A sample entry from the Encyclopedia of Religion and Nature (London & New York: Continuum, 2005) Edited by Bron Taylor © 2005 All Rights Reserved Ecofeminism – Historic and International Evolution 533 Related ecofeminist concerns with embodiment surface Primavesi, Anne. From Apocalypse to Genesis. Min- in the Earth Bible’s volume on biblical wisdom literature neapolis: Fortress Press, 1991. (Habel and Wurst 2001). Shirley Wurst’s focus on eco- Ruether, Rosemary Radford, ed. Women Healing Earth. kinship develops aspects of interconnectedness and Earth Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 1996. kinship evident in the biblical personification of divine Ruether, Rosemary Radford. Gaia and God: An Eco- wisdom as a woman. Drawing on the practice of biblical feminist Theology of Earth Healing. San Francisco: scholar Claudia Camp, Wurst names this figure of kinship HarperSanFrancisco, 1992. Woman Wisdom. For Laura Hobgood-Oster, Woman See also: Christianity (7c) – Liberation Theology; Christian- Wisdom offers a vision of the divine which contrasts ity (7d) – Feminist Theology; Earth Bible; Ecofeminism with other less Earth-friendly images: “The divine being (various); Gebara, Ivone; Ruether, Rosemary Radford. frolicking in creation suggests a very different image than a king sitting on a throne with Earth as ‘his’ footstool” (in Habel and Wurst 2001: 40). Woman Wisdom inhabits the Ecofeminism – Historic and International realm of Earth; she invites humans to open themselves to a Evolution passionate knowing of Earth. In the same volume, Carole Fontaine focuses on the celebration of sexual desire in the Ecofeminism emerged in the 1970s and 1980s as myriad Song of Songs. The lovers’ desire to connect is reflected in forms of feminist and environmental theories and activ- the wider interconnectedness of the Earth community. Not isms intersected. The term was introduced by Françoise only does the natural world provide space for the lovers’ d’Eaubonne in her book Le Feminisme ou la Mort meeting and material for their metaphors, but also it itself (Feminism or Death) published in 1974. Some theorists, is both lover and beloved. such as Ynestra King, name it as a third wave of feminism, As Eaton indicates, ecofeminist interpretations must be while others place it in the general category of deep ethically responsible. The patriarchal and androcentric ecology. Ecofeminism acts in both and neither of these character of much biblical material remains a key concern. broad movements, simultaneously serving as an environ- So, too, does the problem of the anthropocentrism of mental critique of feminism and a feminist critique of the text and its readers, which tends to make ecological environmentalism. Ecofeminist trajectories are varied; concerns marginal to the work of biblical interpretation. there is no one accepted or orthodox “ecofeminism.” Further, as post-colonial insights are integrated with Rosemary Radford Ruether, Ivone Gebara, Vandana Shiva, ecofeminist ones, there is a critical focus on the ways in Susan Griffin, Alice Walker, Starhawk, Sallie McFague, which the Bible has been used in the Eurowestern project Luisah Teish, Sun Ai Lee-Park, Paula Gunn Allen, Monica of colonization. At the same time, eco-sensitive readings Sjöö, Greta Gaard, Karen Warren and Andy Smith are are emerging in the interplay between ecofeminist reader among the voices speaking from ecofeminist positions. and biblical text. Considering the problematic aspects of Ecofeminism asserts that all forms of oppression are the text, Hobgood-Oster writes: “Earth recontextualizes connected and that structures of oppression must be and subverts” (in Habel and Wurst 2001: 46). The chal- addressed in their totality. Oppression of the natural world lenge to ecofeminist interpreters of the Bible is to allow and of women by patriarchal power structures must be Earth to recontextualize and subvert our readings of the examined together or neither can be confronted fully. text. These socially constructed oppressions formed out of the power dynamics of patriarchical systems. In one of the Anne Elvey first ecofeminist books, New Woman/New Earth, Ruether, states: Further Reading Adams, Carol J., ed. Ecofeminism and the Sacred. New Women must see that there can be no liberation for York: Continuum, 1993. them and no solution to the ecological crisis within Gebara, Ivone. Longing for Running Water: Ecofeminism a society whose fundamental model of relationships and Liberation. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1999. continues to be one of domination. They must unite Habel, Norman C., ed. Readings from the Perspective of the demands of the women’s movement with those Earth. Earth Bible 1. Sheffield: Sheffield Academic of the ecological movement to envision a radical Press, 2000. reshaping of the basic socioeconomic relations and Habel, Norman C. and Shirley Wurst, eds. The Earth Story the underlying values of this [modern industrial] in Wisdom Traditions. Earth Bible 3. Sheffield: society (1975: 204). Sheffield Academic Press, 2001. Keller, Catherine. Apocalypse Now and Then: A Feminist Ruether makes clear a central tenet of ecofeminism: Guide to the End of the World. Boston: Beacon Press, Earth and the other-than-human experience the tyranny 1996. of patriarchy along with women. Classism, racism, sexism, 534 Ecofeminism – Historic and International Evolution heterosexism, naturism (a term coined by Warren) and and Nature (1978) and Carolyn Merchant’s The Death of speciesism are all intertwined. Nature (1980). Ecofeminism is multi-faceted and multi-located, chal- Some of the earliest articulations of ecofeminism lenging structures rather than individuals. By confronting analyzed the patriarchal underpinnings in religious and systems of patriarchy, ecofeminism broadens the scope of philosophical systems of the European and Mediterranean the cultural critique and incorporates seemingly disparate world. These cultural and geographical foci surfaced from but, according to ecofeminism, radically connected elem- the primarily European and Euro-American voices that ents. Combining feminist and deep ecological perspectives constituted the initial ecofeminist conversations. Such – in and of themselves extremely varied ways of thinking scholars as Anne Primavesi, Carol Christ, Merchant, Daly, about reality – is a complex, transgressive process that is and Charlene Spretnak examined cultural and religious often in flux. Ecofeminist positions reflect varied political systems from such areas as ancient Mesopotamia and stances that may be, and usually are, transformed through Greece, as well as religious systems such as Judaism and time and place. In other words, the political activisms and Christianity. They proposed that patriarchal cultural alliances stemming from ecofeminism modify in relation- structures revolved around layers of symbol systems that ship to the perceived justice issues being confronted in justified domination. For example, they interpret the differing cultural and historical settings. Because of this creation stories in the book of Genesis, foundational for constant morphing, ecofeminism simultaneously chal- Judaism, Christianity and Islam, as demonizing both lenges patriarchies from different angles. This is one of the woman (Eve) and animal (the snake). myriad strengths of the fluid and radically diverse posi- These and other early ecofeminists analyzed pre- tions assumed by ecofeminism. patriarchal cultures in the Mediterranean and old Euro- Ecofeminism claims that patriarchal structures justify pean worlds as well. Feminist historian Gerda Lerner and their dominance through categorical or dualistic hier- archeomythologist Marija Gimbutas provided some of the archies: heaven/Earth, mind/body, male/female, human/ groundwork for this analysis. Gimbutas’ theories of Old animal, spirit/matter, culture/nature, white/non-white. Europe are based in her complex and widely critiqued Established oppressive systems continue to manifest archeomythological reconstructions. Her theories suggest their abusive powers by reinforcing assumptions of these that life-valuing, sometimes matriarchal and rarely binaries, even making them sacred through religious and militaristic societies existed before Indo-Aryan invaders scientific constructs. Ecofeminism posits that as long as slowly destroyed these cultures. Lerner’s historical any of the dualisms exist as an integral component of reconstructions focus on the shift from small Neolithic societal structuring and justification, they will all continue villages to city-based states with the accompanying rise to serve as starting points to justify patriarchy. Therefore of patriarchal cultural systems. Both theorists posit all dualisms and binary oppositional forms must be dis- pre-patriarchal Mediterranean world religious cultures mantled otherwise humanity remains “divided against” in which fertility goddesses and other nature symbolism itself, a phrase that Griffin uses to describe the ideological figured prominently. impact of dualism. Gradually, patriarchal, militaristic sky gods replaced As a justice advocate for the entire web of life, eco- Earth goddesses and gods. Most of the ancient symbols feminism resists dividing culture into these imbedded of power were subverted and remythologized as evil or separate or dualistic arenas. In her introduction to Eco- chaotic. The mother goddess, whose body often birthed or feminism: Women, Culture, Nature, editor Warren asserts: constituted the Earth, became the target of the powerful “What makes ecofeminism distinct is its insistence