Practicing Hope: Congregational Environmentalism as Intersystemic Care

• Main Author: Rowley, Genny Carin
• Other Authors: Nancy J Ramsay
• Format: Others
• Language: en
• Published: Texas Christian University 2013
• Subjects: Brite Divinity School
• Online Access: http://etd.tcu.edu/etdfiles/available/etd-08082013-100339/

Religious environmentalism is a growing expression of religious praxis in the United States. This engagement reflects a theologically informed commitment for facing the ecological challenges of our planetary home, and participation in the creation of a world where both humanity and the natural world can flourish. This dissertation explores the interconnected nature of human and ecological flourishing through following three congregationally based religious environmental groups. Using ethnographic methods, the experiences of these cohorts during specific stages of their work together were gathered for a critical dialogue between ecological discourses, theological discourses, and the groups' praxis. Observing the experiences of the three cohorts and inquiring how they connect their faith to ecological activism invited reflection upon the theological shifts that took place for the group members after incorporating this kind of praxis into their faith. This project uses the construct of hoping paradigms to illustrate the connection between the belief systems of the groups and their ecologically transformative praxis. These hoping paradigms are funded by theological anthropologies highlighting the interconnected nature of all life, and by eschatologies honoring the physically interrelated nature of the universe throughout time. The ecologically attuned spiritual praxis of the participating groups suggests that pastoral theological engagement with human experience must account for the flourishing of the ecological systems on which our shared life depends, and foster an expanded understanding of relational justice that widens to include ecological relationality. For pastoral theologies to be planetary in scope, they must be informed by ecological dimensions of human experience, and view care as critically engaging with the various circles of life that form the basis for our common flourishing. Through highlighting how the experiences of these cohorts catalyzed change in their local communities, ecologically concerned portions of the wider church may find their own hopes for transforming ecologically destructive social imaginaries refreshed.