October 30, 2008

GENEVA – "Climate change is opening up horizons that are deeply spiritual, theological and cosmic in scope. [It] may literally be melting icebergs but it also exposes metaphorical icebergs of how God, human beings and the rest of creation have been conceptualized in ways that contribute to the injustices that have only increased under climate change." This observation from a background paper prepared by the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) Department for Theology and Studies (DTS) set the stage for a consultation of biblical scholars, theologians and ethicists working in this area, 2-4 October, in Geneva.

Background information for the consultation included the grassroots survey initiated by DTS to get response to ordinary people's theological questions about climate change, and the related extensive adaptation and mitigation work that the LWF Department for World Service (DWS) field programs have long been pursuing with local communities. (The LWF survey is presented in the LWI special edition titled, "Climate Change – Facing Our Vulnerability," available online at, http://www.lutheranworld.org/What_We_Do/OCS/LWI-2008-PDF/LWI-200805-EN-low.pdf.

Dr Sigurd Bergmann who teaches at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim, Norway, emphasized the need for a "spatial turn" in theology, taking Earth seriously as "our home where the Holy Spirit takes place."

Such a spatial turn resonates with how indigenous people view the sacred manifesting itself in space, added Rev. Tore Johnsen from his own Sami perspective as a pastor in the Church of Norway. He noted that indigenous people worldwide were the most vulnerable to climate changes, and they do not separate nature and human beings as in much of Western theology. Johnsen advocated pursuing theology within a "circle of life" that includes God, human beings and the rest of creation, proposing how this both relates to and revises traditional Christian understandings.

Spiritual Resources

Giving an account of what his students heard when they went out to local communities using the LWF survey, Dr George Zachariah, who teaches at the Gurukul Lutheran Theological College and Research Institute in Chennai, India, focused on the spirituality of those displaced from their land and livelihood because of climate change. He argued that many prevailing climate change discourses were an attempt to "absolve the sins of neo-liberal capitalist plunder," and called for attention to the spiritual resources of subaltern communities that can "decolonize our minds, our faiths, our communities, and our planet."

Awareness raising and advocacy are crucial at grassroots level as pointed out in two presentations. Dr Colette Bouka Coula, DWS program officer for Central and Francophone Africa, spoke of how logging companies in her home village in Cameroon, select and cut down trees without consulting with the local people who have managed the forests for centuries. Deserts result from such corporate greed, she argued. Dr Chiropafadzo Moyo from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Zimbabwe said the desperation resulting from the bleak economic and political situation in her country was driving people to cut down trees, thus destroying nature.

Re-reading the Bible is essential in times of climate change, as a source for wisdom and survival rather than for Christian doctrine, insisted Dr Christof Hardmeier, a retired professor of Old Testament who has worked on the upcoming climate change declaration of the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD). He noted similarities between indigenous views today and the early chapters of Genesis.

LWF Executive Committee member Rev. Dr Barbara Rossing, who teaches New Testament at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, USA, spoke of the need to re-passages in Revelation and II Peter 3, to counter scriptural interpretation of climate changes as God's punishment. What needs emphasizing instead is healing a world that is ill due to climate change, she said.

Ethical criteria and guidelines for policy advocacy related to climate change were set forth by Dr Christoph Stückelberger of the Geneva-based global network on applied ethics, Globethics, and by Dr James Martin-Schramm of Luther College, Decorah, Iowa, USA, who emphasized the importance of moving beyond cynicism and despair to effective action, especially with regard to energy policies.

Papers presented at the consultation and other related resources are being developed for a book to be published in the Theology in the Life of the Church series in early 2009, as well as a discussion resource for use in local communities.

For further information, contact DTS director Rev. Dr Karen Bloomquist at Bloomquist@lutheranworld.org, or DTS intern Rev. Rolita Machila at, Machila@lutheranworld.org.

Lutheran World Information