This Changes Everything: Decolonizing Theo-Anthropology toward an Earth-Centered Approach to Pastoral Theology

ABSTRACT Many have argued that the colonizing conceptual infrastructures of the so-called West normalize human exceptionalism and reinforce anthropocentric priorities all of which have enabled and perpetuated the climate crisis. The discipline of pastoral theology is no exception. Perhaps more than any other theological discipline, pastoral theology organizes our scholarship, teaching and practice around anthropocentric foci and goals—the living human document or web, practices of justice and care that address human suffering and serve human flourishing. While recent scholarship has done much to prioritize decolonizing approaches to justice and care, in many cases this continues through an anthropocentric lens. How do we re-imagine pastoral theology in ways that do not perpetuate the crisis but rather serve the thriving of life in all its forms? This paper explores responses to this question. First, I present a summary of literature on pastoral theology and the climate crisis so far. Second, I examine and critique the discipline’s embedded theo-anthropology through a discussion of imago Dei and related metaphors. Third, I explore some alternative theological motifs and sources that lean toward earth-centered, decolonizing approaches to pastoral theology.