1 / 49

Christian Ecotheologies

Christian Ecotheologies. … the killing of Mother Earth in our time is the number one ethical, spiritual, and human issue of our planet . ~Matthew Fox.

karenhunt
Download Presentation

Christian Ecotheologies

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Christian Ecotheologies

  2. …the killing of Mother Earth in our time is the number one ethical, spiritual, and human issue of our planet. ~Matthew Fox

  3. Climate is our planet’s largest, most important vulnerable interlocking system; it allows for and sustains life. Destabilzations have consequences….”

  4. Sallie McFague, A New Climate for Theology: God, the World, and Global Warming Denis Edwards, Ecology at the Heart of Faith Charlene Hosenfeld, Eco-Faith: Creating & Sustaining Green Congregations Leonardo Boff, Cry of the Earth, Cry of the Poor Books Recommended

  5. Ecological location is where we are situated within human society and the wider biotic community. The biotic community and the Members of the biotic community are active agents interacting with and shaping the other members of biotic ecological community. We are shaped by the land, water, air, and fire (energy used) as well as the creatures of a given locale. Dan Spencer, Gay and GaiaUCC environmental Ethicist

  6. We live in a semi-arid to arid environment in SoCal We are in a serious drought; It effects not only humans and other life. Farming, drilling for fossil fuels, energy used to transport water to us from Northern California. Polluting aquifers Excessive consumerism Our Ecological Logcation

  7. Lynn White, “The Historical Root of Our Ecologic Crisis,” 1967. Problems

  8. Genesis 1:38 “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue (kabash) it, and have dominion over (radah)… two verbs radah and kabash signify violent assault and crushing—image of conquest of subduing Anthropocentrism

  9. “God planned all this for this explicitly for man’s benefit and rule; no item in physical creation had any purpose save to serve man’s purposes…Christianity is the most anthropocentric religion the world has see.” White Anthropocentrism

  10. Genesis 2-3 are an etiological story about the human condition Adam and Eve were never historical. The interpretation of Western Christianity understands original sin as transmitted through sexuality. The Earth was tainted by human fallenness. Problem 2

  11. The Fallenness of the Earth The Development of Atonement Model (Anselm of Canterbury) Protestant & Catholic theologies of redemption are heavily indebted to sin-guilt model. Therefore, redemption is an Incarnation rescue mission to save humanity from sin. Consequences

  12. This existed in Celtic Christianity and Orthodox Christianities Read: Patrick Cheng, From Sin to Amazing Grace. Move from a Sin-Guilt Model to Grace Model

  13. John Duns Scotus God intended Christ’s Incarnation before Creation. This moves in the directions of modern Catholic, Protestant and Orthodox theology to understand Creation, Incarnation, and Salvation as the Flow of God’s Divine Love. We need to reframe our theologies with an ecological perspective. What if We Left Behind the Sin-Guilt Model of Atonement?

  14. Man is superior to and separate from Nature. Everything is for the benefit and use of humanity. Loses the Theocentric perspective of the text Callous Indifference to other life Results of Anthropocentrism

  15. “An ecological Christology means that God is with us—we are dealing with the power and love of the universe; it means that God is with us—on our side, desiring justice and health and fulfillment for us.; it means that God is with us –all of us all people and other life forms, but especially those who do not have justice, health, and fulfillment.” Sallie McFague Ecological Christology

  16. Prophetic Christology Sacramental Christology Divides Christology into 2 forms.

  17. Jesus’ ministry to the oppressed should be extended to nature Preferential Option for the Poor and Vulnerable Should we not extend the model of loving others to Nature? Deserving justice and compassionate care? Prophetic Christology

  18. “The incarnation is a crucial feature of an ecological Christology for two reasons. By bringing God into the realm of the body, of matter, nature is included with the divine reach.” “Incarnational Christology means that salvation is neither solely human not spiritual. It must be for the entire creation…Incarnational Christology says thatGod wants all of nature and all other entities to enjoy well-being to both and spirit.” Sacramental Christology

  19. “The flesh that is embraced by God is not limited to the human. It includes the whole interconnected world of fleshy life and, in some ways, the whole universe to which flesh is related and on which it depends.” Denis Edwards Incarnation

  20. “To say that God became flesh is not only to say that God became human but to say also that God became an Earth creature, that God became a sentient being, that God became a living being, that God became a complex Earth unit of minerals and fluids, and that God became an item in the carbon and nitrogen cycles.” New Zealander Neil darragh

  21. “…the incarnation of God in Christ can be understood as a radical or deep incarnation, that is, an incarnation into the very tissue of biological existence, and system of nature. Understood this way, the death of Christ became an icon of God’s redemptive co-suffering with all sentient life as well as with the victims of social competition. God bears the cost of evolution, the price involved in the hardship of natural selection” Niels Gregersen

  22. Churches are not ecological Bringing the Church back to the Earth “The world cannot be left out. The church must become ecological through and through.” An Ecological Church

  23. “God so loved the world (cosmos) that God gave God’s only Child so that everyone who believes in God may not perish but may have eternal life.” John 3:16

  24. Oikos—household, the Church We derive the words, ecumenical, ecology, and economics from oikos. Household is the whole planet; it is composed of human beings in interdependent relations with all other life-forms and earth processes “Oikos”

  25. Ecology is the study of earth’s organization along with everything that affects them: it is the study or organisms in their homes and their interactions with one another. Once this basic knowledge is learned is difficult to deny. Oikos--Ecology

  26. Solutions: Ecological Literacy • She quotes Wallace Stevens: “ Nothing is itself taken alone. Things are because of interrelationships.” • Everything is related to everything else. • See ourselves as part of the web of life, an incredibly vast, complex , subtle, beautiful web that amazes us can call forth our concern. Westerners think of themselves as individuals, not as a members of a community and even less of part of a planetary community

  27. Ecological unity of ourselves, life, and our planet is not an interpretation of reality, it is what science describes as our “interconnectedness.” • We must begin to see ourselves as interrelated and interdependent with animate and inanimate elements of our planet and begin to earth’s rules of limited use, recycling, and long-term sustainability. Change our Thinking

  28. “Respect Earth and life in all its diversity. Recognize that all beings are interdependent and every form of life has value regardless of its worth to human beings.” Earth Charter: First Principle

  29. “The Earth does not belong to us; we belong to the Earth.” Chief Seattle “We, human beings, men and women, have exiled ourselves from the homeland we shared in common, the Earth. We have forgotten that man was made from humus and that Adam and Eve, son and daughter of the Earth and our ancestors, came from Adamá, land of fertility.” Leonardo Boff Earth-Human Relations

  30. Part of the Biotic Community. All life interrelated to us. Francis of Assisi: All life and the Earth processes are our siblings.” Imago Dei (image of God) To be Human Means

  31. Belief that God is incarnate in the world implies rethinking the issues of creation and providence in light of the world as internally related to God—the world as within God or the world as God’s body—rather than externally as an artist to his or her production. • Incarnation mean—we and God are in the same place and that we share responsibility for the world. Reclaiming Incarnation

  32. “Those living within the model of the world as God’s body see the world differently: not as an object or machine or simply a resource but as sacred, valuable, and needing care. The world, including nature, is not ours to do with as we wish. It all belongs to and tells us of God.” Sacramental View: The Earth as God’s Body

  33. “We should be clear about what happens when we destroy the living forms of this planet. The consequence is that we destroy modes of divine presence…” Thomas Berry

  34. Human need is more basic than human greed; we are relational beings from the moment of conception to our last breath. The well-being of the individual is inextricably connected to the well-being of the whole. Ecological economics begins with sustainability and distributive justice Climate change is telling us that must live differently.

  35. “Ecological Christology defines sin as the refusal to share the necessities of life with other humans and other life forms. Sin is insatiable greed, wanting to have it all. Acting justly toward nature and other human beings demands sacrifices from Christian elites. Sustainable living involves acceptance of finite limits such as how we drive our cars, emissions controls and carbon taxes on industry.” ECOLOGICAL sIN

  36. Household Rules Take your share Clean up after yourself Keep the house in repair for future occupants Oikos--Economics

  37. “Overall the condition can only be described as unsustainable, which means that we are changing the world and using its resources much more rapidly than they can be renewed, and leaving for our children and grandchildren a world that will be much less diverse, rich, healthy, and resilient than the one in which we live now.” Peter Raven Take Your Share

  38. Clean up after Yourself

  39. Clean Up after yourselves

  40. Keep the the House in repair for future occupants

  41. The Earth is alive – just like the biological patterns found in cells, species, individual organisms, and ecosystems; only at a different scale – and thus can die if boundary conditions for health are exceeded. 

  42. Keep the house in repair for future occupants

  43. It will take all of us!

  44. “Care for the earth is our primary vocation as God’s partners in helping creation to flourish . . .God loves the world and expects us to as well” Sallie McFague

  45. “God is the thread of hope that desperate people hold on to. God is the scrap of life and goodness still in us. God is what keeps us from giving up. God is not a being, but whatever life or love there is, no matter how small. We hold on to whatever shred of hope is left. It is very small sometimes—but it is enough. “Because the Holy Ghost over the bent/ World broods with warm breast and ah! Bright wings.” Gerard Manley Hopkins S.J. Sallie McFague

More Related