Roger S. Gottlieb

Roger S. Gottlieb (born October 20, 1946) is professor of philosophy and Paris Fletcher Distinguished Professor in the Humanities at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. He has written and edited 21 books, including two Nautilus Book Awards winners, and over 150 papers on philosophy, political theory, environmental ethics, religious studies, religious environmentalism, religious life, contemporary spirituality, the Holocaust, and disability. He is internationally known for his work as a leading analyst and exponent of religious environmentalism, for his passionate and moving account of spirituality in an age of environmental crisis, and for his innovative and humane description of the role of religion in a democratic society. where he grew up in a middle-class suburban family. He graduated from White Plains High School in 1964. From there he went on to Brandeis University intending to become a psychologist, but after one course found it "unbelievably dull" and soon became hooked on philosophy. and shares in the care of his daughters, Anna and Esther. Their first child (a son) was born with brain damage, living only five days without coming home from the hospital. Three years later they had a third child, Esther, who was born with multiple handicaps. Gottlieb recounts how these events had a profound impact on him and forced him to grow spiritually. The spiritual and political dimensions of his relation to Esther, who has multiple disabilities, forms part of Chapter 8 of Joining Hands.

Gottlieb is affiliated with the Jewish Renewal movement.

Professional associations American Philosophical Association American Academy of Religion steering committee, Religion and Ecology Section, 1994–97, 2009–12 steering committee, Religion and Disability Section, 2002–2007 Sustainability Task Force International Society for the Study of Environmental Ethics American Political Science Association Philosophical Society for the Study of Genocide and the Holocaust (co-founder) Radical Philosophy Association Interdisciplinary Environmental Association The Oxford Handbook of Religion and Ecology. Oxford University Press, 2006; paperback, 2010. Religion and the Environment, Volumes 1-IV. Routledge, 2010 Engaging Voices: Tales of Morality and Meaning in an Age of Global Warming. Baylor University Press, 2011. Spirituality: What It Is and Why It Matters. Oxford University Press, 2012. Political and Spiritual: Essays on Religion, Environment, Disability, and Justice. Rowman and Littlefield, 2015. Morality and the Environmental Crisis. Cambridge University Press, 2019.