Celebrating God's Cosmic Perichoresis

The Eschatological Panentheism of Jürgen Moltmann as a Resource for an Ecological Christian Worship

Bryan Jeongguk Lee

• Publisher: Pickwick Publications
• Year: 2011
• Print ISBN: 9781498258388
• eBook ISBN: 9781630879891
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christian Church

In the face of today's unprecedented ecological crisis, Christianity is often seen not only as sharing in the guilt of causing this crisis, but also as unwilling and incapable of providing any help in re-envisioning the required new way of life on earth. This view is justified when we consider how modern Christian theology has tended to denigrate the natural world and how the prevalent world-deserting Christian eschatology forms a spirituality that is fundamentally insensitive and indifferent to nature. In light of this, a meaningful Christian contribution to today's world of enormous ecological suffering must lie in envisioning a fundamentally new ecological vision of humanity's relationship to nature as well as providing an ethical energy to transform our current path of self-destruction. In this book, Bryan J. Lee finds, in Jurgen Moltmann's eschatological panentheism, a viable pathway toward a Christian ecological re-envisioning of the relationship between God and humanity and between humanity and nature. Furthermore, Lee demonstrates in a persuasive way how Christian worship can and should be the epicenter of ecological transformation of the society, emphatically interpreting Christian worship as an ecological-eschatological anticipation of God's cosmic perichoresis.

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Reformed Standards for Envisioning a Viable Christian Ecological Theology

In this chapter, I will articulate the standards necessary for a viable Reformed Christian ecological theology, one both biblically and ecologically informed, both faithful to the Reformed tradition and viable for today’s urgent situation. Towards that purpose, I will first survey characteristics of the Reformed tradition. Then I will posit the manner in which today’s alleged anti-ecological Christian theology and spirituality can be reformed: by re-envisioning the relationships between humans and the world and God and the world. In this connection, panentheism becomes important. I will discuss the potentials and pitfalls of panentheism as an ecological paradigm. Then I will summarise the discussion to show how Moltmann’s theology is able to satisfy the standards for a viable Reformed ecological theology.

Standards for a Viable Reformed Theology

Apologia for a Confessional Approach to Ecological Theology

It might seem odd and inappropriate to start a discussion of an urgently-needed global and far-reaching ecological theology by using characteristics of a particular strand of the Christian tradition. The ecological crisis far surpasses denominational boundaries and is not even Christianity’s unique problem. The diagnosis and cure of today’s anti-ecological thinking and way of life should be an ecumenical effort and begun with dialogue and cooperation with all those who are concerned with the fate of our common home (oikoumene).

That being said, however, we do not have a single ecological theology that can be readily accepted or even tolerated by today’s diverse Christian theologies. Although the crisis binds everyone together and the solution to our common problem should be shared, we can do that only when we realize who we are and where we stand theologically and liturgically.

We enter into the Christian faith through a specific faith community and theological perspective, and we continue to be nurtured in that tradition. Until we are conscious of our particular faith background, we cannot begin to appreciate the other voices and perspectives of the larger Christian family, nor can we engage them in meaningful dialogue with a humble spirit. Therefore, without resigning to theological relativism—in the sense that everything is right in its own way and it is useless to pursue a deeper and higher truth through dialogue—we should first endeavor to construct an ecological theology that reflects a way of thinking unique to our own tradition in order to effectively battle our common problem.

Another reason we should start with our own tradition is actual practice. Theology will not save the world if it does not have the power to form and transform people’s spirituality. Changing a collective way of thinking and living does not occur only by intellectual and moral persuasion; it involves touching and transforming spirituality. In my view, worship is the occasion during which our whole being, including the deepest part of our soul, can be touched, re-shaped, and nurtured in a certain way and direction.1 Liturgy is the form with which we participate in this profoundly significant process of divine grace and human response. I am of the opinion that liturgy and theology are so closely interwoven that they shape each other in creative tension.2 For that reason, alien theological ideas cannot easily enter the liturgy of a particular tradition. This is why we should seek to construct a unique ecological theology based on our own tradition and at the same time critically review our liturgical practice in light of theology. Only our own distinctively created ecological theology can be translated into a liturgical mould to shape and nurture an ecological spirituality, for theological approach and liturgy in a certain tradition are closely related and reflect each other.

Therefore, as a Reformed Christian, I will show how my tradition can offer real hope to the current ecumenical dialogue about the ecological crisis and, conversely, what in my tradition can and should be clarified and developed—or re-thought and changed—in light of current ecumenical and scientific understandings. In the following section, I will discuss the characteristics of Reformed theology and principles of Reformed worship as a preparation for establishing appropriate standards for a Reformed ecological theology today.

Characteristics / Principles of a Reformed Theological Approach and Worship

“Reformed” refers to the “churches and theological tradition, as an expression of Christian faith of all times and places, that began with the sixteenth-century Reformation in Zurich, Strasbourg and Geneva.”3 Ulrich Zwingli in Zurich, Martin Bucer in Strasbourg and John Calvin in Geneva were inspired by the theology of Luther and his reformation of the church in Germany, but the differences that surfaced in relation to the understanding of the Lord’s Supper became divisive in most cases. As a result, at the end of the sixteenth century, a reformation of their churches had developed under the name ecclesiae reformatae that was related to, but also separate from, the Lutheran model.4

Lukas Vischer provides the following extensive purview of the characteristics of the Reformed heritage. I summarize here his presentation.5

1. Christus solus. Jesus Christ is the only and exclusive source of salvation.

2. God to be glorified in all things. As a reformulation of the first commandment, it expresses the conviction that our salvation depends entirely on God’s initiative.

3. Salvation and Trinitarian thinking. According to the Trinitarian teaching of the creeds of the early church, Reformed teaching affirms that God the Creator of all things is the same God who became human in Jesus Christ and fulfills redemption through the power of the Holy Spirit. Reformed theology places particular emphasis on the saving and healing power of the Holy Spirit.

4. The authority of the Bible. All Reformed confessions converge in stressing the authority of the Scriptures of both the Old and the New Testaments as the source of all decisive knowledge and guide in the life of the church.

5. Confessions of faith. Reformed churches have formulated confessions of faith to affirm and to give account of the truth of the Gospel. They do not possess the same authority as the Bible but are regarded as “subordinate standards.”

6. The church. Although there is no way to determine the borderlines of the true church, the church as it exists in history must not be despised. To listen to God’s Word and to respond to it, we depend on the community; its message can only be proclaimed through the joint efforts of all. Calvin calls the church the mother who nourishes the faith on the pilgrimage of their life.

7. Prayer and worship. The first response to the proclamation of God’s gift of salvation in Jesus Christ is prayer and praise. Worship is primarily a corporate act that consists of prayer, reading scripture, proclamation, and the regular celebration of the Lord’s Supper. In their reformation of the church, the Reformers opted for a reformation of the liturgy that removed everything that distracted from these essentials. Images in the churches of the sixteenth century were especially targeted. Today a variety of worship styles has developed within the Reformed churches.

8. Discipleship and discipline. Justified through God’s saving grace, we are called to live a life in the church that is inspired by thankfulness and that leads to sanctification. Since unholy lives lead to disintegration of the Christian community, the exercise of discipline against unholy practices and unsound teaching must ...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Foreword
• Introduction
• Chapter 1: Reformed Standards for Envisioning a Viable Christian Ecological Theology
• Chapter 2: Trinitarian History and Its Glorification in the Cosmos
• Chapter 3: The Cross and Resurrection as the Foundation for Ecological Redemption
• Chapter 4: Christian Worship as Anticipatory Celebration and Missional Sending
• Chapter 5: Envisioning an Ecological Reformed Worship
• Conclusion
• Bibliography