Cheng-Tian Kuo

Church, Capitalism, and Democracy in Post-Ecological Societies Cheng-Tian Kuo

Most ecotheologies build their arguments on the Bible's creation-story and resurrection-narrative in the hope to save the ecology through spiritual meditation, reforming capitalism, and/or deliberative democracy. However, based on a Chinese Christian social scientist's perspective, this book argues that few of these ecotheologies are theologically and empirically valid. Instead, it proposes a neuro-institutional post-ecology theology that builds on the major themes of the Last Judgment to refocus ecotheology toward evangelism and to adapt ecotheology to capitalism and democracy in order to embrace the ""already but not yet"" impacts of the inevitable total destruction of the ecology in the near future. The vanities in current ecotheologies are divided into religious, economic, and political categories. Among the major ones discussed in this book are the vanities of ecological meditation theology, leftist and rightist economic theologies, as well as ecotheologies of green authoritarianism and deliberative democracy. Even if these ecotheologies work perfectly as they were intended to, global ecological crises have passed the point of no return (i.e., post-ecology) and rendering all of them a global vanity. Based on a Chinese Christian social scientist's perspective, this book proposes a moderate course of ecological spirituality, economic behaviors, and democratic actions, but with a radical devotion to crisis management and evangelism in preparation for the Doomsdays. This book is unique in its balanced interdisciplinary composition, employing theories from cognitive science, Christian theology, economics, and political science. ""Professor Kuo displays a remarkably balanced approach of reason, emotion, and spirituality, and does so with humor, grace, eloquence, and deep human understanding. It is stunning in its interdisciplinary coverage: a delightful display of vast knowledge and practical wisdom. This brilliant work will open up fascinating lines of insight for future investigations of the most important task facing humankind--how to manage the relationship between human civilization and the natural world."" --Alan T. Wood, University of Washington, Bothell ""Confronted by the dire warnings of ecological collapse in a generation or two, Kuo searches in vain for answers among contemporary ecotheologies, economic analyses, and political regimes. Innovatively weaving Christian Scripture together with findings from neuroscience and institutional analyses, he issues a challenge to Christians on the right and left to follow the Great Commission to save souls and the ecology. This will provoke debate--and soul-searching--among all those concerned with our earth and those who inhabit it."" --Carsten Vala, Loyola University Cheng-tian Kuo is Distinguished Professor of Religious Politics at the National Chengchi University in Taiwan. He is the author of Religion and Democracy in Taiwan (2008) and the editor of Religion and Nationalism in Chinese Societies (2017).