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In a theological exploration of what an ecological reformation might mean in today’s context, World Council of Churches general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit spoke on 14 June at the Ev. Akademie Hofgeismar in Germany.
Tveit asked: "If we speak of a pilgrimage of justice and peace with the earth, we are to become companions and friends of the Earth how can such friendship also express not only stewardship of the Earth but love to the Earth?"
He further asked: “Is it time to read the great and double commandment in an expanded version that includes the love of creation to see what it really implies?”
These questions drew complex answers and open-ended thoughts from participants as they pondered today’s ecological crisis, and the need to rethink not only religious and secularized models but also basic orientations.
Tveit continued to ask: “How can you love God and counteract the creating Spirit, disregard or even destroy God’s creation? How is it possible to love your neighbor (your children, those who suffer from climate changes and pollution today, and no less those who come after you on this planet earth) if you do not love the earth?”
Tveit joined other theologians – among them Bärbel von Wartenberg-Potter, Jürgen Moltmann and Larry Rasmussen - in discussing how ecological theology asks for new understandings of human beings, God and nature, and how those new understandings can contribute to a social-cultural transformation.
“We can even ask: How can you love yourself if you do not care for and love the earth?” Tveit said. “Increasing injustice in the ecological arena is part of a trend towards fragmentation, self-interest, rejection of migrants and diverse expressions of life, and other forms of divisive, even racist behavior not only in the US, but in many other countries that impacts on all of us, on life on earth and thus the life of future generations.”
It is not enough to call for transformative actions alone, concluded Tveit. “We need to nurture the fellowship of companions on the way in solidarity with others and in love for all creation.” In this context, Tveit expects a renewed interest in the unity of the church as a sign of hope that fragmentation and unfettered self-interests and greed can be overcome.
Read the presentation by the WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit (English and German)
