T&T Clark Handbook of Christian Theology and Climate Change

Hilda P. Koster, Ernst M. Conradie, Hilda P. Koster, Ernst M. Conradie

• Publisher: T&T Clark
• Year: 2019
• Print ISBN: 9781350320390
• eBook ISBN: 9780567675163
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Systematic Theology & Ethics

The T&T Clark Handbook of Christian Theology and Climate Change entails a wide-ranging conversation between Christian theology and various other discourses on climate change. Given the far-reaching complicity of "North Atlantic Christianity" in anthropogenic climate change, the question is whether it can still collaborate with and contribute to ongoing mitigation and adaptation efforts. The main essays in this volume are written by leading scholars from within North Atlantic Christianity and addressed primarily to readers in the same context; these essays are critically engaged by respondents situated in other geographic regions, minority communities, non-Christian traditions, or non-theological disciplines. Structured in seven main parts, the handbook explores: 1) the need for collaboration with disciplines outside of Christian theology to address climate change; 2) the need to find common moral ground for such collaboration; 3) the difficulties posed by collaborating with other Christian traditions from within; 4) the questions that emerge from such collaboration for understanding the story of God's work; and 5) God's identity and character; 6) the implications of such collaboration for ecclesial praxis; and 7) concluding reflections examining whether this volume does justice to issues of race, gender, class, other animals, religious diversity, geographical divides and carbon mitigation. This rich ecumenical, cross-cultural conversation provides a comprehensive and in-depth engagement with the theological and moral challenges raised by anthropogenic climate change.

PART I

Working with others: The need for multidisciplinary collaboration

Introduction

Ernst M. Conradie

Climate change is by definition a global challenge that has to be addressed colla­boratively. Christians who are concerned about climate change therefore have to work with others in a multidisciplinary way. There is no other way. In this section of the volume it is suggested that such collaboration will involve at least climate scientists, evolutionary biologists, environmental economists, political role players, geoengineers, social scientists, artists, climate activists in civil society and in other religious traditions. Other role players could easily be added.

Such collaborative opportunities could and should be readily regarded as a form of Christian witness and should therefore be welcomed from within Christian traditions. However, there are two challenges that confront and may well undermine such collaborative work.

On the one hand, it should not be taken for granted that such others may wish to work with Christians in addressing climate change. Experts and practitioners in such fields may well regard Christianity, at least North Atlantic Christianity, to be part of the problem. They may carry some injuries and harbour scepticism over the very possibility of such collaboration.

This is easy to understand. Consider the climate denialism fostered in forms of right-wing Christianity in the North Atlantic and how that would be received by scientists contributing to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), especially those located in other continents. They may well find it difficult to differentiate between various branches of Protestantism. At the same time, climate scientists, strangely enough, seem to have become latter-day prophets, against their own methodological inclinations, issuing all sorts of warnings that few seem to heed. What opportunities may that hold for collaboration?

Similar comments may be made regarding evolutionary biology while geoengineers may wish to avoid any moralizing in seeking solutions to complex problems. Political scholars, economists and social scientists may harbour different reservations that relate to methodologies in their fields – where religious practitioners may be an object of research but are not readily regarded as a resource for research collaboration. Artists and activists in civil society and in other religious traditions may be willing to work with anyone committed to their cause. However, they would be mindful of the tragic history of iconoclasm and of Christian Crusades and heresy trials. They may well resist attempts from Christians to take the lead in addressing climate change.

On the other hand, Christians may agree on the pragmatic need to work with others in addressing climate change. However, they would tend to have diverging theological explanations as to how such collaboration is to be understood. Consider endless debates on the multiple challenges posed by evolutionary biology to an understanding of the Christian faith (that is, the role of chance versus divine intentionality, human descent versus claims for human uniqueness, coming to terms with pain and suffering, the origins of human sin, natural selection versus divine election). Likewise, diverging positions are adopted in global Christianity on a theology of religions and on what interfaith and multifaith dialogue entails.

In short, there is an obvious need for multidisciplinary collaboration in addressing climate change but that is easier said than done. This section will explore the promise and perils of such collaboration and will do so upfront.

Chapter 1.1

Working with climate scientists

Heather Eaton¹

Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.

– Albert Einstein

Introduction: Climate sciences, changes and challenges

Climate scientists continue to present data about current changes to planetary climate patterns and dynamics. They observe myriad specific climate processes and track the transformations and deviations from the norm. They insist that the stability of Earth’s climate systems is compromised and that such instability could jeopardize a large range of human activities from local survival to global economic, agriculture and political processes. Specific predictions must remain vague, as climate processes and the consequences of both major and minor changes are difficult to know with accuracy. Of methodological necessity, climate science is empirical, cautious, value free and operates with consensus.

Christians cannot escape grappling with climate change, although the range of responses is large. The intersections between the realities of climate change and a host of Christian beliefs, commitments, teleologies, ethics and imperatives are multiple. The manner, depth and significance of these exchanges also vary greatly. Within this spectrum there are specific groups of Christians who refuse to accept climate science or are climate change deniers. In April 2018 evangelical Christians in the United States discussed concerns around climate change and environmental protection, revealing the debates and disputes. This is well covered in an online documentary, ‘The Climate and the Cross’.² Thus there is no consensus on how Christians could or should address climate change, or whether such a consensus is fathomable.

Yet, in a basic manner both science and theology seek and claim truths. Each addresses questions of knowledge of the world (Earth) and its purposes. If we refuse to adopt Stephen Jay Gould’s view that science and religion are non-overlapping magisteria (NOMA),³ then it is necessary to probe some exchanges between the two. What must be recognized is that neither scientific societies nor Christian communities are well positioned to confront the political powers and economic players and practices that are mainly determining decisions on climate change. Perhaps a collaboration between the two, with other disciplines and movements, could have traction and transformative capacity.

This essay explores different aspects of what is important to consider from climate scientists, and why it is worthwhile for Christians to listen to and collaborate with them. My comments are based on several convictions:

• the dynamics of the biosphere remain largely unknown;

• theologians should care deeply about the Earth;

• humans emerged from and are embedded in evolutionary processes and fully dependent upon ecological processes;

• there is an intimate relationship between social, spiritual and ecological health;

• religious imagination and commitments are shaped by current realities more than by traditions and histories;

• we live in a divine milieu: that is, the Divine is embedded in and involved with the cosmos and the Earth;

• climate change is occurring, is anthropogenic and we have a moral and spiritual responsibility to respond.

It is important to consider why some might ignore climate change and reject what scientists are learning. Those who are climate change deniers or refuse to understand the anthropogenic causes, be they Christians or otherwise, can act as obstacles to collective action to reduce the impacts. The reasons for such recklessness need to be unpacked. People can, and do, believe what they want and what keeps them comfortable, and ignore or dismiss as false what is challenging. Some Christians may put more emphasis on their beliefs, or on a future next life, than attending to the current political, economic, social and ecological conditions. People can also ignore something as serious and complex as climate disturbances for other reasons: the costs of change will be high, politicians are doing little, affluent lifestyles must end, poverty is already oppressive, the effects are elsewhere, the greatest impacts may be in the future, there is no easy path forward, a lack of concern for the common good, or a generalized apathy.

We do not have the luxury of passivity in front of climate change. One way to address this is to learn from and work with climate scientists, and understand what science is saying about climate changes.

To know the world

To search, ponder, know and interpret the parameters of existence is an ongoing human activity, although the inclination is not shared by all and resources are not available to many. Nevertheless, it is a perennial quest. It is an outward quest, to know where we are, an inner quest of who we are, and the ongoing interpretative quest of why we are, why life is and how to live. Of course, each of these has a vast array of responses. To seek, perceive and understand, as far as human sensibilities can stretch, is, in my view, at the core of many scientific and theological themes.

While sciences and theology can be influenced by distinct agendas, the desire to know the world remains a core driver. Within branches of science and theology, there is a deep quest to know and understand the Earth and the natural world. To know the Earth, from subatomic physics and microbiology, to evolution and planetary patterns, including climate science, can be appreciated as an inner, psychic drive. These efforts are a collective force that conveys meaning to contexts, orientations and purpose to the lifeworld and to human life. The search for knowledge, insights, wisdom, coherence and intelligibility are shared by the best of both science and theology.

The epistemological tools for science and theology are both similar and very different. They are similar in the desire to understand the world and to make claims about the nature of reality. They share this deep quest to comprehend the micro, meso and macro aspects of what humans can detect and discern from the breadth, depth and expanse of reality. Both science and theology include quantitative and qualitative data gathered and gleaned from numerous sources and methods. This shared quest, even if lofty, is a horizon both can agree upon and is a starting point of why theologians should take scientific pursuits seriously. Furthermore, it is urgent that we integrate what climate scientists are understanding of climate changes – not only for human survival but also because it will shape the human imagination, ethics, spirituality, core beliefs and social structures for ages to come. The next section surveys climate sciences and changes, recommending to Christians and those studying theology what must be learned and why and where theology can participate and contribute.

Scientific methods, climate sciences and the biosphere

Scientific knowledge is gained through empirical modes of inquiry. This is the general method of science in the pursuit to know the world, in this case the Earth. While there are multiple kinds of sciences, each with nuances, limited foci, specific agenda, interpretations and even biases, as a general claim the goals of science are to understand the world in empirical terms. The methods of inquiries tend to be specific and the findings precise, verifiable and describable. Often the results must be replicated.

The natural sciences require verifiable data or predictable patterns within a cause-and-effect paradigm. They are cautious about certainties or even probabilities, and are therefore open to revision with new methods or data. What is static is more comprehensible than what is dynamic. Anomalies, transformations, the unexpected and interactions can be difficult to evaluate. However, whole systems thinking and theories of emergent complexities, entanglement and new materialisms have disrupted or expanded frameworks. The cause-and-effect paradigms are insufficient to explain data that indicates interconnected, energetic and transforming actualities. They are changing scientific paradigms, because such theories best explain new observations from active interdependent environments, such as climate systems.

To understand climate changes, one needs to understand climate systems. In order to comprehend climate systems one needs to perceive that these are inte...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half-Title
• Dedication
• Title
• Contents
• List of figures
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction: Christian theology and climate change in the North Atlantic context
• PART I WORKING WITH OTHERS: THE NEED FOR MULTIDISCIPLINARY COLLABORATION
• PART II FINDING COMMON MORAL GROUND IN WORKING WITH OTHERS
• PART III WORKING WITH AND AGAINST OTHERS FROM WITHIN
• PART IV THE CHRISTIAN STORY OF GOD’S WORK
• PART V THE CHRISTIAN NOTION OF GOD’S IDENTITY AND CHARACTER
• PART VI THE PROMISE AND PERILS OF ECCLESIAL PRAXIS
• PART VII CONCLUDING OBSERVATIONS
• Select bibliography
• Index
• Copyright