testdetail
Ondertitel
"The Climate Crisis and Christian Eschatology"
Journal of Reformed Theology
Steven C. van den Heuvel
Christian eschatology has been identified as problematic in the context of the climate crisis; on the one hand, it is accused of creating the preconditions for the modern exploitation of nature, while on the other it is accused of stimulating a quietist withdrawal from environmental action. Some understandings of Christian eschatology are helpful in addressing the climate crisis, in particular the promising eschatology of the German Protestant theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Eschatological thinking develops throughout the three phases of his life, with two main themes emerging, namely, 1) his understanding of the world as Christ-reality, and 2) the distinction he makes between the ultimate and the penultimate. Taken together, these concepts can be formative in the construction of the Christian virtue of hope in the context of the climate crisis.