Theology Day 2015: Global Warming: Who Is to Blame? A Prophetic View of Collective Responsibility
Document Type
Presentation
Publication Date
2015
Abstract
As our diverse, conflicted world wrestles with a problem that impacts its stability, we individually may find the problem overwhelming and excuse ourselves from the responsibility to be part of the solution. We may even claim that the ways in which we have contributed to the problem are beyond our control. The prophet Ezekiel adamantly condemns nay attempts by the Babylonian exiles to escape from taking responsibility for the catastrophe they suffered. He insists that they accept that they are free agents who had a part in the destruction of their home in Jerusalem. The first step toward healing is for the exiles to accept a measure of responsibility for their overwhelming punishment. Is there a place for this prophet’s message from the sixth century BCE in the twenty-first century?
Father Dale Launderville, OSB, is a professor of theology at Saint John’s School of Theology and Seminary and the undergraduate Department of Theology of the College of Saint Benedict and Saint John’s University. He served as dean of the School of Theology and Seminary from 1989 to 1999 and as rector of Saint John’s Seminary from 1992 to 1997. He received a Master of Divinity from Saint John’s in 1979 and a doctorate from the Catholic University of America in 1987. His latest book, published by the Liturgical Press in 2010, is Celibacy in the Ancient World.
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Recommended Citation
Launderville, Dale OSB, "Theology Day 2015: Global Warming: Who Is to Blame? A Prophetic View of Collective Responsibility" (2015). Theology Day Lectures. 47.
https://digitalcommons.csbsju.edu/sot_theology_day/47