The double edge of lament: Love and justice at the end of the world

Written in the run-up to the COP26 summit held in Glasgow, this review essay reflects on theological tools for the climate justice movement in conversation with five recent books. Reviewed works: Catherine Keller, Facing Apocalypse: Climate, Democracy, and Other Last Chances (Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis Books, 2021) Thomas Lynch, Apocalyptic Political Theology: Hegel, Taubes and Malabou. Political Theologies (London: Bloomsbury, 2019) Alastair McIntosh, Riders on the Storm: The Climate Crisis and the Survival of Being (Edinburgh: Birlinn, 2020) Hannah Malcolm, ed., Words for a Dying World: Stories of Grief and Courage from the Global Church (London: SCM Press, 2020) Frances Ward, Like There’s No Tomorrow: Climate Crisis, Eco-Anxiety and God. (Durham: Sacristy Press, 2020)

Inner-Space and Liquid Myths: J.G. Ballard as a Post-Secular Writer

British novelist James Graham Ballard (1930–2009) was an inveterate mythmaker. In this article, I characterise him as a post-secular writer who saw the imagination as a means to confront trauma, probe memory, and salvage meaning in a secular age. Anchoring the argument in a selection of novels and works that constitute his ‘autobiographical turn’, I suggest that resonances with contemporary theology may be detected, particularly the disruptive, anti-fascist, postmodern, ‘tehomic’ theology of Catherine Keller.

No One Ascends Alone

This chapter surveys and assesses major contemporary versions of pluralist and particularist theologies of religious diversity including those of John Hick, David Ray Griffin, and Mark Heim. While finding commendable elements in each, the chapter argues for a relational pluralism derived from the work of Roland Faber and Catherine Keller. Central to the work of this chapter is the challenge to accounts of “religion” which tend to homogenize out difference and accounts of “religions” which tend to reify traditions over against each other. Even positive pluralist accounts that seek to speak of the different religions as valid paths up the same or even different mountains often fail to recognize just how deeply intertwined religious traditions are. Relational pluralism, by contrast, rightly recognizes that religious traditions have always emerged in relation and that their ongoing flourishing will continue to require relational encounter.

A Process Theology of Hope: The Counter Apocalyptic Vision of Catherine Keller

Christianity continues to decline in the traditional west, yet is at the same time experiencing significant growth in the majority world. Research indicates that by 2060 the portion of those who identify as non-religious will decline significantly across the globe. Christianity in the future will largely be dominated by an apocalyptic eschatology that has the potential to disengage Christians from our current planetary crisis. Catherine Keller has developed a counter-apocalyptic vision that challenges traditional eschatology in its potential to disconnect faith from the planet’s most urgent challenges. Keller attacks a key facet of apocalyptic eschatology that enshrines an omnipotent deity. Her approach is evaluated within the broader process-relational theology from which she has emerged, particularly that influenced by Whitehead. It is argued that her eschatological alternative is best placed to offer a vision that enables Christians to take the earth seriously, to generate a chastened and realistic hope, grounded in a process relational ontology.