Beyond sustainability: hope in a spiritual revolution?

Abstract

ABSTRACTA multi-disciplinary discourse on post-sustainability requires the entry of theology as a crucial element because, in presupposing a creator God who created the universe, it allows exploration of humanity’s condition in relation to the natural environment in the context of a transcendent yet present divine otherness, a perspective unique to theology. This article draws on relevant theological literature to offer an emerging theology on sustainability and a fresh perspective for debate. It specifically addresses sustainability as perceived by the United Nations and accepted by governments in which global capitalism goes unchallenged and questions the plausibility of such an approach from a theological perspective. It does this by exploring the human condition shaped by the capitalist system, especially desire and the pursuit of freedom and how this interacts with the natural environment and compares this with God’s purposes for humanity, nature and the world as his creation. An argument emerges in ...