Just Water: Theology, Ethics, and the Global Water Crisis
248
Just Water: Theology, Ethics, and the Global Water Crisis
248Paperback
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Overview
An interdisciplinary analysis of the value of fresh water that generates timely and principled conclusions at the intersections of hydrology, ecology, ethics, theology, and Catholic social thought.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781626980563 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Orbis Books |
| Publication date: | 01/10/2014 |
| Pages: | 248 |
| Product dimensions: | 5.30(w) x 8.10(h) x 0.70(d) |
About the Author
Christiana Z. Peppard is Assistant Professor of Theology, Science, and Ethics at Fordham University in New York. Her expertise and publications tend to dwell at the interface of epistemology, historiography, naturalism, feminist theory, theology, and ethics. She received the 2013 Catherine Mowry LaCugna Award from the Catholic Theological Society of America.
Table of Contents
Prelude: Writing Water ix
Chapter 1 Theology and Ethics for the New Millennium 1
Love of God and Love of Neighbor 4
Universal and Particular: A Thorny Problem 8
Anthropological Constants 9
Embodied Experience and Ethical Discernment 11
Theology and Ethics from the (So-Called) Margins 12
Ecological Theology and Environmental Ethics 14
The Challenge: Bodies That Matter 16
Conclusion: Theology, Ethics, and Fresh Water 17
Chapter 2 A Primer on the Global Fresh Water Crisis 19
Hydrology and Hype 19
Foundational Insights 20
A Primer on the Global Fresh Water Crisis 21
Facts, Frameworks, and Mental Fatigue 34
Conclusion: Just Water 34
Chapter 3 Water: Human Right or Economic Commodity? 36
Message in a Bottle 37
What Kind of Thing Is Water? 43
Bolivian Water War? 46
Conclusion: Valuing Water 49
Chapter 4 A Right-To-Life Issue for the Twenty-First Century 52
Catholic Social Teaching: The Church's Best-Kept Secret 53
Fresh Water in Catholic Social Teaching 56
Conclusion: A Right-to-Life Issue for the Twenty-First Century 65
Chapter 5 The Agriculture/Water Nexus 68
Making Water Visible from Seed to Supper 68
From Prehistory to the Produce Aisle: A History of Agriculture 70
The Short-Term Vision of Industrial Agriculture 80
Rethinking Industrial Agriculture in the Face of Hydrological Reality 88
Theology, Ethics, and Agriculture in an Era of Fresh Water Scarcity 90
Conclusion: Radicalism and Incrementalism 94
Chapter 6 The Jordan River 96
The Shape of the Jordan River Today 96
Rhetoric and Reality 102
Religious Significations of the Jordan River 104
Conclusion: Symbolic Stature vs. Environmental Status 110
Chapter 7 Climate Change and Water in the Anthropocene 115
Deep Geological Time 115
A Phase by Any Other Name 116
From British Geology to the Fossil Fuel Economy 119
A Matter of Belief? Scientific Uncertainty and the Ethics of Inaction 122
The Climate/Water Nexus 129
Conclusion: Facts, Values, and Fresh Water in an Era of Climate Change 141
Chapter 8 Water from Rock: Hydraulic Fracturing 142
Fracking: Rhetoric, Reality, and Reasonable Suspicion 144
Anthropology Is Absorption 151
The Halliburton Loophole 153
Double, Double, Toil, and Trouble 158
How to Do Things with a Dearth of Data 162
Six Substantial Concerns about Hydraulic Fracturing 164
Conclusion: Stepping Wisely into Our Energy Future 168
Chapter 9 Women, Wells, and Living Water 171
Twentieth-Century Biblical Hermeneurics 172
Reeconfiguring the Woman at the Well 173
Deconstructing Water 175
Historicizing Water 176
"Her Daily Toil": Women and Water Worldwide 179
Conclusion: Thirst 181
Coda: Lessons in Liquidity 184
Acknowledgments 189
Notes 193
Further Resources 213
Index 221
What People are Saying About This
“This provocative new book is for every person who turns on their tap, and takes a drink of water, without saying a prayer of thanks—in other words, you.” --James Martin, S.J., author, My Life with the Saints
“Given our culture of reductionism, which inevitably leads us to examine complex issues in separate disciplines, we are seldom exposed to competent scholarship which engages us in the complex interrelationships of important issues like the availability of fresh water for all in the global family. Christiana Peppard has given us a great gift in this regard by providing us with a practical and scholarly treatise demonstrating how a construction of values, theological insights, familiarity with ecological degradation, and the science of water are all interconnected and essential to solving the problem of sustainable fresh water availability. This is a must-read book for anyone concerned about the availability of fresh water in our common future.” --Frederick Kirschenmann, author, Cultivating an Ecological Conscience: Essays from a Farmer Philosopher
“By probing deeply into a crucial environmental problem, Christiana Peppard succeeds in opening up other interlaced and contested environmental debates in global agriculture, climate change, and energy use, as well as complex ethical questions about human rights, economics, and gender issues. Woven into this account, we find critical theological threads emerging from liberation theology and Roman Catholic social teaching, as well as humility about humanity's place in the world, while affirming insights emerging from the natural sciences. This approach serves to make complex environmental issues more accessible to the reader, more manageable, and therefore provides a concrete basis for specific action. I heartily recommend this book for students and researchers alike.” --Celia E. Deane-Drummond, University of Notre Dame joyasynthesis.blogspot.ins