Theology, Creation, and Environmental Ethics From Creatio Ex Nihilo to Terra Nullius Routledge Studies in Religion Series

Winner of the John Templeton Award for Theological Promise, 2009

This book argues that the Christian doctrine of creatio ex nihilo (creation out of nothing) sets up a support system for a "logic of domination" toward human and earth others. Conceptually inspired by the work of theologian Catherine Keller and feminist philosopher of the environment Val Plumwood, it follows a genealogical method in examining how the concept of creation out of nothing materializes in the world throughout different periods in the history of the Christian West.

Acknowledgments

Introduction: Points of Departure

1. A Genealogy of the Christian Colonial Mindset: Ex Nihilo from Disputed Beginnings to Orthodox Origins

2. Ex Nihilo and the Origin of an Empire

3. Ex Nihilo, Erasure and "Discovery"

4. The Cogito, Ex Nihilo, and the Legacy of John Locke

5. The Creation Ex Nihilo of Terra Nullius Lands: Omnipotent Nations and the Logic of Global- Colonization

6. From Epistemologies of Domination to Grounded Thinking

7. Opening Words about God onto Creatio Continua

8. Creatio Continua ‘All The Way Down’: A Post-Colonial, Planetary Understanding of Continuing Creation

Conclusion: A Brief Thought After

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Whitney Bauman is Assistant Professor of Religion and Science at Florida International University. He is the Assistant Editor for the forthcoming The Berkshire Encyclopedia for Sustainability: The Spirit of Sustainability (Berkshire, 2009).