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Christianity Today, February, 2012

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Teaching Natural Theology as Climate Changes Drown a Way of Life

Pacific Islanders relearn God’s care as rising sea levels threaten the future.

Ruth Moon | posted 2/14/2012 10:17AM

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The changing climate that threatens to drown the island nation of Tuvalu is also a trial by fire for the islanders' faith.

"We plant and depend on God to provide fruits. We go out fishing with faith that God will provide enough daily," said Tafue Lusama, general secretary of the Ekalesia Kelisiano, Tuvalu's national church. "The failure of these seems to indicate to the people that God's providence has failed them."

Tuvalu is a tiny, predominately Christian nation in the Pacific Ocean, halfway between Hawaii and Australia. About 10,500 people live on the 10-square-mile island; 97 percent belong to the Ekalesia Kelisiano.

In recent years, the nation has made international headlines as rising sea levels damage crops and ruin drinking water, threatening the islanders' existence.

Inhabitants of Pacific islands don't distinguish between theology or religion and daily life, said Randall Prior, a professor of missiology at Uniting Church Theological College in Melbourne, Australia.

"Issues of climate change will become issues for theological education," he said.

The Tuvaluan church's challenge is to teach a theology that emphasizes that God's providence still exists even if islanders' surroundings are being destroyed, Lusama said. He explains that such destruction is the consequence of human behavior and injustice, not God's wrath.

When the land is affected, Tuvaluans connect that failure directly to their relationship with God, said Suamalie Iosefa Naisali, a pastor with the Reformed Christian Church of Tuvalu in New Zealand. Fruitful land means God is blessing them, while land failure is seen as a curse. "The land is important and the sea—our surroundings—is our identity," he said.

The ancient Israelites had a similar view, notes Craig Bartholomew, a religion and theology professor at Redeemer University College in Ancaster, Ontario.

The Old Testament teaches that following God's will leads to a blessed life, he said, but nations like Tuvalu must face the fact that many nations most affected by climate change are relatively powerless to stop it.

"The challenge is going to be for developing countries and places like these islands to find ways of living according to the grain of creation, but bearing in mind that they're not exempt from the effects of what's going on globally," said Bartholomew, author of Where Mortals Dwell: A Christian View of Place for Today. "We need places where people are developing good practices, learning to live within the limits of creation and to flourish within those limits."

But it's not easy to transform contemporary Tuvalu into that kind of place, said David Kima, general secretary of the Evangelical Alliance of Papua New Guinea.

Under Kima's direction, local churches encourage farmers to plant trees, cut down fewer trees, and practice new planting techniques. But even as climate change affects their existence, residents are still reluctant to take practical steps to care for the environment, he said.

A recent statement from the National Association of Evangelicals suggests the islanders are not alone in their reluctance. In a December document, "Loving the Least of These: Addressing a Changing Environment," the organization called for Christians in wealthy nations to help the global poor adapt to climate-induced threats.

"The starting point," said Dana Robert, co-director of Boston University's Center for Global Christianity and Mission, "is the shift in awareness to think of the earth as the Lord's, rather than ours."

Related Elsewhere:

Previous Christianity Today articles about creation care and the environment include:

The Gulf of Mexico and the Care of Creation | We exercise dominion over creation not only when we use it, but also when we conserve it. (May 3, 2010)

Second Coming Ecology | We care for the environment precisely because God will create a new earth. (July 18, 2008)

Old-Fashioned Creation Care | Thrift and care for the environment go hand in hand. (July 16, 2007)

CT also has more news updates in its news section and liveblog.

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Natural Theology, February 2012, Vol. 56, No. 2, Page 14

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DALE R YANCY(Registered User)

February 16, 2012 6:03am

It's sad to see the NAE succumb to the global-warming hysteria. God is the Lord over all. In His Sovereignty, He brings rain as well a drought. We are fools if we think that we are altering the climate on this planet. We are just as foolish as the scientists who have been trying to sell us on evolution all these years.

MARK MENDENHALL(Registered User)

February 15, 2012 10:40pm

"He explains that such destruction is the consequence of human behavior and injustice, not God's wrath"...such factual speculation and theological lint gathering is not worthy of this publication. Could you even make this sort of thing up for a bad novel? I expect more of this magazine than articles like this. At least there should be a countervailing comment or two included in the article to balance the speculation. For the record the wealthy nations will be in no shape to help the poor and the poor nations if they are bankrupted by the very expensive theoretical solutions being undertaken for theoretical problems that may not actually exist. Poverty and want will spread even more than it has already. That is not even addressing the bad theology involved in this sort of analysis. I feel like I am reading a political propaganda rant instead of thoughful anlysis. This is not typical of CT, and I hope that does not change.

DaWei Soong(Registered User)

February 14, 2012 7:24pm

Jesus helped people deal with the situations they met. For instance he helped Israel prepare for its imminent destruction by the Romans. This part of your article is good. People should be helped through changes in the environment. Climate Change being real or not is not the issue with this article. Environmental changes, being attributed to climage change then mixed with theology, is, however, very troubling. Jesus did not teach that deforestation caused the floods he referenced - Matthew 7:25. Priests never said that man's inattentiveness to burning wood and cutting down trees were the cause of droughts -- Study how the priests intrepreted this: Genesis 12:10, Genesis 26:1, Genesis 41:27, Ruth 1:1, 2 Samuel 21:1, 1 Kings 18:2, 2 Kings 4:38, Haggai 1:11, Nehemiah 5:3. What abaout the frost that killed all the sycamore trees -Psalm 78:47. Are we taught Noah's flood due to excess animal flatchulence - Genesis 7? This article diverges significantly from traditional intrepretation.

RICK DALBEY(Registered User)

February 14, 2012 2:41pm

So what does this mean. "God's providence still exists even if islanders' surroundings are being destroyed, Lusama said. He explains that such destruction is the consequence of human behavior and injustice, not God's wrath." So the destruction of this island is caused by man-made global warming from selfish western industrialized countries and these natives need to know who to blame. It's a social justice issue. Is that the message? Or, "The Old Testament teaches that following God's will leads to a blessed life". Silly islanders to actually believe the Bible. And, "The ancient Israelites had a similar view, notes Craig Bartholomew, a religion and theology professor". Silly Israelites. Ah, where would we be without those liberal theologians to enlighten us? Thanks CT.

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