Religions and Environmental Ethics: A Comparative Study of John B. Cobb, Jr. and Seyyed Hossein Nasr

Abstract

Religious moral teaching has a deep relationship with environmental ethics. Cobb and Nasr attempt to bring religious moral foundation in the discourses of environmental issues. Cobb tries to address the ecological crisis in connection with Christian faith while Nasr attempts to deal the issue from Islamic understanding of nature. Now, a general question follows: Are their eco-theological thoughts complementary to the present formation of environmental ethics or not? This paper attempts to make a comparative analysis of their eco-theological views of the environment and their suggestions for ecological sustainability. In so doing, the paper aims to show why their eco-theological thoughts are important in environmental ethics and how their suggestions can motivate humans for protection of the natural environment.