Protestantism, Capitalism, and Nature in America

by Mark Stoll

Environmentalists have often blamed Protestantism for justifying the human exploitation of nature, but the author of this cultural history argues that, in America, hard-boiled industrialists and passionate environmentalists sprang from the same Protestant root. Protestant Christianity Calvinism especially both helped industrialists like James J Hill rationalise their utilisation of nature for economic profit and led environmental advocates like John Muir to call for the preservation of unspoiled wilderness. Biographical vignettes examine American thinkers, industrialists, and environmentalists Benjamin Franklin, Joseph Smith, William Gilpin, Leland Stanford, Gifford Pinchot, Aldo Leopold, and others whose lives show the development of ideas and attitudes that have profoundly shaped Americans' use of and respect for nature. The final chapter looks at several contemporary figures James Watt, Annie Dillard, and Dave Foreman whose careers exemplify the recent Protestant thought and behaviour and their impact on the environment.

176 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 1997

Reviews

[Luke Merrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

Such a compelling title.
I believe this was written as a dissertation and then published as a book later. Never the less, I found Stoll to be informative and poetic. I enjoyed the slow progression of thought from the very beginning of America to the present and his exposition of various influential conservationists was interesting.

Stoll presents a difficult tension of thought within conservationism; one that sees the land as a gift from God to use and the other as the land as a manifestation of God that needs protecting.

Through Annie Dillard he points out that nature is a contradiction for it holds an abundance of evidence for God in the "song of a bird and the web of a spider" but at the same time is full of death in that "Creatures eat each other in various horrible ways. Parasites attach to all life, and have parasites themselves."

Overall a good piece of literature, scholarly, informative and at times poetic. This would be a good reference to anyone wanting to learn more about how capitalism and protestantism have affected our views of nature.