RT Article
T1 Paradox explored: Climate shame, moral agency, the church, and the birds
JF Dialog
VO 62
IS 3
SP 244
OP 252
A1 Moe-Lobeda, Cynthia
LA English
PB Wiley-Blackwell
YR 2023
UL https://www.ixtheo.de/Record/1859731465
AB This article explores shame and moral agency in relationship to the climate catastrophe, and the moral situation of the world's relatively high-consuming people who are implicated in greenhouse gas emissions that cause climate change. The author complexifies that situation in the conundrums of climate colonialism, climate racism, structural sin, and the moral ambiguities they raise, including such questions as: “What are the moral demands of climate sin grounded in historically rooted economic systems that one did not create but upon which the material conditions of one's life depend? To what extent, if any, is the individual morally accountable for the social structures of which one is a part and from which one benefits?” From there, the essay moves to its central question. It is whether shame theory might help to enable moral agency for what is desperately needed now by people of climate privilege and economic privilege in the North Atlantic world—wise and courageous action to address climate change and climate injustice. The article probes shame theory for clues to what disables moral agency and what catalyzes it. The author finds in shame theory pathways for transforming shame-based moral inertia into moral agency. Those pathways suggest vital roles for the church.
K1 climate racism
K1 Church
K1 climate sin
K1 Shame
K1 structural sin
K1 Moral Agency
K1 Climate Change
DO 10.1111/dial.12818