OVERVIEW:
The PATHWAYS Environmental Justice Program equips participants with the tools to engage in environmental justice work in their own communities (such as community advocates, eco-church consultants, or coalition builders among faith-based, science-based, and government-based organizations). Consisting of 17 courses in three levels (comprehending, applying, synthesizing), this program invites participants to encounter the planet’s devastation and move towards its healing. Click on the available course titles, and contact Dr. Ruth Shaver, Academic Dean (
STEP 1: Click APPLY NOW
STEP 2: Register for courses. Available courses are linked below.
ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE LOCALLY:
THE LEVEL 1 CERTIFICATE is designed to provide a connection to the learner’s neighborhood through daily journaling about the environment while examining theology, biblical literature, ethics, and church history. Exploration of the neighborhood culture, geography, and local stories will reveal ways that religion throughout history has been just and unjust— locally and globally— to people and the planet. (6 courses)
- Environmental Literacy in God’s Creation
- Eco-Theology: Centering Creation in God’s Love
- Biomes and Landforms in Scripture
- Going Green
- TERRA NULLIUS: The Doctrine of Discovery and the Subjugation of Creation
- NOSTRA TERRA: The Church’s Role in Restoration and Reclamation of Creation
ADVOCATING FOR CHANGE:
THE LEVEL 2 CERTIFICATE is designed to empower learners and their faith communities to engage in environmental justice policymaking. In this climate-changed world, the initial course invites learners to listen to one another empathically across multiple age groups. The other five courses explore significant environmental justice concerns: water, energy, transportation, food sovereignty, and global vs. small-scale agriculture. (Six courses)
- Listening to Our Youth in a Climate-Changed World
- Small-Scale Farmers and Global Industrial Agriculture
- Water is Life
- Transforming Transportation
- Just Energy – Climate Change and Carbon Footprint
- Food Sovereignty
TELLING THE STORY:
THE LEVEL 3 CERTIFICATE invites the learners to deepen their environmental justice knowledge through the following courses: Ecological Theology, Environmental Ethics, Indigenous Theology, and Scripture from an Agrarian Perspective. In the final course, the learner brings together Levels 1, 2, and 3 during a 9-week capstone focused on preaching and worship. (4 courses and a capstone)
- Ecological Theology
- Environmental Ethics
- Indigenous Theology
- Scripture from an Agrarian Perspective
- Capstone: Focus on Worship - Preaching for Ecological Change (9 weeks)
In addition to the first, second, and third level certificates, PATHWAYS offers the opportunity to specialize in a particular area of Christian understanding of Environmental Justice: Theology, Bible, or Church History. This area-specific certificate requires a minimum of two courses in each level plus the Level 3 capstone course; in Level 1, the two courses must be one of the following combinations: 1) Environmental Literacy in God’s Creation and Eco-Theology: Centering Creation in God’s Love; 2) Biomes and Landforms in Scripture and Going Green; or 3) TERRA NULLIUS: The Doctrine of Discovery and the Subjugation of Creation and NOSTRA TERRA: The Church’s Role in Restoration and Reclamation of Creation.
The PATHWAYS Environmental Justice Program continues a 50-year commitment by the United Church of Christ (UCC) to seeking environmental justice. For information on the origin of Environmental Justice and the United Church of Christ, click on UCC Environmental Justice.
