Systematic Theology and Climate Change: Ecumenical Perspectives

191 Pages·2014·1.117 MB·English

by  Michael S. Northcott (editor)

SYSTEMATIC THEOLOGY AND
CLIMATE CHANGE
Thisbookoffersthefirstcomprehensivesystematictheologicalreflectiononarguably
the most serious issue facing humanity and other creatures today. Responding to
climate change is often left to scientists, policy makers and activists, but what
understandingdoestheologyhavetooffer?Inthiscollection,theauthorsdemonstrate
that there is vital cultural and intellectual work for theologians to perform in
responding to climate science and incommending a habitable way forward.Written
from a range of denominations and traditions yet with ecumenical intent, the
authors explore key Christian doctrines and engage with some of the profound
issuesraisedbyclimate change.Key questionsconsideredinclude:Whatmay besaid
aboutthegoodnessofcreationinthefaceofanthropogenicclimatechange?Andhow
does theologyhandlea projected futurewithoutthe human? The volumeprovides
students and scholars with fascinating theological insight into the complexity of
climate change.
MichaelS.NorthcottisProfessorofEthicsintheSchoolofDivinityattheUniversity
of Edinburgh, UK.
Peter M. Scott is Samuel Ferguson Professor of Applied Theology and Director
of the Lincoln Theological Institute at the University of Manchester, UK.
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SYSTEMATIC THEOLOGY
AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Ecumenical Perspectives
Edited by
Michael S. Northcott and Peter M. Scott
Firstpublishedin2014
byRoutledge
2ParkSquare,MiltonPark,Abingdon,OxonOX144RN
AndpublishedbyRoutledge
711ThirdAvenue,NewYork,NY10017
RoutledgeisanimprintoftheTaylor&FrancisGroup,aninformabusiness
©2014MichaelS.NorthcottandPeterM.Scottforselectionandeditorial
matter;individualcontributors,theircontributions
Therightoftheeditorstobeidentifiedastheauthorsoftheeditorialmaterial,
andoftheauthorsfortheirindividualchapters,hasbeenassertedinaccordance
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BritishLibraryCataloguinginPublicationData
AcataloguerecordforthisbookisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary
LibraryofCongressCataloginginPublicationData
Systematictheologyandclimatechange:ecumenicalperspectives/editedby
MichaelS.NorthcottandPeterM.Scott.
pagescm
1.Theology,Doctrinal.2.Ecotheology.3.Climaticchanges.I.Northcott,
MichaelS.,editorofcompilation.
BT78.S972014
261.8’8--dc23
2013050742
ISBN:978-0-415-74278-8(hbk)
ISBN:978-0-415-74279-5(pbk)
ISBN:978-1-315-76887-8(ebk)
TypesetinBembo
byTaylor&FrancisBooks
CONTENTS
List of contributors vii
Preface ix
1 Introduction 1
Michael S. Northcott and Peter M. Scott
2 The Trinity 15
Timothy Gorringe
3 Christology 33
Niels Henrik Gregersen
4 Holy Spirit 51
Michael S. Northcott
5 Creation 69
Celia Deane-Drummond
6 Creatures 90
Rachel Muers
7 Humanity 108
Peter M. Scott
8 Sin and salvation 124
Neil Messer
vi Contents
9 The Church 141
Tamara Grdzelidze
10 Eschatology 157
Stefan Skrimshire
Index 175
CONTRIBUTORS
Celia Deane-Drummond is full Professor in Theology at the University of
Notre Dame, USA. Her research interests are in the engagement of theology and
natural science, including specifically ecology, evolution, animal behaviour and
anthropology. Her most recent books include Wonder and Wisdom: Conversations in
Science, Spirituality and Theology (UK: DLT, 2006), Genetics and Christian Ethics
(Cambridge: CUP, 2006), Ecotheology (UK: DLT, 2008), Christ and Evolution
(Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2009), The Wisdom of the Liminal: Human Nature,
Evolution and Other Animals (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2014).
Timothy Gorringe has worked in India, Oxford, St Andrews and Exeter. He is
theauthor,mostrecently,ofTheCommonGoodandtheGlobalEmergency(Cambridge:
CUP, 2011) and Earthly Visions: Theology and the Challenges of Art (New Haven,
CT: Yale, 2011). He is currently working on a book on values.
Niels Henrik Gregersen is Professor of Systematic Theology at Copenhagen
University,Co-DirectoroftheCentreforNaturalismandChristianSemantics2008–13
andCo-PIoftheCentre forChangingDisasters2013–17,CopenhagenUniversity.
Tamara Grdzelidze (Orthodox Church of Georgia), is a Programme Executive
within the Faith and Order Secretariat of the World Council of Churches in
Geneva, Switzerland. She holds a DPhil from the University of Oxford, a doc-
torate in Medieval Georgian Literature from the Tbilisi State University and a
doctorate honoris causa from the Faculty of Theology of the University of Bern,
Switzerland.
Neil Messer is Professor of Theology and Head of the Department of Theology
and Religious Studies, University of Winchester, and an ordained minister of the
viii Contributors
United Reformed Church. His publications include Flourishing: Health, Disease and
Bioethics in Theological Perspective (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2013), Respecting Life:
Theology and Bioethics (London: SCM Press, 2011) and Selfish Genes and Christian
Ethics: Theological and Ethical Reflections on Evolutionary Biology (London:SCM Press,
2007).
Rachel Muers is Senior Lecturer in Christian Studies at the University of Leeds.
She was previously Lecturer in Theology at the University of Exeter, and before
that Margaret Smith Research Fellow at Girton College, University of Cambridge.
Her publications include Living for the Future: Theological Ethics for Coming Genera-
tions (London: T&T Clark, 2008); Keeping God’s Silence: Towards a Theological Ethics
of Communication (Oxford: Blackwell, 2004); (with David Grumett) Theology on the
Menu: Asceticism, Meat and Christian Diet (London: Routledge, 2010); and (with
Mike Higton) The Text in Play: Experiments in Reading Scripture (Eugene, OR:
Wipf and Stock, 2012).
Michael S. Northcott is Professor of Ethics in the School of Divinity of the
University of Edinburgh, a priest in the Scottish Episcopal Church, and keeps a
large vegetable garden in the Scottish Borders. He is the author of The Environment
andChristianEthics(Cambridge:CambridgeUniversityPress,1996);AMoralClimate:
The Ethics of Global Warming (London: Darton Longman and Todd, 2007); (with
R. J. Berry) Theology After Darwin (Milton Keynes: Paternoster, 2009); (with Kyle
S. Van Houtan) Diversity and Dominion (Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock, 2010); and
A Political Theology of Climate Change (London: SPCK, 2014).
Peter M. Scott is Samuel Ferguson Professor of Applied Theology and Director
of the Lincoln Theological Institute at the University of Manchester, UK. He is the
authorofTheology,IdeologyandLiberation(Cambridge:CUP,1994),APoliticalTheol-
ogyofNature(Cambridge: CUP, 2003) and Anti-human Theology:Nature,Technology
and the Postnatural (London: SCM Press, 2010).
Stefan Skrimshire is a lecturer in Theology and Religious Studies at the Uni-
versity of Leeds, UK. Previous to this appointment he was a post-doctoral
researcher at the Lincoln Theological Institute at The University of Manchester,
whereheledaresearch projectonReligionandClimate Change. Heistheauthor
of Politics of Fear, Practices of Hope (London: Continuum, 2008) and editor of Future
Ethics: Climate Change and Apocalyptic Imagination (London: Continuum, 2010).
PREFACE
This project began in a breakfast discussion at the 2010 conference of the Society
of Christian Ethics at WestcottHouse inCambridge. Thethemeof the conference
was‘ClimateChangeandChristianEthics’,andwewereboththeretogivepapers.
Noting that the ethical discussion of climate change was well advanced, we agreed
on the need for a comparable systematic theological engagement with climate
changeandlamentedthatitwouldbeadifficultbooktowrite.Thenwehappened
on the idea that perhaps a group of theologians could write such a systematic
theologytogether, witheachtheologian taking adoctrineapiece. Andsothis book
was born.
We would like to thank the contributors for their work. We met as a group at
the University of Manchester in 2011 and 2012 for intensive discussion of draft
chapters and we are grateful for the spirit in which contributors engaged with
process and the generosity and warm-heartedness that pervaded the conversation.
There was no consensus but there was a readiness to work hard on an issue that all
agreed was highly important.
Routledgehasdoneafantasticjobinguidingthevolumethroughtheproduction
process, and we would like especially to thank Jonathan Merrett, Katherine Ong
and Andrew Watts for their work.
Finally, we would like to thank the trustees of the Lincoln Theological Institute
at the University of Manchester whose financial support has made this project a
reality. Through their commitment to theological research, the trustees are now
providing occasions for important theological conversations to take place in the
UK and beyond, and we are grateful to them for their willingness to fund such
conversations.
MSN/PMS
Advent 2013