Graduate specialization in Religion & Nature
University of Florida
Description
This graduate specialization is the first in the U.S. to focus on the ways that religion shapes environmental attitudes and practices in cultures throughout the world. We cannot address contemporary environmental problems without understanding the complex, reciprocal relationships among human cultures, religions, and the earth’s living systems. For several decades, scholars from many disciplines have addressed religion’s role in shaping human relations to nature. Some of the areas of study within the program include grassroots environmental movements and communities; environmental ethics, philosophy, and theology; sustainable agriculture and food; animals and religion; outdoor recreation; and regional emphases in India, Latin America, and North America. Departmental faculty are involved in numerous initiatives in these and other areas, including Environmental Values and Practices; the Society for the Study of Religion, Nature, and Culture; Women, Water, and Equity in India; Global Religion in Practice; and Sustainable Agriculture. Graduate students have opportunities to become involved in many of these projects. They may also work with departmental faculty involved in the study of Religion in the Americas and Religions of Asia and, beyond the department, in interdisciplinary environmental studies programs elsewhere in the university.