15

Contemporary political ecology is providing a novel inflection to environmental debates that are otherwise at risk of remaining stuck in a reductive, modernist paradigm. Interestingly, this new political ecology is increasingly drawing upon theological language and conceptualities, especially in the work of Bruno Latour. This paper will explore why this is and what it contributes. It will argue that political ecology finds a role for religion in generating the sort of conversion in human values that will be needed for genuine societal transformation. In doing so, it might even be considered as an (unlikely) dialogue partner for Catholic theology and for approaches to the environmental crisis that draw upon the Catholic social teaching tradition more broadly.