WCC FEATURE: Towards an eco-theology

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World Council of Churches - Feature

TOWARDS AN ECO-THEOLOGY

For immediate release: 30 March 2011

By Marcelo Schneider (*)

The accepted axiom is, as the climate changes so the world, too, will
change in dramatic and sometimes undesirable ways.

What does this often rapid change mean to Christians whose faith is
intertwined with the glory and beauty of God’s creation, but challenged
when that creation is corrupted and irreversibly altered?

Is the churches’ current theological reflection on stewardship and
climate change ready for the rapid shifting of winds, weather, and life on
earth as we know it and our grandparents knew it?

These questions were enough to prompt a variety of churches in Argentina to
explore the "Christian faith and ecology: towards an eco-ecumenical
theology" in a recent seminar held 28 - 29 March at the Protestant
theological school Instituto Universitario ISEDET in Buenos Aires.

The event was sponsored by ISEDET (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=3c36c0220a692c4da661 ), the 
non-governmental
Argentina-based Rural Reflection Group (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=90dcb46f48be4f441f20 ) and the World 
Student Christian Federation (WSCF)
Latin America and Caribbean region (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=ff46e55a8f4fc3361fbe
) and was supported by the World Council of Churches (WCC
(Link: http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=a004ace8d7fd238a3487 )) and the 
United Church of
Canada (Link: http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=a20991baf55cfede01dc ).

An imperative concern for nature

"Climate changes occur very rapidly and have astonishing consequences,”
said Dr Alfredo Salibian, an Argentinian biologist in an address to the
group. “We are witnessing changes in our own lives, not only in relation
to the context in which our parents or grandparents lived, but in relation
to twenty, ten or five years ago."

Salibian proposed the addition of the prefix "eco" to theology, reflecting
an imperative, urgent concern for nature.

"We have to recall that the redemption offered by Jesus Christ is
bidirectional,” he said.

“On one side it is vertical because it allows for the restoration of
relations of human beings with the Creator. But we tend to neglect the
other part of this relationship, which is horizontal, which aims to heal
the damaged relations between human beings and the rest of God's
creation.”

Therefore Salibian said it is time to update Latin American theology,
incorporating the prefix "eco" to redefine the meaning of "creation",
"Christ", “human being” and "ecumenism" in light of stewardship for
creation.

But it goes even further than that, says the father of the Kyoto Protocol,
Raul Estrada Oyuela, who spoke on the international diplomatic framework
linked to the theme of climate change at the event.

Theology and politics

Oyuela warned that the lack of mutual understanding between theology and
politics could be damaging.

"If we do not understand what happens in politics, it will be very
difficult to interfere in the construction of policies," he said.

Oyuela chaired the group created by the First Conference of the Parties to
the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to
negotiate a legally binding instrument on climate change today known as
the Kyoto Protocol.

"There are many people from the member churches of the World Council of
Churches in international diplomatic circles that deal with environmental
issues,” he said, pressing the issue that the church can influence
power. “If theologically, the WCC proposes ethical reference points, why
not strengthen the process of awareness raising and advocacy among these
actors, so that the agenda has a more significant impact on the final
results of the negotiations?"

"We, Christians, warned, some years ago, about the urgent need to promote
an ethic of social responsibility on the management of natural resources
and care for creation, something we called 'stewardship for creation'”,
Salibian reminded the audience.

“This concept still is in opposition to the current dominant school of
thought asserting the supremacy of economy over nature, which becomes
oppressive to many humans, and breaks the relationships of people with
nature."

Reinforcing the need for a review of the Latin American theology, the WCC
programme executive on climate change, Dr Guillermo Kerber, from Uruguay,
added that one of the main impacts of climate change on theology is the
emerging need to reform the theological understanding of creation.

"What is the place of the human being in creation and in relation to it? We
need an epistemological change of our theology in relation to ecology,"
Kerber said.

“Peace with the earth”

One of the methodological efforts made during the event has been the
attempt to explain the links between violence, peace-building and care for
creation. This reflects one of the main themes, “peace with the
earth”, of the upcoming International Ecumenical Peace Convocation (IEPC
(Link: http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=e6d2c679141d624cf141 )) being 
held 17-25 May
in Kingston, Jamaica and sponsored by the WCC, the Caribbean Conference of
Churches and the Jamaica Council of Churches.

Emerging from the seminar in Argentina is a holistic view trying to build
on the acknowledgement that the environmental crisis resulting from
climate change has economic, political and spiritual components.

The impact of climate change, particularly on migration, is leading to an
ethically-based debate on the issue of justice involving the testimony of
the most vulnerable groups such as women, impoverished and indigenous
people.

"We must recognize that justice is a central theme in the Bible. The God of
the Bible is a God of justice who does justice. Therefore, we include in
our theology the issue of 'eco-justice'", said Kerber.

This is not the first time that the WCC and its member churches have been
supporting dialogue and reflection on ecology and theology in Argentina.

In addition to an event under the theme "Man and His Environment" in 1974,
there was (Link:  ) also a seminar in 1990 on "Crisis, Ecology
and Social Justice". The seminar, hosted by ISEDET, was held in
preparation of the Call for Justice Peace and Integrity of Creation
(JPIC), held that year in Seoul, South Korea.

[906 words]

(*) Dr Marcelo Schneider has been working as assistant to the WCC Central
Committee moderator since 2006. He lives in Porto Alegre, Brazil and
writes for several Latin American ecumenical and church-related news
agencies.


More on WCC climate change advocacy:
www.oikoumene.org/climatechange (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=7b4e71f432d62e50dbff )


International Ecumenical Peace Convocation website:
www.overcomingviolence.org (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=01415d57b84ee1576029 )


The World Council of Churches promotes Christian unity in faith, witness 
and service for a just and peaceful world. An ecumenical fellowship of 
churches founded in 1948, today the WCC brings together 349 Protestant, 
Orthodox, Anglican and other churches representing more than 560 million 
Christians in over 110 countries, and works cooperatively with the Roman 
Catholic Church. The WCC general secretary is Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, 
from the [Lutheran] Church of Norway. Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland.



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