Description
Book SynopsisTroubled Waters provides readers with an appreciation of the central role of religious meanings and ritual practices surrounding water, arriving at creative new ways to approach the growing water crisis worldwide.
Trade ReviewGary Chamberlain’s information and analysis is unique and will make an important contribution to the primacy of water in religious traditions and the ethical requirements for a just and adequate distribution. -- Russell Butkus, University of Portland
Gary Chamberlain presents an interdisciplinary tour de force through the rising tide of water issues affecting all areas of life and global society. Written to effect major changes in how humans view, value, and treat this life-giving source, the book combines scholarship on world religions, history, hydrology, cosmology, social science, politics, and ethics in the service of water's restoration and democratic distribution. Like the water on which he creatively focuses, the book is an invaluable resource on many fronts. -- Celeste Rossmiller, Regis University, Denver
Troubled Waters is a useful survey of different religious traditions' perspectives on the meaning and use of water. Gary Chamberlain makes an important contribution from a religious perspective to developing a new water ethos. -- David McCloskey, president, Cascadia Institute; Seattle University
After reading Chamberlain's book I'm not going to look at my early morning glass of water without more profound reverence and thanksgiving. This book demonstrates clearly that cultural and religious dimensions rather than economic and technocratic perspectives must shape any future realistic management of our earth's precious water resources if we are to survive. -- Peter J. Henriot, S.J., Jesuit Centre for Theological Reflection, Lusaka, Africa
Given the present threats to fresh water from anthropogenic climate change, Chamberlain's book is timely. -- Michael S. Northcott, University of Edinborough
Grounded in both thorough scientific knowledge and a profound caring for nature and people, the breadth of Gary Chamberlain's approaches to the question of water is breathtaking. Even more remarkable is his success in weaving all of these diverse perspectives—religion, history, science, culture, ethics and justice—into a coherent, compelling story that both inspires and calls us to action. In this critical time, we are in such need of engaging works like this that unite rather than divide the disciplines as we work to save ourselves, our fellow creatures, and the living, essential waters that we share. -- Trileigh Tucker, associate professor of environmental studies, Seattle University
In Troubled Waters , he exposes the problems surrounding water pollution, misuse, and scarcity that pose challenges no less pressing than those associated with global warming, and that are indeed no less difficult to resolve. -- Christian Diehm, University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point * Journal for Peace & Justice Studies *
Table of ContentsChapter 1 Water in Indigenous and Asian Traditions Chapter 2 Water in Abrahamic, Western Traditions Chapter 3 Water: a Biography Chapter 4 Water and the Human Cycle Chapter 5 A Tenuous Relationship: Human Need and Water Resources Chapter 6 Water Management: Privatization, Problems, and Resistance Chapter 7 Rights to Water and a New Water Ethic Chapter 8 "I Like Fountain Flow": Religion Revisited Chapter 9 Where Do We Go from Here?
