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ABSTRACT
The Environmental Crisis has been creeping up on us for years. Arguably this crisis arises from the abuse of God’s creation, particularly from Western overconsumption and our consequently broken relationship with our neighbours worldwide and especially the poor and those in less developed parts of the world who are already suffering most from its consequences. Over the last five decades, prophetic voices have spoken of the dangers of environmental degradation and climate change. It is however only in the last few years that the narrower subject of climate change has become a prominent element of the discourse in the Western Church, though the situation is perhaps rather different in the Eastern Orthodox Church. Many organisations and indeed governments have set targets for Net Zero, but does this represent an appropriate and sufficient response for Churches? Is there a sound basis for such an approach, guided by our faith and theology?
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No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 Bartholomew I–is the 270th archbishop of Constantinople and Ecumenical Patriarch, since 2 November 1991. He is regarded as the primus inter pares (first among equals) in the Eastern Orthodox Church, and spiritual leader of the Eastern Orthodox Christians worldwide. His efforts to promote ecology and the protection of the environment have been widely praised, and these endeavours have earned him the title ‘The Green Patriarch’.
2 Bartholomew and Zizioulas, Cosmic Grace, Humble Prayer.
3 Francis, ‘Laudato Si’, sec. 111.
4 Hannah Malcolm – is the granddaughter of the pioneering atmospheric physicist and climate scientist John Houghton. She was the inaugural winner in of the Theology Slam, a competition ‘that seeks to find engaging new voices that think theologically about the contemporary world’. She is currently serving a curacy in the Church of England and is writing a Phd on ‘A theology of climate grief’.
5 Meyer and Lord, ‘Planes, Homes and Automobiles.
6 Bartholomew, Encountering the Mystery The chapter on ‘The Wonder of Creation’ includes a section on ‘Poverty and Inequality’ and on ‘Environment, Poverty, and Peace’ (108–15).
7 Francis, ‘Laudato Si’, sec. 139.
8 Very much the subject of Adrian Armstrong’s book Armstrong, Here for Our Children’s Children? which tries to explain why agreement on such matters is very hard to achieve.
9 Rhodes, Climate Crisis – The Challenge to the Church.
10 Clifford, ‘All Creation Groaning.
11 See for instance Deuteronomy 24:21
12 United Nations, ‘Climate Justice – United Nations Sustainable Development’.
13 United Nations.
14 Quoted in: Durber, Richardson, and Kikuyu, ‘Song of the Prophets: A Global Theology of Climate Change’, 31.
15 As found for instance in Matthew 7:12 and Luke 6:31
16 For example: Bartholomew and Zizioulas, Cosmic Grace, Humble Prayer, 141.
17 Francis, ‘Laudato Si’, sec. 111.
18 See for instance: Platt et al., ‘Gasoline Cars Produce More Carbonaceous Particulate Matter; Nieuwenhuis, ‘Fact Check’; Holgate, ‘Every Breath We Take’.
19 As an aside, under the scoping of the Scottish Episcopal Church’s Net Zero strategy, I could achieve Net Zero in my congregations by closing the churches that we own and inviting the members of congregations to travel to my house from all over my 2000 square mile patch. The logic goes like this: heat and light energy emissions in churches belonging to the SEC are included in its Net Zero scoping, but since we own our own home, these are not; the transport energy emissions for clergy travel are included, but those of congregational members are not. That means in order to meet the SEC target of Net Zero, I should provide a warm venue and my congregations travel to me (all out of scope).
20 Dooks, ‘Business Use of Offsets Risks Delaying Net Zero’.
21 Barrett, ‘Climate Change’.
22 Lejano, Kan, and Chau, ‘Carbon Trading and Justice’.
23 Vazquez-Brust and Frei, ‘What Happens to the Plastic You Recycle?’
24 Stock, ‘Martin Luther Posts The Ninety-Five Theses.
25 Mandalaki and O’Sullivan, ‘Organisational Indulgences or Abuse of Indulgences’.
26 Goodin, ‘Selling Environmental Indulgences’, 242.
27 Goodin, 242.
28 John Zizioulas – was a Greek Orthodox theologian and bishop who served as the Metropolitan of Pergamon of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople from 1986 until his death in 2023. He was perhaps one of the most influential Orthodox Christian theologians of the 20th and 21st centuries.
29 Zizioulas, ‘Preserving God’s Creation.
30 Noble, ‘Young Adventurers Wanted For Lifechanging Expedition To Antarctica’.
31 ‘Woodland Carbon Code’.
32 Goodin, ‘Selling Environmental Indulgences’, 231.
33 Pigou, The Economics of Welfare.
34 Montefiore, Man and Nature.
35 Zizioulas, ‘Preserving God’s Creation.
36 Moltmann, God in Creation.
37 Fuller et al., Issues in Science and Theology.
38 Francis, ‘Laudato Si’, sec. 170.
39 SP. Brock quoted in Theokritoff, ‘The Ascetic Vision.
40 Zizioulas, ‘Preserving God’s Creation.
41 Quoted in: Clifford, ‘All Creation Groaning.
42 Bartholomew, ‘Message of His All Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, on the Day of Prayers for the Protection of the Environment’, 1 September 2006.
43 Theokritoff, ‘The Ascetic Vision.
44 Theokritoff.
45 Louth, ‘The Cosmic Vision of Saint Maximus the Confessor’.
46 Williams, Faith in the Public Square.
47 Newlands, ‘Salvation – Personal and Political’.
48 Brueggemann, Reality, Grief, Hope.
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James Currall
James Currall has degrees in Biology and Botany and was a lecturer and researcher in Environment Science before migrating to a career in management and subsequently answering a call to ordained ministry, a vocation which he serves out in the Scottish Episcopal Church in the Diocese of Moray, Ross and Caithness.