START WITH BELIEF
Caring for
Creation is full of academic jargon, but it makes an important
point: Our high-consumption, unlimited-growth society is heading
toward eco-crisis. How can we persuade enough people to question
their lives and care for creation? To convince someone to adopt a
new belief, you have to start with something that person already
believes, says writer Max Oelschlaeger. Since our society is
dominated by materialism, few will be receptive to a humbler
outlook. But one part of our belief system can be used: the part
based on religion. It is only through the churches, the author
says, that significant numbers of Americans can be persuaded to
adopt the changes needed to avert “ecocatastrophe.” His conclusion
offers both reason for hope and a clear plan of
action.
Yale University Press, P.O. Box 209040,
New Haven, CT 06520-9040. 296 pages, 1994. $30. “John
Bliese
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Start with belief.
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