This essay aims to answer the question of if and how the theologian Sallie McFagues modelfor understanding God that she presents in her book The Body of God can be furtherdeveloped to be more fitting for church and individual today. To answer this question I havecompleted a comparative text analysis of Andrew Linzeys book Why Animal SufferingMatters , Elisabeth A. Johnsons book Ask the Beasts and Rosemary Radford Ruethers bookGaia & God . The views of the three theologians is presented thematically: firstly in regardsto animal rights, secondly in regards to human environmental impact.Based on the fact that animals are sentient; that they are unable to communicateeffectivly with humans; and that animals are equally created by God as humans are, Linzey,Johnson and Radford Ruether argues that animals should not be unnecessarily harmed.With regard to environmental impact the three theologians argues that the whole ofcreation belongs to God and that God made humans stewards of it. The stewardship meansthat we have a responsibility to care for the earth rather than exploiting it.Based on these arguments I find that McFagues model can be further developedmainly by creating a more clear animal theology and by making a connection betweenenvironmental impact and social injustices.

Studier har visat att religion är en viktig komponent för att förstå människors attityder och beteenden gentemot naturen. Kristendomen har av en del forskare pekats ut som en förklaring till människans exploatering av naturen och det finns forskare som ansett att kristen tro är oförenlig med ett miljöengagemang. Samtidigt visar studier att det finns ett växande miljöintresse hos kristna i t.ex. USA. Den här studien syftade till att undersöka ett exempel på vilka kopplingar och motsättningar som kristna i dagens Sverige uttrycker mellan sin kristna tro, naturen och miljöengagemang. Metoden som användes var deltagande observation i mikroformat under en kristen miljökonferens samt semi-strukturerade intervjuer med kristna. Studien visade att det inte uttrycktes några motsättningar mellan att vara kristen och engagera sig i natur- och miljöfrågor, däremot att det kan finnas en motsättning mellan miljöengagemang och kyrkan samt att motsättningar kan komma från olika tolkningar av bibelord som råda och härska. Studien visade också att intresset och engagemanget för natur och miljö hängde samman med den kristna tron om förvaltarskap och att det sågs som viktigt att ära Guds skapelse genom att vårda den. / Studies have shown that religion is an important component for understanding human attitudes and behaviors regarding nature. Christianity have by some scholars been proposed as an explanation for humanities exploitation of nature and some point out that Christianity is at odds with environmentalism. At the same time studies show there is a growing interest in environmentalism among Christians in for example the USA. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore an example of what connections and divergences that is expressed among Christians in Sweden today concerning their faith, nature and environmentalism. The methods used were case study during a Christian environmental conference in Sweden and semi structured interviews with Christians. The study showed that there weren’t any divergences expressed between being a Christian and environmentalism but that there may be a divergence between Christian environmentalism and the Church. Also, divergences may come from differing interpretations of biblical words such as rule and subdue. The study also showed that the interest and concern regarding nature and the environment had to do with the Christian belief in stewardship and that it was important to honor God’s creation by caring for it.

En studie av föreställningar om det gudomliga inom ekofeministisk teologi. Uppsatsen behandlar teologerna Rosemary Radford Ruether, Carol Christ och Sallie McFague. Frågeställningen besvaras med hjälp av en innehållslig idéanalys bestående av två analysfrågor med en rad följdfrågor. Den första analysfrågan söker hur det gudomliga förstås hos de olika teologerna, följdfrågorna behandlar begreppen immanens-transcendens, teism-panteism-panenteism samt könsroller. Den andra analysfrågan söker vilken relation mellan det gudomliga och skapelsen som beskrivs, följdfrågorna söker om relationen är intern eller extern, om det är en personlig eller opersonlig gudomlighet samt om människan har något särskilt ansvar inför det gudomliga.

I den här uppsatsen görs en postkolonial, feministteologisk och konstruktivistisk analys av det ursäktstal Svenska kyrkan framför till det samiska folket hösten 2021. Med hjälp av den postkoloniala feministteologen Kwok Pui-lan och den kontextuella teologen Marcella Althaus-Reid närmar sig uppsatsen frågan om det i ursäktstalet finns uttryck för koloniala tendenser eller möjliga befrielser från sådana. Analyses leder till ett utforskande av dynamiken mellan föreställningar om kön, sexualitet, den Andre och naturem, där dessa visar sig vara tätt sammanvävda i en dualistisk ontologi konkretiserad i heterosexuella antaganden. För att bli fri från koloniala tendenser krävs de gamla heterosexuella antagandenas undergång. Bara i den ömsesidiga enhetens harmoni skapas nytt liv.

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The aim of this study was to explore the relevance and function of Christian reli-gious belief in constructing views on climate change (sv: klimathot) and climate action (sv: klimatengagemang). To ensure a focus on religiosity and the construc-tion of personal beliefs rather than systematic theology the study used psycholo-gist Crystal L. Parks theory on religious meaning making. Fourteen articles about climate change with denominational elements from the Christian newspapers Dagen, Insidan, Kyrkans Tidning, Budbäraren and Världen Idag were analysed using a qualitative content analysis. The results showed that the articles had ex-panded the extent of religion to encompass both climate change and climate ac-tion. Through truth claims and references to the Bible the threat of climate change was incorporated in the narrative of Genesis and humanity’s fall from grace and climate change was portrayed as the result of humanity’s failure at properly stew-arding nature. The environment was assigned value through depictions of the en-vironment as a creation by God. Climate action was presented as a necessity and a duty with references to God giving humanity the responsibility of stewarding na-ture. The ascription of religious meaning to climate action also meant that the re-ligiosity of the authors functioned as a motivation in regards to climate action. The religiosity, as portrayed in the articles, also exhibited a transcendent function in the case where the authors described their stewardship as a united effort with God. The idea that God was helping humanity in their stewardship and had the power to renew the world for the better also functioned as a mitigation to climate anxiety.

The aim of this study is to explore how the concept of sin, guilt and responsibility can be used in the contemporary discourse of the climate catastrophe. In a comparative textual study on Sallie McFague’s A New Climate for Theology and Richard Bauckham’s Bible and Ecology these concepts are analyzed. The conclusion is that McFague and Bauckham both uses “responsibility” frequently, but neither “sin” or “guilt” are well used in there works. Yet, when they reflect on “sin”, both of them abandons the (in the western theology classical) Augustine theology on sin. McFague when she argues that “evil” is a perversion of good rather than a consequence of an external reality, Bauckham when he claims that the fall of sin is an ongoing process rather than a momentary event.   Hannah Arendt and Alistair McFadyen are used as an interpretative and theoretical background to the conclusions of McFague and Bauckham in the discussion that follows the comparative textual study. Arendt and McFadyen reflects on sin, guilt and responsibility with the Holocaust as context. In the discussion, their thoughts on the Holocaust are essayed to apply on the contemporary climate catastrophe. Hannah Arendt talks about “collective responsibility” and “personal guilt”, concepts that in the discussion part, when applied on the climate catastrophe and in a better way fits the contemporary situation, inverts to “collective guilt” and “personal responsibility”. The talk of collective guilt tangent the Augustine teaching of original sin where sin is a common heritage from the fall of sin. McFadyen uses original sin to explain the mechanism of the German people during the Holocaust which in many ways are similar to the processes of the climate catastrophe of today.    In the discussion of this study, original sin is used as a model to better understand the fact that people cannot escape guilt in the contemporary situation and to comprehend why people act as they do. The study intends accordingly to in a constructive way contribute with new perspectives on sin, guild and responsibility to the ecological theology of today.