Do Not Despise the Word of the Prophets

So, this is a twenty two minute sermon but it is so relevant to this topic.  He highlights the intensified effects of environmental damage to impoverished communities, the difficulty of getting churches to embrace this issue, and the necessity of the progressive church's call to preach prophetically about environmental destruction.

Aquinas: Help or Hindrance Part I

One of the questions I'd like to address in this project is whether the traditional theologians of the church, those who established the Christian doctrines regarding the planet, are a help or a hindrance to the urgency of the environmental movement.  Embrace of the concerns of environmentalism surely seem to be slow to catch on in religious circles.  A quick exegesis of Genesis 1 and 2 would seem to contradict that resistance - so why the clay feet?

While theology and doctrine has certainly evolved since Aquinas' time (and had already been involved in the process of evolution by Aquinas' time), examination of some of the ideas he initiated may help address this phenomena.  It seems a fitting place to start considering Aquinas' own idea of causality - that God creates by setting things in motion, so to speak, and allowing the causality of said motion to play out.  What attitudes and practices might Aquinas' doctrine of creation have set into motion?

His discussion on Creation in The Book of Faith begins by asserting God as the creator of all things, saying that "things that can be brought into existing only by creation come directly from God."  That certainly seems to support Gen. 1 and the environmentalist movement.  We can reason that if all things that exist are creations of our God, then we should be taking care of them as we would any precious relic of our faith.  How much more valuable and precious than fragments of the garments of the saints is that which was created directly by God?  However, he goes on to make statements about creation that seem to suggest that only God is capable of altering creation - and that, therefore, creation is unalterable.  For instance, he asserts that 'heavenly bodies' are incapable of "coming to be and passing away" on their own.   (Aquinas, Compendium of Theology, translated by Richard R. Regan, #95) Of course, we know that stars are born and die all the time.  If we were to assign this 'impassibility' to creation as a whole, we might make the false conclusion that anything that changes on the earth or in space must be God's will and action.  This obviously presents a problem for those of us that believe the multiple scientific claims that the earth's temperature is rising and that human activity is the ultimate cause of this warming.

Now, certainly, Aquinas wasn't presented with evidence of global warming or human effects on the planet.  The thinkers of the thirteenth century would not have even conceived of such a possibility.  However, this idea of an immutable God creating an unchangeable universe that reflects that immutability can be followed to the destructive conclusion that, if God is absolutely in charge, then there is nothing that we need to do to 'fix' the mess we've made of our planet.  If temperatures are changing, then it must be God's will that they do.  This may very well be a perversion of Aquinas' doctrine but it is an attitude that can be found in modern day Christians.  It is just one example of the danger of leaving ancient ideas unquestioned.

Bangladesh's Coming Storm: National Geographic

This article from the May, 2011 issue of National Geographic highlights both the costs of global warming for the world's most vulnerable populations as well as the profound hope that is found in human ingenuity - not just in our idolized technological advances but in 'low-tech/high-touch' solutions.  

"More than a third of the world's people live within 62 miles of a shoreline. " This includes cities such as Miami and New York - but the article points out that the people most threatened by the rising sea level will be those in developing countries, especially Asia. The two cities which will be hardest hit proportionally by 2070 will be Dhaka and Chittagong, both of which are in Bangladesh. With the sea level predicted to rise by several feet in the next one hundred years, both of those cities may very well be underwater - and with a very large percentage of their population impoverished, as well the obstacle of an already overcrowded landmass, the effects could be devastating.

Of course, the people of Bangladesh don't have to wait 60 years to see the effects of global warming - they're living with them already.  With sea levels already rising, changes in "salinity" in their aquifers, flooding rivers delivering unprecedented damage, more frequent and intense cyclones, Bangladesh has had to become a model for adaptability in the face of climate change.  And a poster child for both the disproportionate effects of climate change on impoverished people (the part of the world's population that has least contributed to the causes of said climate change) and for the resilience of hope even in desperate conditions.

In this project, I hope to explore both the effects of our irresponsible treatment of the earth as well as some of the possible solutions for both prevention of future, even more devastating, effects and for adapting to those that will come no matter what we do - all from the perspective of the people of Bangladesh.  At the same time, I would like to put these explorations into conversation with medieval theologian Thomas Aquinas' theology of Creation.  In what ways does Aquinas speak to, warn of, and even set the foundation for our current treatment of creation?  Are there things to be learned from his view of God and Creation, are there aspects to be argued with - or should the entirety of his theology be tossed out - baby and bathwater alike?

While I'm not likely to find answers to all (or even most) of my questions, I hope that it will make for an interesting journey.  Or at least a passing grade ; )

Bangladesh - Photo Gallery - Pictures, More From National Geographic Magazine

Bangladesh - Photo Gallery - Pictures, More From National Geographic Magazine