My dissertation addresses the question of how religious texts should be used in environmental ethics. Through and engagement with the writings of Hans Jonas and Holmes Rolston III on religious texts and environmental ethics, my dissertation shows the conceptual interdependence of these two genres of scholarly work for each thinker. In addition to this descriptive analysis, my dissertation develops a "responsible hermeneutics," that is an approach to biblical texts that is grounded in the hermeneutical strategies of each thinker. My argument is organized into three sections: Jonas and Rolston reading religious texts, Jonas and Rolston on environmental ethics, and my own development of a "responsible hermeneutics." Through this analysis and constructive argument, my dissertation participates in conversations in environmental ethics, critical biblical studies, and theological ethics. Furthermore, if critiques conversations in philosophical ethics about the constructive work of mythic, legal, and narrative discourses in environmental ethics and their source in religious texts.