Acts of God: Continuities and change in Christian responses to extreme weather events from early modernity to the present

Abstract

Scholars, activists and others increasingly acknowledge that religion-whether conceived in terms of ideas, rituals or institutions-can help us cope with climate change and make sense of extreme weather events. Churches provide moral lessons in times of crisis, they spread awareness of climate change and, through community ritual, religious institutions can nurture a sense of collective responsibility. Much has been written on how contemporary faith groups have understood and acted on climate change and extreme weather events.Yet this literature is often not historically rooted and makes only superficial reference to the complex relationships between climate, extreme weather and religion in the past. Without an historical awareness we cannot understand the extent to which present-day religious discourses on the environmentfrom those articulated by "greener faith" advocates to fundamentalist skeptics-connect with how past societies understood climate and, more specifically, extreme weather events. A survey of the literature on Christian responses to extreme weather events, whether these be slow disasters (droughts) or isolated events (storms), suggests that histories that emphasize ruptures in attitudes to the natural world are problematic. Extreme weather events have long been regarded as omens and signs, and as divine judgments on sin. It is still thought that weather disturbances reflect disorders in human society. This literature survey introduces these continuities in Christian responses to extreme weather by ranging broadly across the English-speaking world from early modernity, though special attention is given to current work on Anglophone settler societies.

Historic narratives, myths and human behavior in times of climate change: A review from northern Europe's coastlands

“…In all three Frisian regions tales exist that a blasphemer and sinner defiles the holy sacrament and in his wrath God sends a flood to destroy the land (Rieken, 2005, p. 206). Hardwick & Stephens (2019, p. 4; emphasis in the original) also look at the phenomenon of warnings to sinful communities in a Christian context: “God sent such ‘wonders’ to warn sinful communities of approaching disasters and to commend people to pious and penitential lives.”…”

“…Adding a historical perspective to existing discussions about climate change, places and identity can help us understand why and how these self‐perceptions and collective identities have developed and what this means for climate change adaptation. Historical research, for instance, provides a vital perspective on human reaction to extreme weather events as for example Hardwick & Stephens (2019, p. 2) demonstrate in their study on Christian responses to extreme weather events from early modernity to present, which linked the origin of catastrophic events to a lack of religion and moral behavior: “The persistence of such moralistic explanations and ideas about divine retribution suggests that fruitful connections and comparisons can be drawn between past and present responses to extreme weathers and climates.” Wolf and Moser (2011) argue in a similar way by saying that believing in a higher spiritual being plays an important role in determining whether people believe that human action can influence the climate or the weather. And “if climatic change is interpreted as God teaching people a lesson or punishing sinners, public acceptance of climate policy may be undermined” (Wolf & Moser, 2011, p. 560).…”