On Bron Taylor’s Dark Green Religion: Contribution and Critiques from Social Theory

Abstract

In 2010, Bron Taylor published his seminal book Dark Green Religion: Nature, Spirituality and the Planetary Future, which rapidly became a “must-read” in the ongoing ecology-religion debates. A decade later, this work gained broader visibility and diffusion with a German translation. This paper aims at introducing the first two chapters of Angelica Federici’s and Eleonora D’Alessandro’s translation in Italian to a European continental audience. It first provides a brief genealogy of the ecology-religion debates and how it structured into an interdisciplinary field of research. Then, it details how the concept of dark green religion is useful for expanding ongoing scholarly discussions. On a more critical note, and from the perspective of social theory, the author suggests two critiques that challenge religious scholars and social scientists to extend current thought and reflection on dark green religion.