The Coming Jesus and the Anthropocene
by Ryan LaMothe
Imprint: Cascade Books
Melting glaciers and icecaps, massive forest fires, enormous storms, extensive and prolonged flooding, and desertification of large tracts of land are realities we currently face and will continue to struggle with as a result of climate change. Our climate crisis invites, if not demands, a critical evaluation of our political, religious, economic, and cultural narratives and rituals that give rise to our ways of relating to one another, to other species, and to planet Earth. This book argues that the climate emergency exposes deep problematic roots of Western religious and political paradigms and apparatuses that undergird ideas of and methods for human flourishing. In particular, Western religious and political philosophies have produced and maintained a radical rift between human beings and other species, as well as beliefs about human dominion over other species and the earth. These ideas and practices are responsible for the colonization of Nature and for climate change. Understanding these sources invites a radical reimaging of our religious ideas and practices. Specifically, this book proposes a coming Jesus--a form of life that traverses the rift, while denying human and divine dominion for the sake of recognizing and respecting the singularities and flourishing of all species.
Ryan LaMothe is professor of pastoral care and counseling at Saint Meinrad Seminary and School of Theology. He is author of A Radical Political Theology for the Anthropocene (Cascade Books, 2021) and Care of Souls, Care of Polis (2017).
“Political pastoral theologian Ryan LaMothe resumes his unparalleled immersion into sources and effects of climate change, here calling to account Abrahamic faiths—especially age-old assertions of the divine as sovereign overlord—and finding them wanting. LaMothe’s coming Jesus is less Marvel superhero and more a subversive way of life that accepts finitude, esteems creation, and commits amid waning hope to revitalizing care. Prepare to be devastated. Prepare to be set free.”
—Robert C. Dykstra, professor of pastoral theology, Princeton Theological Seminary
“Ryan LaMothe’s exploration of the deep history of sovereignty powerfully speaks to the reality of the margin of society where the most unsettlingly radical critiques of sovereignty arise. LaMothe’s persistent and pioneering exploration of the challenges posed by the Anthropocene has unearthed a critical insight that we must heed.”
—Hee-Kyu Heidi Park, associate professor of practical theology, Ewha Womans University