A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna FallEcotheology in the Anthropocene

Dr. Panu Pihkala, ECEN Assembly, Sofia Center, Helsinki 2016

A Prophetic Voice?

“And what did you hear, my blue-eyed son?And what did you hear, my darling young one?I heard the sound of a thunder, it roared out a warnin’Heard the roar of a wave

that could drown the whole worldHeard one hundred drummers

whose hands were a-blazin’Heard ten thousand whisperin’ and nobody listenin’…”(Bob Dylan, A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall, 1963)

The Future: A Hard Rain?

What do you think that the future will be like?

What do people in general think about it?Are they happy and optimistic?

My main thesis: we must given more attention to views of future, and the psychological and spiritual dimensions of ”eco-anxiety”

How are people?

What happens in people’s minds when you mention words like ”climate change” or ”environmental crisis”?

We need to recognize that different people frame climate change in very different ways The problem of polarization: some

people dismiss ”eco-stuff” right away Do people discuss climate change in

everyday life? With their family? At work places?

Eco-anxiety Instead of not caring, many people care too

much! And they have to resort to defences.

Growing psychological research on ”eco-anxiety”: some people get even physical symptoms (pain in stomach etc.)

A huge pastoral challenge -> A new motivation for ”ecotheology”: even

if a Christian does not care much about nature, he/she should care about the anxiety

Clayton et al. 2014

Choose your defence

Running away from the problem Addictions, compulsive behavior Inventing another enemy,which can then be

fought with one’s own guild (inner group) Denial Disavowal (more dangerous than denial?) Focus on close ones and the near future

(see Sally Weintrobe (ed.), Engaging with Climate Change, 2013)

Good responses Versions of good adaptation:

Action Humor, hope, even joy Balance between things that are close and ”far”

In technical terms: responding to psychological vulnerability building psychological and existential resilience▪ Spiritual resilience

Combination of mitigation and adaptation

Guidelines

Practical recommendations and theological thoughts

Some of these things have been done in certain places the need for sharing ”best practices”, for

example in the small groups of this ECEN conference

1) How do you feel?

We need to provide more opportunities for people to express their feelings and emotions regarding environmental matters

In addition to ”What do you think?” and ”What are you doing?” we need to ask more often ”How do you feel?”

Cf. Joanna Macy & Chris Johnstone: Active Hope A Christian leader must provide the

Christian adaptations. Cf. Douglas Christie: The Blue Sapphire of the Mind

Practical help

A great help in this is the literature on environmental education

”Affective and existential dimensions” David Hicks Elin Kelsey P. Pihkala (forthcoming)

Lamentation The application of processes of loss

and grief into environment-related loss

A Finnish environment-related lamentation (Espoo, 2015)

2) What’s your story?

We need to wrestle with the ”grand narratives” regarding the future of the world

and we need to provide opportunities for people to do this Technological optimism? Apocalyptic pessimism?

”Futures education”

3) Optimism or Hope?

We need to frame the Christian story as hope in the midst of tragedy

Optimism may be difficult, but still there is hope Cf. ”Modes of hoping”, Darren Webb

2007 Taking the tragic elements seriously

helps to: Understand the gravity of the situation

(cf. The role of tragic dramas) Set personal responsibility in proportion

Caspar David Friedrich: Cross in the Mountains, 1807

Daniel Day Williams

God’s Grace and Man’s Hope 1949 Seeks to correct ”social gospel” with

a more realistic sense of evil (Reinhold Niebuhr, Paul Tillich etc.) and

more emphasis on the value of the natural world (process thought, Anglican theology of creation)

Three main themes

1) “Christian hope is sustained by, and expresses itself in, a reverent grateful love for the good earth” One of the first major treatments of ecological

theology (see Pihkala, Early Ecotheology and Joseph Sittler, LIT Verlag autumn 2016; or a short open access article, “Rediscovery of Early Twentieth-Century Ecotheology”, Open Theology 2016, 10.1515/opth-2016-0023)

2) “Christian hope is sustained by, and expresses itself in, the never-ending struggle for the Good Society”

3) “Christian hope is sustained by, and expresses itself in, faith in the kingdom of God”

-> A position which is very relevant in times of climate change

Conclusion

Hope in the midst of tragedy Wrestling with the psychological and

spiritual impacts of climate change

Further reading

P. Pihkala: ”Environmental Education After

Sustainability: Hope in the Midst of Tragedy”, Global Discourse 2017

“The Pastoral Challenge of the Environmental Crisis: Environmental Anxiety and Lutheran ‘Eco-Reformation’”, Dialog Summer 2016 (10.1111/dial.12239)

The psychology of climate change: George Marshall: Don’t Even Think About It

(2014) Per Espen Stoknes: What We Think About

When we Try Not to Think About Global Warming (2015)

Cf. Clive Hamilton Theological literature on the anthropocene

Michael Northcott, Sigurd Bergmann Alistair McIntosh

Contact Information

panu.pihkala@helsinki.fi

www.arocha.org