Open Access Laudato Si' Integral Ecology Collection

An open access selection of key texts on integral ecology. The collection will provide a valuable resource for lay readers, students, and those undertaking more advanced academic study. Publications in the collection could also be read as part of a reading group, or an online course.

Life After Doom: Wisdom and Courage for a World Falling Apart

By Brian McLaren (2024) St. Martin's Essentials.

For the last quarter-century, author and activist Brian D. McLaren has been writing at the intersection of religious faith and contemporary culture. In Life After Doom, he engages with the catastrophic failure of both our religious and political leaders to address the dominant realities of our time: ecological overshoot, economic injustice, and the increasing likelihood of civilizational collapse. McLaren defines doom as the “un-peaceful, uneasy, unwanted feeling” that “we humans have made a mess of our civilization and our planet, and not enough of us seem to care enough to change deeply enough or quickly enough to save ourselves.”

Blending insights from philosophers, poets, scientists, and theologians, Life After Doom explores the complexity of hope, the necessity of grief, and the need for new ways of thinking, becoming, and belonging in turbulent times. If you want to help yourself, your family, and the communities to which you belong to find courage and resilience for the deeply challenging times that are upon us — this is the book you need right now.

The Forest Underground: Hope for a Planet in Crisis

By Tony Rinaudo (2022) ISCAST.

How do you regreen millions of hectares of land without planting a single tree?

World-renowned agronomist Tony Rinaudo knows the answer lies at the grass roots—or at the tree roots—as much as with farmers and communities. Tony shares his insights and inspiring life story in his autobiography The Forest Underground: Hope for a Planet in Crisis, named 2022 Australian Christian Book of the Year.

Saying Yes to Life

By Ruth Valerio (2019) SPCK Publishing

Ruth Valerio’s superb Saying Yes to Life was the Archbishop of Canterbury 2020 Lenten book. Saying Yes to Life lifts our focus from natural, everyday concerns to issues that are having an impact on millions of lives around the world. As people made in the image of God, we are entrusted to look after what he has created: to share in God’s joy and ingenuity in making a difference for good. Ruth Valerio imaginatively draws on the Days of Creation (Genesis 1) as she relates themes of light, water, land, the seasons, other creatures, humankind, Sabbath rest and resurrection hope to matters of environmental, ethical and social concern.

The Bible and Ecology: Rediscovering the Community of Creation

By Richard Bauckham (2010) Baylor University Press

Richard Bauckham embarks on a biblical investigation into the relationship between human beings and the rest of creation. Bauckham argues that there is much more to the Bible’s understanding of this relationship than the mandate of human dominion given in Genesis 1--which, he writes, has too often been used as a justification for domination and exploitation of the earth’s resources. Instead, Bauckham considers the ecological perspectives found in the book of Job, the Psalms, and the Gospels, all of which, he determines, require a reevaluation of the biblical tradition of "dominion." Bauckham discovers a tradition of a "community of creation" in which human beings are fellow members with God’s other creatures and true reconciliation to God involves the entire creation. Short, reliable, and engaging, The Bible and Ecology is essential reading for anyone looking for a biblically grounded approach to ecology.