The Ec ology of Economics (economics that assume that ecology has budgets/costs)
For those interested in the science, history, and politics (and ultimately, the theology) of the Ecological Crisis in this country, there is a major feature run by the New York Times Magazine this week: https://www.nytimes.com/…/…/climate-change-losing-earth.html This is a major “Doctrinal” issue for the church, in that this issue, and the outrageous denial and political battle it has precipitated, has blinded Continue Reading
A previous post on my Facebook Timeline about an hour or two ago with Joan Chittister addressing the issue of “Pro-Life”, is made even more poignant in that , over the past 4 years, I have become increasingly conscious of how our Ecological Crisis poses what is the greatest threat to life that we humans have yet concocted. To call Continue Reading
I expect that someday soon, when there is enough of a groundswell of church folks calling for some serious “Reformation” in the church*** along ecological lines, that this will become a tremendously divisive issue, even as divisive as the issue of slavery was for churches in America in the Civil War era. The confrontation is , politically and socially, very Continue Reading
For the past almost four years, since my awakening to the Ecological Crisis, I have been observing the continued failure of the churches to be a voice of moral and spiritual urgency about the serious threat that this represents. There are signs springing up, but as time passes, the urgency heightens. We are running out of time. We’ve had no Continue Reading
I have often heard said something like this: “It would nice to achieve renewable energy dominance , but it just isn’t economically likely; it just doesn’t make economic sense yet”. I disagree. It already does make economic sense. Our problem is that the levers of economic incentive have been placed in the opposite direction, in support of propping up the Continue Reading
Lord, when did we see you hungry (having to grow food to be exported to developed rich nations while my only family can hardly find enough to eat?) (having to be left to farm on land that has been abused by industrial, unsustainable methods, which renders it nearly impossible to be able to produce?) (finding it more and more difficult Continue Reading
So, I just traversed hundreds of comments, in a Facebook group devoted to “Doctrinal Discussion for all who are unafraid”, on a post asking “Will the Bible be Banned?” Meanwhile, I’ve had exactly two comments about the Nova Episode (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/earth/decoding-weather-machine.html) that aired last week on Climate Change, and the history of the Science that is shouting to us about a Continue Reading
A Southerner contemplates the “horror” of the end of “a way of life” that is now seen for the evil racism at worst, or else the moral denial of the evil of it in light of what it meant to “pull the rug out” from the southern economy. (The latter is not exactly “enlightened” either). https://www.vox.com/…/confederate-memorial-day-racism-civil… “What Southern man, be Continue Reading
I watched the movie “The Post” last night. It gave me the idea of writing about our civilization’s lack of response to the Ecological Crisis in a similar fashion to my post yesterday about re: how our response to this crisis is very similar to the way people responded to slavery. The Washington Post faced a dilemma regarding their duty Continue Reading
I heard Brian McLaren talk on a podcast 2-3 years ago about how the Ecological Crisis is “the New Slavery”. It is like this in the following ways: Slavery was an institution that operated as an economic AND physical, bodily form of oppresssion, to the benefit of those who wielded that “weapon”. It caused Christians to accept what was obvious Continue Reading
There are rabbit-holes galore in the Biblical study of Creation. The Biblical narratives are incessant at keeping the significance of the Earth and Creation front and center: The Bible begins with the Creation Story that centers on the notion that God is Creator The Covenants are clearly conceived as agreements/promises/pledges from God to both Humanity and Creation. Sin is portrayed Continue Reading
I’ve often said that our Ecological Crisis has changed the nature and reach of the question: “Who is my neighbor?” for us in the modern world. We now know that we have impacts upon ANYONE in the world, because of our collective choices to OVERSHOOT our “share” of the world’s resources. We have chosen to determine that this is our Continue Reading
My calling is to help the church communicate the doctrine of Creation, which is key to the theological task we will find therein: which is that the Earth is under siege from humankind and it’s technologies. It is , in total, and act of utter selfishness for the most privileged (many of us fall within that class) to hoard massive Continue Reading
Re: the previous post: It’s not that I don’t think there’s a way through. I always know of that hope. But there are periods, preferably short (but not always as short as I would like), when I am feeling sidelined not by lack of confidence or hope in the people to rise to the occasion, but to my own sense Continue Reading
Empires seem to be adverse to adjusting their means of power to world reality (the Ecological Crisis, happening in no small way due to the resistance of Empire to the “limits” of “growth”, and seeing no other way to move forward other than the continuation of it’s “means of success”, even when that means is obviously rendered obsolete. Interesting that Continue Reading