This is presentation file contains what I presented in the Graduate School.

1. A Christian Theological
Responses to the
Ecological Crisis
An overview of the overview of the theological
responses to Lynn White‟s claim on the Christianity.
Compendious summarization.
very shortly summarized by
CHOI WOOCHUL Stefano

2. Stephen Bede Scharper – Author of the Art.
• Ph. D.
• Assistant professor of the
Study of Religion at St.
Michael‟s college
• Publications.
- Redeeming the Time: A
Political Theology of the
Environment.
- The Green Bible(with
Hilary Cunningham)
• Many articles on the
He is lecturing at St. Jerome’s
ecological issues. university on the ecological
issues on Nov. 2007.

3. The beginning of the debate
• Lynn White asserted that, in his article, Christianity was
one of the main factors those which effected seriously
on the ecological crisis to which now we are facing.
• This assert gave an occasion for many Theologians to
discuss whether Christianity is really a historical root of
our ecological Crisis or not.
• After the Article by Lynn White Jr., there were three kind
of approaches to it.
• (In this presentation, the specific attestation of Lynn
White Jr. will be skipped for it is what we already learned.)
• I would like to skip also specific instances which were included to
introduce the scholar’s thesis because it is impossible to scrutinize
all of them in this class hours.

4. Introduction to the Approaches

5. Apologetic approach
• Apologetic Approach criticized on the hypothesis of
Lynn White.
• They tried to defend Judeo-Christian Tradition from the
theoretical claim by Lynn White and his followers.
• The embolismic scholars of this approach like below:
• (1) Robin Attfield
• (2) Thomas Sieger Derr
• (3) H. Paul Santmire

6. Apologetic approach Robin Attfield
• He sifts through biblical, patristic, medieval evidence.
• showing the centrality of stewardship and cooperation
with nature in the Christian theological tradition.
• Hebrew Scriptures do not suggest that all the created
world exists solely to serve humanity. It includes
restrictions on the use of forests and animals. Hebrew
concept of dominion involves accountability and
responsibility, not mere exploitation.
• The Christian attitudes were much more varied than
White attests. (Calvin expressed a notion of stewardship)
• Real cause of our crisis is Western‟ society‟s sacred
belief in the inevitability of progress.

7. Apologetic approach Thomas Sieger Derr
• The genesis of Western technology and science is
multiple, complex, and obscure. Thus it is a false
simplification to isolate one particular religious strand
when a myriad of nonreligious elements also were
factors. He wonders how White explains ecological
disaster in non-Christian parts.
• He indicates that there is impressive evidence of an early
and enduring Christian concern for environmental
preservation.
• The “orthodox” Christian stance toward nature is
respectful stewardship of an earth which belongs only to
God.
• Instead of minimalism, he takes a position of responsible
antrhopocentrism.

8. Apologetic approach H. Paul Santmire
• His goal is to understand the “travail” of nature in
Western Christian thought.
• After the White‟ critique, there are many voices. What
these voices lack is historical framework, an careful
exploration of the theology of nature in the “biblical-
classical Christian tradition”
• Western theological tradition is not ecologically bankrupt,
nor is it lined with pearls of ecological riches. It is
marked by two overarching motifs: spiritual – ecological
• He articulates 3 major metaphors: ascent, fecundity,
migration to good land to categorize the biblical tradition.
He says that this 3 metaphors are co-existent in the Bible.
It shows the possibility of a fresh ecological reading or
biblical faith, he believes.

9. Constructive approach
• Constructive Approach adopts a self-critical perspective
in dealing with the accusations leveled at the Judeo-
Christian tradition by Lynn White Jr.
• They rarely concern the exact of the assessment by
White but rather the ecological crisis and also try to find
new Christian way to solve the matters.
• (1) Douglas John Hall
• (2) Jürgen Motlmann
• (3) Walter Bruegemann

10. Constructive approach Douglas John Hall.
• He starts with the claim that something is fundamentally
wrong with our civilization. It has to do with “the
distorted relationship between human and nonhuman
nature”.
• He examined the “image of God” in the tradition of
Jerusalem. He contends that in the history of Christianity,
the symbol was only rationally taken even though it has
more wider meaning.
• In this symbol, the relational aspect should be focused.
(being with-God, being with-humankind, being-with
nature. They are in a single relationship) The essence of
human is to be in relationship of love. : Biblical ontology

11. Constructive approach Jürgen Moltmann
• His work is primarily pneumatological. He explicitly
identifies “God in creation” as the Holy Spirit, and his
initial point is “the indwelling divine Spirit of creation.”
The Spirit is the “holistic” principle of creativity and
cooperation in creation.
• He applies his messianic orientation to an ecological
doctrine of creation.
• The role of human is to respond to the ecological crisis
as responsible agents of history, attuned to the Holy
Spirit‟s presence in creation and guided and girded by
God‟s hope-yielding eschatological promise.

12. Constructive approach
Walter Bruegemann
• He focuses on a crisis that has more to do with human
feelings of rootlessness and anomie than with ecological
destruction.
• His principal project is to provide a novel „prism‟ through
which the Bible can be scrutinized, that prism being the
narrative-of-the-land motif in the Bible.
• Land is perhaps the core theme of biblical faith.
• Promise of entry into the land – story of land
management and exile – the renewed story of promise
commencing in exile and resulting in a kingdom.
• This story-telling approach rather can be instructive to
the eco-theologians. It can be a ancient understandable
model to be adopted in modern society.

13. Listening approach
• This approach does not directly deal with the charges
laid by Lynn White and others.
• Their concern is listen to “nature” itself.
• Not by debate but in radical openness to the earth‟s
system, we can fashion a truly workable and non-harmful
response to the human world.
• Human role is responsive and attentive to nature.
• John Carmody (a former Jesuit)
• Albert Fritsch (a current Jesuit)
• Thomas Berry (a Passionist priest.)
- Berry is not main concern in this presentation.

14. Listening approach John Carmody
• Part 1 – listening parts.
He outlined the facts and figures on the environmental
crisis. His background is Eastern religious thought for it
is more attentive to nature and is able to assist Western
Christians‟ attempt to fashion a responsible theology of
nature.
• Part 2 – a new Christian naturalism.
- anthoropocentrism seems to be the main-steream of
the Christian tradition.
• God has given nature many title to reverence.
• Need for the human agent to listen to nature.
• The focus seems to be on responding to the ecological
challenge.

15. Listening approach Albert Fritsch
• Jesuit engineer and theologian. Minister of Appalachia.
• He is influenced by Teilhard de Chardin.
(within a liturgical context he explores the notion of cosmic
evolution by Chardin.)
• Earth as teacher.
• One‟s own bioregion as a source of theological reflection.
• Critique of consumerism.
• Listening to nature is acquired skill
• Unlike Berry, his analysis was built into option for the
poor. There is a clear nexus between oppression of the
poor and of the earth. It is from same companies.
• Humans enrich themselves when benefiting other earth
members.

16. My conclusion
:Necessity of partnership
• All of us whoever live in the Earth are facing to the
Ecological crisis.
• Even the heavenly church is perfect but in the earth it is
able to make mistakes for it is within the imperfect
human.
• We can know that the original author of bibles and
theological workers did not want to harm the Earth.
• However it does not mean that it had been not misguided
and misinterpreted by descendants of them.
• So, we must renovate our attitude toward nature so that
it will be properly In God‟s plan to the Earth, our land.
• This should be in the inter-disciplinary, inter-religious,
inter-race, and inter-national work, I think.