Religion and environmental crisis A comparative Study of the perspectives of Seyyed Hossein Nasr and Lynn White with emphasis on Lynn White’s Classic Paper

Relationship between religion and the environment is one of controversial relations in the modern era. in this regard two claims is raised, One of them is the positive role of religion and the other one is it’s destructive and negative role. Some scholars like Lynn White on the base of the first chapter of Genesis, sees that the roots of environmental crisis rised up from the Jewish-Christian teachings, so his viewpoint is one of the negative perspectives. Seyyed Hossein Nasr is one of those who believes that the environmental crisis comes from man’s spiritual crisis and religious aversion. So Nasr’s viewpoint is one of those positive ones. Investigations show that both of these theories have followers, but the positive role of religion is preffered. This research examins and compares Nasr and White ‘s viewpoints about the roots of environmental crisis. This research is composed of four chapters. In the first chapter the general issues posed. The second chapter is written on the theoritical basis and key terms of research and literature review of it. The third chapter begins with introducing Lynn White and Seyyed Hossein Nasr as well as introducing their most important works. Then a Persian translation of White’s article »The Historical Roots of our  Ecological Crisis «is offered, conceptually analyzing his attitudes. since Nasr has many works on this issue, The study has been restricted to his views about roots of ecological crisis based on just two books, Religion and The Order of Nature and Man and Nature: Spiritual Crisis of The Modern Man. Finally, their viewpoints are compared and their diffrences and similarities are mentioned. The forth chapter is for conclusion and appropriate suggestion.