Greening Spirituality: The Connections Between Spirituality and the Natural World with Dr. Rita Sherma
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Lisa is joined by Dr. Rita Sherma, the founding Director & Associate Professor at GTU's Center for Dharma Studies and the Co-Chair of the Sustainability 360 Initiative to talk about Greening Spirituality an online learning opportunity from the Graduate Theological Union’s GTUx, Drs. Rita Sherma and Devin Zuber examine the connections between spirituality and the natural world, including special consideration of Native American and Dharma traditions in the development of American environmentalism.
In Greening Spirituality we will study the often unacknowledged ecological influences of Asian religions and Native American cultures on America’s literary, artistic, and architectural heritage, as well as the growing presence – in the United States – of Dharma traditions, and their influence on contemporary meditation methods as they have opened the door to ancient approaches interweaving the elemental potencies of wilderness (and wildness) into the fabric of contemplative practice.
We will reflect, together, on the critical importance of acknowledgement of other cultures and cosmological views that existed before us, and to which—at the very least—we owe a debt of gratitude.
The contemporary greening of spirituality has deep roots in American soil and the sanctification of the wonder and mystery of treasured national spaces, such as the red hills of Sedona, Yosemite, and Muir Woods, has begun to resemble an alternate form of civic religion—one that envisions and embraces a spirituality of place"
The course includes 4, modules:
Module 1: Roots: What is “spirituality”? What is “sacred” beyond the diversity of varied religions and rituals? How and why is it connected to the verdant natural world around us?
Module 2: Turtle Island: The Beat Poets and American Buddhist Ecocriticism
Module 3: Decolonizing the Spiritual
Module 4: Ecopraxis: Greening Spirituality on a Warming Planet
Visit gtu.edu/x to discover and sign up for learning opportunities on topics like justice, spiritual care, theology, ethics, and more.
Dr. Rita Sherma also talks about her upcoming book, Religion & Sustainability: Interreligious Resources, Interdisciplinary Responses---a publication of Springer Publ. United Nations Environmental Program Sustainable Development Goals Series.
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