Another New Pentecost? The Holy Spirit and our Theology of Creation

In May 2021, at Pentecost, a joint Pastoral letter was issued by the Catholic Bishops Conferences of England and Wales and of Scotland. This letter linked the feast day to the urgent need to care better for creation in the months leading to the G20 summit later in the summer and the COP-26 conferenc...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Beck, Ashley (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Cambridge University Press 2022
In: New blackfriars
Year: 2022, Volume: 103, Issue: 1104, Pages: 234-242
Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains:B Holy Spirit / Creation theology / Environmental ethics (motif) / Meteorological disaster
Further subjects:B Holy Spirit
B Creation
B Climate Crisis
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Parallel Edition:Non-electronic
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Summary:In May 2021, at Pentecost, a joint Pastoral letter was issued by the Catholic Bishops Conferences of England and Wales and of Scotland. This letter linked the feast day to the urgent need to care better for creation in the months leading to the G20 summit later in the summer and the COP-26 conference in Glasgow in November of that year. This paper looks at the letter, taking some account of reactions to it, and begins to explore ways in which our theology of the Holy Spirit can inform our theology of care for the created order as a developing part of Catholic Social Teaching. Some ‘footprints’ of the Spirit: First, the witness of patristic theologians encourages us to see rationality pointing to order in creation as a fruit of the Spirit. Second, the picture of unity in diversity formed by the Spirit in the New Testament points to the need for cooperation in our response to the current crisis. The last footprint is urgency: in the scriptures the Spirit's activity is constantly seen as urgent, sometimes in an extreme way. This picture suits the urgency of the current crisis in relation to climate change and biodiversity.
ISSN:1741-2005
Contains:Enthalten in: New blackfriars
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1111/nbfr.12728