Just Water: Theology, Ethics, and the Global Water Crisis

by Christiana Z. Peppard

An interdisciplinary analysis of the value of fresh water that generates timely and principled conclusions at the intersections of hydrology, ecology, ethics, theology, and Catholic social thought.

Genres: Religion, Environment, Nonfiction, Theology, Social Justice

230 pages, Paperback

First published January 2, 2014

About the author

Christiana Z. Peppard received her Ph.D. from Yale University (2011, with distinction), an M.A.R. in Ethics from Yale Divinity School (2005, summa cum laude), and a B.A. in Human Biology from Stanford University (2001). Her book, Just Water: Theology, Ethics, and the Global Water Crisis explores the problem of fresh water scarcity in an era of climate change and economic globalization, and it charts a fresh water ethic from resources in environmental thought, moral anthropology, and Catholic social teaching (Orbis Books, pub. date January 2014).

Dr. Peppard is the author of peer-reviewed scholarly articles in venues such as the Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, the Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion, the Journal of the Society of Christian Ethics, and the Journal of Catholic Social Thought. She has contributed chapters to several edited volumes and, with the late Arthur Galston, she co-edited the book, Expanding Horizons in Bioethics (Springer, 2005), which argued for an expansion of bioethical discourse towards the horizon of the relationship between science and society. Presently she is co-editing, with Andrea Vicini, S.J., a volume entitled “Just Sustainability: Technology, Ecology, and Resource Extraction” (under contract with Orbis Books). Dr. Peppard is a Fordham University Public Voices Fellow with the Op-Ed Project, and her work as an educator and researcher appears in prominent public media outlets including TED-Ed, CNN.com, the History Channel, Microsoft’s Global Innovators in Education blog, the Huffington Post, and the Washington Post. She lectures nationally and internationally on fresh water, ethics, resource extraction, and religion and science.

At Fordham, Dr. Peppard teaches a range of classes, including: Human Nature After Darwin, Theology and Science, American Icons and Religiosity, Religion and Ecology, Environmental Ethics, and Faith and Critical Reason.

From 2009-2012, Dr. Peppard served as a lay member of the Board of Directors of America magazine, the weekly publication of the Jesuit Conference of the United States. Prior to joining the faculty at Fordham, Dr. Peppard was Cathedral Scholar in Residence at St. John the Divine in New York City and Visiting Scholar at the Center for Ethics Education at Fordham. Previously, she trained as a hospital chaplain and was part of a National Endowment for the Humanities summer seminar on Ethics at the End of Life (2003) while she worked at the Yale Center for Bioethics. She lives in New York City with her spouse and exuberant daughter, loves mornings, and enjoys reading poetry, intellectual biographies, ecological economic theory, and histories of the hydraulic period of the American West.

https://legacy.fordham.edu/academics/...

Reviews

[Thomas Hickson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am an atheist and a geologist. I use this book in a university-level class that I co-teach with a Catholic theologian: Theology and the Environment. After an introductory chapter that seems inserted to demonstrate the author's theology cred (opaque prose, jargon-rich), this book provides an excellent and in-depth study on how practicing Catholics might view their role in combating environmental degradation, through the lens of an absolutely critical resource for life: water. The book weaves concepts of Catholic Social Teaching with the scientific, historical, economic, social, and political situation that has led to our current global water crisis. And if you don't think there is a global water crisis and you're Catholic, you should probably read this book. Case studies are well done and the book is generally a good read, although it could do with a bit more passion...

[Arianna · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars

A solid introduction to water issues from a Catholic perspective that provides a good overview of the numerous issues associated with water and sustainability in the 21st century. While this didn't teach me a lot of new things I feel that it is a solid inter-sectional examination of areas that are linked to access to water. This book is rather accessible for a academic text and doesn't feel overly stuffy or formal. I would recommend this book to anyone looking to examine the intersection of Catholic social teaching with global water issues, and the ways that Christian Doctrine intersects with ethics of water, environment and social justice.

[Spencer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great interdisciplinary introduction to many of the issues involved in clean water access, use, and control.