Christian Responses to the Climate Emergency

Session 2: The Bible

An Article to Read:

A Short Reflection on Genesis 2 and beyond

To Read:

Joint letter from Pope and Patriarch (2017): https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/en/bollettino/pubblico/2017/09/01/170901a.html

World Council of Church on Climate Change: https://www.oikoumene.org/en/what-we-do/climate-change

Questions for Discussion A

• What does it mean to ‘conquer the earth’ and ‘be masters’?

• What does it look like to be a bad steward of creation? And what might it look like to be a good one?

• What’s been your experience, in the Christianity you grew up with?

• How you have learned from it to relate to: (a) the natural world? (b) your body? (c) gender relations?

• What do we need to highlight in the Genesis stories now?

Questions for Discussion - B

• What do you think of the stories of nature rebelling? Do you think these stories have wisdom which we can learn from today?Noah’s Flood; The Plagues of Egypt; The drought in the time of King Ahab; Jonah’s storm.

• The prophets speak about the empire as destructive to the natural world, and salvation as the restoration of harmony with nature. What do you think of this ideas? Can you see examples of it in our modern world?

• Are there situations where you are called to be prophetic?