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Climate Church, Climate World

How People of Faith Must Work for Change, Revised and Updated Edition

Jim Antal - Foreword by Bill McKibben

Climate Church, Climate World contends that climate change is the greatest moral challenge humanity has ever faced. Hunger, refugees, poverty, inequality, deadly viruses, war—climate change multiplies all forms of global social injustice. Environmental advocate Rev. Jim Antal calls on the church to meet this moral challenge, to embrace a new vocation so that future generations might live in harmony with God’s creation. Antal proposes how people of faith can embrace new approaches to worship, preaching, witnessing, and other spiritual practices that honor creation and cultivate hope. This revised and updated edition includes a new chapter on political and policy shifts under the Trump and Biden administrations; the influence of Greta Thunberg and climate change activists; and updated information on the current science of climate change.

  • Details
  • Details
  • Author
  • Author
  • TOC
  • TOC
  • Features
  • Features
Rowman & Littlefield Publishers / Alban Books
Pages: 262 • Trim: 6¼ x 9¼
978-1-5381-7889-8 • Hardback • March 2023 • $74.95 • (£58.00)
978-1-5381-7890-4 • Paperback • March 2023 • $29.00 • (£19.99)
978-1-5381-7891-1 • eBook • March 2023 • $27.50 • (£19.99)
Subjects: Religion / Christian Living / Social Issues, Religion / Christianity / General, Religion / Religion & Science, Nature / Environmental Conservation & Protection

Jim Antal is a denominational leader, activist, and public theologian. He serves as the national spokesperson on climate change for the United Church of Christ. Yale Divinity School recently honored Antal with the William Sloane Coffin Award for Peace and Justice, in recognition of his lifelong advocacy for nuclear disarmament, racial justice, Middle East Peace, and climate change activism.

Foreword

By Bill McKibben

Preface

Acknowledgments

Introduction

The Earth Is the Lord’s, Not Ours to Wreck: Imperatives for a New Moral Era

Questions for Group Discussion and Further Reflection

1 The Situation in Which We Find Ourselves

What Have We Done?

Taking Responsibility—The Anthropocene

How Long Have We Known?

Are We Paying Attention?

What’s at Stake? How Urgent Is the Crisis?

Are We Choosing Extinction?

We’re All In This Together

We Already Have Everything We Need

Forward Momentum

Questions for Group Discussion and Further Reflection

2 A Loving God for a Broken World

Finding God in a Broken World

Should We Try to Keep Our Hearts from Breaking?

Gratitude for a God of Love

How Do We Remain Faithful?

Julian Bond’s Testimony in Handcuffs

The Mine and the Snow Geese—A Story for Our Time

The Story of the Mine and the Snow Geese: A Postscript

Questions for Group Discussion and Further Reflection

Interlude: If We Fail to Heed Our Calling

A Letter from a Pastor to Her Congregation on the Occasion of the Closing of the Church on Ash Wednesday 2070

Questions for Group Discussion and Further Reflection

3 The Church’s Vocation Today

What’s Church For?

History’s Lessons for an Unprecedented Time

With God, There Are No Externalities

God Calls Communities, Not Just Individuals…We All Live at the Same Address

Our Covenant With God: For All Time—With All Creatures

Golden Rule 2.0

Our Children’s Trust

Confronting the End of Continuity

A Kairos Moment—Time for a Moral Intervention

Questions for Group Discussion and Further Reflection

4 The Marks of the Church in a Climate Crisis World

Our Role as Keepers of Continuity

Building Resilient Communities

It’s Not Just About Me: From Personal to Communal Salvation

Step 1: Confess Complicity; Step 2: Change the System

Embracing Spiritual Progress in Place of Material Progress

Sacrifice and Sharing as Guiding Virtues

Embracing Moral Interdependence

Global Warming Intensifies All Forms of Injustice

Confront the Powers and Principalities

Sharing Our Fears and Hopes: Empowering Action

Truth and Reconciliation Conversations in Every House of Worship

Civil Disobedience—the Church Acts on Its Conscience

A Repurposed Church for a New Moral Era

Affirming these Marks of the Church in a Covenant

Questions for Group Discussion and Further Reflection

5 Discipleship: Reorienting What We Prize

Resilience in Place of Growth

Collaboration in Place of Consumption

Wisdom in Place of Progress

Balance in Place of Addiction

Moderation in Place of Excess

Vision in Place of Convenience

Accountability in Place of Disregard

Self-Giving Love in Place of Self-Centered Fear

Civil Disobedience and Discipleship

Questions for Group Discussion and Further Reflection

6 Worship as a Pathway to Freedom

How Much Is Enough? Climate Talk in Church

The First Announcement at Every Church Service

Invite Weekly Testimonies

Transform Familiar Liturgies and Create New Ones

Organize and Host a Climate Revival

Worship that Includes All Creatures

Ordination Vows and New Life in the Anthropocene

If Earth Were a Sacrament, How Would We Treat It?

Undomesticating Worship

Taking Liturgy to the Street, the Pipeline, and the Tracks

Conclusion

Questions for Group Discussion and Further Reflection

7 Prophetic Preaching: Freeing the Pulpit from Fear

Called to Preach on Climate Change

Why Preaching on Climate Change Matters

The Church Was Born for This

Pastors Must Prepare Their Hearts

Cultivating Courage—“Be Not Afraid”

Offer Hope—We Are Called to Change the Story

The Theological Foundation for Preaching on Climate Change

Preaching on Climate Change— Ten Considerations

Questions for Group Discussion and Further Reflection

8 Witnessing Together: Communal Action Can Free Us from Fear

Not the Vocation I Started With

What Is Witnessing?

Making Civil Disobedience a Normative Expression of Christian Discipleship

Driven by Love and Gratitude with Fear as a Catalyst

Divestment: Revoking the Social License to Wreck Creation

A New Take on Fiduciary Accountability

A Global Commons—End the Ownership of Nature

Building the Kingdom of God: Society Based on “The Common Good”

Questions for Group Discussion and Further Reflection

9 Trump, Biden, Greta—Years of Upheaval, 2018-2022

Finally—A Climate Bill (by another name) Passes

What Made Congress Act on Climate?

Truth Forever on the Scaffold

A New Moral Era—Yes! But Which One?

Nature Cannot Be Deceived

Congregations Responding to Covid and Climate

We’re Paying More Attention to the Climate Crisis

The Green New Deal—Aspiration Amidst Upheaval

Youth Cannot Be Ignored

Imagine If…

What’s a Climate Church?

Our Generation Has a Vocation—We’re ALL In This Together

Questions for Group Discussion and Further Reflection

10 Living Hope-Filled Lives in a Climate Crisis World

Not Optimism . . . But Hope

Facing Reality—A Precondition of Hope

Expressing Grief—A Precondition of Hope

Acknowledging the Existential Threat of Climate Change

The Conviction of Things Not Seeable

The Conviction of Things Not Seen—Telling a New Story of Hope

Living a New Story of Hope

Spiritual Practices for Cultivating Hope

Questions for Group Discussion and Further Reflection

Epilogue

Imagine: A Message to the Church—Presented by a Teenager in 2100

Questions for Group Discussion and Further Reflection

Appendix

Preaching Suggestions for a Climate Crisis World

Further Reading

Notes

Index

About the Author

  • Join Rowman & Littlefield for a webinar with 3 esteemed authors to discuss climate change, the industrial food system, and working towards a just and sustainable future. This interdisciplinary discussion brings together three experts in the field, all of whom share complementary visions for addressing systemic global inequities—and acting on these challenges before it’s too late.


Climate Church, Climate World

How People of Faith Must Work for Change, Revised and Updated Edition

Cover Image
Hardback
Paperback
eBook
Summary
Summary
  • Climate Church, Climate World contends that climate change is the greatest moral challenge humanity has ever faced. Hunger, refugees, poverty, inequality, deadly viruses, war—climate change multiplies all forms of global social injustice. Environmental advocate Rev. Jim Antal calls on the church to meet this moral challenge, to embrace a new vocation so that future generations might live in harmony with God’s creation. Antal proposes how people of faith can embrace new approaches to worship, preaching, witnessing, and other spiritual practices that honor creation and cultivate hope. This revised and updated edition includes a new chapter on political and policy shifts under the Trump and Biden administrations; the influence of Greta Thunberg and climate change activists; and updated information on the current science of climate change.

Details
Details
  • Rowman & Littlefield Publishers / Alban Books
    Pages: 262 • Trim: 6¼ x 9¼
    978-1-5381-7889-8 • Hardback • March 2023 • $74.95 • (£58.00)
    978-1-5381-7890-4 • Paperback • March 2023 • $29.00 • (£19.99)
    978-1-5381-7891-1 • eBook • March 2023 • $27.50 • (£19.99)
    Subjects: Religion / Christian Living / Social Issues, Religion / Christianity / General, Religion / Religion & Science, Nature / Environmental Conservation & Protection
Author
Author
  • Jim Antal is a denominational leader, activist, and public theologian. He serves as the national spokesperson on climate change for the United Church of Christ. Yale Divinity School recently honored Antal with the William Sloane Coffin Award for Peace and Justice, in recognition of his lifelong advocacy for nuclear disarmament, racial justice, Middle East Peace, and climate change activism.

Table of Contents
Table of Contents
  • Foreword

    By Bill McKibben

    Preface

    Acknowledgments

    Introduction

    The Earth Is the Lord’s, Not Ours to Wreck: Imperatives for a New Moral Era

    Questions for Group Discussion and Further Reflection

    1 The Situation in Which We Find Ourselves

    What Have We Done?

    Taking Responsibility—The Anthropocene

    How Long Have We Known?

    Are We Paying Attention?

    What’s at Stake? How Urgent Is the Crisis?

    Are We Choosing Extinction?

    We’re All In This Together

    We Already Have Everything We Need

    Forward Momentum

    Questions for Group Discussion and Further Reflection

    2 A Loving God for a Broken World

    Finding God in a Broken World

    Should We Try to Keep Our Hearts from Breaking?

    Gratitude for a God of Love

    How Do We Remain Faithful?

    Julian Bond’s Testimony in Handcuffs

    The Mine and the Snow Geese—A Story for Our Time

    The Story of the Mine and the Snow Geese: A Postscript

    Questions for Group Discussion and Further Reflection

    Interlude: If We Fail to Heed Our Calling

    A Letter from a Pastor to Her Congregation on the Occasion of the Closing of the Church on Ash Wednesday 2070

    Questions for Group Discussion and Further Reflection

    3 The Church’s Vocation Today

    What’s Church For?

    History’s Lessons for an Unprecedented Time

    With God, There Are No Externalities

    God Calls Communities, Not Just Individuals…We All Live at the Same Address

    Our Covenant With God: For All Time—With All Creatures

    Golden Rule 2.0

    Our Children’s Trust

    Confronting the End of Continuity

    A Kairos Moment—Time for a Moral Intervention

    Questions for Group Discussion and Further Reflection

    4 The Marks of the Church in a Climate Crisis World

    Our Role as Keepers of Continuity

    Building Resilient Communities

    It’s Not Just About Me: From Personal to Communal Salvation

    Step 1: Confess Complicity; Step 2: Change the System

    Embracing Spiritual Progress in Place of Material Progress

    Sacrifice and Sharing as Guiding Virtues

    Embracing Moral Interdependence

    Global Warming Intensifies All Forms of Injustice

    Confront the Powers and Principalities

    Sharing Our Fears and Hopes: Empowering Action

    Truth and Reconciliation Conversations in Every House of Worship

    Civil Disobedience—the Church Acts on Its Conscience

    A Repurposed Church for a New Moral Era

    Affirming these Marks of the Church in a Covenant

    Questions for Group Discussion and Further Reflection

    5 Discipleship: Reorienting What We Prize

    Resilience in Place of Growth

    Collaboration in Place of Consumption

    Wisdom in Place of Progress

    Balance in Place of Addiction

    Moderation in Place of Excess

    Vision in Place of Convenience

    Accountability in Place of Disregard

    Self-Giving Love in Place of Self-Centered Fear

    Civil Disobedience and Discipleship

    Questions for Group Discussion and Further Reflection

    6 Worship as a Pathway to Freedom

    How Much Is Enough? Climate Talk in Church

    The First Announcement at Every Church Service

    Invite Weekly Testimonies

    Transform Familiar Liturgies and Create New Ones

    Organize and Host a Climate Revival

    Worship that Includes All Creatures

    Ordination Vows and New Life in the Anthropocene

    If Earth Were a Sacrament, How Would We Treat It?

    Undomesticating Worship

    Taking Liturgy to the Street, the Pipeline, and the Tracks

    Conclusion

    Questions for Group Discussion and Further Reflection

    7 Prophetic Preaching: Freeing the Pulpit from Fear

    Called to Preach on Climate Change

    Why Preaching on Climate Change Matters

    The Church Was Born for This

    Pastors Must Prepare Their Hearts

    Cultivating Courage—“Be Not Afraid”

    Offer Hope—We Are Called to Change the Story

    The Theological Foundation for Preaching on Climate Change

    Preaching on Climate Change— Ten Considerations

    Questions for Group Discussion and Further Reflection

    8 Witnessing Together: Communal Action Can Free Us from Fear

    Not the Vocation I Started With

    What Is Witnessing?

    Making Civil Disobedience a Normative Expression of Christian Discipleship

    Driven by Love and Gratitude with Fear as a Catalyst

    Divestment: Revoking the Social License to Wreck Creation

    A New Take on Fiduciary Accountability

    A Global Commons—End the Ownership of Nature

    Building the Kingdom of God: Society Based on “The Common Good”

    Questions for Group Discussion and Further Reflection

    9 Trump, Biden, Greta—Years of Upheaval, 2018-2022

    Finally—A Climate Bill (by another name) Passes

    What Made Congress Act on Climate?

    Truth Forever on the Scaffold

    A New Moral Era—Yes! But Which One?

    Nature Cannot Be Deceived

    Congregations Responding to Covid and Climate

    We’re Paying More Attention to the Climate Crisis

    The Green New Deal—Aspiration Amidst Upheaval

    Youth Cannot Be Ignored

    Imagine If…

    What’s a Climate Church?

    Our Generation Has a Vocation—We’re ALL In This Together

    Questions for Group Discussion and Further Reflection

    10 Living Hope-Filled Lives in a Climate Crisis World

    Not Optimism . . . But Hope

    Facing Reality—A Precondition of Hope

    Expressing Grief—A Precondition of Hope

    Acknowledging the Existential Threat of Climate Change

    The Conviction of Things Not Seeable

    The Conviction of Things Not Seen—Telling a New Story of Hope

    Living a New Story of Hope

    Spiritual Practices for Cultivating Hope

    Questions for Group Discussion and Further Reflection

    Epilogue

    Imagine: A Message to the Church—Presented by a Teenager in 2100

    Questions for Group Discussion and Further Reflection

    Appendix

    Preaching Suggestions for a Climate Crisis World

    Further Reading

    Notes

    Index

    About the Author

Features
Features
    • Join Rowman & Littlefield for a webinar with 3 esteemed authors to discuss climate change, the industrial food system, and working towards a just and sustainable future. This interdisciplinary discussion brings together three experts in the field, all of whom share complementary visions for addressing systemic global inequities—and acting on these challenges before it’s too late.


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