God, humanity and nature: A study of Cobb's ecological theology

Ecological theology has recently become an attractive topic in Christian theology. It is very important because Christianity affects the world so widely. Many theologians explain or reinterpret the relationship among God, humanity and nature from different points of view and John B. Cobb, Jr. is a notable representative. Cobb is one of the famous American theologians in 20th century. Different from many other ecological theologians, Cobb proposes to take ecological concern as the overall orientation of modern Christian theology, rather than just one of the topics of Christian theology. As a Christian theologian, Cobb puts different resources from theology, philosophy and ecology together in order to consider the ecological problems and this makes Cobb's ecological theology rather unique and practical. So Cobb's ecological theology is a good starting point for our study of Christian ecological theology.; Many existing studies of Cobb's ecological theology focus on either the theological or ethical aspect of it. There is not yet a comprehensive study of it. Few people managed to notice the changes of Cobb's ecological theology after 1969. However, it remains far from mastering Cobb's ecological theology thoroughly because this will include various aspects such as philosophy, politics and economics. In order to have a more comprehensive study of Cobb's ecological theology, the present study will be divided into four parts. In the first part, this thesis reviews the various studies devoted to Cobb's ecological theology. Some scholars suggested that Cobb's ecological theology was ecocentric, whereas others considered it theocentric. To solve this problem, it is necessary to investigate how Cobb's ecological theology was formed and developed. Then the present study will propose a possible way and clues to explore it. In the second part, this thesis examines the ethical theory of Cobb's ecological theology in general and investigates particularly the relationship between Cobb's ecological theology and deep ecology. It will be shown that there are many important differences between them. Many scholars just notice their similarities between them and neglect their differences. However, the distinctions between Cobb's ecological theology and deep ecology are important too. In the third part, this thesis explores Cobb's political and economical thought, which are the most characteristic aspects of Cobb's ecological theology. Although Cobb discussed rather extensively on humanity, this does not necessarily make his ecological theology anthropocentric. Cobb may just aim at arguing that ecological problems can be solved without depreciating humanity. In the fourth part this thesis scrutinizes the criticisms against Cobb's ecological theology and Cobb's responses in order to discern the limitations or defects of Cobb's ecological theology and possible ways to improve it. There are two objectives in this thesis. The first one is to indicate and correct the mistakes in the exiting studies about Cobb's ecological theology by showing that Cobb's ecological theology is neither ecocentric, nor theocentric nor anthropocentric. The other objective is to make positive contribution to the further development of the studies of Cobb's theology. On the one hand, the present study adds some new perspectives to the study of Cobb's ecological theology, including the relation between Cobb and deep ecology as well as the political and economical concerns of Cobb. On the other hand, the present study surveys many recent publications concerning Cobb's view on economics which is very important for the understanding of Cobb's ecological theology well. This is the hope of the present author that this thesis can help and inspire the research about the ecological problems and their resolutions in China.