Climate change is a dominant reality of our time, a series of physical changes to earth’s systems that will impact human wellbeing, social stability, biodiversity, and the familiar patterns of harvest and storms on God’s green earth. The Fifth Assessment Report clearly states that climate change is already having an impact on our planet and will worsen the lot of the poor in particular. A critical link between this scientific assessment of the state of the planet and Christian faith is thereby found in the gospel invitation to care for the poor. Yet arguably many Christians have not internalized this reality, and the central symbols of Christian faith are not yet consciously intertwined with the reality of climate change in the ways needed to summon strong action. Therefore, the critical question addressed here is how ministers can help lead their communities to understand the links between climate change and faith -- and then inspire them to act. My focus group research among over 135 faith-based environmentalists show that the motivation for environmental advocacy is effectively created through group discussion in the kinds of trusted groups that congregations and faith communities exemplify. Congregations and faith communities are privileged places for engaging potential environmental leaders, and for supporting the work of already active environmentalists. Research Objectives: Empirical research was conducted while a fellow of the Earth Institute, Columbia University, and was approved by the Columbia University Institutional Review Board. The objective was to engage environmental decision theory as well as theological analysis to understand the factors that motivate faith-based environmentalists. Methods: Participants were chosen from mainstream congregational sustainability committees. The Christian groups included Baptists (WA), three groups of Catholics (suburban NJ, urban NY, rural WA), two groups of Episcopalians (suburban and urban NJ), megachurch Christian Evangelicals (FL), Reformed Christians (NJ), two groups of Presbyterians/ PCUSA (MD), Unitarian-Universalists (NJ), and southern pastors (NC). Participant statements provided the primary starting point for analysis. I asked questions about congregational activity, personal motivations, how beliefs developed, and behavior change, and employed semi-structured questions to permit systematic comparison and analysis. Discussions were transcribed and coded both inductively and deductively using NVivo 8 content analysis software (QSR Software, Melbourne) to compare and rank the responses. This essay represents analysis of a small portion of the data collected and the conclusions drawn from it.
{"title":"Come with Me into the Fields: Inspiring Creation Ministry among Faith Communities","authors":"Erin Lothes Biviano","doi":"10.17688/NTR.V26I2.998","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.17688/NTR.V26I2.998","url":null,"abstract":"Climate change is a dominant reality of our time, a series of physical changes to earth’s systems that will impact human wellbeing, social stability, biodiversity, and the familiar patterns of harvest and storms on God’s green earth. The Fifth Assessment Report clearly states that climate change is already having an impact on our planet and will worsen the lot of the poor in particular. A critical link between this scientific assessment of the state of the planet and Christian faith is thereby found in the gospel invitation to care for the poor. Yet arguably many Christians have not internalized this reality, and the central symbols of Christian faith are not yet consciously intertwined with the reality of climate change in the ways needed to summon strong action. Therefore, the critical question addressed here is how ministers can help lead their communities to understand the links between climate change and faith -- and then inspire them to act. My focus group research among over 135 faith-based environmentalists show that the motivation for environmental advocacy is effectively created through group discussion in the kinds of trusted groups that congregations and faith communities exemplify. Congregations and faith communities are privileged places for engaging potential environmental leaders, and for supporting the work of already active environmentalists. Research Objectives: Empirical research was conducted while a fellow of the Earth Institute, Columbia University, and was approved by the Columbia University Institutional Review Board. The objective was to engage environmental decision theory as well as theological analysis to understand the factors that motivate faith-based environmentalists. Methods: Participants were chosen from mainstream congregational sustainability committees. The Christian groups included Baptists (WA), three groups of Catholics (suburban NJ, urban NY, rural WA), two groups of Episcopalians (suburban and urban NJ), megachurch Christian Evangelicals (FL), Reformed Christians (NJ), two groups of Presbyterians/ PCUSA (MD), Unitarian-Universalists (NJ), and southern pastors (NC). Participant statements provided the primary starting point for analysis. I asked questions about congregational activity, personal motivations, how beliefs developed, and behavior change, and employed semi-structured questions to permit systematic comparison and analysis. Discussions were transcribed and coded both inductively and deductively using NVivo 8 content analysis software (QSR Software, Melbourne) to compare and rank the responses. This essay represents analysis of a small portion of the data collected and the conclusions drawn from it.","PeriodicalId":82116,"journal":{"name":"New theology review","volume":"26 1","pages":"33-42"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2013-12-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"68085720","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Working from a peace studies perspective, this article develops a normative framing of climate justice, which subsequently points to duties to prevent and mitigate both socio-economic and ecological inequalities arising from anthropogenic climate change. This climate justice lens is then employed to survey select responses to climate change from within the Roman Catholic tradition – viz., brief references to some of the intellectual and practical initiatives of the laity and religious brothers and sisters, as well as Catholic Social Teaching on green issues, and the support of and resistance to these initiatives from within the tradition. Building on the tensions and promises brought into focus by this analysis, we end with a discussion of the promise of an emerging integrated Catholic methodology of responsible action to effectively respond to multi-layered social injustice and ecological degradation resulting from anthropogenic climate change.
{"title":"Catholic Social Teaching and Climate Justice from a Peace Studies Perspective: Current Practice, Tensions, and Promise","authors":"Christopher Hrynkow, D. O'Hara","doi":"10.17688/NTR.V26I2.997","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.17688/NTR.V26I2.997","url":null,"abstract":"Working from a peace studies perspective, this article develops a normative framing of climate justice, which subsequently points to duties to prevent and mitigate both socio-economic and ecological inequalities arising from anthropogenic climate change. This climate justice lens is then employed to survey select responses to climate change from within the Roman Catholic tradition – viz., brief references to some of the intellectual and practical initiatives of the laity and religious brothers and sisters, as well as Catholic Social Teaching on green issues, and the support of and resistance to these initiatives from within the tradition. Building on the tensions and promises brought into focus by this analysis, we end with a discussion of the promise of an emerging integrated Catholic methodology of responsible action to effectively respond to multi-layered social injustice and ecological degradation resulting from anthropogenic climate change.","PeriodicalId":82116,"journal":{"name":"New theology review","volume":"26 1","pages":"23-32"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2013-12-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"68085540","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This article explores the ecclesiology of Vatican II, particularly its understanding of the Church as the People of God, in order to consider how that teaching is currently being received in the Church by Catholics who embrace different views of the Council and its meaning. After examining the theology of the Church presented in Lumen gentium , Vatican II’s “Dogmatic Constitution on the Church,” the article considers various ways in which the teaching on Lumen gentium has and has not been embraced in the Church. It concludes by considering the challenge involved in the reception of conciliar teaching of any sort and proposes ways in which more liberal and more conservative Catholic sensibilities might appreciate each other’s efforts to live out the teachings of the Council in the one community of faith.
{"title":"Whatever Happened to the \"People of God\"? Thoughts on the Reception of Vatican II","authors":"J. Thiel","doi":"10.17688/NTR.V26I2.995","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.17688/NTR.V26I2.995","url":null,"abstract":"This article explores the ecclesiology of Vatican II, particularly its understanding of the Church as the People of God, in order to consider how that teaching is currently being received in the Church by Catholics who embrace different views of the Council and its meaning. After examining the theology of the Church presented in Lumen gentium , Vatican II’s “Dogmatic Constitution on the Church,” the article considers various ways in which the teaching on Lumen gentium has and has not been embraced in the Church. It concludes by considering the challenge involved in the reception of conciliar teaching of any sort and proposes ways in which more liberal and more conservative Catholic sensibilities might appreciate each other’s efforts to live out the teachings of the Council in the one community of faith.","PeriodicalId":82116,"journal":{"name":"New theology review","volume":"26 1","pages":"70-79"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2013-12-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"68085926","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This essay examines digital creativity from a theological perspective, focusing on its potential to serve the transmission of faith. Creativity is a contested term both in the fields of digital media scholarship and the Christian theological tradition. Some express reservation about the possibility or value of creativity in both digital communication and the theological task of the transmission of faith. On the other hand, others affirm digital creativity as the next opportunity in the long line of visual and artistic media used in the history of the Christian tradition in the service of the transmission of faith. A constructive approach to digital creativity also reveals it potential for theological education as a pedagogical approach that fosters understanding toward appropriation and the effective transmission of the content of faith.
{"title":"Creative Communication: Digital Creativity and Theology in Dialogue","authors":"Daniella Zsupan-Jerome","doi":"10.17688/NTR.V26I2.944","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.17688/NTR.V26I2.944","url":null,"abstract":"This essay examines digital creativity from a theological perspective, focusing on its potential to serve the transmission of faith. Creativity is a contested term both in the fields of digital media scholarship and the Christian theological tradition. Some express reservation about the possibility or value of creativity in both digital communication and the theological task of the transmission of faith. On the other hand, others affirm digital creativity as the next opportunity in the long line of visual and artistic media used in the history of the Christian tradition in the service of the transmission of faith. A constructive approach to digital creativity also reveals it potential for theological education as a pedagogical approach that fosters understanding toward appropriation and the effective transmission of the content of faith.","PeriodicalId":82116,"journal":{"name":"New theology review","volume":"26 1","pages":"80-87"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2013-11-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"68084790","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This article treats the deeper casues of inaction toward mitigating global warming and climate change from moral and spiritual perspectives. The Patron Saint of Ecology, Francis of Assisi is a moral and spiritual exemplar for those who desire theologically grounded action on climate change issues. The Franciscan vision offers a powerful antidote to the moral malaise that prevents ordinary Christians from making the necessary choices to live more simply and share in the world's goods more equitably.
{"title":"How to save a climate? Just die!","authors":"O. D. M. Nothwehr","doi":"10.17688/NTR.V26I2.994","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.17688/NTR.V26I2.994","url":null,"abstract":"This article treats the deeper casues of inaction toward mitigating global warming and climate change from moral and spiritual perspectives. The Patron Saint of Ecology, Francis of Assisi is a moral and spiritual exemplar for those who desire theologically grounded action on climate change issues. The Franciscan vision offers a powerful antidote to the moral malaise that prevents ordinary Christians from making the necessary choices to live more simply and share in the world's goods more equitably.","PeriodicalId":82116,"journal":{"name":"New theology review","volume":"27 1","pages":"49-60"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2013-11-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"68085841","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Signs of the Times: Theology and Climate Change","authors":"C. Peppard","doi":"10.17688/NTR.V26I2.991","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.17688/NTR.V26I2.991","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":82116,"journal":{"name":"New theology review","volume":"26 1","pages":"100-102"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2013-11-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"68084417","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Aldo Leopold proposed in 1949 that the community of moral concern would expand to include the land. Such a vision of the expansion of moral community has continued to find echoes among contemporary thinkers with a variety of perspectives. This paper suggests five foci as a typology for characterizing this expansive conversation about ecotheology and ecological ethics: (1) a localized focus on particular place, (2) a revisioning focus on scripture, (3) a re-centering focus on the putative ‘center’ of value, (4) ecocentrism or a de-centering focus on value within ecological relationship, and (5) an expansive focus on the cosmos. Both human power and human vulnerability within the natural world become salient in this conversation. Ironically, however, even in seeking to determine value in nature, it is human agency that is tacitly empowered to act in accord with that perceived ecological value.
{"title":"Land ethic through a retrospective lens: focusing and refocusing moral community","authors":"J. Bush","doi":"10.17688/NTR.V26I2.942","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.17688/NTR.V26I2.942","url":null,"abstract":"Aldo Leopold proposed in 1949 that the community of moral concern would expand to include the land. Such a vision of the expansion of moral community has continued to find echoes among contemporary thinkers with a variety of perspectives. This paper suggests five foci as a typology for characterizing this expansive conversation about ecotheology and ecological ethics: (1) a localized focus on particular place, (2) a revisioning focus on scripture, (3) a re-centering focus on the putative ‘center’ of value, (4) ecocentrism or a de-centering focus on value within ecological relationship, and (5) an expansive focus on the cosmos. Both human power and human vulnerability within the natural world become salient in this conversation. Ironically, however, even in seeking to determine value in nature, it is human agency that is tacitly empowered to act in accord with that perceived ecological value.","PeriodicalId":82116,"journal":{"name":"New theology review","volume":"26 1","pages":"13-22"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2013-11-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"68084751","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Welcome to NTR Year 2","authors":"M. L. McMahon","doi":"10.17688/NTR.V26I1.953","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.17688/NTR.V26I1.953","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":82116,"journal":{"name":"New theology review","volume":"26 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2013-09-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"68083189","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Catechesis and faith formation: are they finding a place in our parishes? Young adult catholics and the new evangelization","authors":"Fspa Kathleen M. Mitchell","doi":"10.17688/NTR.V26I1.948","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.17688/NTR.V26I1.948","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":82116,"journal":{"name":"New theology review","volume":"26 1","pages":"75-78"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2013-09-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"68083170","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Signs of the Times: Pope Francis Puts Latin America on the Ecclesial Map","authors":"Sheila M. Curran","doi":"10.17688/NTR.V26I1.949","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.17688/NTR.V26I1.949","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":82116,"journal":{"name":"New theology review","volume":"26 1","pages":"84-86"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2013-09-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"68083182","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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