Protestantism, Environmentalism,and Limits to Growth

doi:10.1017/9781108860666.012

11 - Protestantism, Environmentalism,and Limits to Growth

from Part II - Histories

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 July 2022

Mark Stoll

Edited by

Alexander J. B. Hampton and

Douglas Hedley

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Alexander J. B. Hampton: Affiliation:
University of Toronto
Douglas Hedley: Affiliation:
University of Cambridge

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Summary

In the mid-1860s, as Britain enjoyed global power thanks to coal-fueled industrial capitalism and as American industrialization was poised to take off, George Perkins Marsh of Vermont in America and William Stanley Jevons from Liverpool in Britain published books that warned unsustainable use of natural resources threatened to impoverish future generations. Their Reformed Protestantism upbringing, descended from forebears’ Puritanism, had instilled in both Marsh and Jevons perspectives and values that informed their analyses and solutions. Since their publication, their books’ reputation has risen with concern for the environment and about limits to growth. They remain valuable and relevant today.

Keywords

George Perkins Marsh William Jevons religion capitalism environment Reformed Protestantism Congregationalism Unitarianism conservation environmentalism

Type: Chapter
Information: The Cambridge Companion to Christianity and the Environment , pp. 163 - 180

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108860666.012 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2022

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References

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