Thoreau's Religion

Alda Balthrop-Lewis is a Research Fellow in the Institute for Religion and Critical Inquiry at Australian Catholic University, Melbourne. She holds a PhD in Religion from Princeton University and has taught Religious Studies at Brown University. Her research, which focuses on religious ethics and the circulation of ideas among theological, artistic, and popular idioms, has appeared in the Journal of the American Academy of Religion and the Journal of Religious Ethics.

• Introduction. Why Thoreau Would Love Environmental Justice; 1. Thoreau's Social World; 2. The Politics of Getting a Living; 3. Thoreau's Theological Critique of Philanthropy; 4. Political Asceticism; 5. Delight in True Goods; Conclusion. The Promise of a Delighted Environmental Ethics; Epilogue. On Mourning.

'This book is undoubtedly the best treatment of Thoreau in this generation. Alda Balthrop-Lewis is a profound philosopher-poet who captures the subtle and sublime genius of the great philosopher-poet like no other. And in these bleak times of ecological catastrophe we need them both!' Cornel West, Harvard University