Ecotheology in an Age of Climate Emergency

Abstract

The climate emergency is no longer a matter of future risk but a condition shaping contemporary life. Prolonged heatwaves, unpredictable torrential rains, droughts, floods, and wildfires increasingly shape everyday experiences across the world. TheCOVID-19 pandemic further highlighted the fragility of human existence and revealed how deeply human economic systems, social structures, and patterns ofliving have wounded the natural world and the wider communities of life. Despite this reality, many people continue their lives without fully recognising that the created world is suffering. This lack of recognition is not only a moral failure but also poses a challenge for communities and institutions entrusted with learning, memory, and public understanding.

In this context, many Christians raise a fundamental question: what can faith say inthe face of the climate crisis? This question is not only practical or ethical but deeply theological. It concerns how God is understood, how humanity is located within creation, and how faith is lived in relation to the world. In response, this article traces several key theological shifts that have shaped contemporary ecotheology, highlighting how these shifts reframe Christian understandings of creation, human responsibility, and faithful practice in an age of climate emergency.