Chapter 6
Climate Justice and God’s Justice
in the Pacific: Climate Change
Adaptation and Martin Luther
Richard A. Davis
Abstract Climate change activism in the Pacific is often narrated through the
concept of justice. It is unjust, it is claimed, that the small island developing states of
the Pacific should face so much harm and even eradication from the effects of climate
change when they have contributed so little to global carbon emissions. This is an
issue of climate justice. Yet islanders, who are mostly Christian, often narrate the
effects of the climate change through the concept of God’s justice and judgement. In
their disaster-prone region on the Pacific rim of fire, with tropical cyclones, tsunamis,
and the threat of sea-level rise and coastal erosion, disasters invariably carry religious
meaning. This alternative narrative can affect climate change adaptation for several
reasons, including the idea that fighting climate change is fighting God’s judgement,
which must be humbly accepted. And of what use are fortifications against sea-level
rise, if God is judging you? To shed light on these issues from a theological angle, the
chapter engages with the medieval theologian Martin Luther and how he understood
the relationship between God’s justice and human action, with surprising resonances
in the Pacific today.
Introduction
One of the most pressing issues in the Pacific region is the effects and expected
effects of global climate change. The Pacific region is facing in climate change a
major existential crisis, with sea-level rise expected to submerge Tuvalu, Kiribati,
and many other islands and low-lying regions, and the destruction of other places due
to increasingly powerful tropical cyclones (Walsh et al. 2012). The Pacific region
is also a mostly Christian region and faith plays a significant part in how people
comprehend and react to this existential crisis. Justice plays a major yet ambiguous
part in these debates—Pacific peoples see themselves as victims of anthropogenic
climate injustice, while also seeing themselves as being subject to divine justice
through God’s judgement and punishment (Holmgaard 2019).
R. A. Davis (B)
Wesley House, Cambridge, UK
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
J. M. Luetz and P. D. Nunn (eds.), Beyond Belief, Climate Change Management,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-67602-5_6
99
Climate Justice and God’s Justice
in the Pacific: Climate Change
Adaptation and Martin Luther
Richard A. Davis
Abstract Climate change activism in the Pacific is often narrated through the
concept of justice. It is unjust, it is claimed, that the small island developing states of
the Pacific should face so much harm and even eradication from the effects of climate
change when they have contributed so little to global carbon emissions. This is an
issue of climate justice. Yet islanders, who are mostly Christian, often narrate the
effects of the climate change through the concept of God’s justice and judgement. In
their disaster-prone region on the Pacific rim of fire, with tropical cyclones, tsunamis,
and the threat of sea-level rise and coastal erosion, disasters invariably carry religious
meaning. This alternative narrative can affect climate change adaptation for several
reasons, including the idea that fighting climate change is fighting God’s judgement,
which must be humbly accepted. And of what use are fortifications against sea-level
rise, if God is judging you? To shed light on these issues from a theological angle, the
chapter engages with the medieval theologian Martin Luther and how he understood
the relationship between God’s justice and human action, with surprising resonances
in the Pacific today.
Introduction
One of the most pressing issues in the Pacific region is the effects and expected
effects of global climate change. The Pacific region is facing in climate change a
major existential crisis, with sea-level rise expected to submerge Tuvalu, Kiribati,
and many other islands and low-lying regions, and the destruction of other places due
to increasingly powerful tropical cyclones (Walsh et al. 2012). The Pacific region
is also a mostly Christian region and faith plays a significant part in how people
comprehend and react to this existential crisis. Justice plays a major yet ambiguous
part in these debates—Pacific peoples see themselves as victims of anthropogenic
climate injustice, while also seeing themselves as being subject to divine justice
through God’s judgement and punishment (Holmgaard 2019).
R. A. Davis (B)
Wesley House, Cambridge, UK
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
J. M. Luetz and P. D. Nunn (eds.), Beyond Belief, Climate Change Management,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-67602-5_6
99