From Call to Action: Ecological Discipleship for a Green Future
Issue: Vol 39 No. 2 (2020)
Journal: Religious Studies and Theology
Subject Areas: Religious Studies Buddhist Studies Islamic Studies Biblical Studies
DOI: 10.1558/rsth.41328
Abstract:
This paper critiques the four calls to action found in the 2018 joint declaration by the Roman Catholic and United Church of Canada, “The Hope Within Us,” and challenges notions of the Church as locus of ecological awareness and action, as the sacredness of Church has been divorced for so long from the sacredness of Earth. Using Pope Francis’ insights on ecological conversion in Laudato Si’, a new sense of discipleship and community is fostered to create the kind of Church needed to move from call to action. In dialogue with the communities it serves, the Church emerges as a leader in the conversation for critically engaging diverse voices and perspectives, devising a way forward that advocates, not only for the rights of peoples, but for those of natural resources as well.
Author: Abigail L Lofte
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