Abstract

The Extinction Rebellion (XR) movement has grown rapidly in the past two years. In popular media, XR has sometimes been described using religious terminology. XR has been compared to an eco-cult, a spiritual and cultural movement, and described as holding apocalyptic views. Despite XR lacking the distinctive religiosity of new testament and early (pre-150ACE) Christianity, the movement resonates with the early Christian experience in several ways. (1) A characterization of events within the world as apocalyptic. (2) Both feel vulnerable to the apocalypse in specific ways, though each responds differently. (3) Both experience the apocalypse as a community and develop community strategies in response to the apocalypse. The paper sketches certain features of new testament Christianity and compares some of these to XR. The main difference between the two movements is that XR makes decisions to actively become vulnerable, whereas new testament Christianity was more often passively vulnerable. Elements of new testament Christianity provide a context for understanding XR as a response to an apocalypse.

Highlights

  • The Point Is Not to Change the World, But to Save ItThe Extinction Rebellion (XR) was formed by a group of activists in the UK in October, 2018(Extinction Rebellion 2020).1 The movement has expanded to 69 countries, and numbers are difficult to quantify, XR’s Action Network has over 30,000 listed members in Australia and at least 9000 in the state of Victoria.2 XR is not a religious movement

  • Jem Bendell, Professor of Sustainability Leadership at the University of Cumbria (UK), provides a summary of why XR takes this approach, referring to urgency of action and the failure of slow, progressive reforms to generate the rate of change required to head off the effects of climate change6

  • Responding to the ecological apocalypse, XR’s message is “existential” in the following ways: (1) climate change is a threat to the existence of life on earth, and (2) the decision to confront and take responsibility for climate change and mass extinction is of existentialist magnitude for an individual

Read more

Summary

Introduction

The Extinction Rebellion (XR) was formed by a group of activists in the UK in October, 2018. Panel on Climate Change IPCC) and mass extinction (Ceballos et al 2017; Grens 2017) together https://rebellion.global/about-us/ (accessed on 15 July 2020). Jem Bendell, Professor of Sustainability Leadership at the University of Cumbria (UK), provides a summary of why XR takes this approach, referring to urgency of action and the failure of slow, progressive reforms to generate the rate of change required to head off the effects of climate change. Jem Bendell, Professor of Sustainability Leadership at the University of Cumbria (UK), provides a summary of why XR takes this approach, referring to urgency of action and the failure of slow, progressive reforms to generate the rate of change required to head off the effects of climate change6 It could be put like this: XR desires, in T. Eliot’s words, “to save the World from suicide” (Eliot 2015)

How Did Early Christians Understand the Apocalypse?
From Cataclysm to Apocalypse
Summary
How Did Christianity Respond to Immanent Threats in the Form of Persecutions?
The Apocalypse and Community Fellowship
Persecution and Endurance
XR’s Three Types of Vulnerability
Vulnerability to the Truth of Climate Change
Civil Disobedience as Intentional Vulnerability
Vulnerability within Community
Findings
Conclusions
Full Text
Paper version not known

Talk to us

Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have

Schedule a call