Creation-Crisis Preaching

Ecology, Theology, and the Pulpit

Leah D. Schade

• Editore: Chalice Press
• Anno: 2015
• ISBN:
  9780827205420
• Argomento: Teología y religión
• Categoria: Ministerio cristiano

How can we proclaim justice for God's Creation in the face of global warming? How does fracking fit with "the earth and its fullness are the Lord's?" Creation-Crisis Preaching works with the premise that all of Creation, including humankind, needs to hear the Good News of Jesus' resurrection in this age in which humanity is "crucifying" Creation. Informed by years of experience as an environmental activist and minister, Leah Schade equips preachers to interpret the Bible through a "green" lens, become rooted in environmental theology, and learn how to understand their preaching context in terms of the particular political, cultural, and biotic setting of their congregation. Creation-Crisis Preaching provides both theoretical grounding and practical tips for preachers to create environmental sermons that are relevant, courageous, creative, pastoral, and inspiring.

1

Environmental, Theological, and Biblical Foundations

“Living water” will be a recurring theme throughout this book, both in terms of scriptural references and regarding the very real need for clean water for all living things. Water also provides the underlying metaphor for this chapter on environmental, theological and biblical foundations for Creation-crisis preaching. Recognizing that “living water” is only as healthy as the ecosystem through which it flows, we begin by examining the foundations that undergird and inform our “green” preaching: the environmental movement, ecological theology and a “green” hermeneutic for interpreting Scripture. Part One of this chapter will present a brief overview of the environmental movement, including a basic review of its history, followed by a closer view of where the movement is today—often called the “fourth wave” of environmentalism. Specifically, I will discuss Michael Zimmerman’s analysis of the divergence between “reform environmentalists” and “radical ecologists,” as well as his suggestion of ecofeminism as a viable response to critiques of deep ecology.

In Part Two, ecological theology naturally “bubbles up” around the environmental movement, allowing for discussion of how the two intersect and mix, especially regarding their critiques of those aspects of society that have led to the eco-crisis we currently face. The concentration will be on examining Lynn White’s now-famous essay, “The Historical Roots of Our Ecological Crisis,” which implicated the Judeo-Christian tradition as a main contributor to our ecological ills. This will be followed by a focus on ecotheology within American Lutheranism over the past fifty years, particularly regarding the work of H. Paul Santmire.

Part Three will follow an important stream within the field of religion and ecology—that of eco-hermeneutics for Scripture. This will be prefaced with a hermeneutical framework based on the work of Hans-Georg Gadamer. Following will be the work of Norman Habel and Dieter Hessel, which provides the eco-hermeneutic for developing a way of preaching that enables the voice of Earth to be heard.

PART ONE: A Brief Overview of “the River” of the Environmental Movement

The Susquehanna River of central Pennsylvania is not just important to the state’s and our country’s history. It is also part of my personal history. I have fished its waters for catfish and bass, explored several of the creeks that feed into it, and paid attention to the way it has been used (and misused) for human consumption, agriculture, recreation, travel, energy, and commerce over the last four decades. Ask someone to identify on a map where the Susquehanna ends, and she will easily point to the Chesapeake Bay. But ask where it begins, and the answer is not so clear. With both a West and North Branch, it is difficult to say where the river actually starts. If you look at a satellite view you will see that the lines of the two branches come together into one larger confluence, which then flows through the southern part of the state and empties into the Bay in Maryland. The farther upstream you follow these branches, you see that they split into a multitude of creeks and streams, all branching out across the landscape like the roots of a tree.

Like a river whose many tributaries defy the marking of a definitive beginning, the exact start of the environmental movement in the United States evades precise pinpointing.¹ From a bird’s-eye view of history, one may identify numerous contributors to modern-day environmentalism. The conservation movement of the late 1800s, led by figures such as John Muir, Henry David Thoreau, Gifford Pinchot, and Theodore Roosevelt, raised to public consciousness the need to protect natural areas, either for recreation, “wise use,” or preservation of their pristine state.² Scientific knowledge and technological development during that time also exercised a great influence on environmental consciousness, for good and for ill. For example, there was simultaneously the ability of human beings to create synthetic chemicals that threaten biological life at all levels (grimly described in Rachel Carson’s seminal book Silent Spring [1962]), and greater study and understanding of how chemicals affect human and ecological health. Similarly, technological developments in fossil fuel extraction led to all manner of pollution and political strife worldwide. All the while, these forms of energy gave human beings the ability to travel the globe and even fly to the moon and see this precious, fragile blue and green orb in the context of the vastness of space, providing human beings a new means and perspective to appreciate its wonders.

In the 1970s several events occurred and issues arose that indicated that a true movement around ecological and environmental issues was afoot.³ The proliferation of nuclear weapons, as well as nuclear power plants and their attending risks of disasters and radioactive fallout, were the impetus behind the start of international organizations such as Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth. Concerns about population explosion and the ability of the planet to sustain life under such a heavy consumptive burden became part of the public conversation. Species extinction, endangerment, and loss of habitat, together with concerns about pollution, acid rain, and global warming, led to international conferences, policy decisions, and popular events such as Earth Day, which all concentrated on protecting and preserving both human and other-than-human life. Today, there are several trends in ecology and environmental science that have raised a heightened sense of urgency, including studies of overpopulation, resource and energy use, and the climate crisis.

Christopher Rootes describes the evolution of the environmental movement as a progression from conservation (e.g., hunters concerned with protecting habitat for game) to preservation (e.g., those concerned about protecting environments for the spiritual and aesthetic relationship between humans and nature) to “reform environmentalism,”which recognizes that “humankind is part of nature and that the health of human populations is intimately bound up with the health of ecosystems.”⁴ As ecology became an academic discipline, environmentalism became more a part of mainstream discourse, yet it did not usually undertake extensive analysis of the social or religious origins of environmental problems. According to Rootes, the modern environmental movement in the past fifty years was built upon six conditions: (1) increasing understanding of environmental impacts; (2) increase of the extent of higher education leading to greater public awareness; (3) increasingly effective technology; (4) the mass media; (5) the critique of consumerist capitalism; and (6) an emphasis on the systemic sources of environmental problems.⁵ Key actors during this evolution were the New Left (which quickly disintegrated after the 1970s), student movements, and the Green parties that arose in Europe in the 1970s. Protests against toxic industrial waste as well as nuclear waste eventually led to the development of the environmental justice movement. Groups such as Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth were emblematic of these movements.

The environmental movement first came to widespread public consciousness on Earth Day in 1970. That first event, “in which 20 million Americans participated in a wide variety of actions designed to highlight environmental issues, can be seen both as the culmination of the environmental critique that developed during the 1960s and as a critical point in the transition toward the institutionalization of environmentalism in the US.”⁶ Since that time, we have entered what Rootes calls the “fourth wave” of the environmental movement. Deep ecology, part of this fourth wave, “starts from the proposition that all living things are part of a single natural system in which no part is of more intrinsic value than any other.”⁷ Unlike its anthropocentric predecessors in the environmental movement, deep ecology is “resolutely ecocentric even to the point of hostility to humankind as the perpetrator of greatest damage to other elements of the ecosystem.”⁸

Another strand within the fourth wave has been environmental justice, which raised awareness of environmental racism. Activists within this part of the movement connect the “brown” issues of pollution, toxic waste, and public health to the poorest communities (which are usually populated with people of color), which have no recourse to resist this kind of public health oppression imposed on them.⁹ Sociologist Robert D. Bullard, for example, has documented the way in which government and business elites in the United States have targeted black communities for polluting industries, municipal landfills, and toxic-waste dumps, even while these enterprises are touted as job-creators for these impoverished communities. This results in lax enforcement of pollution standards and environmental regulations, even while health risks to workers and residents increase.¹⁰

Ecofeminism, yet another strand in the fourth wave of environmentalism,

has emphasized the special affinity between women and women’s roles in society and interests in environmental protection… [E]cofeminism has developed principally as a critical discourse within environmental philosophy and has given rise to few and relatively small organizations in Western industrialized countries. In such less-industrialized countries as India and Kenya women have played important roles in environmental activism.¹¹

Finally, Rootes identifies ecotheology as the newest and perhaps fastest growing strand of environmentalism in the United States, where “it is invoked as a critique of the previously dominant Christian view that human domination over the natural world was divinely ordained and justified unlimited human exploitation of the natural environment.”¹² Before exploring ecotheology in detail, some space must be devoted to understanding a critical distinction between reform environmentalists and radical ecologists, because this will provide an important template upon which to place ecotheology.

Fourth Wave Environmentalism: Reform Environmentalists and Radical Ecologists

In his book Contesting Earth’s Future: Radical Ecology and Postmodernity, Michael Zimmerman describes a critical divergence within environmentalism—that of “radical ecologists” from “reform environmentalists.” According to Zimmerman, “reform environmentalists” are much more conservative and anthropocentric in their views. For example, they may seek to reduce pollution and promote “wise use” of natural resources, but stop short of calling for fundamental change in society’s instrumentalist view of nature, wherein nature is seen as a means to an end to satisfy human needs, wants, and profits.¹³ In contrast, radical ecologists insist that “unless far-reaching changes do occur in this and related views—as well as in authoritarian political and socioeconomic arrangements associated with them—modernity’s attempt to gain wealth and security through technological control over nature could trigger off ecological catastrophes capable of destroying humankind and the rest of terrestrial life.” ¹⁴

Zimmerman identifies three major branches of radical ecology: deep ecology, social ecology, and ecofeminism. Regarding the first, deep ecologists blame the ecological crisis on “anthropocentric humanism that is central to the leading ideologies of modernity, including liberal capitalism and Marxism.”¹⁵ They seek to dispel the false notion that humankind is separate from, distinct from, and ontologically superior to the rest of nature. In their view, “[A]ttempts to gain control of nature have also led to attempts to control human behavior in ways that limit freedom and prevent ‘self-realization.’ In general, deep ecologists call for a shift away from anthropocentric humanism toward an ecocentrism guided by the norm of self-realization for all beings.”¹⁶

Social ecologists are more specific in their critique, narrowing their focus down from overarching anthropocentrism to the social structures rooted in authoritarianism, as seen in both capitalism and state socialism. Social ecologists critique the “[w]anton destruction of nature [which reflects] the distorted social relations at...

Indice dei contenuti

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Foreword
• Introduction: Why Creation Needs Good Preaching, and Good Preaching Needs Creation
• 1. Environmental, Theological, and Biblical Foundations
• 2. Flowering, Leafing, Fruiting—Strategies for Approaching 38 Environmental Preaching
• 3. Who Is My Neighbor? Mapping a Preaching’s Eco-Location
• 4. Ecofeminist Theology and Implications for Preaching
• 5. Developing an Ecofeminist Christology for 117 Creation-Crisis Preaching
• 6. Preaching a Shape-Shifting “Trickster” Resurrection in the Face of the Creation Crisis
• 7. Earth, Water, and Wind: A Trilogy of Creation-Crisis Sermons
• Bibliography
• Index