Spiritual Resources and Religious Leadership in Times of the Anthropocene

A Practical Theological Reflection

Abstract

Faith communities are found all over the world as spaces where people find a spiritual home and where spiritual formation takes place. For this contribution the research question was: What can the leadership in faith communities contribute toward spiritual resources for their members in the time of the Anthropocene? Faith communities are spaces where three resources—a shared narrative about climate, shared values, and shared symbols and practices—interact and where each of these can also make a unique contribution in raising awareness of ownership and space in the time of the Anthropocene. If the Anthropocene is considered as the period in which human activities have the dominant influence on the climate and the environment, these three resources offer important contributions for a greater awareness of humans’ influence on the climate and the environment. The congregational leader as spiritual guide in the modes of storyteller, moral compass, and symbolic worker can play a significant role in the process of mobilizing people of faith in becoming involved in their environment and climate mobilization.