The Green Chalice by Mark Coleman

I came across this You Tube presentation by David Korten recently and I am really enjoying his writings and talks. It's all in the past - but this is what the flier says: God created the earth and entrusted its care to us As we rethink how to grow, build, supply, consume, dispose, and recycle everything in our lives, we often fail at partnering with the marginalized and powerless, and thus adversely affect them. Building sustainable communities goes hand-in-hand with thoughtful building of infrastructures and physical spaces. Is there a theological basis for living abundantly while striving for justice and sustainability? In 2009, Trinity Institute will explore sustainability through the lens of liberation theology, which views Jesus not only as redeemer but also liberator of the oppressed. It posits a vision of Christians working together toward social justice by considering all people as full partners in healing our planet and our communities, r...

The very idea of being "on the hook" makes me wince so the thought of being "off the hook"it is very attractive. I have been reflecting during this time of study leave how we often create a mental world where whatever's wrong is the other (blighter)'s fault. The trouble with my area of study is that it doesn't really allow for "the other". Christianity says we are all made in the image of God, and ecology says we are all part of the earth. So blaming the other guy gets difficult. The other is our brother/sister or a member of the same community of creation. True, their attitude and behaviour may be what Christians call sinful, but we can't write them off. There will be a mote in  my own eye for sure if not a plank ! Writing up the research I have been doing with my excellent co-researchers in Liverpool reminds me of this. At various times our conversation would turn to those Chinese building all those power stations, or the madness of c...

Two strands of thought have come together for me this morning. I was reading about how Margaret Thatcher, in 1990 made the conservative case for climate action but by 2003 had shifted her position. In 1990 Global warming was, she argued, “real enough for us to make changes and sacrifices, so that we do not live at the expense of future generations.”. But by 2003 she was calling climate action a “marvelous excuse for supra-national socialism". This is all recorded on the Grist website . Why the shift for Margaret ? Is the answer peer pressure?  It's not just politicians who follow the pack, we all do. To step outside of the reassurance and identity of the group you belong to, takes courage. It seems that Margaret Thatcher was influenced by right wing think-tanks. And I don't imagine that the ordinary conservative voter wanted to hear about the need to change lifestyle. (None of us do.... ) The other strand was hearing about Hannah Arendt's and the trial of Adolf...

Wendy and I have spent our first night at Courcelles des Montbard with the kind hospitality of the villagers. The heating was not working at the house we had booked to stay in. So we were fed and lodged at a neighbor's home. It's been such a privilege to receive the kindness of these strangers. When we say thank you they say "C'est normal" and we pick up how much these villagers value community - and regret too much "individualisme". Ironically the advent of second homes - such as we will be living in - has not been good for villages like this. Nor has big industrial farming (we have heard about the virtually disappearance of the swallows) or supermarkets (no shops in the village). So it seems to me that the hospitality we have received is at the same time both human kindness and a political protest against all that atomizes and damages society. Behind the quiet exterior of this pretty village lurks human kindness and concern. - Posted using BlogPress fr...

Dorothee Soelle in her sadly now out of print book "to work and to love - a theology of creation" takes as a maxim that we are made from dust. When we do not take this into account in our theology we get trapped in an "ideological superstructure". Here in Turkey, enjoying the image of my friends' cat wallowing in the good dust. She has no truck with superstructures ! - Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Long time no blog ! But here I go again.. Lots of political chatter at the moment about the EDFs of this world and other big private companies that have increased their charges. Archbishop Justin rightly reminds them of their social obligations .... We wait and hope. I was reminded of this while rereading Dorothee Soelle's "To Work and To Love - a theology of creation". I remember reading this 30 years ago on a bus going through Seaforth and being very moved by it all, the theology and the urban landscape She writes: "it is a sacrilege to make the earth into a commodity. The earth does not know mine or thine. The concept of the earth as God's good creation and the concept of the earth as private property are mutually exclusive." (p 34) So how right is it to profit from selling what does not belong to the seller ? For the seller is not the producer !

At breakfast at the Woodbrooke Quaker Study Centre yesterday I struggled to explain my research to an undoubtedly intelligent woman. Whilst certainly partly my failing, I was reminded that it is not natural to connect in the contemporary Christian mind (She was a practising Roman Catholic  the Eucharist and the Environment. Of course not ! That's why I am doing my research - that's the problem the research tries to tackle. So you can imagine how encouraged I was yesterday reading the book Greening Paul: Rereading the apostle in a time of ecological crisis which I would humbly suggest is trying to the same with St Paul as I and others are trying to do with the Eucharist. The authors of this book try to develop some "hermeneutical lenses" which are from the Christian tradition and yet at the same time can be the means for its critical reading afresh. I know that this sentence sets up some barriers immediately...

There are deep spiritual/social problems behind our reaction to welfare (and I guess the environmental crisis too): We do not know our neighbour personally so well these days (esp if they are on "welfare" or a distant  African suffering from drought) We are in competition against our neighbour (for resources and do not have the beliefs or ways of thinking to unite us any more (Solidarity, Faith, Identity, etc) We believe some of the suspicious cynical lies around. John Harris is right to highlight the uncomfortable truth that many folk are convinced others are on the make with benefits What do we do ? Keep the faith, work for solidarity, do proper analysis of how things really are, act for justice, reflect, inspire others. Don't lose heart sister and brother, and pray for me that I don't either !

I think the French word for it is "boulverser" - turning everything upside down. That's how I often feel when I reflect on the relationship between me/humanity and the environment/climate change/animal kind. A blog post by the Australian Clive Hamilton challenges me still more in this whole disturbing area of how do I see the world ? He says the social sciences (which were such a big part of my further education) are no more and "we can no longer separate the natural from the human and place some events into the box marked “Nature” and some into the box marked “Human”. The modern social sciences—sociology, psychology, political science, economics, history and, we may add, philosophy—rest on the assumption that the grand and the humdrum events of human life take place against a backdrop of an inert nature . Our history can no longer be thought of as the actions of great men or women but will need to be seen afresh: all is entwined together. I can just about s...

Do we deny the reality of climate change because we do not care ? Or avoid taking action, because we are heartless ? The psychologist Renee Lertzman asks: “What if the issue is not about caring too little, but perhaps caring too much?” She says that our anxieties may be unmanageable or unthinkable. We may deny what is staring us in the face because it is too painful to consider. She points out that humans use defence mechanisms of various sorts - such as denial, or an acute sense of inferiority, to avoid things that make us anxious . She suggests that i t is simplistic to link an absence of action to an absence of caring) [1] The early experience of the action research group meetings here in West Derby have highlighted for me that people care deeply, but as well the difficulty of understanding the science and the way the planet works there is the very real barrier of emotional engagement - we just care too much. [1] Renee Lertzman, (2008) The Myth of Apathy. The Ec...