Christian Faith in Creation for Environmental Ethics and Climate Protection

Abstract

The paper examines the practical consequences of Christian faith in creation for environmental ethics and climate protection. Both are interpreted as a practical form of faith in creation, distinguishing between faith in creation and reflected theology of creation. Methodologically, the article proceeds by interpreting classical statements of the Bible and the Christian tradition in light of modern insights. The article pays special attention to the conversation between creation theology and modern evolutionary theory. In this context, the problem of theodicy is posed in a new way. The author criticizes tendencies to reduce the faith in creation to ethics. In the Christian tradition, he interprets faith in God as a form of courage based on presuppositions that are not absorbed in anthropology and ethics. Christian faith does not produce, but proclaims a meaning of life and of the world, which can come to both only from God and will endure even in view of the possible self-destruction of mankind. This conviction has ethical implications and consequences for a realistic commitment to environmental protection. On the one hand it is motivating, on the other hand it is critical of an apocalyptic view of the world and its consequences.