Inhabitance

Ayres provides a fresh take on an urgent topic. This important book fills a gap in the resources available for religious educators, ministers, and other leaders in faith communities for whom deep concern about ecological destruction is a theological and moral issue. By placing an understanding of ethics and ecology into play with knowledge about how such learning happens, Ayres offers a path away from despair over ecological destruction and toward faithful action grounded in love.

~Joyce Mercer, Professor of Pastoral Care and Practical Theology, Horace Bushnell Professor of Christian Nurture, Yale Divinity School

In this astonishingly perceptive and wise book, Jennifer Ayres reaches out to people who have become alienated from the natural world, disoriented by loss of their home places, or immobilized by ecological grief. Through the recovery of the idea of inhabitance she guides her readers to an authentic way of living in place that is neither nostalgic nor utopian but deeply life-giving and theologically profound. This book is a vital resource for ecological theology in the twenty-first century.

~Carol A. Newsom, Charles Howard Candler Professor Emerita of Old Testament/Hebrew Bible, Emory University

Inhabitance: Ecological Religious Education is a solid, needed work and a gift to the church as a pedagogical agent of our ecological vocation. It includes a gratifying array of parish practices coupled to on-the-ground examples and all set within Christian resources and wisdom.

~Larry Rasmussen, Reinhold Niebuhr Professor Emeritus of Social Ethics, Union Theological Seminary, New York City

Inhabitance should be read by anyone engaged in theological education today. Although Jennifer Ayres writes for an American readership, her book speaks to all those who are concerned about how best to respond to the reality of the climate crisis that faces the planet. She offers a wise theological pedagogy that takes seriously the grief and vulnerability that is increasingly felt among those seeking to express their faithfulness to Jesus Christ by developing habits and character in the service of the world.

~Frances Ward, Modern Believing

While ecological concerns have long been of research interest to religious education, this urgent topic is seriously underrepresented in the North American practical theological community. That is why Ayres' contribution is a rare and welcome addition. Inhabitance can be used togenerate more conversations on ecological faith and commitment in the classroom and faith communities, and also to inspire further research in the larger scholarly community of practical theology.

~Eunil David Cho, Reading Religion

Inhabitance--from its wide-ranging theoretical grounds in theology, philosophical ethics, and environmental studies to its captivating case studies of educational practice in faith communities--is an excellent work of practical theology that can be widely read. For teachers and students of theological education, the sheer comprehensiveness of this book will highlight the importance of engaging in a grounded theological practice like this 'pedagogy of inhabitance' that deeply understands and responds to particular contextual challenges. For lay leaders and members in churches, this book will lead to metanoia, 'turning toward God,' in order to fall in love again with God's creation.

~Eunil David Cho, Reading Religion

[Inhabitance] is a well-written and interesting monograph, which provides both a considerable scholarly discussion (including nearly 60 pages of notes and references) and many illuminating accounts of relevant practice.

~Jeff Astley, Scottish Journal of Theology