Spiritual Practices for Ecological Survival
Rituals of Resistance
- Textbook
Spiritual Practices for Ecological Survival
Rituals of Resistance
- Textbook
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Description
Carvalhaes invites readers into a spiritual practice of resistance and renewal for our climate-challenged world. At its heart lies a simple yet profound ritual of three gestures-rising, bowing, and prostrating-performed within one's own bioregion as a way to reconnect body, spirit, and land. These embodied actions ground us in our places, teaching us to attend to the skies and trees above, to honor human and nonhuman neighbors around us, and to remember the histories beneath our feet.
Carvalhaes situates this practice within a sweeping analysis of our global crises. He shows how ecological destruction, political violence, economic injustice, and social fragmentation all stem from a deeper spiritual crisis: our captivity to the spirit of capitalism. By tracing the colonial roots of our broken relationship with the earth and naming the ongoing struggles between destructive global forces and local lifegiving spirits, he exposes the urgent need for new forms of ritual and spirituality.
Drawing on theology, philosophy, indigenous wisdom, and ecology, the book develops key concepts such as bioregion, relationality, and “molecular revolutions”-small acts that can spark wide transformation. Alongside theory, Carvalhaes provides practical tools: reflective exercises, a bioregional quiz, and ritual guidance that make the work accessible for both classrooms and communities.
Weaving scholarship and practice, critique and hope, Carvalhaes redefines what it means to live faithfully in our time. With poetic vision and prophetic urgency, he calls us to decolonize ourselves, reorient our desires, and embody gestures that generate new forms of communal life.
This book offers students, professors, clergy, and general readers alike a path toward reconnection with the earth-and with one another-through ritualized practices of care, resistance, and hope.
Table of Contents
Introduction
Rising, Bowing, Prostrating: Spiritual Practices For a Changing Earth-An Overview
Counteracting a 500-Year-Old Gesture: A New Spirit
The Spiritual Practices
The spirit/Spirit/s in the Bioregion
Global spirit and Local spirit/Spirit/s
Discernment of the spirit/Spirit/s
The Economy of Beatitudes and Shimmering
The Religiosities that Surround Us
Why a Ritual?
An Aesthetic Movement
Bioregion and Other Terms
Bioregion-Preparation for the Spiritual Practices
One More Round
Understanding Your Bioregion: A Brief Quiz
Why a Gesture? Why this Gesture?
Decolonizing Ourselves: The Re(li)gion We Inhabit
Rituals: Bodies–Territories–Worlds
Fetishes, Prayers, and Spiritualities
Molecular Revolutions
Reorienting Our Common Living
In Theory and in Practice-Our Spiritual Journey
Flaco, A Molecular Revolution
The Power of Ritualized Gestures
Conclusion: Pay Attention and Tell a Story
Afterword - Bonnie J. Miller-McLemore
Product details
| Published | Oct 01 2026 |
|---|---|
| Format | Hardback |
| Edition | 1st |
| Pages | 200 |
| ISBN | 9798216449386 |
| Imprint | Bloomsbury Academic |
| Illustrations | 7 b&w illustrations |
| Dimensions | 9 x 6 inches |
| Series | Religion in the Modern World |
| Publisher | Bloomsbury Publishing |























