
In Inherit the Holy Mountain, historian Mark Stoll introduces us to the religious roots of the American environmental movement. Religion, he shows, provided environmentalists both with deeply-embedded moral and cultural ways of viewing the world and with content, direction, and tone for the causes they espoused.Stoll discovers that specific denominational origins corresponded with characteristic sets of ideas about nature and the environment as well as distinctive aesthetic reactions to nature, as can be seen in key works of art analyzed throughout the book. Stoll also provides insight into the possible future of environmentalism in the United States, concluding with an examination of the current religious scene and what it portends for the future. By debunking the supposed divide between religion and American environmentalism, Inherit the Holy Mountain opens up a fundamentally new narrative in environmental studies.
This book investigates the historical intersection between religious traditions and the development of the American environmental movement. Author Mark Stoll, a historian specializing in environmental history, utilizes a framework that links specific denominational backgrounds to distinct attitudes toward nature. By analyzing historical texts, art, and cultural movements, he argues that religious values provided the moral vocabulary and aesthetic sensibilities that shaped American conservation efforts.
What You Will Find
Scope Limits
Scholars and critics recognize this work as a significant contribution to the field of environmental history for its focus on the often-overlooked religious origins of conservation. Readers frequently note the academic rigor of the research while appreciating the author's ability to connect theological concepts to tangible environmental policy and cultural shifts.
Page Count:
402
Publication Date:
2015-01-01
Publisher:
Oxford University Press
ISBN-10:
0190230886
ISBN-13:
9780190230883
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