“Responding to the One Cry of Earth and Poor: An Integral Ecology, the Scale of Values, and Eucharistic Healing,” in Everything Is Interconnected, eds. Joseph Ogbonnaya and Lucas Briola (Milwaukee, WI: Marquette University Press, 2019), 119-135. (original) (raw)
Related papers
Studia Ecologiae et Bioethicae
The article offers a comprehensive understanding of the contemporary ecological crisis from a scientific, moral, and theological perspective. The physical dimension of the crisis is evident in the host of authoritative warnings from the scientific community in recent years. !e crisis is also ethical for the fact that its disproportionate victims are the poor communities who have contributed least to causing the problem in the first place. At a still deeper level, the ecological crisis is also a profoundly spiritual crisis, as it results primarily from our inability to look at the physical world as God’s creation, the primordial revelation of divine goodness and glory. !e author skillfully weaves together the physical, moral, and religious dimensions of the problem into a unitary whole, and argues that it is only a holistic view of the crisis that can awaken us to the true magnitude of the unprecedented challenge facing our common home.
2019
Today’s overlapping social and ecological crises portend Bernard Lonergan’s memorable remark that “the world lies in pieces before us and pleads to be put together again.” The calls of Catholic social teaching for a “humane globalization” and, more recently in Laudato si’, an “integral ecology” only heighten the urgency of this task. Inspired and aided by Lonergan’s thought, this volume presents an array of essays that collectively aspire to answer these pleas. Engaging theology, philosophy, the social sciences, and the natural sciences, the volume’s authors hope to show how in fact “everything is interconnected” in the church’s ongoing task of caring for our common, though fragmented, home. This volume stands as the first publication of the International Institute for Method in Theology. Launched in 2017 by Fr. Robert Doran, S.J.—and through the joined efforts of the Marquette Lonergan Project, the Lonergan Research Institute at Regis College (University of Toronto), and the theology faculty of the Gregorian University (Rome)—the Institute aims to implement Bernard Lonergan’s “generalized empirical method” across disciplines through global collaboration. https://www.amazon.com/Everything-Interconnected-Globalization-Integral-Marquette/dp/1626007187 http://shop.btpubservices.com/Title/9781626007185
2010
Ecological theology has too often relied on Creation, Sabbatical and other accounts potentially of Priestly origin, or else has employed a hermeneutic of suspicion derived from ecocentric speculative philosophy. These approaches risk the error of reflecting current or biblical ruling class ideologies. It is argued here that a more appropriate approach to ecological theology is the prophetic tradition read from the critical materialism of political ecology. The relationship between society and environment is both socially constructed and material and political ecology uses dialectical materialist methodology in interpreting this. Such analysis emerges from, and contributes to, a preferential option for the victims of environmental injustices, and a political praxis of environmentalism of the poor alongside environmental justice struggles. The starting point of this theology of liberation is the author's context as an activist in, and action researcher with, environmental justice movements. Three contrasting case studies are interrogated with respect to this theology: environmental justice campaigns associated with Friends of the Earth Scotland; the Bhopal survivors' movement; and a working group on environmental justice within the Iona Community. Insights are derived from this praxis which make a contribution to historic projects which are neither reformist nor utopian but radically prophetic. DEDICATION In memory of the estimated 23,000 people, men women and children, who have died as a result of the gas leak and contamination caused by the Union Carbide factory in Bhopal and the countless others who have suffered from the same logic of pursuing profit by shifting costs onto the environment of the poorest. This thesis is dedicated to all who struggle against this logic in India, in Scotland and throughout the world. Remember the Dead-Fight for the Living Slogan painted on the wall of the Union Carbide factory, Bhopal ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank my supervisors Paul Walker and James Grenfell for all the support, advice and encouragement which they have given me whilst working on this thesis, along with Ian Duffield, John Vincent, Debbie Herring, Christine Jones and all staff at the Urban Theology Unit who have been support and constrictive criticisms have contributed to the completion of this thesis. Many thanks also to Martin Scott for his advice and valuable comments on the draft manuscript. I am grateful for the camaraderie and spirit of critical encouragement provided by my fellow postgraduate students at UTU. Thanks also to Phil Jakob whose hospitality in Sheffield, both material and in spirit, is always much appreciated. Many thanks to Kathy Galloway, leader of the Iona community during the time I was working on the thesis whose commitment and challenge is much valued. Thanks also to the members of the 'Place' working group of the Iona Community, to friends and colleagues at Friends of the Earth Scotland and Edinburgh University with whom I have collaborated when working with environmental justice campaigners in Scotland, and to research colleagues in the Bhopal Survivors' Movement Study. Thanks also to colleagues at Queen Margaret University who have accommodated and encouraged me in pursuing this work alongside my responsibilities of teaching and sociological research. I am especially grateful to my partner Susan for her encouragement whilst I have been devoting time to work on this thesis, and for the respect she has shown me by her support for me to pursue my passion for theology and Christian discipleship.
2020
Abstract: In this dissertation, I construct the concept of anticipatory community and the theopoetic practice of anticipation as a unique, relevant, and urgent interdisciplinary contribution to the fields of religious studies, ecological ethics, and ecological justice. My dissertation explores the creative and regenerative capacities of how different human collectives practice and form community in our time of emerging climate catastrophe. I begin by constructing the concept of anticipatory community and the practice of anticipation through engagement with scholars and activists from the fields of religious studies, history of religion, ecological ethics, and ecological justice. I particularly focus on constructing the theopoetic practice of anticipation as the practice of resistance against climate totalitarianism and the theopoetic practice of anticipation as the practice of regenerative ecology. I especially argue that the framework of anticipation is absolutely necessary as a regenerative bulwark against the rising tide of climate totalitarianism and ecofascism. In the following chapters I construct a comparative study of religion and ecology which explores the critical, creative, and constructive tensions between Franciscan scholars of religion and ecology who propose a living, integral matrix of ecology with South Asian strands of the bhakti tradition which enhance our understanding of the affect of devotion to practice and experience anticipation. My dissertation draws on case-studies of anticipatory community such as the Govardhan Eco-Village in Maharashtra, India, the Seminary Hill Farm at the Methodist Theological School of Ohio, and the Institute of Earth and Spirit at Iona College, NY. My ethnographic study of these communities expands upon and concretizes the critical, creative, and constructive tensions of my comparative study, establishing the regenerative potential of anticipatory communities and the practice of anticipation. The outline of my monograph is as follows: Chapter 1: I construct a theoretical frame for my wider project, which draws upon Hindu and Christian textual, historical, and cultural sources, to further develop an understanding of what Rasmussen describes as Earth-honoring faith, ethics, and justice and what Berry describes as The Great Work. Chapter 2: I construct the concept of anticipatory community through theoretical and pragmatic modalities of resiliency, regenerative ecology, ecological justice, and the nature of prophetic engagement in the time of climate catastrophe. I elucidate the practice of anticipation through intersectional engagement with scholars from the fields of totalitarian studies, regenerative ecology, climate science, and ecological justice. Chapter 3: I construct an ecological reading of the Caitanya Vaishnava Hindu bhakti tradition, My ecological reading of the Caitanya Vaishnavism emerges through three primary elements: experience of panentheism as the primary root system for dharmic Earthy flourishing, the regeneration of our relationship with the sacred personhood and agency of living beings and living systems, and the liberatory ethics of the exchange of dharma and justice which emerges from the personal example of the tradition’s founder Caitanya Mahaprabhu (1486-1534 CE). Chapter 4: I construct a comparative study of the Caitanya Vaishnava tradition with the Franciscan tradition of Christianity. Through this dialectical exchange I explore how each tradition critiques and enhances the elements of panentheism, sacred personhood, and the exchange of dharma and justice at the core of my project. This chapter is an explicit exercise in comparative theology/religious studies in an ecological key. Chapter 5: This chapter contains my primary case-study of the Govardhan Eco-Village. Drawing upon my ethnographic research with the community’s residents, I frame the community’s symbiotic development framework as a prominent model of anticipatory regenerative ecology and ecological justice Chapter 6: I examine Christian-rooted models of anticipatory community, focusing on case-studies of the Seminary Hill Farm project, the Methodist Theological School in Ohio, the Institute for Earth and Spirit at Iona College, NY, the Agape Community, MA, and the online ecological community Sequoia Samanvaya. I place their models and practices of ecological education in comparative exchange with the Govardhan Eco-Village’s models of dharmic ecological education. The theoretical frameworks of my comparative study in Chapter 4 are applied and explored in this chapter through pragmatic frameworks of ethics, historical studies, and pedagogy.
AJIL Unbound, 2015
The recent Encyclical by Pope Francis, Laudato Si’, On Care for our Common Home, is a remarkable document, both original and continuous within the tradition of Catholic social doctrine. Emerging from and grounded in a very specific religious tradition and constrained by the peculiar encyclical literary form, the document nonetheless seeks to open a dialogue with “every person living on this planet,” about care for our common home. Using the urgency of addressing global climate change as its point of departure, the Encyclical does a superb job summarizing the scope of the present environmental crisis and the disproportionate harms suffered by vulnerable populations of the poor and excluded. It also provides a careful analysis of the root causes of environmental degradation, mapping out the complex linkages and tensions between globalization, economic growth, liberalized trade, unsustainable patterns of consumption and production, environmental degradation, involuntary migration, immi...
Particularly Present: Agrarianism, Ecofeminism, & Holy Presence in a Post-Pandemic World
American Baptist Theologians Commission, 2023
Agrarians and Ecofeminists believe that our treatment of the land mirrors our treatment of one another. Our treatment of the land has been one of flattening, reducing, and commodifying, in the interests of power, domination, and control. Our treatment of other human beings, women in particular, has been one of flattening, reducing, and commodifying, in the interests of power, domination, and control. The COVID-19 global pandemic reflected a similar logic of control: human beings were commodified (and objectified) as carriers, vectors, or contaminants. Our agency, dignity, and particularity were ignored through statewide social distancing, quarantine, and self-isolation measures. Drawing from the insights of Agrarians and Ecofeminists, and attending closely to our post-pandemic moment, for pastors ‘Holy Presence’ means particularization. As industrialism, patriarchy, and pandemic exploit creation through commodification, ‘Holy Presence’ as particularization, can heal exploited congregations through anti-commodifying attention and care. In this paper, I survey the modern discourses of Agrarianism and Eco-Feminism, attending to the problems they address and the solutions they proffer. Then, I outline the commodifying power of the COVID-19 pandemic, comparing the results with those identified by the aforementioned discourses. Finally, I conclude with a formulation of ‘Holy Presence’ as particularization, informed by Agrarianism and Eco-Feminism and situated in our post-pandemic cultural moment. Ultimately, my contention is that American Baptist pastors can bring healing to their commodified and exploited congregations by reformulating (and embodying) ‘Holy Presence’ as particularization.
A Church's Response to the Earth's Healing in the Face of Ecological Crisis
Bedan Research Journal, 2019
The Roman Catholic Church, thru the Supreme Pontiff, prides herself in her prophetic vocation. Just like the prophets of old, the Church speaks whenever there are social issues that threatens the people of God. Currently, all people are facing the ecological crisis as characterized by unprecedented natural weather patterns (climate change), loss of species of both flora and fauna, desertification and the like. As a crisis, it needs an immediate response. This response is the main focus of this research. Hence, this research aimed to fulfill the following objectives: to describe the current ecological crisis; to identify the Church’s traditional and scriptural basis in responding to the challenges of the ecological crisis; to examine the different Church’s encyclical and teachings as responses to ecological crisis; and to propose recommendations to alleviate the present ecological crisis. The social action cycle of Mater et Magistra was used as framework in identifying the origins of the crisis (context), followed by identifying diachronically the response of the Church drawing from the scripture, tradition (conscience), and examining synchronically the response of the Church’s encyclical with special emphasis on Laudato Si, concluding with concrete recommendations (consciousness) to help alleviate the present ecological crisis. Thus, the result showed that the current ecological crisis is characterized by ‘excessive anthropocentrism’ which is a clear misunderstanding and misinterpretation of the human and nature relationships. Moreover, a clear interpretation of the Biblical truth must be preserved. Lastly, the Catholic Social Teachings, specifically the Laudato Si, indicated that there is a need for a “Dialogue”, among various sciences, to respond effectively to the ecological crisis. Keywords: Ecological Crisis, Laudato Si, Earth’s Healing, Care for the Environment, Social Action Cycle/Spiral
Scriptura, 2014
This article consists of three distinct parts. The first part offers a number of observations on land as a lens to interpret economic inequalities in South Africa. The second part extrapolates such observations to explore the ecological dimensions of urban land reform with specific reference to the ongoing service delivery protests over sanitation (dubbed 'poo protesting') as reported in the media and more specifically in the Cape Times. The third part offers some theological and ethical reflections on the human need for sanitation as a form of internal critique of the engagement with such service delivery protests by the so-called 'Concerned Citizens Group' in which the author was involved.