200
C. Pearson
stories for communities and the imperative of engaging with the moral imagination.
They are deeply mindful of the eclipse of the Euro-Western Christian temperament
or mindset.
The Carroll report demonstrated the potential for a Pasifika theology of resilience
in the face of disasters, especially those associated with a changing climate. It
captured much of the intent of a public theology. The bilingual nature of this emerging
discipline ought to be nurtured for several reasons. For the sake of a sustainable and
resilient vision—if that is indeed possible given Steffen’s prognosis for the planet in
the Anthropocene—then it is in the interest of the Forum’s Secretariat to encourage
an illuminative and formative biblical discourse that is in a constructive tension with
the rhetoric of climate scientists and the preferred geopolitical strategy. It places a
moral discourse of the heart alongside those of cultural identity and the litany of
calls for nations, partners and industries to meet the agreements made. It strengthens
the lines of adherence for ethnicities for whom a western climate science remains
confusing (Pearson 2019). The other side to this coin is for the churches to take
to heart Hanson’s model of the warp and weft of the biblical message and look
beyond the self-interest of the institution and engage in Birch and Rasmussen’s new
conversation.
The Bible acts in personal and village life. It is multifaceted in its outworking.
For that reason the present is a kairos moment: it is time to weave a mat of many
scriptural texts that speak into a wide range of life-situations arising out of the
climate crisis. There is a wealth of biblical material that can address themes such as
the care of creation (Colossians 1:15–23), migration (Psalm 137), being an alien in
a strange land (1 Peter 2:11–12), dealing with world powers (Ephesians 6:12) and
coming face to face with how to live in the shadow of apocalyptic endings (Matthew
24:36–44; 25:1–13; Luke 12:40). These biblical references are only the tip of what
is possible. There is an exhaustive amount of biblical and theological scholarship on
these diverse themes. This work can sit alongside Lusama’s use of Job and Kempf
and Fair’s understanding of Noah as a counternarrative. These additional readings
may well be able to stimulate more songs and fatele.
‘Not Without My Neigbour’—Madrid, 2019
The practice of a public theology is to find organizing texts—that is, key texts that
shape a theological response and around which other relevant biblical texts can
assemble. For the kind of kairotic public theology Fretheim (2016) advocates Noah
is not the right text. In his doctoral research Talia—who happens to be the current
co-chair of the Global Indigenous Forum on Climate Change—has recognized the
affective power of the parable of the Good Samaritan and its talk of neighbours—
tuakoi. It offers so much. The very idea of a neighbour resonates with customary
indigenous knowledge: the biblical notion presumes the inclusion of the stranger—
as indeed does the Qur’an. Richard Carter and Samuel Wells have used the leading
C. Pearson
stories for communities and the imperative of engaging with the moral imagination.
They are deeply mindful of the eclipse of the Euro-Western Christian temperament
or mindset.
The Carroll report demonstrated the potential for a Pasifika theology of resilience
in the face of disasters, especially those associated with a changing climate. It
captured much of the intent of a public theology. The bilingual nature of this emerging
discipline ought to be nurtured for several reasons. For the sake of a sustainable and
resilient vision—if that is indeed possible given Steffen’s prognosis for the planet in
the Anthropocene—then it is in the interest of the Forum’s Secretariat to encourage
an illuminative and formative biblical discourse that is in a constructive tension with
the rhetoric of climate scientists and the preferred geopolitical strategy. It places a
moral discourse of the heart alongside those of cultural identity and the litany of
calls for nations, partners and industries to meet the agreements made. It strengthens
the lines of adherence for ethnicities for whom a western climate science remains
confusing (Pearson 2019). The other side to this coin is for the churches to take
to heart Hanson’s model of the warp and weft of the biblical message and look
beyond the self-interest of the institution and engage in Birch and Rasmussen’s new
conversation.
The Bible acts in personal and village life. It is multifaceted in its outworking.
For that reason the present is a kairos moment: it is time to weave a mat of many
scriptural texts that speak into a wide range of life-situations arising out of the
climate crisis. There is a wealth of biblical material that can address themes such as
the care of creation (Colossians 1:15–23), migration (Psalm 137), being an alien in
a strange land (1 Peter 2:11–12), dealing with world powers (Ephesians 6:12) and
coming face to face with how to live in the shadow of apocalyptic endings (Matthew
24:36–44; 25:1–13; Luke 12:40). These biblical references are only the tip of what
is possible. There is an exhaustive amount of biblical and theological scholarship on
these diverse themes. This work can sit alongside Lusama’s use of Job and Kempf
and Fair’s understanding of Noah as a counternarrative. These additional readings
may well be able to stimulate more songs and fatele.
‘Not Without My Neigbour’—Madrid, 2019
The practice of a public theology is to find organizing texts—that is, key texts that
shape a theological response and around which other relevant biblical texts can
assemble. For the kind of kairotic public theology Fretheim (2016) advocates Noah
is not the right text. In his doctoral research Talia—who happens to be the current
co-chair of the Global Indigenous Forum on Climate Change—has recognized the
affective power of the parable of the Good Samaritan and its talk of neighbours—
tuakoi. It offers so much. The very idea of a neighbour resonates with customary
indigenous knowledge: the biblical notion presumes the inclusion of the stranger—
as indeed does the Qur’an. Richard Carter and Samuel Wells have used the leading