Believing and Belonging in the Sustainability Process
Revd John Rodwell
This project is now completed. Please see below for links to MB Reckitt Lectures and Doing Justice to the Land Conference.
The background
Increasingly, economic development accommodates to the ‘sustainability process’ – using social, political, environmental and cultural measures to check whether meeting the present needs of people and their communities compromises their future welfare and existence. It is sometimes acknowledged that spiritual matters may have a part to play in this, yet generally there is no dimension concerned with the human spirit within sustainability agendas. Where faith communities have been involved, attention has often focused on the ethical implications for belief, individual behaviour and social action, rather than on a theological basis for a response to sustainability.
The aims
This project will parallel-track the sustainability process to see how far, in various environmental agencies and planning bodies, a spiritual dimension is acknowledged, how this is incorporated and what difference it makes. Second, it will investigate whether particular areas subjected to the sustainability process actually have what might be called a spiritual functionality of their own. Third, it will explore the notion of belonging – whether there is a confluence or mismatch between what can be discerned as spiritually functional and that which ‘works’ in other terms. This first year will use the Dearne Valley in South Yorkshire as a case-study – a post-industrial landscape where questions of sustainability are posed especially acutely. Then, the work will shift to two other landscapes to test the approach in different situations and summarize the generic findings of the research.
The methods and outcomes of the work
The project is essentially reflective and prophetic. It will involve data gathering in the areas under study, by observation, interview and listening with individuals, groups and leaders in environmental agencies and faith communities. Over the three years, it will produce position papers for Christian faith communities, an outline of a module on Discerning the Spirit in the Sustainability Process for use in theological learning, a paper for conference presentation and publication in a peer-reviewed journal and three Reckitt Lectures.
The researcher
John Rodwell is a professional scientist and Anglican priest. As an ecologist, his work is concerned with the audit and evaluation of environmental assets and with understanding how these are affected by the interventions and expectations of human communities. As a priest, he has been especially concerned with whether or how humankind and nature can explore and celebrate a common dependency on God’s creative generosity.
Go to Forgetting The Land - Reckitt Lecture 2006
Go to Remembering The Land - Reckitt Lecture 2007
Go to Redeeming The Land - Keynote at Doing Justice to the Land in 2009
Go to Doing Justice to the Land Conference
Go to Heimat
Go to Stations
Go to expanded version of this synopsis
Return to Some recent beneficiaries of the Trust