Ecocritical Theology

Book excerpt: The literary field of ecocriticism appraises texts from the perspective of the natural world, its biosystems, its animals (human and otherwise), and its ecological interconnections. Exploring a range of contemporary American novelists whose narratives resonate with numerous ecological challenges, this work examines humankind's relationship with the environment in the context of Judeo-Christian theological views. It demonstrates how characters from novels such as John Updike's Rabbit Run, DeLillo's White Noise, Toni Morrison's Paradise, and Cormac McCarthy's The Road take neopastoral journeys to rediscover an innovative relationship with nature and religion. While some are successful, others turn away from the landscape's spirituality, retreating into technological inventions. The journeys of these fictional American heroes, this volume shows, mirror ongoing, theological, nuclear age convictions.