Cultivate and Care

An Ecumenical Theology of Justice for and within Creation

2020

Faith and Order Paper No. 226

The alarming climate change demands that the churches’ journey toward visible unity must include a sustained dialogue with a theology for justice for and within creation and seek ways to put the fruits of that dialogue into practice.

This theological document seeks to demonstrate how a committed response to the environmental devastation of our time can be motivated by Christian faith in God the creator, redeemer, and sanctifier.

We have sought, first, to point to some of the urgent environmental situations which cry out for Christian reflection and action. Next, we have sought to root such a response in the progressively increasing ecumenical consideration of creation on the part of the WCC in recent decades and in various theological, ecclesiological, and ecumenical convictions which our churches share and which call them to join together in engagement to protect the environment. Finally, we have proposed ways in which such engagement can take form.

Specs: 32 pages; size; paper; perfect; 4-colour cover
ISBN: 978-2-8254-1738-6
Shelving/Topics: Religion/Climate
Rights: World, all languages
Price: $20.00 GBP 15.75 € 18.50 17.50 CHF

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Cultivate and Care (1.05 MB)

An Issue of Foundational Importance for All Existence And Identity

According to the Faith and Order document Come and See: A Theological Invitation to the Pilgrimage of Justice and Peace, Faith and Order, “among the deplorable effects of injustice and violence, which have drastic effects especially upon people living in poverty and augur tragic consequences for future generations, [are] the degradation, objectification, exploitation, and commercialization of God’s creation.”

Addressing human behaviour that is responsible for climate devastation constitutes not “merely one justice issue to be set alongside other justice concerns,” but rather, as the Faith and Order Commission’s theological reflection on the churches’ pilgrimage of justice and peace states, one “of foundational importance for all existence and identity.”

Christian communities may not in conscience ignore this crisis and the pathos of a threatened creation. “If the churches are to be in pilgrimage together, it can only be in the context of journeying toward the unity of the church within creation.” The situation demands that the churches’ journey toward visible unity must include a sustained dialogue with a theology for justice for and within creation and seek ways to put the fruits of that dialogue into practice.

Faith and Order Commission

WCC Publications