UNDERSTANDING CLIMATE CHANGE AS A BIBLICAL MANDATE

Online Workshop Session Description

This 3-part Zoom series will begin by reviewing several of the environmental teachings in the Hebrew Bible, relating them to New Testament teachings when possible, and demonstrating that climate change and the broader topic of creation care are biblical issues as well as scientific ones. The workshop will also discuss measures urgently needed to mitigate climate change and to prevent irreversible changes to the planet. In addition, the course will discuss the why and how pastors should address this topic within congregations.

The dates for the three sessions, along with the details of those sessions, are as follows:

 

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 23  | 11 A.M. (EDT)

Session 1

This session will include an overview of the rationale for the course, a discussion of the prevailing interpretation of Genesis 1:28, an examination of the implications of the Noah episode, and a discussion of the appropriate treatment of animals as described in Genesis through Deuteronomy.

 

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 30  | 11 A.M. (EDT)

Session 2

This session will include discussion of biblical teachings related to recycling, our use of the land for crop production, and biblical and post-biblical teachings related to air pollution. This session will also discuss the transition from fossil fuels to non-fossile fuels as a societal transformation.

To prepare for the final session and group discussion, participants will be invited to review the Lectionary and identify weeks in which a discussion of climate change as a biblical issue could readily be included.

 

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 7  | 11 A.M. (EDT)

Session 3

This session will examine what a faith community can do to mitigate climate change, focus on pastor and educator leadership possibilities, and measures that a church and congregants may undertake to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to draw carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.