Includes bibliographical references (pages 241-253) and index.
Contents:
Recreation and soteriology -- Congregating around nature -- Sacred space and the American environmental imagination -- Recreation and spiritual experience -- Conclusion : the mechanics of religious change.
Summary:
"Devoted to Nature explores the religious underpinnings of American environmentalism, tracing the theological character of American environment thought from their Romantic foundations to contemporary discourse about nature spirituality. This history is most readily visible during the Gilded Age and Progressive Era, when religious sources tangibly shaped ideas about the natural world, recreational practices, and modes of social and political interaction. The roots of the environmental movement evidence explicitly Christian understandings of salvation, redemption, and progress, which provided the context for Americans enthusiastic about the out-of-doors and established the horizons of possibility for the national environmental imagination"--Provided by publisher.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.