Woven Together

Now more than ever, it's critical that religious stories encompass a call to moral responsibility for the earth and to the global poor. But, the divorce between religious faith and science has left many people feeling unmoored and adrift at a time when we ought to be drawing closer to nature and each other. It is a theological activity to see the world as it really is--to look its suffering squarely in the face and tend to a wounded world. The global poor, especially women among them, are some of the world's most disenfranchised people. Their realities must inform the conversations about God and the world that people of faith are having in the church. There is no salvation from the world, only salvation with the world. This means learning to live as a member of a community of mutual responsibility--to look inward and ask ourselves how we might turn outward and live differently. Concern for nature and social justice must become a central part of Christian moral life. ""A good-hearted and useful effort to bridge some of the gaps between communities of faith and the environmental justice movement. The author understands how important it is that our campaigns are deeply rooted in the lives of the poor--this is the best lens with which to view the world going forward."" --Bill McKibben, Schumann Distinguished Scholar in Environmental Studies at Middlebury College ""Woven Together is a gem--an invaluable weave of theology and ethics in the context of environmental concerns and social justice. Mastaler's personal stories make for a highly engaging book, one that will appeal to all who are concerned with the future of our planet."" --Mary Evelyn Tucker, Forum on Religion and Ecology at Yale University ""This passionate and thoughtful exploration of difficult and often painful issues is rooted in wide intellectual knowledge and broad personal experience of human and non-human suffering."" --Roger S. Gottlieb, author of Morality and the Environmental Crisis and Political and Spiritual: Essays on Religion, Environment, Disability, and Justice James S. Mastaler lectures on religious ethics and theology at Loyola University Chicago. He has worked alongside community leaders spanning more than twelve countries on three continents while studying social and ecological systems related to structural poverty, gender disparity, and environmental degradation. He resides in the Great Lakes bioregion where he writes from the shores of Lake Michigan-Huron, the largest freshwater lake by surface area in the world.