thinking a good deal about language and liturgy lately. That’s due to a paper I’ve been developing on Catherine Pickstock’s incredible work along with William Desmond’s metaphysical approaches.
One of the questions I’ve been fascinated with is the role of human language in our own integral ecologies (not just in the environmental sense but in a broader sense of our being in place, time, and space). Language, in this sense, is a mediator between our own internal self and the concrescence of the world we inhabit and are situated in and responding to with our autonomic as well as intentional senses (to draw from Morleau-Ponty).
Lately, I’ve been returning to the wonderful Merlin app as I pray in the morning under a black walnut tree that we share this property in Spartanburg, SC, with. I’ve also been using the app to help me learn calls from the numerous bird species that share this property. I’ve identified over 30 different species in the last few days, and it’s frankly mind-boggling to consider that so many varieties existed here that I wasn’t aware of in my daily walk and journey. It’s quite humbling as well. In my own sense of being, I try to be while acknowledging their various calls and songs.
Those thoughts take me back to Pickstock and Desmond. What does it mean to call an animal by a name? What does it mean to classify them with Latin and English names that reflect our own human creativity and need for structure?
The need to name something, be it a bird or a part on an automobile, is a deeply intrinsic part of being human.
Then the Lord God said, ‘It is not good that the human should be alone; I will make him a helper as his partner.’ So out of the ground the Lord God formed every animal of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to the human to see what he would call them; and whatever the human called each living creature, that was its name. The human gave names to all cattle, and to the birds of the air, and to every animal of the field; but for the human there was not found a helper as his partner. So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the human, and he slept; then he took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the human he made into a woman and brought her to the human. Then the human said,
‘This at last is bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh;
this one shall be called Woman,*
for out of Human, this one was taken.’
Genesis 2:18-23 NRSV
But why and how did we arrive at that liturgical dance of classification? I suspect that deep in our human story, perhaps hundreds of thousands or millions of years ago, we developed an environmental urge to classify things that we could eat, things that could eat us, poisonous things, friendly things, and things we could use to make the tools that would go on to define so much of our ancient and modern classification of ourselves. Perhaps there was a time we shared that information not with spoken language, but with close intuition and dialogue that occurred without the use of our vocal cords as we are so apt to do now as homo sapien sapiens.
Pickstock especially turns my intention towards this contemplation as I suspect that there is something uniquely characteristic of humanity that seeks to find Truth in not just subjective analysis of things or species of birds, but in attuning ourselves towards the sacred re-playing of naming through liturgy (be it the eucharist or morning prayer or a quiet walk on a trail the morning after a thunderstorm).
The Power of Water in Religious Networks and Creation Panel
Here’s the video of a panel I was honored to moderate last week for California Institute of Integral Studies’ Ecology, Spirituality, and Religion’s “Religion and Ecology Summit.”
I thought the panel (as well as the other panels!) were fantastic and I’m still taking notes from the presentation for my own research.
Thanks to Prof. Elizabeth Allison and Charlie Forbes for all of their hard work and time on putting the Summit together.
“2025 Religion and Ecology Summit Hosted by the Ecology, Spirituality, and Religion Program at the California Institute of Integral Studies April 21-23, 2025
The Power of Water in Religious Networks and Creation Panel Description: This panel brings together theologians, anthropologists, and scholars of religion to explore how water shapes sacred narratives, spiritual practices, and ecological wisdom across traditions. Together, these voices offer a powerful reflection on how water flows through religion, culture, and creation.
Reverend Dr. Brian Fiu Kolia Malua Theological College “The Power and Politics of Water: A Riverine Re-reading of Naaman’s Cleansing in 2 Kings 5”
Rabbi Dr. Ariel Mayse Stanford University “The Headwaters of Theology: Reflections on Water in Jewish Law and Thought”
Dr. Stephen Lansing Santa Fe Institute “A Letter to the Future from Bali’s Subaks”
Michelle Boyle California Institute of Integral Studies “Sacred Source: Culture and Spirit in the Valleys of the Po River Tributaries”
Dr. Willis Jenkins University of Virginia “Designing Research with Sacred Waters: Interdisciplinary Labs for Integrative Understandings”
Moderated by: Reverend Sam Harrelson California Institute of Integral Studies”
Deterioration of the Human and Remembering Pope Francis
I’ve been watching some coverage of Pope Francis’ passing this morning and I keep asking out loud, “Why isn’t anyone talking about Laudato Si??”
This feels like such a dark day, just a few hours after we Christians celebrated Easter. I pray that we all have the power to speak up about the importance of integral ecologies and the ecology of the cross in the coming days/weeks/months/years as technocratic oligarchic capitalistic interests will surely challenge the concept Francis championed…
I’m thankful for Bill McKibben to pointing out this aspect of Francis’ legacy…
Pope Francis and the Sun – by Bill McKibben:
The ecological problems we face are not, in their origin, technological, says Francis. Instead, “a certain way of understanding human life and activity has gone awry, to the serious detriment of the world around us.” He is no Luddite (“who can deny the beauty of an aircraft or a skyscraper?”) but he insists that we have succumbed to a “technocratic paradigm,” which leads us to believe that “every increase in power means ‘an increase of “progress” itself’…as if reality, goodness and truth automatically flow from technological and economic power as such.” This paradigm “exalts the concept of a subject who, using logical and rational procedures, progressively approaches and gains control over an external object.” Men and women, he writes, have from the start
“intervened in nature, but for a long time this meant being in tune with and respecting the possibilities offered by the things themselves. It was a matter of receiving what nature itself allowed, as if from its own hand.”
In our world, however, “human beings and material objects no longer extend a friendly hand to one another; the relationship has become confrontational.” With the great power that technology has afforded us, it’s become
“easy to accept the idea of infinite or unlimited growth, which proves so attractive to economists, financiers and experts in technology. It is based on the lie that there is an infinite supply of the earth’s goods, and this leads to the planet being squeezed dry beyond every limit.”
The deterioration of the environment, he says, is just one sign of this “reductionism which affects every aspect of human and social life.”
“Maybe we need more middle-brow in our culture mix today.”
Amen…
How I Learned About Great Literature from Comic Books:
Opinion leaders nowadays would scorn these graphic novels. They would justifiably point out the narrowness of canon enshrined in their garish pages (even though, as the recurring presence of Afro-French author Dumas indicates, there was more range here than you might assume).
They would deride the corny images, loaded with anachronisms and stereotypes. And they would probably mock the middle-class aspirations of parents who bought these ten-cent classics for their children. It’s all so embarrassingly middle-brow.
But maybe we need more middle-brow in our culture mix today.
Thinking Religion 170: Why Science Class Never Felt Right 🪐
Here’s episode 2 (of 8) of Rooted in Mystery: A Season of Thinking Religion Rewilded…
A physics teacher’s confession and the call of a wilder truth.
For nearly two decades, I taught high school science — physics, environmental science, and life science — and believed I was helping students understand how the world works. But something never quite fit. In this episode, I open up about the quiet tension I carried in those classrooms: the gap between what I taught and what I knew in my bones — that the world is more than parts and particles. This story is about the limits of reductionism, the pull of mystery, and the day I stopped mistaking control for understanding. We’ll explore Alfred North Whitehead’s “Nature Alive,” embodied learning, and the freedom from letting the cosmos be alive again. If you’ve ever felt disillusioned with modern science’s flat explanations or if you’ve longed for something wilder and more sacred, this episode is for you.
I’ve been asked if I would share this on Facebook or Instagram, but I don’t use either. However, if you’d like to share there, feel free.
Thinking Religion 169: The Theology of Trees
Here’s the new episode of the next season of my Thinking Religion podcast. This season is titled Rooted in Mystery: The Rewilding of Thinking Religion.
It’s a short episode, and this season will have a few longer episodes as I unpack some of the ideas I’ve been working on in the braids that combine theology, ecology, intentionality, faith, family, and life.
But let’s start with this one and this question… What would change if you believed the world was watching you with love?
10,000 Blog Posts
I’m about to hit 4,000 (since 2006) here, but 10,000 is pretty incredible for sure! I started blogging in 2002 or so and had a few different iterations before I settled in on this place and platform for good.
Congrats, Seth!
Give or take. It’s hard to get the exact count through the sands of time. But it’s at least 10,000 blog posts as of today.
50 Tons of iPhones
Staggering numbers, indeed. 50 tons of new iPhones sold in the US EVERY day. Imagine the manufacturing scale alone, but really imagine the resource acquisition needed to source every bit of material to make these things. Wow.
Daring Fireball: How Many New iPhones Can Fit on a Freight Plane?:
But Apple sells about 50 tons of new iPhones in the US alone every day. We all know that Apple’s iPhone business is huge. But when you start to consider it in practical terms like this it’s just staggering.
My future Marine Biologist / Ecologist
Merianna at 40
Happy Birthday to my incredible and amazing partner and inspiration, Merianna. I can’t imagine walking through life without her!
The Honeybee Issue
The collapse of honeybee populations in the US (even though they were introduced to the continent by Europeans) is a startling development and a cautionary tale for us to wise up about our personal and corporate choices…
“Something real bad is going on this year,” said McArt. “We have been seeing high losses year after year but if anything it is getting worse, which is troubling. Some places are having devastating losses and there was a shortfall in pollination in some almond orchards this year. Whether these impacts will cascade to other crops remains to be seen, it’s certainly possible.”
Time Flies But I Don’t
Can believe this was 3 years ago at TSA! Such great memories with my students there!
My New Mission Statement
Rewatching OG with Ben this morning.
Oldest Bone Tools Made by Hominids Discovered
We keep pushing back the clock on this! I’m certain there’s a good deal left to (re)discover about our distant and near past…
Archaeologists have uncovered a collection of bone tools at Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania, dating back 1.5 million years. This finding has pushed back systematic bone tool production by more than a million years and challenges previous assumptions about the technological capability of early hominins. Crafted from the bones of elephants and hippopotamuses, these tools showcase an advanced level of cognitive ability and craftsmanship, which was thought to have emerged much later in human development.
ChatGPT’s Affects On People’s Emotional Wellbeing Research
This research from OpenAI (company behind ChatGPT) is certainly interesting with a large data set, but this part was particularly relevant for me and my work on phenomenology and empathy…
That said, this latest research does chime with what scientists so far have discovered about how emotionally compelling chatbot conversations can be. For example, in 2023 MIT Media Lab researchers found that chatbots tend to mirror the emotional sentiment of a user’s messages, suggesting a kind of feedback loop where the happier you act, the happier the AI seems, or if you act sadder, so does the AI.
Buy your children a hammock
Ecological Intentionality: Performing Peace Beyond Human Boundaries
I just returned home to Spartanburg, SC from attending the American Academy of Religion Western Region meeting at Arizona State Univ in (beautiful) Tempe, AZ. Here’s the 2025 AAR Western conference program (pdf).
I spoke on Sunday about the notion of Ecological Intentionality as a component of my PhD project I’m calling The Ecology of the Cross (in honor of Edith Stein and her work The Science of the Cross).
Here’s the full text of my talk (attached here as a PDF as well)…
Ecological Intentionality: Performing Peace Beyond Human Boundaries
Sam Harrelson
California Institute of Integral Studies
American Academy of Religion, Western Region – Arizona State University
March 16, 2025
Introduction
Good afternoon. I’m honored to be here today to present on the concept of Ecological Intentionality and how it can inform and transform our understanding of performing peace beyond Human boundaries. My work explores the intersection of ecology and religion, theology, and phenomenology, drawing particularly on process thought, embodied consciousness, and participatory awareness via decolonization. Today, I want to suggest that ecological intentionality offers a framework for peace that extends beyond Human interactions, challenging anthropocentric models of peace and instead envisioning peace as a relational, ecological, and more-than-human performance.
I’ll begin by defining this concept of ecological intentionality within a phenomenological and process-relational framework, then explore its implications for peace beyond Human boundaries through examples drawn from both ecological and spiritual contexts. Finally, I’ll propose that peace, in this framework, is not simply an absence of conflict but a mode of relationality grounded in ecological reciprocity and mutual flourishing. This is part of a larger project for my PhD work that I’m calling Ecology of the Cross in reverence to Edith Stein and her influential work (on me) Science of the Cross.
Defining Ecological Intentionality
The term intentionality has deep roots in phenomenology, particularly in the work of Edmund Husserl and Maurice Merleau-Ponty. In a classical sense, intentionality refers to the directedness of consciousness toward an object, or the idea that consciousness is always about something. However, this model presumes a Human subject directing intentionality toward a discrete object.
Phenomenological Foundations
Edmund Husserl introduced the concept of intentionality as the foundational structure of consciousness. For Husserl, consciousness is never a self-enclosed entity but always directed toward an object or experience. This implies that intentionality is not passive but an active process of meaning-making and a co-constitution between subject and object. Consciousness, therefore, is inherently relational.
Maurice Merleau-Ponty extended this idea by situating consciousness within the body and the material world. In Phenomenology of Perception, Merleau-Ponty argues that intentionality is not purely cognitive but embodied. The body is not simply a vessel for the mind; it is the means through which we engage with and perceive the world. The body’s intentionality is not directed toward abstract objects but toward the flesh of the world or the interwoven fabric of nature, matter, and perception.
Merleau-Ponty’s notion of the flesh, the chiasmic intertwining of self and world, dissolves the boundary between subject and object. When I touch the bark of a tree, I am not simply touching it as an external object; I am being touched by the tree. Perception, in this sense, is a reciprocal exchange between human and more-than-human beings. This is where the concept of ecological intentionality begins to emerge in that it is a perception that is not a unilateral human act but a mode of participation in the world’s unfolding.
Edith Stein and Empathy as Ecological Intentionality
Edith Stein’s work on empathy (On the Problem of Empathy) provides a crucial bridge between classical phenomenology and ecological intentionality. Stein defines empathy as the ability to experience the consciousness and emotional states of others through a form of participatory perception. Unlike Husserl, who viewed intentionality primarily as a cognitive act, Stein insists that empathy involves an affective and embodied process of entering into the experience of another.
What makes Stein’s model of empathy important for ecological intentionality is that it expands the boundaries of intentionality beyond Human consciousness. If empathy is not limited to Human-to-Human relationships but reflects a broader capacity for intersubjective connection, then it opens the possibility for empathy toward the more-than-Human world.
Stein’s notion of eidetic reduction, the process of bracketing out subjective interpretation to encounter the essence of another’s experience, has direct ecological implications. To encounter a tree, a river, or a forest empathically is to bracket out anthropocentric projections and allow the other to disclose itself on its own terms.
Ecological intentionality, then, draws from Stein’s understanding of empathy as an affective and relational act. Just as we can empathize with another person’s suffering, we can empathize with the suffering of a dying forest or an acidifying ocean. Ecological intentionality is not just about knowing the world, it is about feeling with and through the world.
Processual Extensions of Phenomenology
Alfred North Whitehead’s process philosophy extends this phenomenological framework by rejecting the static distinction between subject and object altogether. In Whitehead’s cosmology, all entities, Human, more than Human and non-Human, are processes of becoming constituted by their relationality. Whitehead’s notion of prehension suggests that all entities “feel” the presence of others and respond creatively.
John Cobb extends this insight into theological reflection, suggesting that God’s presence is not external but relational, and a lure toward creative and harmonious becoming. Thus, ecological intentionality involves not only an empathic perception of the world but a participatory process of becoming within the web of ecological life. Peace, in this view, is not a static state but an ongoing relational achievement, or a balancing of diverse needs and potentials within the cosmic and/or ecological order.
Performing Peace Beyond Human Boundaries
What would it mean to perform peace beyond human boundaries? This requires a shift from peace as a Human-centered political or ethical state to peace as a mode of ecological reciprocity. Peace, in this sense, emerges not from the absence of Human conflict but from the flourishing of interdependent relationships across Human and non-Human worlds.
One example is found in Indigenous ecological practices that treat ecosystems not as passive backdrops but as active agents in the process of community formation. The practice of controlled burns among many Indigenous people in North America reflects a form of ecological peace: a reciprocal relationship between human communities and fire-adapted landscapes that ensures the health and sustainability of both. This practice challenges Western models of peace as stability or containment, reframing peace as an ongoing process of participatory ecological reciprocity.
We might also consider the theological implications of this framework. Thomas Berry’s concept of the Earth Community reflects an understanding of peace rooted in interdependence and shared flourishing. For Berry, peace is not solely a human achievement but an ecological performance, and a harmonious balancing of biospheric and human needs.
Religious traditions have long recognized this interdependence. In the Christian tradition, the biblical notion of shalom implies not only Human wholeness but right relationship with the land, the animals, and the broader creation. Similarly, Buddhist traditions frame peace as a state of inter-being, where the suffering or flourishing of one being is tied to the suffering or flourishing of all others.
Implications for Theological and Ecological Praxis
Ecological intentionality reframes peace as a participatory and ecological act. It demands that we move beyond Human-centered models of conflict resolution and embrace a broader vision of relationality. This has profound implications for theological and ecological praxis, particularly when viewed through the framework of Ecology of the Cross, a theological model that holds together the suffering and flourishing of creation within the example of the Cosmic Christ.
Ecology of the Cross challenges anthropocentric readings of peace and redemption by presenting the cruciform pattern as a decolonized ecological reality and not only a Human drama, but a cosmic and ecological process of death and rebirth and ultimately peace. If peace is not just an ethical or political goal but a state of relational balance within the web of life, then faith communities have a crucial role to play in performing peace through liturgical, ethical, and ecological practices.
This shift has profound implications for theological and ecological praxis, particularly for faith communities and individuals who are seeking to cultivate deeper relationships with the Cosmos.
For faith communities, in this Christian context from which I speak as an ordained person, the framework of ecological intentionality presents an opportunity to reshape how they understand and perform peace, moving beyond Human-centered conflict resolution into a more expansive model of relational harmony with the land, water, air, and non-Human beings. This also offers individuals new pathways for spiritual formation and ethical engagement, as ecological intentionality invites a shift in both perception and practice.
1. Ecological Reframing of Peace and Justice
One of the most immediate implications of ecological intentionality for faith communities is a theological reframing of peace and justice. In many Christian traditions, peace is understood primarily as a Human or theistic moral or political goal, such as the absence of violence, conflict, or injustice between Human beings. However, ecological intentionality challenges this definition by suggesting that peace is not merely the absence of conflict but the presence of right relationship a dynamic equilibrium within the web of life.
Possibilities for Churches and Faith Communities:
• Revising the concept of justice: Justice can be reframed not only in terms of Human rights but also in terms of environmental justice such as protecting watersheds, ensuring biodiversity, and advocating for the rights of Indigenous communities to manage their traditional lands.
• Eco-theology and sermons: Preaching and theological teaching can incorporate ecological themes, exploring peace not only as human reconciliation but as harmonious interdependence within creation. Sermons might engage scriptural texts like the Psalms’ call for rivers to “clap their hands” (Psalm 98) or Paul’s vision of creation groaning for redemption (Romans 8) as invitations to ecological intentionality.
2. Liturgical and Ritual Practices
Liturgy is one of the most powerful ways faith communities embody theological truths. If peace is an ecological and relational reality, then liturgical practices can become spaces where this relationality is both symbolized and performed. Faith communities can integrate ecological intentionality into their rituals and sacraments, recognizing that acts of worship are not only directed toward God but also toward all Creation.
Possibilities for Churches and Faith Communities:
• Blessing the more-than-Human world: Rituals like the blessing of animals, water, or land can be expanded to reflect an intentional recognition of non-Human life as sacred. A ritual of blessing could include water drawn from a local river, soil from a community garden, or plants representing local biodiversity.
• Seasonal and agricultural liturgies: Faith communities can integrate seasonal changes and ecological rhythms into worship. Celebrating the beginning of planting or harvesting seasons, or offering prayers of lament during times of ecological destruction, can embody peace as relational engagement with the land.
• Eucharistic expansion: In traditions that celebrate the Eucharist, there is an opportunity to explore the ecological significance of bread and wine as products of Human and non-Human collaboration. Bread depends on soil health, water access, and pollinators; wine depends on grapevines shaped by climate and weather patterns. Eucharistic liturgies could recognize these dependencies, reframing the sacrament as an act of ecological gratitude and celebration.
3. Spiritual Formation and Individual Practices
Ecological intentionality offers individuals a new framework for spiritual formation. Just as contemplative traditions have emphasized inner peace and mindfulness, ecological intentionality calls for a broader, outward-facing form of contemplation — an intentional attunement to the rhythms and needs of the natural world. This involves not only perceiving the world differently but responding to it with care and reciprocity.
Possibilities for Individuals:
• Sabbath as ecological rest: The biblical model of Sabbath involves not only Human rest but also rest for the land (Leviticus 25). Individuals could practice ecological Sabbath by ceasing certain activities that harm or limit ecological health, reducing consumption, refraining from single-use plastics, or setting aside time for ecological restoration.
• Walking as spiritual practice: Pilgrimage and walking meditations could be reframed as intentional acts of ecological engagement. Walking through a local forest, a park, or along a coastline could become a practice of attunement to the interdependence of Human and non-Human life.
4. Political and Advocacy Engagement
Ecological intentionality challenges faith communities to extend their peace and justice work into the political sphere. If peace involves ecological balance, then protecting ecosystems, advocating for biodiversity, returning national and state parks to Indigenous people for leadership and direction, and supporting climate justice become theological and ethical imperatives. Faith communities and individuals can leverage their moral authority to advocate for political changes that support ecological flourishing.
Possibilities for Churches and Faith Communities:
• Climate action and legislation: Faith communities can engage with local, state, and national governments to support policies that protect ecosystems, reduce carbon emissions, and ensure environmental justice for marginalized communities.
• Community-based ecological stewardship: Churches could sponsor community gardens, urban reforestation projects, or wildlife corridors as expressions of ecological peace. These projects would reflect the theological claim that peace involves active participation in the flourishing of creation.
• Water justice: Churches could partner with Indigenous communities and environmental organizations to protect access to clean water and resist pollution and extraction. Recognizing water as a sacred gift and a living presence aligns with Indigenous ecological frameworks and Christian sacramental theology (e.g., baptism).
5. Reimagining Mission and Evangelism
Ecological intentionality calls for a reimagining of mission, not as conversion or colonialist domination, but as relational participation. If performing peace involves reciprocal relationship with the natural world, then mission becomes an act of learning from and alongside creation rather than imposing Human control over it.
Possibilities for Churches and Faith Communities:
• Mission as listening: Instead of traditional missionary work framed around changing Human hearts and minds, mission could be reframed as a process of listening to and learning from local ecosystems and Indigenous knowledge.
• Ecological pilgrimage: Mission trips could focus on ecological restoration and cross-cultural dialogue with Indigenous communities. Participants would engage in ecological restoration not as an act of charity but as a recognition of shared vulnerability and interdependence.
6. Interfaith Collaboration and Ecological Peace-building
Ecological intentionality provides a common framework for interfaith engagement. While doctrinal differences have often divided religious communities, the shared recognition of ecological interdependence creates an opportunity for collaboration.
Possibilities for Churches and Faith Communities:
• Joint ecological action: Faith communities from different traditions could collaborate on local environmental projects, such as tree planting, river restoration, and habitat protection, as shared acts of peace-building.
• Interfaith prayer and ritual: Sacred sites like rivers, mountains, and forests could become spaces for interfaith prayer and contemplation, grounded in the shared recognition of the sacredness of creation.
• Ecological dialogue: Faith communities could hold interfaith dialogues focused on theological visions of peace, exploring how different traditions understand the relationship between humanity and the natural world.
Conclusion
Ecological intentionality challenges the anthropocentric assumption that peace is a Human achievement. Instead, it calls us to recognize peace as a mode of relationality that encompasses Human, more-than-Human, and Non-Human beings alike. Performing peace beyond Human boundaries requires attunement to the rhythms of ecological reciprocity and a willingness to engage in the ongoing, dynamic process of becoming together.
As Thomas Berry reminds us, “The universe is a communion of subjects, not a collection of objects.” Peace, in this sense, is not the absence of violence or conflict but the flourishing of interdependent relationships within the broader webs of life. Ecological intentionality, therefore, offers a vision of peace that is not static or anthropocentric but dynamic, participatory, and deeply ecological.
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Ecological Intentionality: Performing Peace Beyond Human Boundaries (PDF)
Why, Apple?
This still makes me smile every time I perform this silly charging ritual.
