The Theocentric Perspective of Laudato Si’: A Critical Discussion

In this article, I focus on Pope Francis’s “green” encyclical, Laudato Si’. After outlining some of its characteristics, I single out the pope’s engagement with anthropocentrism for critical discussion. The pope criticizes anthropocentrism (the view that human beings alone have intrinsic value), see...

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Publié dans:Philosophia reformata
Auteur principal: Heuvel, Steven C. van den (Auteur)
Type de support: Électronique Article
Langue:Anglais
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Publié: Brill 2018
Dans: Philosophia reformata
Année: 2018, Volume: 83, Numéro: 1, Pages: 51-67
Classifications IxTheo:KAJ Époque contemporaine
KDB Église catholique romaine
NBC Dieu
NBD Création
NBE Anthropologie
NCG Éthique de la création; Éthique environnementale
Sujets non-standardisés:B Anthropocentrism common creation story ecological crisis environmental ethics Pope Francis Laudato Si’ technology theocentrism
Accès en ligne: Volltext (Verlag)
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Résumé:In this article, I focus on Pope Francis’s “green” encyclical, Laudato Si’. After outlining some of its characteristics, I single out the pope’s engagement with anthropocentrism for critical discussion. The pope criticizes anthropocentrism (the view that human beings alone have intrinsic value), seeing it as a root cause of ecological destruction. Instead, he proposes what I would call a theocentric conception of nature. I criticize this view. First, I suggest that the pope is insufficiently critical in adopting a theocentric approach to the common creation story. Secondly, I argue from both a biblical-theological and a philosophical perspective against the pope’s resistance to the anthropocentrism of Genesis 1:26. Thirdly, I argue that because the pope opts for non-anthropocentrism, the encyclical falls short of offering a constructive way forward in relation to functioning in a technocratic society. Through these comments, I seek to strengthen the powerful and important message of this encyclical.
ISSN:2352-8230
Contient:In: Philosophia reformata
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1163/23528230-08301004