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Climate Justice Session One
Session one explores the ways in which we can engage with the issue of climate justice.
https://www.christianaid.org.uk/resources/geoff-holders-faith-action
It all started in the garden. This is also the case for Geoff, his faith in action is about caring for the climate and assisting communities to plant trees. What is your entry point or starting point for engaging with the issue of climate justice?
Read the passage twice – have someone read it aloud and then individually in silence.
26 Then God said, ‘Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the wild animals of the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.’
27 So God created humankind in his image,
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.
28 God blessed them, and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.’
29 God said, ‘See, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit; you shall have them for food.
30 And to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.’ And it was so.
31 God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.
2.1 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all their multitude.
2 And on the seventh day God finished the work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all the work that he had done.
3 So God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it, because on it God rested from all the work that he had done in creation.
1. What words or ideas jump of the page?
2. What relationships can you identify in this passage?
3. Dominion (vs 28) is a difficult word in climate justice theology: In 1967, Lynn White Jr shocked many by arguing that a Western theology of ‘dominion’ had fuelled an ecological crisis1. How do you understand the word dominion and humanity’s relationship with creation?
4. Sabbath is often considered a more helpful idea in climate justice theology: ‘[Sabbath] shows us the importance of restorative action for those whom the system impoverishes and the need to moderate the demands we make on ourselves and our environment in the relentless pursuit of production.’2 What role might the idea of Sabbath rest play in the journey to climate justice?
Dr. Rowan Williams, chair of Christian Aid, says we need to regain a sense that our relationship to the earth is about ‘communion not consumption’. What does that look like in practice? How will you live in communion with creation this week?
1Song of the prophets: A global theology of climate change. Christian Aid, 2020. https://www.christianaid.org.uk/sites/default/files/2020-05/song-of-the-prophets-theology-climate-change-report-May2020.pdf
2 An unquenchable thirst: faith and economic growth. Christian Aid, 2017https://www.christianaid.org.uk/sites/default/files/2018-01/An-Unquenchable-Thirst-Dec2017.pdf