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Feminist Ecologies in Religious Interpretation: Australian Influences

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Abstract

Internationally significant Australian work in ecological philosophy can be traced to at least as early as 1973 with Val and Richard Routley’s (later Val Plumwood and Richard Sylvan) Fight for the Forests. By the 1990s, Australian ecological and ecological feminist philosophy was at the forefront of international work in this area. As the 1990s came to a close, this was joined by the first major international research in ecological hermeneutics in biblical studies, the Earth Bible Project, situated in Adelaide, South Australia, under the chief editorship of Norman Habel. The Project was in conversation with feminists, ecologists, and a number of indigenous peoples from Australia and overseas, as the team developed first their six ecojustice principles and then three further ecological hermeneutics. Building on her early work in feminist biblical interpretation, a contributor to the project, biblical scholar Elaine Wainwright, developed a multidimensional hermeneutic, bringing together feminist, ecological, and postcolonial concerns, most recently around the notion of habitat. This chapter first charts a recent history of feminist interpretation of biblical religion and an evolving, but uneven, relationship between feminist and ecological thinking in biblical studies and then explores Wainwright’s writings as indicative of how the postcolonial contexts in Australia and New Zealand have evolved some complex intersections of religion, race, and ecological thought.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    In Melbourne such interest is represented by groups such as Earthsong (http://earthsong.org.au/) and the Ecology and Spirituality Centre, Glenburn (http://www.edmundrice.org/glenburn.html). In some respects, there is a gap between popular movements in ecological spirituality and academic work in ecological theology and biblical studies , similar to the gap between grassroots feminist theology and feminist theologians in Australia.

  2. 2.

    This principle, developed by Wainwright in a feminist context, is later taken up by Mercy sisters and biblical scholars Elizabeth Dowling and Veronica Lawson (2013) to suggest that women’s inclusion as Eucharistic leaders is implied in the inclusive principle of creation presented at the end of the Gospel of Mark.

  3. 3.

    In 2015 Wainwright took up a position as Executive Director of Mission and Ministry, Institute of Sisters of Mercy Australia and Papua New Guinea, a position with a strong social and ecological justice focus. My chapter deals only with a selection of Wainwright’s work. For a recent curriculum vitae and selected publications list, see http://www.mercyworld.org/_uploads/projects/119-a30eaef1/user-assets/files/CV/CV_MIRP_E-Wainwright(1).pdf

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Monash University, Clayton, VIC, Australia

    Anne Elvey

  2. University of Divinity, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

    Anne Elvey

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  1. Anne Elvey
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

    Lara Stevens

  2. LaTrobe University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

    Peta Tait

  3. University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

    Denise Varney

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Elvey, A. (2018). Feminist Ecologies in Religious Interpretation: Australian Influences. In: Stevens, L., Tait, P., Varney, D. (eds) Feminist Ecologies. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-64385-4_12

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-64385-4_12

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