A illustration of Origen. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.
‘The challenge to faith rooted in experience is processing concepts that transcend any individual.’
What has Origen, a third century Christian mystic, got to do with the climate emergency? Or, for that matter, with the Quaker Testimony of Sustainability? Martyn Kelly looks at the ancient practice of Lectio Divina
Sustainability and the climate emergency seem like obvious bedfellows but how, within the ever-fluctuating meta-Venn diagrams that encapsulate modern life, does Origen fit into the picture?
Take a step back. Start with the latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) on the impacts of global warming. It is a huge and tightly reasoned document so feel free, if you prefer, to jump straight to the twenty-four-page summary for policymakers. The evidence it presents is compelling and wide-ranging. As a result, no scientist can claim expert insight into every claim, although they can be respectful, knowing that the work is rooted in peer-reviewed research (even if it is not from their own discipline) and recognising that the authors, too, are honest about the confidence that should be attached to each assertion.
