The four tasks of Christian ecotheology: Revisiting the current debate

Abstract

This contribution offers a description of the tasks of Christian ecotheology both from a de facto and from a de iure perspective. It suggests that this entails both a twofold critique and a twofold constructive task, i.e. an ecological critique of Christianity and a Christian critique of ecological destruction, a constructive contribution to Christian authenticity and on that basis to multi-disciplinary discourse on ecological concerns in the public sphere. This is unpacked in subsequent sections, holding these dual tasks together through the notion of an ecological reformation and the tension between vision and discernment. It is suggested that a constructive contribution to Christian authenticity is indeed theologically crucial, namely, to discern the movements of the Spirit, now amidst the advent of the Anthropocene. This contribution raises but does not address the theological question as to what God is up to in a time like this.