| dc.description.abstract | Ecojustice and ecotheology call us to take care for creation as a serious responsibility that God has entrusted us towards nature and humans. The intent of this project is to explore the different ways in which some specific churches in Puerto Rico face environmental challenges. The ecotheology of Ivone Gebara and Leonardo Boff in light of Scripture is the theological framework of this investigation. What can the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Toa Alta, Puerto Rico learn about ecojustice as it engages leaders from other congregations that are also actively advocating in favor of ecojustice? The methods used in the project were those often associated with ethnographic studies. Eco-Justice focus group interviews from other churches in light of their experiences dealing with Eco Justice produce four study lessons for Toa Alta (The Ecostories). The project’s design allowed me to gather the congregation in Toa Alta for a series of ecojustice lessons and reflect on practical ecotheology with a diverse theoretical approach, specifically from the scientific and ecological theory framework. The questionnaires at the beginning and at the end of the study lessons series in the Toa Alta congregation reflect that the participants had deepened their understanding of ecotheology and ecojustice concepts after this learning process. The last interviews with the Toa Alta group determined what concepts and ideas they had learned concerning ecojustice issues, ecotheology, and hope. The data collected in the interviews helped to outline three types of patterns and similar interventions in ecojustice issues: (1) Ecojustice Intervention Pattern, (2) Dealing with Resistance to Ecojustice Issues Inside the Congregation and (3) Intervention to Address the Toa Landfill Environmental Crisis. Toa Alta participants had identified steps and ways to intervening, they had reflected together and constructed their own intervention for addressing the landfill environmental crisis from the new knowledge acquired. Ecojustice leaders and the Toa Alta Participants learned from the ecostories that they are not alone, that there are more communities and churches seeking ways to deal with environmental problems, and that we can learn from each other and implement in our congregations what best appeals and adapts to our own community and context. | |
