Sacrifice in Environmental Ethics and Theology

Sacrifice is a controversial topic in contemporary environmental ethics. The vocabulary of sacrifice is rife with difficulties, and theological voices such as Rachel Muers and Willis Jenkins evince a justified wariness about sacrifice as an ethical norm in light of feminist and liberationist critiques of how appeals to sacrifice have functioned as tools of oppression. There are two challenges that this account of sacrifice seeks to address: the first is discursive and the second is practical. Both the discursive and the practical challenges have important ethical implications. In relation to the first challenge, I argue that the way in which sacrifice language is deployed is morally significant—for it may justify abuses and it may obscure injustices. I argue against certain uses of the term “sacrifice,” and at the same time, I claim that Christian environmental theologians and ethicists cannot bypass the normative significance of sacrifice embedded in their sacred texts and theological tradition—though they must grapple with its dangers. Most importantly, sacrifice should not be valorized in ways that spiritualize passivity in the face of injustice. I argue that invoking sacrifice as a kind of plea for modesty by the privileged is inadequate insofar as it fails to acknowledge the grievous and devastating sacrifices being made by those who have contributed least to climate change, such as indigenous land defenders in Central and South America. In relation to the second (practical) challenge, I offer a sketch of a theology of sacrifice and the ways in which such a theology may be enacted liturgically and ethically in response to ecological concerns.