Description
Is the Church sustainable? What might the Church have to contribute to social and ecological sustainability? What might the Church learn from contemporary discussions of sustainability and resilience? This course explores the variety of images of the church found within the New Testament, as well as the diverse values, convictions, perspectives, and practices that distinguished the early Christian communities from other social groups and institutions around them and that helped the churches endure and be resilient. Particular attention will be given to the practices—e.g., hospitality, forgiveness, sharing possessions, self-limitation, healing, exorcism, and love—that made the church sustainable and resilient in its cultural “ecosystem” and that might provide resources for sustainable Christian practice today.
Key Questions
Why has the Christian tradition had relatively little to say in response to current ecological concerns? What is sustainability? What is resilience? Is the church today a sustainable community (or institution or movement)? What factors make it sustainable or not? What can congregations and their leaders learn from current discussions of ecological and social sustainability? In what ways might the church have something to contribute to discussions of sustainability and resilience? What is the church, especially as it first emerged in the first century? What social models from its cultural setting did it engage? What were the foundational narratives, social scripts, and practices that the early Christians pursued? How were these institutionalized and modified over time? Which Christian practices lend themselves most clearly to the values and interests of sustainability and resilience? Do churches have a necessary place and function in their social and ecological systems? Is the church viral? Important note: I fully realize that I will not succeed in answering all of your questions. Indeed, I will not answer any of them completely. The answers we will find will only serve to raise a whole new set of questions, which only lead to more problems, some of which we weren’t even aware were problems. To sum it all up, in some ways we will be as confused as ever, but I hope that we will be confused at a higher level and about more important things.–adapted from Humor Consultants, Inc. and my dentist’s wall
Required Texts
- Gerhard Lohfink, Does God Need the Church? Michael Glazier/Liturgical Press, 1998.
- Letty Russell, Just Hospitality. Westminster/John Knox Press, 2009.
- Brian Walker & David Salt, Resilience Thinking. Island Press, 2006.
- Andrew Zolli & Ann Marie Healy, Resilience: Why Things Bounce Back. The Free Press, 2012.
Other Important Titles
- Stephen Harding, ed., Grow Small, Think Beautiful: Ideas for a Sustainable World from Schumacher College. Floris Books, 2011.
- Richard Heinberg and Daniel Lerch, eds., The Post Carbon Reader: Managing the 1st Century Sustainability Crisis. Watershed Media, 2010.
- Rob Hopkins, The Transition Handbook: From Oil Dependency to Local Resilience. Chelsea Green, 2008-2009. Other books in this series, too.
- Sallie McFague, The Body of God: an Ecological Theology. Fortress Press, 1993.
- Donella Meadows, Thinking in Systems: A Primer. Chelsea Green, 2008.
- Wayne Meeks, The First Urban Christians. Yale, 1983.
- Paul Minear, Images of the Church in the New Testament. Westminster, 1960, 2004.
- Michael S. Northcott, A Moral Climate: the Ethics of Global Warming. Orbis Books, 2007.
- Peter Senge, et.al., The Necessary Revolution: How Individuals and Organizations are Working Together to Create a Sustainable World. Doubleday, 2008. Senge’s group is doing a lot of work on “learning organizations” and sustainability.
- John Howard Yoder, Body Politics: Five Practices of the Christian Community Before the Watching World. Discipleship Resources, 1992.
Proposed Schedule
[Please note: this schedule is very much open to revision; regard it as a draft proposal.]
Lesson 1: Introduction and Organization; Where in the world are we? Ecosystems and Human Well-Being: the UN’s Millennium Ecosystem Assessment
Lesson 2: Where we are and how we got here: cultural and theological roots of the present crises. Read for discussion: Lynn White, Jr., “The Historical Roots of Our Ecological Crisis.” Richard Heinberg, “What is Sustainability?” and William Rees, “Thinking ‘Resilience’,” in Heinberg and Lerch, eds., The Post Carbon Reader.
Lesson 3: Sustainability and Resilience I: Discussion of Walker and Salt, Resilience Thinking.
Lesson 4: Sustainability and Resilience II: Discussion of Zolli and Healy, Resilience.
Lesson 5: Sustainability and Resilience III: Continued Discussion of the two Resilience books
Lesson 6: What is the Church? Key Questions about its Nature and Origins (Eschatology)
Lesson 7: The Nature and Mission of the Church I: Discussion of Lohfink, Does God Need the Church, 1-120.
Lesson 8: The Nature and Mission of the Church II: Discussion of Lohfink, Does God Need the Church, 121-201.
Lesson 9: The Nature and Mission of the Church III: Discussion of Lohfink, Does God Need the Church, 203-324.
Lesson 10: New Testament Texts and Themes: the Ecology of the Empire of Heaven—Sustainability and Resilience in the Sermon on the Mount
Lesson 11: New Testament Texts and Themes: the Ecology of the Household of God—discussion of the nature of the church, sustainability, and resilience in Ephesians and Colossians
Lesson 12: New Testament Texts and Themes: Unity and Diversity—discussion of 1 Corinthians 11-14 (building adaptive capacity)
Lesson 13: New Testament Texts and Themes: Making Space for the Other—discussion of Romans 12-15 (cooperation; simple at core/diverse at edges)
Lesson 14: New Testament Texts and Themes: Hospitality–discussion of Letty M Russell, Just Hospitality.
Lesson 15: New Testament Texts and Themes: Baptism, Death, and the Principle of Self-Limitation, focusing on Philippians 2, 1 Corinthians 8-9, Romans 5
Lesson 16: New Testament Texts and Themes: Healing and Exorcism—discussion of Matthew 8-9, Mark 1:21-3:19
Lesson 17: New Testament Texts and Themes: Practicing Eschatological Economics—discussion of Acts 2, 2 Corinthians 8:1-7, James 5
Lesson 18: New Testament Texts and Themes: Sabbath practice and the ecology of the Church
Lesson 19: Presentation and Discussion of Final Projects?
Lesson 20: Presentation and Discussion of Final Projects?
Lesson 21: Presentation and discussion of Final Projects?
Lesson 22: Presentation and discussion of Final Projects? Course Evaluation