Religion, Theology and Climate Change

应对气候变化危机对社会各界都是一个“大要求”。宗教传统是应对危机的团体之一：例如，通过运动提请政府注意气候紧急情况，并试图把自己的生态房子的秩序。本研究项目将集中在英国的基督教，详细探讨这一大要求所产生的实地神学变化。具体来说，它将考虑如何应对气候紧急情况的需要都导致神学创新和塑造基督教气候应对三个方面：罗马天主教和英格兰教会教派;基督教国际发展机构，基督教宣传和活动家团体。然而，道德关切并不是在真空中出现的，而是在一种文化环境或精神气质中出现的，这种文化环境或精神气质取决于某些道德观念、承诺和意向。因此，应对气候变化不仅是一个科学和政治问题，而且也是一个意识形态和信仰问题。受到气候危机挑战的基督教教会的核心神学和道德传统是“个人主义”。个人主义通过参考个人属性（意志、理性、性情等）来确定人类的处境和任务。个人主义也涉及到人类例外论：个人主义的类别从其“自然”环境中剥离人类，从而使人类成为例外。人格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一个“黑暗绿色”宗教[Taylor，2009]。这个项目旨在测试现有的神学实际上是如何被改编或扩展的，以更好地服务于气候变化危机中的伦理探究和道德行动。它还试图探讨不同的基督教群体如何强调人，以及这给受众接收气候变化信息和应对其挑战带来了哪些困难。它还建议在一本专著中提供一种神学上的重新解释，这种解释利用项目数据，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，合作伙伴和类似的组织将被告知研究结果（神学和定性），并使这些结果在自己的工作背景。关于该项目调查结果的报告将使合作伙伴和其他方面通过共同学习的过程，更清楚地了解他们在筹资、创造和管理变革以及理解和创造性地应对“个人主义”文化方面遇到的困难。简报会将与其他来源一道，探讨如何将调查结果纳入合作伙伴的背景，以提高认识和改变文化。这样的反馈将使这些教派、机构和活动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减缓需求，其他群体也将对同样的反馈产生更广泛的兴趣。

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.