James Hitchcock

Religious Resonance in the Contemporary World James Hitchcock

As the global population continues to increase at an alarming rate, the world, as a whole, now faces the issue of overpopulation. If the world's natural resource consumption and environmental pollution/destruction continue at their current pace, then the earth will eventually no longer be able to sustain all of its inhabitants. Social change is the only way to prevent this. The world's religious traditions possess particular motivational qualities with respect to people's worldviews and behaviors. All of the world's religious traditions are responding, in some way, to overpopulation. Traditions in isolation, however, do not address the complexities of the current ecological crisis. Overpopulation requires a broader approach that unites the respective responses. This book examines the value of responses to overpopulation from certain Buddhist intellectuals in the contemporary religion and ecology discourse concerning overpopulation while also underscoring instances of resonance between those responses and ones from modern Christian thinkers.