Rowman & Littlefield Publishers Rooted and Rising: Voices of Hope in a Time of Climate Crisis

Rooted and Rising is for everyone who worries about the climate crisis and seeks spiritual practices and perspectives to renew their capacity for compassionate, purposeful, and joyful action. Leah Schade and Margaret Bullitt-Jonas gather twenty-one faith leaders, scientists, community organizers, theologians, and grassroots climate activists to offer wisdom for fellow pilgrims grappling with the weight of climate change. Acknowledging the unprecedented nature of our predicament-the fact that climate disruption is unraveling the web of life and threatening the end of human civilization-the authors share their stories of grief and hope, fear and faith. Together, the essays, introductory sections, and discussion questions reveal that our present crisis can elicit a depth of wisdom, insight, and motivation with power to guide us toward a more peaceful, just, and Earth-honoring future. With a foreword by Mary Evelyn Tucker and a special introduction by Bill McKibben, the book presents an interfaith perspective that welcomes and challenges readers of all backgrounds. Review Leah Schade and Margaret Bullitt-Jonas have curated a powerful anthology. Their new work offers weary-hearted readers tools to cope with the grief and despair of climate work, encourages persistence in taking action, and motivates bearing witness to the vision of a more just and sustainable future. . . . By collecting these various stories and voices, Schade and Bullitt-Jonas provide the reader with a sense of relief through an unburdening of adopted identities or purposes and asks how can you in your specific life add to this movement? What roots you in this work? How can you stand firmly and deeply in your own soil and rise to meet the both nourishing and harsh conditions these people face in working toward a better world? Anyone in a faith-based organization interested in this work would be wise to read this book and share in community to discern how you are best able to root yourself in this challenging and life-giving work.--Anglican Theological Review If you're part of the 'choir' regarding climate change, if you get it, if you're on board, this is the book you need right now. It will help you keep singing, even when politicians and corporate leaders prove themselves bigger fossil fools than before, even when the news is bleaker, even when you lose hope for the tenth time, but still can't give up. This book puts new steel in my spine and fires up my resolve. You need this book, and the Earth needs you to take its message and resources to heart.--Brian D. McLaren, author of The Great Spiritual Migration Margaret Bullitt-Jonas and Leah Schade have gathered the spiritual and practical wisdom we need for such a time as this. As ministers, activists and scholars, they know we must take bold action that heals the land, the waters, the skies and the whole family of God. They also know our faith traditions provide us with the fuel we need. I hope people of faith everywhere will open this book, explore the diverse and rich collection of voices, and be encouraged, challenged, informed, strengthened, rooted and driven to prayer and action.--The Most Rev. Michael B. Curry, presiding bishop of The Episcopal Church Rooted and Rising should be required reading at all Christian seminaries, rabbinical and Islamic colleges! This collection provides an important way forward for religious leaders to take action for ethical sustainability using the best sources in their own traditions while cultivating interfaith friendships to work for eco-justice--David Grafton, professor of Islamic studies and Christian-Muslim relations, Hartford Theological Seminary In the face of an absolute emergency, the voices in Rooted and Rising represent an important source of inspiration and challenge. There is no time left for delay or half-heartedness in our response to the climate crisis, and these authors call on all of us to do everything we can for the sake of our