Evolution, Temporality, and Ethics
On Kierkegaard’s Surprising Relevance to Eco-Theology
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/jsrnc.31401Keywords:
Theology, eco-theology, environmental studies, evolutionary biology, Kierkegaard, anxiety, ethics, anthropocentrismAbstract
Christian eco-theologians often focus significant critical attention on anthropocentric accounts of religious faith in which ‘the relation between God and the world is narrowed to God and the individual' (McFague 2008: 68). Some mention Søren Kierkegaard by name as a villain in this respect since his work is fixated on the human being's relation to God in the context of temporality and pays little attention to the physical world. I argue that eco-theologians are nonetheless writing a bright future for Kierkegaardian religious ethics precisely by embracing the insight of evolutionary biology that matter itself is historical. Stemming from an awareness of matter's inherent dynamism, eco-theological attempts to reconcile religious commitments with contemporary science engender ethical recommendations of openness to life's uncharted future. Kierkegaard's insights into the challenges of relating to temporal uncertainty therefore gain a surprisingly concrete ethical relevance in light of evolutionary science.
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Caputo, John D. 2001. On Religion (London and New York: Routledge).
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Coyne, George V., and Alessandro Omizzolo. 2002. Wayfarers in the Cosmos: The Human Quest for Meaning (New York: Crossroad).
Creation Museum. 2018. ‘About Us’, Answers in Genesis. February 18. Online: https://creationmuseum.org/about/.
Dahill, Lisa. 2015. ‘Into Local Waters: Re-Wilding the Study of Christian Spirituality’. Presidential Address delivered to the Society for the Study of Christian Spirituality, Atlanta, GA.
Davenport, John. 2013. ‘A New Existential Model of God: A Synthesis of Themes from Kierkegaard, Buber, Levinas, and Open Theism’, in J. Diller and A. Kasher (eds.), Models of God and Alternative Ultimate Realities (New York: Springer): 567-86. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-5219-1_45.
Edwards, Denis. 2004. Breath of Life: A Theology of the Creator Spirit (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books).
Edwards, Denis. 2006. Ecology at the Heart of Faith (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books).
Ellis, George F.R., and Nancey Murphy. 1996. On the Moral Nature of the Universe: Theology, Cosmology, and Ethics (Minneapolis: Fortress Press).
Gould, Stephen Jay. 1989. Wonderful Life: The Burgess Shale and the Nature of History (New York: W.W. Norton).
Greene, Brian. 2004. The Fabric of the Cosmos (London: Penguin Books).
Gribbin, John. 2001. Stardust: The Cosmic Recycling of Stars, Planets and People (London: Penguin Books).
Harris, J.A., P. Birch, and J. Palmer. 1997. Land Restoration and Reclamation: Principles and Practice (Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley Publishing Co.).
Jenkins, Willis. 2013. The Future of Ethics: Sustainability, Social Justice, and Religious Creativity (Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press).
Johnson, Elizabeth A. 2000. ‘Losing and Finding Creation in the Christian Tradition’, in D. Hessel and R. Ruether (eds.), Christianity and Ecology: Seeking the Well-Being of Earth and Humans (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press): 3-21.
Johnson, Elizabeth A. 2007. Quest for the Living God: Mapping Frontiers in the Theology of God (New York: Bloomsbury).
Johnson, Elizabeth A. 2014. Ask the Beasts: Darwin and the God of Love (New York: Bloomsbury).
Kierkegaard, Søren. 1980a. The Sickness unto Death (trans. Howard V. Hong and Edna H. Hong; Princeton: Princeton University Press).
Kierkegaard, Søren. 1980b. The Concept of Anxiety (trans. Reidar Thomte; Princeton: Princeton University Press).
Kierkegaard, Søren. 1985. Philosophical Fragments/Johannes Climacus (trans. Howard V. Hong and Edna H. Hong; Princeton: Princeton University Press).
Kierkegaard, Søren. 1990. Works of Love (trans. Howard V. Hong and Edna H. Hong; Princeton: Princeton University Press).
Kierkegaard, Søren. 1992. Concluding Unscienti?c Postscript to Philosophical Fragments (trans. Howard V. Hong and Edna H. Hong; Princeton: Princeton University Press).
Mayr, Ernst. 2001. What Evolution Is (London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson).
McFague, Sallie. 2008. A New Climate for Theology: God, the World, and Global Warming (Minneapolis: Fortress Press).
Murphy, Nancy. 1997. Reconciling Theology and Science: A Radical Reform Perspective (Kitchener, ON: Pandora Press).
Polkinghorne, John C. 1998. Science and Theology (Minneapolis: Fortress Press).
Rees, Martin. 1997. Before the Beginning: Our Universe and Others (London: Touchstone).
Russell, Robert J. 2008. Cosmology: From Alpha to Omega (Minneapolis: Fortress Press).
Sideris, Lisa H. 2003. Environmental Ethics, Ecological Theology, and Natural Selection (New York: Columbia University Press). Doi: https://doi.org/10.7312/side12660.
Smith, Gregory A., and Jessica Martinez. 2016. ‘How the Faithful Voted: A Preliminary 2016 Analysis’, Fact Tank: News in the Numbers. November 9. Online: http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/11/09/how-the-faithful-voted-a-preliminary-2016-analysis/.
Stoll, Mark. 1991. Protestantism, Capitalism, and Nature in America (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press).
Stoll, Mark. Inherit the Holy Mountain: Religion and the Rise of American Environmentalism (New York: Oxford University Press). Doi: https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780190230869.001.0001.
White Jr, Lynn, 1967. ‘The Historical Roots of Our Ecologic Crisis’, Science 155.3767: 1203-207. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1126/science.155.3767.1203.
Additional Files
Published
2018-06-07
Issue
Section
Articles
How to Cite
Klassen, J. D. (2018). Evolution, Temporality, and Ethics: On Kierkegaard’s Surprising Relevance to Eco-Theology. Journal for the Study of Religion, Nature and Culture, 12(1), 55-75. https://doi.org/10.1558/jsrnc.31401
