Our Publications on Christianity and the Environment

Martin and Margot in Austria

Our Publications on Christianity and the Environment
For the past few years we have been writing and publishing quite a range of publications in the general area of "Christianity and the Environment". From the more academic to the more popular, and from books, booklets, and briefings to Bible studies and even a DVD! We thought it might be useful for people to have one spot which collects them all together and gives some details of how you can obtain each one if you want it (some are not easy to find!). We will arrange the publications by date:

2004
Margot started by linking her former work on the Jewish Roots of Christianity (e.g. A Feast of Seasons) with thinking about the environment:
Margot R. Hodson (2004) Environmental Christianity: insights from our Jewish Heritage. JRI Briefing Papers, No. 13, Cheltenham: The John Ray Initiative.
This briefing can be downloaded from the JRI web site and paper copies can be ordered from the JRI Office. A reasonable level of theological knowledge would be an advantage in reading this briefing.

2007
Margot was asked by Prof. Sam Berry to write a short epilogue article for his latest book:
Margot R. Hodson  (2007) Creative harmony: Isaiah’s vision of a sustainable future. in R. J. Berry, ed. When Enough is Enough, A Christian Framework for Environmental Sustainability. Leicester: IVP. p.169-177.
This book can be purchased from Amazon UK. A reasonable level of theological knowledge would be an advantage in reading this chapter.

In 2006 we both attended an important meeting at the International Baptist Theological Seminary (IBTS) in Prague where the aim was to consider what might go into the syllabus of a Bible College in terms of environmental theology.  John Weaver and Margot edited the resulting volume:
John Weaver and Margot R. Hodson eds. (2007) The Place of Environmental Theology: a guide for seminaries, colleges and universities. Oxford: Whitley Trust, & Prague: IBTS. The book can be downloaded HERE. Within this book Martin wrote a chapter:
Martin J. Hodson (2007) Environmental theology courses in Europe- Where are we now? in John Weaver and Margot R. Hodson eds. The Place of Environmental Theology: a guide for seminaries, colleges and universities. Oxford: Whitley Trust, & Prague: IBTS. pp. 107-120. Download HERE.
The book can be ordered from the JRI Office. The book is at a fairly academic level and would not be recommended for the general reader.

2008
The pinnacle of our work so far in this whole area. Many years brewing, but worth it, was our book:
Martin J. Hodson and Margot R. Hodson (2008) Cherishing the Earth. How to care for God’s Creation. Oxford: Monarch.
The book can be ordered from the JRI Office, from Amazon (States) and Amazon UK  Intended for the general Christian reader. We gathered all the reviews we could find onto one page.

2009
Late in 2008 we both spoke at the annual Agricultural Christian Fellowship meeting. Margot gave the following paper which was written up for a Rusource Briefing:
Margot R. Hodson (2009) Theology of the Land. Rusource Briefing 776.
If you would like a copy of Margot's paper Contact Us.

In the spring of 2008 and 2009, Martin went on two national "Hope for Planet Earth" tours of the UK with JRI, A Rocha UK, Tearfund and SJI. We visited schools in the days and churches and Christian groups in the evenings, and covered a total of 35 towns and cities. Martin was the tour scientist and did all of the science presentations on the tours. As a spin-off from the tours we made two DVDs, one intended for churches (with Bible studies and theology) and one intended for schools (with lesson plans and ethics). Martin contributed the section on "The Problem", basically a brief look at the science of climate change.
Martin J. Hodson (2009) The Problem. In Hope for Planet Earth. A Christian Response to Climate Change. A multimedia DVD resource for churches. (eds E. Morrice & F. Moffat). SJI, London.
The DVDs can be ordered from the JRI Office. The Church DVD is intended for the general Christian public, and the schools DVD is aimed at 15/16 years and above.

2010
Margot was asked by the Oxford Centre for Mission Studies (OCMS) to write a chapter on environmental mission for their book on holistic mission:
Margot R. Hodson (2010) Storm clouds and mission: creation care and environmental crisis. in B.E, Woolnough and W. Ma eds. Holistic Mission. God's Plan for God's People. Oxford: Regnum Books International. pp. 212-226.
The book can be purchased from OCMS or downloaded for free HERE. If you would like a copy of Margot's paper Contact Us. Not a difficult read, but intended mostly for those interested in missiology.

2011
Margot studied geography for her first degree, and has has long had an interest in Isaiah. These factors came together in her Grove Booklet:
Margot R. Hodson (2011) Uncovering Isaiah’s Environmental Ethics. Grove Booklet, Ethics series, E161. Cambridge: Grove Publications.
More details about this booklet and how to get a copy can be found HERE. The booklet is set at a fairly high theological level.

Martin and Margot spoke at the big "Faith and the Future of the Countryside" in 2010, and this booklet came out of this work:
Martin J. Hodson and Margot R. Hodson  (2011) Climate Change, Faith and Rural Communities. Agriculture and Theology Project, Northampton.
The booklet can be ordered from the JRI Office or downloaded for free HERE. Not a difficult read, but note that it is very definitely focused on the rural areas of the United Kingdom.

2012
Martin helped supervise Lizzie Rushton's undergraduate thesis and the briefing arose from this work:
Elizabeth A.C. Rushton and Martin J. Hodson (2012) Faith, environmental values and understanding: a case study involving Church of England ordinands. JRI Briefing Papers No. 25, Cheltenham: The John Ray Initiative.
This briefing can be downloaded from the JRI web site and paper copies can be ordered from the JRI Office. This is more like a social science research paper, and has quite a lot of statistical analysis. But you can avoid all that if you wish to get an idea of the overall conclusions! Obviously set in a UK context.

2013
Margot was asked by Bible Reading Fellowship (BRF) to contribute 12 Bible Studies on the Environment and Bible for their booklet covering the early part of 2013:
Margot R. Hodson (2013) Environment and the Bible. in L.Cherrett ed. Guidelines, Bible study for today’s ministry and mission, Vol 29 part 1.
Fortunately, BRF decided to release Margot's studies as a FREE SAMPLE in PDF format. If that does not work Contact Us. These studies are intended as an introductory set  for people who are new to thinking about this area, but could be a valuable resource for anyone.

Our friends from Redcliffe College, Gloucester, UK asked if we would write a chapter for them on Climate Justice, and this was the result:
Martin J. Hodson and Margot R. Hodson (2013) Climate Justice: contemporary developments in science, policy, action and theology. In Carnival Kingdom - biblical justice for global communities. Eds. M. Hoek, J. Ingleby, C. Kingston-Smith, & A. Kingston-Smith. 125-143. Wide Margin Publishers.
Our chapter can be downloaded for free and details of how to order the whole book are HERE.The book is intended for those interested in mission/justice, but our chapter has a useful summary of the science and policy on climate change up to August 2012, which may have wider use.

Margot started a project on "Environment and Hope" with Ruth Valerio in 2010. This led to a small consultation and then a larger conference. After the conference we were approached by Anvil theological journal, who asked if we could produce a special edition on the topic. So in September 2013 the edition we co-edited appeared HERE. This is written at a fairly academic level.
Margot wrote an editorial for the volume: Margot R. Hodson (2013) Discovering a robust hope for life on a fragile planet. Anvil 29(1), 1-6. Free download HERE
Martin also had a paper in the journal looking at our current environmental situation, that was the "setup" paper for the following papers on theology and action: Martin J. Hodson (2013) Losing hope? The environmental crisis today. Anvil 29(1), 7-23. Free download HERE.

2014

Sierra Nevada, Spain

On paper this was not quite as productive as in some previous years, but we had a three month sabbatical from August to October (mostly in Spain and Portugal), and the fruits of that will be apparent in 2015. However, we did produce a few short blog articles which appeared in 2014.
Martin wrote several posts for the John Ray Initiative blog:
1) Genetically Modified Animals HERE
2) Meat, Climate Change and all that HERE
3) Review of "The Collapse of Western Civilization": Naomi Oreskes and Eric M. Conway HERE

Margot was asked by Christian Concern for One World to write an article for them:
Margot R. Hodson (2014) Why I Care about the Environment. Download HERE.

2015
In the last few years there has been a growing campaign suggesting that institutions should get rid of their investments in fossil fuels. This started in the States, but has spread worldwide. Many churches and denominations have divested, but some have still to decide (notably the Church of England). Operation Noah have led the campaign in the United Kingdom for churches to divest. We were very pleased to be asked to contribute a short article on the ethics of divestment to join a distinguished group of authors looking at this topic. Links to the articles coming out of this can be found HERE. Our own article is: Martin J. Hodson and Margot R. Hodson (2015) Is it ethical to invest in fossil fuels? How can environmental ethics inform our decision making? HERE

Margot was asked to write an article for Preach Magazine which was producing a special edition on "Preaching for the Planet" in Spring 2015. The whole magazine is HERE.
Margot's contribution is: Margot R. Hodson (2015) Preaching for the planet- key Bible passages. Preach Magazine (Spring 2015), 20-24. HERE

Martin was asked to review Michael Northcott's "A Political Theology of Climate Change" for Anvil Journal (March 2015), and the result is on p. 76 of the book reviews section. HERE

We had been working on the whole area of climate scepticism really since the Copenhagen climate change conference in 2009. But we finally managed to finish off the work on our 2014 sabbatical and here it is:
Martin J. Hodson and Margot R. Hodson (2015) The Ethics of Climatic Scepticism. Grove Books Ltd., Cambridge.
Details of the contents, where you can purchase a copy, and the formats that it is available in are HERE.

Coming in September 2015: "A Christian Guide to Environmental Issues".