Religion, Ethics, and Climate Change

Wednesday, January 17, 2018

7:00-8:30 PM (EST)

 

International Center, Room 303

427 N. Shaw Ln., Lansing, MI*

 

Pope Francis is a lonely voice in pushing for action on climate change; why are other religious leaders so slow to respond to this ethical challenge? This talk will look at two ways that religions interact with science: either a totalizing view (“religion has all the answers”) or a contingent view (“religious answers may be revised”). How do these views interact with the problem of climate change? The speaker will suggest that climate change is more than a challenge to energy policy, it also undercuts the way that many people regard religion.


Jonathan Brockopp, associate professor of history and religion at Penn State University, specializes in the literary remains of early Islamic cultures, including the Qur’an, hadith, legal and theological texts. In his most upcoming book, “Muhammad’s Heirs: the Rise of Muslim Scholarly Communities,” he focuses on the question of how early Islamic scholars construct their notion of religious authority. Professor Brockopp is the convener for the Penn State Society for the Study of Religion and the director of the Rock Ethics Institute Initiative in Religion and Ethics.

 

*This lecture will be live-streamed from Michigan State University and presented in 555 Weiser Hall at 500 Church St., Ann Arbor, Mi. Ann Arbor audience members will be able to interact simultaneously with the speaker and audience at MSU through this format.