The Pastoral Challenge of the Environmental Crisis: Environmental Anxiety and Lutheran Eco‐Reformation

Abstract

Plans for a Lutheran “eco‐reformation” are complicated by the polarization of views related to environmental issues. I argue that there is a special reason to take the agenda of eco‐reformation seriously: a widespread and often unconscious environmental anxiety, which posits a pastoral and existential challenge that must be addressed by the churches. I contextualize the challenge of eco‐reformation in the historical context of Lutheran eco‐theology. Finally, I briefly discuss two key themes for Lutheran eco‐theology: God's presence in nature and the theology of the cross.

Eco‐anxiety, Tragedy, and Hope: Psychological and Spiritual Dimensions of Climate Change

“…It should be noted that there are certain communicative problems with words beginning with the prefix eco: they seem to polarize people (Marshall ). Personally I started my writing on the subject by using the term “environmental anxiety” (Pihkala ). However, the term “environmental” has its own problems, and because eco‐anxiety seems to be more and more widely used, I too have opted for this term.…”

The Palliative Function of Climate Change Denial Is Stronger in More Exposed Countries

“…Furthermore, it has to be noted that our study was a correlational one, and as such, it is not suitable to make conclusions about causal effects. Although it is heavily emphasized in the eco-anxiety literature that denial is one of the most basic tools for easing eco-anxiety (Pihkala, 2016;Weintrobe, 2013), it is also possible that those who are not anxious about climate change collect less information on it in the first place, or just simply ignore these, and consequently, they become less aware of the harsh reality of climate change. Future longitudinal research could be helpful in untangling the temporal relationship-pattern between climate change denial and eco-anxiety.…”

“…In the last decade, several psychological concepts have been introduced to refer to the negative emotional experiences related to climate change. Eco-anxiety (Albrecht, 2011), environmental anxiety (Pihkala, 2016), solastalgia (Albrecht, 2005), or eco-angst (Goleman, 2009) all describe the negative emotional state arising from the awareness of negative impacts of climate change. Eco-anxiety has a huge potential to undermine mental health and subjective well-being due to its connection with intense negative emotions like depression, anger, fear, a sense of paralysis and hopelessness, or grief (Gillespie, 2016;Pihkala, 2018;Randall, 2009).…”

Influence of Air Quality on Pro-environmental Behavior of Chinese Residents: From the Perspective of Spatial Distance

“…If air quality in the local area is low, people will easily get worried about environment pollution. It will also make people perceive threats of environmental problems to their daily life and health and thus become concerned and anxious over environmental problems (Hokka et al, 1999;Panu, 2016). On the other hand, the polluted air makes people think of their own and other residents' environmental behavior and generate a sense of shame and guilt for their own destructive behavior (Rees et al, 2015), as well as a sense of disgust for others' destructive behavior.…”