This volume features the work of Iranian poet and visual artist Sohrab Sepehri (1928-80) in conversation with that of James Baldwin. Sepehri's work was largely composed during the repressive reign of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi (1953-79), who was placed in power by the Americans after they overthrew the legitimately elected President Mohammad Mossadegh. Harsh repression eventually led to a popular revolution and the overthrow of the shah. Throughout his life, Sephri's works, written and visual, presented a poetics of love; love understood not as emotion but as a way of knowing. This type of love cuts through cultural and political barriers, allowing those who experience it to encounter the sacredness of other people and of all creation. Love as knowledge opens up a vision of a future in which the dignity of each person is upheld and all of creation is respected and treated accordingly. To demonstrate that such a radical, transformative experience of love is not culturally limited but rather a potentially universal human experience, Davary connects Sepehri's work to the work of James Baldwin (1924-87), who, embedded in the racial violence of the US, arrived at a similar awareness of a deeper love as the only path to fundamental social revolution. Recommended. Advanced undergraduates through faculty.

"Bahar Davary's Ecotheology and Love is a profound meditation on nature mysticism in the context of Islam. Davary explores the rich imagination of a supremely gifted poet, mystic, and painter, the Iranian Sohrab Sepehri, through a rich dialogue with Baldwin, as well as the Qur'an and other Muslim luminaries. In the process we learn not only about the sanctity of nature, but the very process of a deep and meaningful interreligious engagement far beyond the superficiality of so much of current 'interfaith dialogue.' Highly recommended!"

"While focusing on ecotheological issues, Davary does a splendid job in highlighting Sepehri and Baldwin's advocacy for resistance 'from below, ' ushering in the primacy of the lesser-heard voices. Highly recommended for those interested in post-colonial studies, environmental ethics, comparative theology, and interfaith dialogue."

"We owe Dr. Bahar Davary a big debt of gratitude for making the Hasht Ketab and the Blue Room essays of the Iranian poet Sohrab Sepehri available to those of us who do not read Farsi. Davary makes it clear that Sepehri's poetry is neither love nor religious poetry, yet by connecting him to James Baldwin, she unveils Sepehri's profound message about love and the care for the Earth. Through a brilliant interpretation of Sepehri's poetry, Davary touches our minds and hearts as we face the existential threat to our common home."