Climate Church, Climate World, originally published in 2018, contends that climate change is the greatest moral challenge humanity has ever faced. Hunger, refugees, poverty, inequality, deadly viruses, war-climate change multiplies all forms of global social injustice. Environmental advocate Rev. Jim Antal calls on the church to meet this moral challenge, to embrace a new vocation so that future generations might live in harmony with God's creation. After illuminating how human beings are responsible for the dangers our planet now faces, Antal proposes how people of faith can embrace new approaches to worship, preaching, witnessing, and other spiritual practices that honor creation and cultivate hope. This revised and updated edition includes a new chapter on political and policy shifts under the Trump and Biden administrations; influence of Greta Thunberg and climate change activists; and updated information on the current science of climate change. Includes a foreword by environmental advocate Bill McKibben, author of The End of Nature.
Jim Antal is a denominational leader, activist, and public theologian. He serves as the national spokesperson on climate change for the United Church of Christ. Yale Divinity School recently honored Antal with the William Sloane Coffin Award for Peace and Justice, in recognition of his lifelong advocacy for nuclear disarmament, racial justice, Middle East Peace, and climate change activism.
Foreword By Bill McKibben Preface Acknowledgments Introduction The Earth Is the Lord's, Not Ours to Wreck: Imperatives for a New Moral Era Questions for Group Discussion and Further Reflection 1 The Situation in Which We Find Ourselves What Have We Done? Taking Responsibility-The Anthropocene How Long Have We Known? Are We Paying Attention? What's at Stake? How Urgent Is the Crisis? Are We Choosing Extinction? We're All In This Together We Already Have Everything We Need Forward Momentum Questions for Group Discussion and Further Reflection 2 A Loving God for a Broken World Finding God in a Broken World Should We Try to Keep Our Hearts from Breaking? Gratitude for a God of Love How Do We Remain Faithful? Julian Bond's Testimony in Handcuffs The Mine and the Snow Geese-A Story for Our Time The Story of the Mine and the Snow Geese: A Postscript Questions for Group Discussion and Further Reflection Interlude: If We Fail to Heed Our Calling A Letter from a Pastor to Her Congregation on the Occasion of the Closing of the Church on Ash Wednesday 2070 Questions for Group Discussion and Further Reflection 3 The Church's Vocation Today What's Church For? History's Lessons for an Unprecedented Time With God, There Are No Externalities God Calls Communities, Not Just Individuals...We All Live at the Same Address Our Covenant With God: For All Time-With All Creatures Golden Rule 2.0 Our Children's Trust Confronting the End of Continuity A Kairos Moment-Time for a Moral Intervention Questions for Group Discussion and Further Reflection 4 The Marks of the Church in a Climate Crisis World Our Role as Keepers of Continuity Building Resilient Communities It's Not Just About Me: From Personal to Communal Salvation Step 1: Confess Complicity; Step 2: Change the System Embracing Spiritual Progress in Place of Material Progress Sacrifice and Sharing as Guiding Virtues Embracing Moral Interdependence Global Warming Intensifies All Forms of Injustice Confront the Powers and Principalities Sharing Our Fears and Hopes: Empowering Action Truth and Reconciliation Conversations in Every House of Worship Civil Disobedience-the Church Acts on Its Conscience A Repurposed Church for a New Moral Era Affirming these Marks of the Church in a Covenant Questions for Group Discussion and Further Reflection 5 Discipleship: Reorienting What We Prize Resilience in Place of Growth Collaboration in Place of Consumption Wisdom in Place of Progress Balance in Place of Addiction Moderation in Place of Excess Vision in Place of Convenience Accountability in Place of Disregard Self-Giving Love in Place of Self-Centered Fear Civil Disobedience and Discipleship Questions for Group Discussion and Further Reflection 6 Worship as a Pathway to Freedom How Much Is Enough? Climate Talk in Church The First Announcement at Every Church Service Invite Weekly Testimonies Transform Familiar Liturgies and Create New Ones Organize and Host a Climate Revival Worship that Includes All Creatures Ordination Vows and New Life in the Anthropocene If Earth Were a Sacrament, How Would We Treat It? Undomesticating Worship Taking Liturgy to the Street, the Pipeline, and the Tracks Conclusion Questions for Group Discussion and Further Reflection 7 Prophetic Preaching: Freeing the Pulpit from Fear Called to Preach on Climate Change Why Preaching on Climate Change Matters The Church Was Born for This Pastors Must Prepare Their Hearts Cultivating Courage-"Be Not Afraid" Offer Hope-We Are Called to Change the Story The Theological Foundation for Preaching on Climate Change Preaching on Climate Change- Ten Considerations Questions for Group Discussion and Further Reflection 8 Witnessing Together: Communal Action Can Free Us from Fear Not the Vocation I Started With What Is Witnessing? Making Civil Disobedience a Normative Expression of Christian Discipleship Driven by Love and Gratitude with Fear as a Catalyst Divestment: Revoking the Social License to Wreck Creation A New Take on Fiduciary Accountability A Global Commons-End the Ownership of Nature Building the Kingdom of God: Society Based on "The Common Good" Questions for Group Discussion and Further Reflection 9 Trump, Biden, Greta-Years of Upheaval, 2018-2022 Finally-A Climate Bill (by another name) Passes What Made Congress Act on Climate? Truth Forever on the Scaffold A New Moral Era-Yes! But Which One? Nature Cannot Be Deceived Congregations Responding to Covid and Climate We're Paying More Attention to the Climate Crisis The Green New Deal-Aspiration Amidst Upheaval Youth Cannot Be Ignored Imagine If... What's a Climate Church? Our Generation Has a Vocation-We're ALL In This Together Questions for Group Discussion and Further Reflection 10 Living Hope-Filled Lives in a Climate Crisis World Not Optimism . . . But Hope Facing Reality-A Precondition of Hope Expressing Grief-A Precondition of Hope Acknowledging the Existential Threat of Climate Change The Conviction of Things Not Seeable The Conviction of Things Not Seen-Telling a New Story of Hope Living a New Story of Hope Spiritual Practices for Cultivating Hope Questions for Group Discussion and Further Reflection Epilogue Imagine: A Message to the Church-Presented by a Teenager in 2100 Questions for Group Discussion and Further Reflection Appendix Preaching Suggestions for a Climate Crisis World Further Reading Notes Index About the Author
