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Environmental arts in a theological context.

Article Excerpt
Abstract

Catholic higher education today recognizes and seeks to respond to the environmental mandate expressed in the document "On Catholic Universities." This article describes an approach to teaching theology environmentally through the incorporation of environmental arts and literature in courses whose design emphasizes experiential learning and interdisciplinarity.

Catholic higher education's environmental mandate

Over the course of twenty six years, during the pontificate of Pope John Paul II, a kind of environmental mandate emerged within Roman Catholicism, in continuity with the larger context of the world religions and their collective response to the ecological crisis [1]. Today the recently published Compendium of Catholic Social Teaching reflects this in its inclusion of environmental concern among the major social issues presented in its analysis [2]. In 1991, the document Ex Corde Ecclesiae (On Catholic Universities) reflected the consistent emphasis of John Paul II's teachings on the environment: the protection of nature and awareness of the international ecological situation were conspicuously to be included among the research activities of the Catholic university in its service to society. The present article describes one example of the manner in which this environmental mandate has been received and implemented, specifically with regard to the development of pedagogical strategies for teaching undergraduate courses in theology 'environmentally'.

Ex Corde Ecclesiae, in its opening paragraphs, describes the service a Catholic university seeks to render to culture in terms of a "universal humanism" derived from and centered upon the dignity of the human person [3]. "Nothing human is foreign to us" expresses the earliest orientation of the Church's apostolic fathers, and its embrace of the integrity of culture in the service of human flourishing continues to resonate into the present age. Christian humanism, as the "driving theme" of Pope John Paul II's pontificate [4], committed him to dialogue and fellowship with all persons of goodwill, a dialogue and fellowship which explicitly embraced the cause of contemporary environmentalism as "a great cultural movement" [5]. In its description of the character of research, "On Catholic Universities" lists "the search for an integration of knowledge [and] a dialogue between faith and reason," in addition to ethical concern, and an understanding of theology which places it as a discipline at the service of all other disciplines in the universal human quest for meaning [6]. Teaching, according to the document, should reflect its close connection with research. While respecting the legitimate autonomy of each discipline, the document stresses the importance today of "interdisciplinary studies" which, "assisted by a careful study of philosophy and theology, enables students to acquire an organic vision of reality and to develop a continuing desire for intellectual progress" [7]. While some might see this as a prescription for 'teaching environmental...

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