What Else Is New?: Toward a Postcolonial Christian Theology for the Anthropocene

Abstract

Although there are many reasons for Christian skepticism regarding climate change, one reason is theological in nature, and therefore, requires a theological solution. This essay explains the theological grounds for climate change denial and for a compromised understanding of the power and creativity of human agency. Drawing inspiration from the ecotheological implications of postcolonial poetics, it seeks to offer revised conceptions of the atonement and the fall and of what it means to read both scripture and nature. The aim is to offer a more resilient Christian theology that can inspire agential creativity in the age of the Anthropocene.

Keywords

• ecotheology
• novelty
• postcolonial ecocriticism
• Derek Walcott
• theodicy
• poetics