This thesis explores how hope in relation to the threats to the earth’s biosphere can be formulated theologically. The starting-point is a questioning of hope raised by the French sociologist and anthropologist Bruno Latour. In Facing Gaia. Eight Lectures on the New Climatic Regime (2015) he asks why so little has happened to reduce the emissions of CO2. Parts of his answers relate to the view that hope is preventing action. Since hope is a central part of Christian doctrine, this study lets Latours scepticism meet some eco-theological litterature, mainly representing evangelical, orthodox and radical material theology, and religious naturalism. Since critic against eschatology is important in Latours explanatory model, this theme is discussed together with the possibilities of the church practices of liturgy and eucharistic celebration, especially in relation to the concept of time and space, the latter elaborated by the radical material theologian Petra Carlsson Redell. Although putting different emphasis on an ultimate eschatological hope, all authors stress the importance of acting now. The evangelical authors Daniel Brunner et al. present a strategy “living as if”, practicing restoration of the Earth here and now. In religious naturalism the hope lies in the common biological ground for all humanity and living things, also leading to a caring ethics. In general, relationality and materiality as well as including marginalized voices are important concepts when the authors are formulating environmental ethics and eco-theology. The concept of hope is shown to be important to define, in order to sort out especially false hope from a possibly fruitful concept: resilient hope. A resilient hope is grounded in Christian discipleship, is adaptive and able to recover. It is in a reciprocal relation to action. To develop a resilient hope I argue that it is important to allow both desperation and hope, since the free moving between the two “poles” can act liberating and enable action. A resilient hope gives space for scepticism since it is grounded in a reality always on the move. It is open for emergence and construction. Christianity has resources to house the space between hope and despair both in central biblical narratives and in bodily practices as liturgy and eucharist. Resilient hope in this thesis is earthbound, withstands being lost, and arises again and again in search for new constructive possibilities.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:ths-1367 |
| Date | January 2021 |
| Creators | Sund Sandberg, Anneli |
| Publisher | Enskilda Högskolan Stockholm, Avdelningen för religionsvetenskap och teologi |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | Swedish |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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