The Certificate in Earth Justice & Spirituality is an interdisciplinary program of study that engages CRCDS' long legacy of commitment to social justice with local and global efforts to address the environmental emergency. In particular, the Certificate will equip students to lead religious communities to act as a moral force for environmental justice, and to nurture spiritualities to shape and sustain this activism. These spiritualities will be informed by the texts, traditions, and practices of religious communities that reverence the earth, while also recognizing the actively complicit and passively silent role of religion in the earth's devastation. Students will be prepared to participate in global and local conversations taking place among Christian churches and other religious communities, as well as in educational settings, and to take the lead in witness and activism.
Key program elements include the following:
1. An introductory and intersectional course that critically addresses the study of earth justice and spiritualities, including eco-theologies, together with the critical study of women, genders, sexualities, and race and racism.
2. Courses specific to Earth Justice and Spirituality, e.g., theologies of land and water, forest spirituality, creation and bodies, race and indigeneity, eco-feminism and mysticism as the power of re-imagining and a force for revolutionary change.
3. A Practicum or Immersive experience with Directed Study, that enables students to hone skills and engage ideas in a project that has transferability into future ministry or activist settings.
4. A summative project that builds on the Practicum and reflects local and global initiatives and resources; to be presented during a CRCDS Lecture Week or other identified forum.
5. An oral examination that gathers data from the student's course of study, and focuses on the summative project, as well as on goals for the future.