The Ecological Crisis Through the Lens of Islam and Christianity

Employing the method of comparative theology, this doctoral thesis examines the ecological crisis through Islamic and Christian perspectives. With the aim of gaining comprehensive knowledge from the two different traditions, the dissertation presents the analysis of four Muslim authors (Nasr, Khalid, Dien, OEzdemir) followed by an exposition of their Christian counterparts (Berry, Boff, Bartholomew, Vogt). After which, the thesis pairs two authors, one Muslim and the other Christian, to compare and contrast the two traditions' understanding of four thematic fields crucial to the environmental crisis discussion: cosmology, economy-society, anthropology, ethics. This allows the study to highlight points of convergence and divergence in the way Muslims and Christians perceive the various dimensions of the issue. In placing the two perspectives side by side, the thesis wishes not to pass judgment as to whose tradition is correct but rather to present the arguments of both sides in order to broaden one's knowledge of the other. With this increased understanding, the study then appropriates insights drawn from the engagement with inter-religious learning.