Religion, Theology and Climate Change

应对气候变化危机是社会各界的一项“重大要求”。宗教传统是应对这场危机的组织之一：例如，通过开展活动来引起政府对气候紧急情况的关注，并试图整顿他们自己的生态屋。这项研究项目将专注于英国的基督教，详细探索这一重大要求带来的实地神学变化。具体地说，它将考虑应对气候紧急情况的需要如何在三个背景下导致神学创新和塑造基督教气候反应：罗马天主教和英国国教教派；一个基督教国际发展机构，以及基督教倡导和活动团体。人们普遍认为，人为气候变化引发了道德关切以及科学和政治问题。然而，道德关切不是在真空中出现的，而是在取决于某些道德概念、承诺和性格的文化环境或精神中出现的。因此，应对气候变化不仅是一个科学和政治问题，也是一个意识形态和信仰的问题。然而，谁的意识形态和信仰呢？基督教教会的一个核心神学和道德传统受到气候危机的挑战，那就是“个人主义”。人格主义通过参照个人属性(意志、理由、性格等)来确定人的处境和任务。个人主义也与人类例外论有关：个人主义范畴将人类从其‘自然’环境中分离出来，从而使人类成为一个例外。个人主义是基督教神学传统和道德考量的核心。这种中心性解释了为什么一些宗教学者认为基督教永远不可能是“深绿色”宗教[泰勒，2009]。这个项目试图测试现有的神学实际上是如何被改编或更好地扩展，以在气候变化危机中服务于伦理探究和道德行动的。它还试图探讨在不同的基督教选民中如何使用对人的强调，以及这对受众接收关于气候变化的信息和应对气候变化的挑战造成了什么困难。它还建议在一本专著中提供神学上的重新解释，利用项目数据并超越个人主义。研究项目的结论将作为反馈提供给合作伙伴。通过报告和简报，将向合作伙伴和类似组织通报研究结果(神学和定性的)，并使其能够在自己的工作中结合这些研究结果。该项目调查结果的报告将使合作伙伴和其他人通过分享学习的过程，更清楚地了解他们在筹资、创造和管理变化以及理解和创造性地回应“个人主义”文化方面遇到的困难。情况介绍将与其他来源一起，探讨如何将调查结果纳入合作伙伴的背景下，以提高意识和改变文化。这样的反馈将使这些教派、机构和激进团体更容易满足大要求的要求。随着民间社会加紧应对气候变化的适应和缓解要求，同样的反馈也将引起其他群体的更广泛兴趣。

Responding to the crisis of climate change is a 'big ask' for all sectors of society. Religious traditions are among the groups responding to the crisis: for example, by campaigning to draw governments' attention to the climate emergency and trying to put their own eco-house in order.This research project will focus on Christianity in the UK to explore in detail the on-the-ground theological changes generated by this big ask. Specifically, it will consider how the need to respond to the climate emergency is both leading to theological innovation and shaping Christian climate responses in three contexts: Roman Catholic and Church of England denominations; a Christian international development agency, and Christian advocacy and activist groups.There is widespread agreement that anthropogenic climate change raises moral concerns as well as scientific and political issues. Moral concerns, however, do not emerge in a vacuum but in a cultural milieu or ethos which depend on certain ethical concepts, commitments and dispositions. Responding to climate change is therefore not only a matter of science and politics but also of ideology and belief.Whose ideology and which belief, however? A central theological and moral tradition of the Christian Church that is challenged by the climate crisis is 'personalism'. Personalism identifies the situation and task of the human understood by reference to personal attributes (will, reason, dispositions, etc.). Personalism relates also to human exceptionalism: personalist categories disembed the human from its 'natural' environment and thereby render the human an exception. Personalism is central to Christian theological traditions and moral deliberations. Such centrality explains why some religion scholars argue that Christianity can never be a 'dark green' religion [Taylor, 2009].This project seeks to test the ways in which existing theologies are in fact being adapted or extended better to serve ethical enquiry and moral action in the crisis of climate change. It also seeks to explore how the emphasis upon the human person is used among different Christian constituencies and what difficulties it creates for audiences receiving information on climate change and responding to its challenges. It also proposes to provide in a monograph a theological reinterpretation that draws on the project data and moves beyond personalism.The conclusions of the research project will be provided as feedback to partners. Through reports and briefings, partners and similar organisations will be advised of the research findings (both theological and qualitative) and enabled to contextualise these findings in their own work. The reports on the findings of the project will allow partners and others through a process of shared learning to understand more clearly the difficulties they are encountering in fundraising, creating and managing change, and understanding and responding creatively to 'personalist' cultures. The briefings, together with other sources, will explore how to embed the findings in partners' contexts towards consciousness raising and culture change. Such feedback will make it easier for these denominations, agencies and activist groups to meet the demands of the big ask. This same feedback will be of wider interest to other groups as civil society gears up to respond to the adaptation and mitigation demands of climate change.