Report on Faith and Ecology Teaching in Holy Land Seminaries
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Report on Faith and Ecology Instruction in Holy Land Seminaries By Ari Ben-Arie and Rabbi Yonatan Neril March, 2016 A Collaborative project of The Interfaith Center for Sustainable Development and the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung, with additional support from the Julia Burke Foundation Copyright © 2016 the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung and the Interfaith Center for Sustainable Development Report on Faith and Ecology Teaching in North American Seminaries Contents Introduction ........................................................................................................................................................ 4 Methodology ...................................................................................................................................................... 5 Part 1: Jewish Rabbinical Seminaries ........................................................................................................................... 7 The Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies ...................................................................................................................... 7 Hebrew Union College .............................................................................................................................................. 8 Schechter Institute of Jewish Studies ........................................................................................................................ 9 Midreshet Ein HaNatziv, and The Conservative Yeshiva in Jerusalem ................................................................. 10 Yeshivat Ma’ale Gilboa .......................................................................................................................................... 11 Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary (REITS) of Yeshiva University, Israel Campus .............................. 12 Yeshivat Har Etzion ................................................................................................................................................ 13 Ohr Somayach Yeshiva ........................................................................................................................................... 14 Part II: Christian Seminaries ....................................................................................................................................... 15 Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem Seminary ............................................................................................................... 15 Swedish Theological Institute ................................................................................................................................. 16 Tantur Ecumenical Institute .................................................................................................................................... 17 Studium Theologicum Salesianum ......................................................................................................................... 18 Domus Mamre ........................................................................................................................................................ 19 Domus Galilaeae ..................................................................................................................................................... 20 Christ Church, and Franciscan Seminary of the Holy Land ................................................................................... 20 Studium Biblicum Franciscanum ............................................................................................................................ 22 Ecole Biblique et Archéologique Français .............................................................................................................. 22 Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem Seminary ....................................................................................................... 23 Part III: Islamic Institutions ........................................................................................................................................ 24 Islamic Studies Department, Al Qasemi College .................................................................................................... 24 Summary ..................................................................................................................................................................... 26 Recommendations for Further Engagement on Faith and Ecology Teaching in Seminaries ...................................... 28 About the Interfaith Center for Sustainable Development and the Konrad Adenaeur Stiftung .................................. 28 About the Authors, and Table of Institutions Surveyed .............................................................................................. 29 Appendix 1 – Faith and Ecology Course Descriptions or Syllabi at Holy Land Seminaries ...................................... 32 Report on Faith and Ecology Teaching in Holy Land Seminaries Introduction Environmental challenges, in particular climate change, are already impacting the Holy Land and the Middle East in dramatic and destabilizing ways. First, recent scientific research links the civil war in Syria to the prolonged drought that was exacerbated by climate change.1 Syria’s civil war has killed several hundred thousand people and displaced over 10 million people. Second, ‘Winter Storm Alexa’ in December 2013 dumped a several month’s worth of heavy rainfall and snow across the region. People died, tens of thousands of people fled from floodwaters, hundreds of thousands lost power, and millions of trees were damaged. While many have sought to address climate change and other global environmental challenges, activists have yet to succeed in catalyzing a collective global response commensurate with the challenge. This stems in part from the failure to engage those people with the greatest track record of inspiring behavior change: faith leaders, clergy, and teachers. Twenty-five years ago, a group of prominent scientists wrote an open letter calling for faith communities to support them in addressing climate change: “Problems of such magnitude…must be recognized as having a religious as well as a scientific dimension...we scientists urgently appeal to the world religious community in word and deed.” 2 Much of the world's population is involved with a religious or spiritual community. Therefore, it is imperative that emerging clergy learn how their faith relates to environmental balance in order to aid their congregations in the healing of human society. Seminaries influence the reach and impact of future faith leaders. Many faiths understand the ecological crisis to be a spiritual crisis, and the education of emerging clergy in this area is therefore critically important. The many millions of people who suffer from ecological, political and religious conflicts often turn to their faith for support. Heightening the skills of future and current religious leaders and linking them together with a common moral purpose and a greater understanding will inspire action toward a peaceful, just, and sustainable future. Improving emerging clergy's ecological awareness will inspire communities, congregations, and leaders of other sectors in improving human-environment relations. Common environmental challenges and the responsibility for stewardship among people across faiths can help bring people together. Faith communities working together have leverage to transform people’s 1 Climate change in the Fertile Crescent and implications of the recent Syrian drought, Kelly et. al, January 2015, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (US), online at http://www.pnas.org/content/112/11/3241 2 Sagan Urges Clerics to Join To Save Globe, Peter Steinfels, January 16, 1990, The New York Times. The article is online at: http://www.nytimes.com/1990/01/16/science/sagan-urges-clerics-to-join-to-save-globe.html Page 4 Report on Faith and Ecology Teaching in Holy Land Seminaries behavior and influence their societies and governments. Religious institutions play a unique role in society in encouraging faith adherents to think long term and act morally. Indeed, climate change is fundamentally an issue of intergenerational justice. The Holy Land contains one of the world’s highest concentrations of religious seminaries. In hundreds Jewish seminaries, and dozens of Christian and Muslim seminaries, students engage in programs of formation in the Holy Land and then go on to teach here or in other locations. A number of these seminaries have embarked on a host of greening initiatives on their campuses. Part of this involves greening of the physical infrastructure of the campus. Another significant aspect of greening seminaries pertains to the level at which ecology and creation care is integrated into curricula. This is manifested via courses that relate to faith and ecology, as well as integrating ecological components into existing courses on other topics. This Report on Faith and Ecology Courses in Holy Land Seminaries comes on the heels of two Reports that were published in the past eight months by ICSD: The Report on Faith and Ecology Courses in North American Seminaries, and the Report on Catholic Ecology Courses in Catholic Seminaries, both funded by the Julia Burke Foundation. These Reports provide a unique window into the current teaching taking place in seminaries. Methodology This report reviews the level of tuition in the subject of environmental quality among twenty religious