Of Modern Extraction - (T&t Clark Explorations in Theology, Gender and Ecology) by Terra Schwerin Rowe (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Predominant climate change narratives emphasize a global emissions problem, while diagnoses of environmental crises have long focused a modern loss of meaning, value, and enchantment in nature. Yet neither of these common portrayals of environmental emergency adequately account for the ways climate change is rooted in extractivisms that have been profoundly enchanted.

The proposed critical petro-theology analyzes the current energy driven climate crisis through critical gender, race, decolonial, and postsecular lenses. Both predominant narratives obscure the entanglements of bodies and energy: how energy concepts and practices have consistently delineated genres of humanity and how energy systems and technologies have shaped bodies. Consequently, these analytical and ethical aims inform an exploration of alternative embodied energies that can be attended to in the disrupted time/space of energy intensive, extractive capitalism.

Review Quotes

"The history of the last 120 years without oil would be an alternative so profound it is hard to imagine it. Mechanised tanks, bulldozers, chainsaws, aerial bombers, pharmaceutical drugs, cancer epidemics, plastics, artificial fertilisers, high explosives, and US global dominance would all not have happened without it. This volume is a profound engagement with oil and energy and its intersections with divine energeia and climate change: deeply researched and yet lucid and readable, I highly commend it." --Michael Northcott, University of Edinburgh, UK

"In our accounts of the economics of climate change, and even of the theology of dominion that lubricates it, we have missed a crucial part of the story: the effects of a particular white masculine individualism that have energized an extractivist civilization. Terra Rowe's critical petro-theology unearths the U.S. enchantment with autonomy and the aesthetic of the open highway flowing through an oily intersectionality. With "terranean" brilliance, she tracks the affective investments, theological and secularized, that keep Western fossil fuel so world-destructively energized." --Catherine Keller, Drew University, USA

"Of Modern Extraction situates contemporary discourse about energy and climate change in the context of religious and theological histories that show how modern energy regimes align with gendered, racist, and colonial forms of power. Rowe develops this account of extractivism with an enviable knack for story-telling and an attention to philosophical detail." --Evan Berry, Arizona State University, USA

"In Of Modern Extraction, Terra Schwerin Rowe provides us with the first great intellectual history of petroculture. By showing just how deeply Western understandings of energy and extraction are connected to theological notions of fulfilment, redemption, and divinity, Rowe opens us new avenues and insights into how power is written into subjective and social experience. Essential reading." --Imre Szeman, University of Waterloo, Canada

"This book explores like no other the many enchantments of extractivism. Through Rowe's deep energo-theological lens we discover new sedimentary layers of our petrocultural attachment, including the figuration of oil as divine gift and animated savior. We also discover the urgent need to imagine alternative energy beyond theological modes of redemption and resurrection. Of Modern Extraction is a truly pathbreaking work of energy humanities." --Dominic Boyer, Rice University, USA

"Of Modern Extraction offers a fascinating account of the theological aspects of energy, and the petro-theology that animates Western extraction. From inter-Scholastic debates about power to the resurrection logic of fossil fuels, Rowe beautifully weaves together unfamiliar histories that will inspire new directions in energy and climate scholarship." --Cara New Daggett, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, USA

"In our fossil-fueled, globalized climate changed world, this book is much needed. Terra Rowe takes us through a critical, detailed analysis of how our addiction to speed is tied with extractive colonial practices, and how these practices are fueled by metaphors of an omni-God. Our theological projection of this omni-God fuels our desire to live at a pace that is "out of this world," and as a result, we are outstripping the carrying capacity of the planet and wreaking havoc on many human and other earth bodies. No environmental or energy humanities analysis is complete without this type of sustained focus on petro-cultures and petro-theology." --Whitney A. Bauman, Florida International University, USA

"Energy humanities has emerged as a cutting-edge field, and Of Modern Extraction is an extraordinary ground-breaking synthesis. Here Rowe takes her place as a leading scholar whose comprehensive treatment shows how energy, extraction, oil, and capital are interlinked, and how petro-theologies of redemption continue to impact us in dangerous ways." --Clayton Crockett, University of Central Arkansas, USA

"With striking analytical precision and breadth, Rowe unearths the enchantments of modern energy that have kept western (Christian) societies beholden to its material functions, wealth, and weight. By carefully assessing the sacred workings (and burdens) of petro-culture she forces us to recognize just how essential it will be to pursue a sustainable future by imagining alternative theological as well as technological paths." --Darren Dochuk, University of Notre Dame, USA

"Terra Schwerin Rowe's Of Modern Extraction: Experiments in Critical Petro-theology should be considered a foundational text for understanding the tenacious staying power of petrocultures, even and especially in the face of almost certain disaster. Let us hope that Rowe's scholarship has come to us soon enough, knowing that time is short." --H-Net: Humanities and Social Science Online

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