Trees as Symbols of Life and Spirit Across Religions

Meeting Our Old Teachers

Trees are older than us (though not as old as you might think), longer-lived than empires, and deeply woven into the stories we tell about wisdom and spirit. They are teachers of patience and endurance, bearing witness to countless centuries of human seeking. Our ancient and modern columns of brick, stone, marble, or concrete still pale in comparison to our ancient tree kin.

Across traditions, trees have anchored human imagination. They serve as symbols of wisdom, life, and connection. However, more than symbols, they are living presences, mediators of the sacred. From Genesis to the Bodhi Tree, from Yggdrasil to the cottonwood of the Lakota Sun Dance, trees appear where human beings grapple with the mysteries of being alive.

The philosopher Owen Barfield once suggested that human consciousness itself has a history, that the way we experience the world evolves over time. He pointed to the so-called Axial Age, when religious and philosophical traditions in Israel, Greece, India, and China reimagined humanity’s relationship to the cosmos. Trees appear in those traditions as if marking the shift: not just as backdrops, but as active participants in our emerging sense of meaning. They carry forward the memory of the older ways of knowing, when spirit and matter were inseparable, and they gesture toward futures in which we might relearn that intimacy.

To pay attention to the trees is to pay attention to our own evolving consciousness. It is also to listen to what Donna Haraway calls “tentacular thinking,” the recognition that all beings are entangled in webs of relation, that meaning itself stretches across roots and fungi and soil and sky. Trees remind us that life is not linear but branching, not heroic but networked. They embody what Ursula Le Guin called the “carrier bag” story of humanity: not a single plot driven by conquest, but a gathering of seeds, fruits, and stories carried in community.

TraditionWisdomLifeSpiritual Connection
Hebrew Bible / JudaismTree of Knowledge of Good and Evil (Genesis); Etz Chaim (“Tree of Life”) as Torah/Wisdom (Proverbs 3:18)Tree of Life in Eden and eschatology (Revived in apocalyptic visions)Olive tree as Israel’s covenantal identity; sacred groves as contested spaces
ChristianityCross as Tree of Life (Acts 5:30; 1 Peter 2:24); Hildegard’s viriditas (greening wisdom)Tree of Life in Revelation (22:2) offers healing to nationsThe Cross links heaven and earth; saints/monks often dwell in tree imagery of rootedness
IslamSidrat al-Muntaha (Lote Tree) marks the limit of knowledge (Qur’an 53)Tree of Immortality in Eden (Q 2:35); olive tree as “blessed tree” (Q 24:35)Trees as signs of God’s creation; paradise described as filled with shade-giving trees
HinduismAshvattha (cosmic fig tree) in Bhagavad Gita represents eternal samsaraBanyan, neem, tulsi as living presences of the divineSacred groves; Bodhi tree as meditation site; cosmic tree with roots in heaven, branches on earth
BuddhismBodhi Tree: site of enlightenment, source of awakened wisdomKalpavriksha (wish-fulfilling tree) symbolizes abundanceTrees as natural meditation sites; Bodhi tree as axis between ignorance and awakening
Indigenous Traditions (Americas, Africa, Celtic)Oaks and yews in Celtic Druidic tradition as sources of sacred knowledgeTrees like baobab as “roots of life”; cottonwood in Lakota Sun DanceWorld Tree as axis mundi (linking underworld, earth, heavens); trees as homes of ancestors/spirits
Norse MythologyYggdrasil’s roots drink from the Well of Mimir (wisdom)Yggdrasil sustains nine realms of existenceYggdrasil as cosmic axis, linking worlds; ravens, serpents, and gods interact with it
Chinese TraditionsFusang tree marks sun’s rising, cosmic orderPeach tree of immortality (fruit of eternal life)Sacred peach tree of Queen Mother of the West links heaven’s gifts with human fate

The Tree of Life in the Ancient Near East

The Hebrew Bible begins with a garden, and at its heart, two trees: the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil and the Tree of Life (Gen. 2:9). To eat of the first was to awaken to wisdom — to the awareness of moral boundaries and human limitation. The story is often told as a fall, but it can also be read as the story of consciousness coming into its own, with trees as the threshold between innocence and maturity.

Proverbs later describes wisdom herself as “a tree of life to those who lay hold of her” (Prov. 3:18). Here the metaphor is clear: to live wisely is to be rooted, nourished, fruitful. In Jewish tradition, the Torah itself becomes the Etz Chaim, the Tree of Life, literally embodied in the wooden rollers of the scrolls used in worship.

But trees could also lead astray. The prophets railed against “sacred groves” where Canaanite deities were honored (Deut. 16:21). Yet, even this reveals the deep human instinct to find the divine among trees. And the symbol endures: the Book of Revelation imagines the Tree of Life restored in the New Jerusalem, its leaves “for the healing of the nations” (Rev. 22:2).


Christianity: The Cross as Tree

Christianity radicalizes the symbol by naming the cross itself a tree. The Apostle Peter writes that Christ “bore our sins in his body on the tree” (1 Pet. 2:24). A Roman instrument of execution becomes the world tree of redemption. The symmetry was irresistible to early theologians: where Adam and Eve grasped at fruit, Christ is lifted up on the wood, reversing the fall.

Medieval mystics expanded this imagery. Hildegard of Bingen (1098–1179) described divine life as viriditas, “the greening power,” pulsing through creation. In her visions, the universe itself was a tree, verdant with God’s wisdom. Monks, too, saw trees as ascetic companions: silent, patient, enduring through storms.

For Christians, then, the tree is paradox. It bears death and life, judgment and mercy, sorrow and redemption. Like Yggdrasil, gnawed by serpents but still sustaining the worlds, the cross stands at the center of human story… fragile yet cosmic.


Islam: The Blessed Tree

In the Qur’an, trees shape both warning and blessing. Adam and Eve are commanded not to eat from the Tree of Immortality (Q 2:35). Yet another tree, the Lote Tree of the Utmost Boundary (Sidrat al-Muntaha), appears in the Prophet Muhammad’s night journey. It marks the furthest boundary of created knowledge: beyond it lies only God (Q 53:14–16).

The olive tree carries special significance. The famous Light Verse declares: “God is the Light of the heavens and the earth… lit from a blessed olive tree, neither of the east nor of the west” (Q 24:35). Here, tree and light merge: the olive, ancient source of fuel, becomes metaphor for divine illumination.

Paradise itself is pictured as a garden of abundant, shade-giving trees — a vision profoundly embodied for people whose daily lives knew desert heat. The tree is not abstract; it is rest, sustenance, and divine nearness.


Hinduism: The Cosmic Ashvattha

In the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna describes the universe as a cosmic fig tree, the Ashvattha: “With roots above and branches below, whose leaves are the Vedas; he who knows this tree is the knower of the Veda” (Gita 15:1). Unlike earthly trees, this one grows downward, its nourishment flowing from the eternal into the temporal. To attain liberation, one must cut it down with the “axe of detachment” and seek the source beyond appearances.

But trees are not only metaphors. Living trees are venerated: the banyan, with its aerial roots; the neem, with healing powers; the tulsi plant, tended in courtyards as a goddess in her own right. Sacred groves still shelter temples, holding ecological as well as spiritual memory.

The cosmic tree gathers together time, scripture, and existence. Like Barfield’s insight into symbolic consciousness, it points to a way of seeing in which reality itself is read as text, and trees as living letters of the divine alphabet.


Buddhism: Under the Bodhi Tree

Perhaps no tree is more famous than the Bodhi Tree under which Siddhartha Gautama attained enlightenment. Sitting through the night, he confronted desire, fear, and illusion until he awoke into Buddhahood. Ever since, the Bodhi tree has stood as the site of awakening: wisdom that arises not from conquest but from stillness, from simply being present beneath a tree.

Buddhism also speaks of the Kalpavriksha, the wish-fulfilling tree, symbolizing abundance. Yet the Bodhi dominates the tradition’s imagination, embodying the dharma itself: impermanence in its falling leaves, interdependence in its roots, patient endurance in its trunk.

Like Le Guin’s “carrier bag” theory of narrative, the Bodhi tree is not a hero’s monument but a gathering site. Pilgrims circle it, meditate beneath it, collect its fallen leaves. It is not conquered; it shelters. It contains, carries, holds the story of awakening.


Indigenous Traditions: The World Tree

In Native American cosmologies, the World Tree or Sacred Tree connects earth, underworld, and sky. For the Lakota, the cottonwood chosen for the Sun Dance becomes the axis around which the world is renewed. Dancers tether themselves to it in prayer, embodying the life-giving bond between human and cosmos.

In Africa, great trees such as the baobab and iroko are revered as ancestors themselves, places of gathering, storytelling, and ritual. The tree is not a metaphor for community; it is the community’s center.

Celtic Druids likewise revered oaks and yews, holding ceremonies in groves. Mistletoe growing on oaks was especially sacred, believed to embody divine vitality. These groves were what Haraway might call “tentacular nodes,” entangled sites of relation where human, animal, plant, and divine life braided together.


Norse Mythology: Yggdrasil

Norse mythology centers its cosmos upon Yggdrasil, the great ash tree. Its branches span the heavens; its roots drink from wells of wisdom and fate. Odin, in search of knowledge, sacrifices his eye at the Well of Mimir. Later, he hangs himself upon Yggdrasil for nine nights to gain the runes. Wisdom here is costly, rooted in suffering and sacrifice.

But Yggdrasil is under threat. Serpents gnaw at its roots, Ragnarok looms, yet the tree sustains all realms. It is fragile and resilient at once, much like our own ecological situation.


Chinese Traditions: Trees of Immortality

In Chinese myth, the fusang tree in the east holds the rising sun, anchoring cosmic order. The peach tree of immortality, tended by the Queen Mother of the West, bears fruit every 3,000 years, granting eternal life. Pines, peaches, and cypresses all became emblems of endurance, long life, and the Dao’s flowing balance.

Here again, trees bridge the human and cosmic, marking time’s rhythm and pointing to the way of harmony.


Wisdom, Life, Connection

Stepping back across cultures, we see three recurring themes:

Wisdom: Trees stand at thresholds of knowledge — Eden’s fruit, Yggdrasil’s well, the Bodhi’s silence, the Sidrat al-Muntaha’s boundary.

Life: Trees embody vitality — food, healing, shade, immortality. Their seasonal cycles mirror death and rebirth.

Connection: Trees serve as axis mundi, mediators of heaven and earth, ancestors and descendants, divine and human.

But with Haraway and Le Guin in mind, we can say more. Trees are not just vertical axes; they are networks. They are “carrier bags” of biodiversity, gathering species in their canopies and roots. They are “tentacular,” stretching mycorrhizal threads through soil, binding together whole communities.

If earlier ages saw the tree primarily as a ladder to the divine, perhaps our age can see tree as a web, and recognize in that web our own entanglement with the more-than-human world.

Religious traditions often use trees to point beyond themselves, such as metaphors for wisdom, life, and connection. But metaphysics reminds us that this pointing is not merely symbolic; it reveals something of reality’s very structure.

For Alfred North Whitehead, reality is not made of inert stuff but of events, relationships, and becoming. A tree is not simply a “thing” but a nexus of processes: roots drawing up water, leaves breathing light, fungi threading connections underground. The tree discloses the metaphysical truth that being is relational, that life is constituted by giving and receiving.

Edith Stein’s On the Problem of Empathy makes a similar point from a phenomenological angle: to encounter a tree is to recognize it as more than an object, but as a living subject with its own interiority, its own trajectory of growth and flourishing. The “tree of life” is not a metaphor we impose; it is a reality we meet.

This is where Owen Barfield’s insight comes in: the symbolic power of trees is not arbitrary but reflects the way human consciousness evolves in dialogue with the living world. We do not invent the tree-as-symbol; rather, the tree discloses meanings that consciousness gradually awakens to.


Conclusion: Listening Again

Religions around the world remind us that trees are more than scenery. They are wisdom keepers, givers of life, and cosmic connectors. They hold our evolving consciousness: from mythic imagination to axial philosophy, from medieval mysticism to today’s ecological science.

In a time of deforestation and climate upheaval, the old teachers still stand. They whisper lessons of rootedness, interconnection, and renewal. Perhaps the most spiritual act we can take is also the most practical: to plant, to tend, to listen.

The Ecology of the Cross: Cruciform Trees

If trees are life-givers, they are also sites of suffering. The cross itself was once a tree that was chosen, chopped down, shaped into an instrument of execution that was reused countless times in the Judean countryside of what we modern people of the inherited West would call the first century anno domini or Common Era. And yet in Christian imagination, it became the cosmic Tree of Life. This paradox lies at the heart of what I have been calling the Ecology of the Cross.

In ecological terms, forests today stand as cruciform realities: logged, burned, cut down, yet also central to the healing of the planet. The crucified tree is not only Christ’s cross but also the Amazon rainforest under chainsaw, the black walnut in my backyard enduring storms, the pines of South Carolina clear-cut for development, or the oak trees that are carefully manicured for aesthetic purposes in countless pieces of “property” surrounding churches here in what we now call the Southeast of the United States.

The Ecology of the Cross invites us to see cruciformity not only in human suffering but in the more-than-human world. Trees bear the wounds of our extractive systems, yet they also continue to gift us life: oxygen, shelter, shade, renewal. In this sense, the cross is ecological: a revelation of life’s pattern as death-and-renewal, as sacrifice-and-gift.

Here the metaphysical vision and the theological converge. To stand before a tree is to be confronted with both beauty and fragility, both gift and wound. It is to be drawn into what William Desmond might call the metaxological, the between, where mystery breathes through being.

So when religions speak of trees, whether as wisdom, life, or cosmic connectors, they are not only projecting human stories onto nature. They are intuiting something real about the metaphysical and theological shape of existence.

And in an age of ecological crisis, these intuitions call us back. To see a tree as a teacher is to see the world as sacramental, alive with wisdom and suffering, calling for care. To embrace the Ecology of the Cross is to recognize that redemption is not apart from creation, but through it… through roots and branches, crucifixion and renewal, leaves for the healing of the nations.

As Wendell Berry once urged, “Practice resurrection.” A tree knows how.


Notes

  1. The Holy Bible, New Revised Standard Version (New York: National Council of Churches, 1989), Gen. 2:9.
  2. The Holy Bible, NRSV, Prov. 3:18.
  3. The Holy Bible, NRSV, Rev. 22:2.
  4. The Holy Bible, NRSV, 1 Pet. 2:24.
  5. Hildegard of Bingen, Scivias, trans. Columba Hart and Jane Bishop (New York: Paulist Press, 1990).
  6. The Qur’an, trans. M.A.S. Abdel Haleem (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005), 2:35; 53:14–16.
  7. The Qur’an, trans. Abdel Haleem, 24:35.
  8. Bhagavad Gita, trans. Eknath Easwaran (Tomales, CA: Nilgiri Press, 2007), 15:1–3.
  9. Owen Barfield, Saving the Appearances: A Study in Idolatry (Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 1988).
  10. Donna J. Haraway, Staying with the Trouble: Making Kin in the Chthulucene (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2016).
  11. Ursula K. Le Guin, The Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction (London: Ignota Books, 2019).
  12. Alfred North Whitehead, Process and Reality: An Essay in Cosmology, corrected ed., ed. David Ray Griffin and Donald W. Sherburne (New York: Free Press, 1978).
  13. Edith Stein, On the Problem of Empathy, trans. Waltraut Stein (Washington, D.C.: ICS Publications, 1989).
  14. William Desmond, Being and the Between (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1995).
  15. Wendell Berry, The Mad Farmer Poems (Berkeley, CA: Counterpoint, 2008).
  16. Mircea Eliade, Patterns in Comparative Religion, trans. Rosemary Sheed (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1996), esp. chs. on sacred trees and the axis mundi.
  17. James Frazer, The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion (New York: Macmillan, 1922), selections on tree cults and sacred groves.
  18. Matthew Hall, Plants as Persons: A Philosophical Botany (Albany: State University of New York Press, 2011).
  19. Thomas Berry, The Great Work: Our Way into the Future (New York: Bell Tower, 1999).
  20. John B. Cobb Jr. and Herman E. Daly, For the Common Good: Redirecting the Economy toward Community, the Environment, and a Sustainable Future (Boston: Beacon Press, 1989).

Boundaries: Ecological Theology, Migration, and the Sacredness of the Non-Human

Presented to the International Society for the Study of Religion, Nature, and Culture June 2025 at University of California Santa Barbara.

In this paper for the ISSRNC, I explore how boundaries—ecological, theological, and social—are being redrawn in our time of climate disruption and mass displacement. Drawing from Christian theology, phenomenology, and lived experience in the Carolinas, I argue that the sharp lines we’ve inherited between human and non-human, land and sea, self and other, are not only breaking down, but inviting reimagination. From Aquinas’ vision of a diverse creation reflecting divine goodness, to Merleau-Ponty’s notion of embodied perception, to Edith Stein’s account of empathy beyond the human, I trace a theological-phenomenological approach to seeing the more-than-human world as sacred.

Through stories of storms like Hurricane Helene and the increasing migration of people, plants, and animals, I reflect on how we might live more ethically in a world of porous boundaries. What does it mean to see a floodplain or barrier island as holy ground rather than real estate? How can faith communities respond not only to human migrants but also to the migrations of forests and species? Ultimately, I propose an “Ecology of the Cross”—a theology rooted in kenosis, interdependence, and sacramental welcome—as a way to meet this moment with humility, compassion, and reverence.

Re-envisioning Boundaries: Ecological Theology & Migration in the Carolinas

I presented this paper earlier today at the ISSRNC conference in beautiful UC Santa Barbara…

Re-envisioning Boundaries: Ecological Theology & Migration in the Carolinas:

Today, I presented this paper at the International Society for the Study of Religion, Nature, and Culture’s 2025 conference titled “Crossing Borders, Transgressing Boundaries: Religion, Migration, and Climate Change.”

Here is the abstract of my paper, followed by the full paper below, as well as the slides to help those who enjoy such…

“This paper proposes a fresh theological framework for addressing climate-driven human and non-human migration by re-envisioning ‘boundaries’ as sacred membranes rather than fixed walls. Starting with biblical exile narratives and covenantal land ethics, the study traces a scriptural arc from Edenic displacement to the open-gated New Jerusalem. Drawing on Thomas Aquinas’s Aristotelian metaphysics of diverse participation in divine goodness, it affirms the intrinsic value of every creature and landscape. A phenomenological lens, as seen in Maurice Merleau-Ponty’s ontology of “flesh” and Edith Stein’s embodied empathy, reveals the porous intersubjectivity of humans, animals, and ecosystems, thereby challenging the modern Human/Nature divide.

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.

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?

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)