Judaism, History, and the Environment

This is an enormously erudite book, arguing in very compelling and accessible terms that history and religion matter a great deal and ought to be taken seriously by contemporary environmental and ecological thinking. Dean Phillip Bell applies fine historicist thinking to the Jewish sources and demonstrates the enormous possibilities of looking at classical and medieval sources both on their own terms and with an eye to present-day ethical, spiritual, philosophical, and theological problems. * Ariel Evan Mayse, Stanford University, USA * This fascinating book expands the geographical and temporal scope of Jewish history and asks new questions. Bell shows how Judaism as well as other faith traditions have explained, experienced, and responded to the environment and natural disasters across centuries. His wide-ranging study presents timely lessons for our own response to environmental change. * Robert Jütte, Robert Bosch Stiftung, Germany * This is a book of tremendous range and synthesis. Dean Bell is excavating key concepts in Jewish tradition that are relevant in the face of contemporary environmental crises. But he's also arguing for innovative thinking at the dawn of the Anthropocene. Can religious tradition, history and modern science combine to foster resilience and inspire practical action? That's the challenge of this book - an important one for us all to address. * Nigel Savage, co-founder of Adamah (formerly Hazon) and the Jewish Climate Trust * The Anthropocene marks an unprecedented time in Earth’s history: the human species has added a planetary, geological impact to our historical cultural imprint. Given the civilizational stakes of this human age for the Earth, scholars in the humanities are evolving novel, hybrid approaches to their work. Esteemed historian and Jewish Studies scholar Dean Bell’s Judaism, History, and the Environment is a stunning exemplification of this new environmental humanities scholarship. As a historian, Bell knows that, even if we live in unprecedented times, there is always something to learn from history. As a Jewish Studies scholar, he shows that, even though we live in a secular age, there is much for us to learn from the religions, especially how diverse religious traditions interact and respond to historical crises. And as an environmental humanities scholar, he synthesizes these commitments to show readers—through cases and theory—what we have to learn from the history of religions about how we might live together more responsibly in a tumultuous time for the history of our species and the planet.