Southern Baptist minister and educator Edgar Young Mullins. By Rod Benson Historically, Baptists have often been described as a radical and dissenting people. Not primarily conservative or fundamentalist, but radical and dissenting. That is the historic Baptist DNA. The earliest Baptists emerged from the contested religious world of post-Reformation Europe, questioning inherited ecclesiastical arrangements, rejecting …
Why Christians don’t need proof texts for climate action
On reading one of my recent articles on reading Scripture in a climate emergency (Part 1), a friend raised a point many secular bystanders may well be asking: “I would have thought we were way past the point of needing to rely on biblical or ecological hermeneutics to help us understand the dimensions of the …
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Reading Scripture in a Climate Emergency (Part 4)
Ezekiel 47 and the 2026 Season of Creation The international ecumenical Season of Creation for 2026 adopts the theme “Living Water,” drawing upon Ezekiel 47:9 and 12 in the Hebrew Bible. The imagery is compelling, [portraying] God’s life-giving water flowing from the temple of God. The river grows deeper and deeper restoring barren land, reviving waters, and …
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Reading Scripture in a Climate Emergency (Part 3)
Ecological hermeneutics in congregational life Biblical interpretation shapes Christian imagination long before it forges explicit ethical stances on public issues. How Christians understand what Scripture teaches about creation, human identity, salvation, possession, hope and responsibility influences how they inhabit the world. Ecological hermeneutics—the interpretation of texts with attention to the intrinsic value of Earth, the …
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Reading Scripture in a Climate Emergency (Part 2)
Scripture, science, and the risk of eisegesis One difficult task facing ecological hermeneutics is constructing an intellectually responsible relationship between ancient Scripture and contemporary science. Climate modelling, atmospheric chemistry, ecology, hydrology and biodiversity research operate within bodies of knowledge that did not exist when biblical texts were written. Scripture, meanwhile, speaks through narrative, poetry, prophecy, …
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