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Creation as Promise: A Dogmatic Approach to Eco-Theology in the Anthropocene

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2024

Peter Scherle Open the ORCID record for Peter Scherle [Opens in a new window]
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Abstract

The article constructs the emergence of environmental ethics and eco-theology, referring to ecumenical discussions and influences. It then focuses on the difference between two types of eco-theology: one that may be called eco-centric, the other theo-centric. Following the second model and rooted in Karl Barth's approach to creation theology, the argument is put forward that a dogmatic approach today has to be based on the concept of ‘creatio ex nihilo’. Creation is not a commodity but utterly dependent on God's ongoing creative speech-act. A revision of the doctrine of election focuses on creation in a Trinitarian perspective. Creation is an eschatological and soteriological category that is grounded biblically in the post-exilic hope for a new creation. As a promise, it is a critique of all utopic and dystopic claims in human history. This has two consequences. First, the need to regain a realistic concept of the political that allows for conflicting aims and that challenges the concept of dominion. And second, to regain a realistic approach to ‘nature’ that defines the ethical concern as ‘habitability’. The fundamental challenge is to live in a disenchanted world while waiting for the world to come. This tension is enacted in the Eucharist.

Keywords

Eco-theologycreation ex nihiloNew CreationKarl BarthEucharist
Type
Original Article
Information
New Blackfriars , Volume 103 , Issue 1104 , March 2022 , pp. 243 - 258
Copyright
Copyright © 2022 Provincial Council of the English Province of the Order of Preachers

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