Communication Professor Publishes Book Chapter on Religion, Environmental Activism & Gender
Assistant Professor Dr. Christopher Thomas, from the Department of Communication, recently published a book chapter in New Directions in Rhetoric and Religion: Exploring Emerging Intersections of Religion, Public Discourse, and Rhetorical Scholarship (ed. James W. Vining, Rowman & Littlefield 2021). The chapter is entitled “Site of Sacred Resistance: Eco-Spiritual Appeals, Environmental Justice, and the Adorers of the Blood of Christ” and examines the activism of religious women struggling for a more just and sustainable world.
In particular, the book chapter analyzes the Adorers of the Blood of Christ (a group of nuns out of Pennsylvianna) and their battle against an energy company proposing an oil pipeline that would cut through the women’s land. In response, the Adorers use whatever resources available and communicate their opposition to the pipeline project through Catholic notions of divinity, interconnectivity, and stewardship. Overall, the book chapter takes seriously women’s eco-spiritual appeals for environmental justice and their role in organizing and leading environmental campaigns and movements.