Climate change is not only one of the most urgent themes on the political agenda but also increasingly a highly debated theme in theology. The environmental crisis asks for fundamental theological reflection on both the divine and the human relationships with the earth. The impetus for theological reflection on ecology is that science and education are not enough to understand our situation and to inspire our action. The environmental crisis affects our way of life as a whole, including our deepest beliefs and convictions. Living in the Anthropocene, the human being has more than ever the power to manage nature and is more than ever responsible for its preservation. At the same time, the ecological crisis is so all-encompassing that it seems to reach beyond what is manageable. The far-reaching character of what is at stake makes climate change and ecological sustainability a deeply religious issue demanding profound theological reflection.
The adverse and disproportionate effects of the climate crisis urge theologians to address the question of environmental justice in search of the fullness of life for all as proclaimed by the gospel. Increasingly, this question is a concern for theology as a whole, as the rise of ‘green theology’ and ‘ecotheology’ indicates, to develop forms of constructive theology that focus on the interrelationships of religion, nature, and justice in the light of the environmental crisis. Complex relationships exist between religions and the degradation and/or restoration of living creatures. Understood in this way, theology has the double task of self-criticism of its own tradition and theological concepts, as well as constructive retrieval from tradition with the aim of developing new understandings and proposals. On the one hand, it should be recognized that Christian anthropocentrism and the emphasis on human dominion over nature have played a part in environmental devastation. On the other hand, voices from scripture and tradition may point to another account of the relationships among God, humanity, and the earth.
For several reasons, this all is a challenging theme for the Reformed tradition and its theology. The Reformed tradition has played a role in our current ecological situation, through emphases that include human stewardship and responsibility coram Deo, openness to scientific research made possible by a transcendent understanding of the divine, contribution to the technical-industrial development of the world, and openness to exploration and colonization of the earth and its people. On the other hand, its broad understanding of theology, not limiting it to the spiritual realm, includes a valuation of the natural as creation, as a good that God has tasked humanity to care for and protect. Its understanding of salvation and restoration as extending to the whole of creation and as already given in Christ for this life may open up a broad perspective of hope and responsible action.
Traditionally, theological reflection on nature started from the doctrine of creation. The focus has often been on human stewardship and responsibility. The question is whether this still suffices, since from this view nature can equally be taken as an end in itself or as just a tool for human use. Deeper theological reflection on divine transcendence and immanence is required, which concerns also the doctrines of the Trinity, incarnation, and pneumatology. The paradoxical situation that the human being is more than ever responsible for what is at stake on the planet and, at the same time, is faced with the unmanageability of environmental crisis could be illuminated from the perspective of sin, salvation, and restoration. Furthermore, the climate crisis asks for a reexamination of eschatology. What could hope and belief in the restoration of creation mean in the face of environmental crisis and apocalyptic doom scenarios that this crisis raises?
In short, the urgent challenges of climate change and environmental crisis can be promisingly addressed from a broad variety of dogmatic loci. The 14th biennial conference of the International Reformed Theological Institute (IRTI) that was held online June 21–24, 2022, took the various loci as illuminating lenses for theological and (inter)contextual reflection on the urgent theme of climate change. The conference was prepared during the worldwide outbreak of Covid-19, which made us all the more aware of the increasingly visible connections between the well-being of humans, other living creatures, and entire ecosystems. This special issue is a collection of various keynotes and papers presented at the conference.
In the first contribution, Ernst M. Conradie brings the discourse on “bending the carbon curve,” a discourse based on graphs of cumulative or annual emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, in conversation with what he calls “the Christian curve,” which describes the transformative impact of the gospel in society from central soteriological concepts. His contribution provides us with a good starting point for a theology that faces climate change, its causes and consequences as presented in numerous international scientific reports. Yet, as stated, the idea that Christianity can contribute to bend the carbon curve has been met with suspicion, for example in Lynn White’s much-debated critique of Western Christian anthropocentrism. Emanuel Gerrit Singgih readdresses the “White Thesis” from an Indonesian contextual reading of its reception in the past decades and interprets the thesis as an important call to all religions and denominations to go beyond anthropocentrism. The Christian tradition can contribute by reinterpreting the relationships among God, creation, and human beings in its doctrinal understandings of creation, God, and anthropology. Jaeseung Cha approaches the question of how the natural world can be valued from both Daoism and incarnation theology, ranging from Athanasius to recent proposals of “deep incarnation.” He suggests that ecotheology could benefit from a sacramental understanding of Christ’s redemptive work that acknowledges not only deep divine presence in the natural world but also the problem of natural evil that is in need of redemption. In the next contribution, Steven van den Heuvel demonstrates how Bonhoeffer’s eschatological concepts of the world as Christ-reality and the distinction between the ultimate and the penultimate stimulate serious and hopeful ecological action. The final article, by Troy Bierma, is not based on a presentation at the IRTI conference but is included because it fits in nicely with this thematic issue. It addresses the practical consequences of eschatologically-based ecological ethics by relating Celia Deane-Drummond’s normative animal ethics to David Holmgren’s permaculture approach to animals as a way to seek prefigurative forms of the biblical shalom.
