I was delighted to receive an e-mail from a Vincent dePaul Professor at DePaul University in Chicago who used Hospitable Planet in a seminar on ethics and ecology. The professor wrote:
I wanted to let you know that your book was a hit in my two seminars. . . . I think the book works very well at showing how biblical verses can be grouped–as you do–to tell a story of how the Torah in fact limits human “domination” and instead calls for responsibility towards the environment and all that lives therein.
Students really appreciated what you are trying to do, even those who are not particularly religious (as it happens, I had no Jewish students, . . . but a good number of practicing Christians). I returned short reflection papers on the book this week. Quite a few sang your praises, such as one who wrote that she “just loved the book.”
I am deeply grateful that the students responded favorably to the case for creation care/climate change made in the book. If other faculty have used the book, I invite them to send me a note about the students’ reaction to it.