New Climate for Theology

Climate change promises monumental changes to human and other planetary life in the next generations. Yet government, business, and individuals have been largely in denial of the possibility that global warming may put our species on the road to extinction. Further, says Sallie McFague, we have failed to see the real root of our behavioral troubles in an economic model that actually reflects distorted religious views of the person. At its heart, she maintains, global warming occurs because we lack an appropriate understanding of ourselves as inextricably bound to the planet and its systems.A New Climate for Theology not only traces the distorted notion of unlimited desire that fuels our market system; it also paints an alternative idea of what being human means and what a just and sustainable economy might mean. Convincing, specific, and wise, McFague argues for an alternative economic order and for our relational identity as part of an unfolding universe that expresses divine love and human freedom. It is a view that can inspire real change, an altered lifestyle, and a form of Christian discipleship and desire appropriate to who we really are.Table of Contents PrefacePart One: The Science and its Significance for TheologyChapter 1: Climate Change: The Evidence and ConsequencesChapter 2: Global Warming: A Theological ProblemPart Two: Exploring God and the World within Climate ChangeChapter 3: Who Are We? Ecological AnthropologyChapter 4: Who Is God? Creation and ProvidenceChapter 5: How Shall We Live? Christianity and Planetary EconomicsPart Three: Serving God and City Living within Climate ChangeChapter 6: Why We Worship: Praise and Compassion as Intimations of TranscendenceChapter 7: Where We Live: Urban EcotheologyPart Four: Despair and Hope within Climate ChangeChapter 8: Is a Different World Possible? Human Dignity and the Integrity of Creation in a Time of Global WarmingChapter 9: ?The Dearest Freshness Deep Down Things: The Holy Spirit and Climate ChangeNotes