A New Climate for Theology -
God, the World, and Global Warming
by Sallie McFague
(Published by Fortress Press. 198 pp. $11)

Reviewed by Dr. Tom Malone

My warning in 1970 that continued use of fossil fuels to provide energy for society would lead to "an era that is a threat to the human species"¹ was confirmed 37 years later in the 2007 report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) that concluded: "Warming of the climate system is unequivocal, (emphasis added) as is evident from observations of increases in global average air and ocean temperatures, widespread melting of snow and ice, and increasing sea level." The IPCC report, in turn, has stimulated a "wake-up call" by theologian Sallie McFague who argues persuasively, "We are approaching the tipping point in global temperature that will change the basic conditions for the flourishing of life. We react with horror to the destruction and death we are bringing on the planet; we say, 'No! This need not, must not happen."'

Sallie McFague, Distinguished Theologian in Residence at the Vancouver School of Theology in British Columbia and the Carpenter Professor Emeritus at Vanderbilt Divinity School, is one of the leaders in this movement now spreading among theologians. She describes the primary task of theologians as "to guard and encourage right thinking about God and ourselves." The end result of this "right thinking" is a "Christian faith concerned with a just and sustainable existence for all God's creation."

McFague's treatment consists of four parts. First is the science of global warming followed by a chapter on its significance for theology. Surprisingly, the consequences for contemporary civilization of “several meters” rise in sea level are not developed in the detail that their importance warrants. The second part addresses the heart of the matter: "Who are we? Who is God? How shall we live?" The third part is concerned with the worship of God and service to our neighbor in a postmodern, climate change context. Finally, the fourth part takes up the most difficult of all climate change issues: despair and hope. It concludes, "Theology matters.... who we think God is and who we think we are" combine to play significant roles in determining our personal and societal attitudes and consequent decisions.

Who is God? In essence, McFague argues that "God is not a being. God is the `stuff out of which everything comes and to which it will return. Life emanates from God and is more `like God' than like anything else. All creation was made in God's image and this is what we must acknowledge and live into." There is a continuity between God and the world -- with Augustine, McFague maintains that the world is "God's body."

Who are we? Again, McFague also argues that we are not the only ones that matter - "we now know that we belong, from the cells in our bodies to the finest creations of our minds to the intricate, changing cosmos that gave us birth and sustains us." The combination of interrelations and responsibility provide the answer to Who We Are.

These concepts recall some words in a poem` on incarnation that is attributed to St. Teresa of Avila:

Christ has no body now but yours, no hands, but yours,
no feet but yours.
Yours are the eyes through which
Christ's compassion must look out on the world.

McFague proposes a three-point call to action. First, the Church should be ecological, as well as having the traditional marks of being one, holy, catholic, and apostolic. Second, this added attribute carries with it the obligation to take public stands on issues that affect the well-being of all creation. Third, Christians should "dare to believe that God cares about creation and works in and through us as we work for its well-being:"

A pervasive theme in this book: The time is now!

1. Press account on page A-13, the Monday, Oct. 19, 1970 edition of the Los Angeles Herald-Examiner of a lead-off address by Dr. Thomas F. Malone, Dean of the Graduate School, University of Connecticut, at a three day conference on "Technological Changes and the Human Environment" at the California Institute of Technology.

2. Rolheiser, R. 1999. Holy Longing; The Search for a Christian Spirituality. Doubleday. 237 pp. (See p. 73)

Dr. Malone has been a tenured faculty member at MIT, Senior Vice President and Director of Research at The Travelers Insurance Company, National President of the American Meteorological Society, the American Geophysical Union, and Sigma Xi, the Scientific Research (honor) Society, and Foreign Secretary of the National Academy of Sciences. He has been honored nationally and internationally for initiatives in collaborative research.