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Theological
Anthropology in
the Anthropocene
Reconsidering Human
Agency and its Limits
Jan-Olav Henriksen
Theological Anthropology in the Anthropocene
“Dr. Henriksen’s exhaustively researched and compelling book tackles one of the
most pressing questions of our age: how to understand human agency in the
Anthropocene. Incorporating diverse sources in theology, the environmental
humanities, and the sciences, he articulates a vision of humans as imaging God
without falling into arrogant exceptionalism, anthropocentrism, or alienation from
nature. The result is an Anthropocene theology that decenters humanity: we grasp
that we are fundamentally created beings whose agency is conditioned by agencies
and forces that preceded humans’ arrival on Earth. Theological anthropology
starts with the recognition that everything does not start with us.”
—Lisa H. Sideris, Professor of Environmental Studies, University of California,
Santa Barbara; author of Consecrating Science: Wonder, Knowledge,
and the Natural World (2017)
“We are in a midst of global collective trauma and suffering due to the converging
pandemics, ecological disasters, and failures of economic and political systems.
This moment is neither predetermined nor accidental, and it is called the
Anthropocene with good cause. But where, and what, is the (or a) Theology for
this moment? In this insightful book Jan-Olav Henriksen offers a forceful call for
a Theological Anthropology of (and for) the Anthropocene. Weaving a narrative
that draws from diverse intellectual threads, Theology, Anthropology, Ecology,
Evolutionary studies, Philosophy, and more, Henriksen offers an innovative, novel,
framework not bounded by the particulars of a given faith, but enriched via
Christian Theology, focused on human agency, human practice and their co-
constructive relationships with faith, hope, and love.”
—Agustín Fuentes, Professor of Anthropology, Princeton University; Author
of Why We Believe: Evolution and the Human Way of Being (2019)
“In this ground-breaking book, Jan-Olav Henriksen begins from what humans
have in common, irrespective of their differing faith commitments (or none). The
emerging theological anthropology is thereby the result of an interdisciplinary
enquiry that seeks to explore the conditions of human agency in these ecologically
distressed times. Although Christian theology often stresses human activity as a
counterpart to the activity of God, Henriksen foregrounds human restraint and
passivity and so makes an important contribution to theological discourse in the
Anthropocene. Highly recommended.”
—Peter Scott, Samuel Ferguson Professor of Applied Theology and Director
of the Lincoln Theological Institute at the University of Manchester; author
of A Theology of Postnatural Right (2019)
“The climate crisis presents us with a huge theological challenge. How can we
continue to talk about God, imago dei, creation, stewardship, etc., and at the same
time take seriously what is going on around us? In his most urgent book about
theological anthropology in the Anthropocene, Henriksen makes a critical reread-
ing of what it means to be created in God’s image, and a part of creation which is
faced with disastrous prospects in the imminent future. This book is an important
theological response to the climate crisis, the most serious challenge of our time.”
—Arnfríður Guðmundsdóttir, Professor of Systematic Theology,
University of Iceland, author of Meeting God on the Cross.
Christ, the Cross and the Feminist Critique (2010)
Jan-Olav Henriksen
Theological
Anthropology in the
Anthropocene
Reconsidering Human Agency and its Limits
Jan-Olav Henriksen
MF Norwegian School of Theology, Religion and Society
Oslo, Norway
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer
Nature Switzerland AG 2023
This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the
Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of
translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on
microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval,
electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now
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The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this
publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are
exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.
The publisher, the authors, and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information
in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the
publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to
the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The
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The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland
I said to the tree, speak to me of God, and it blossomed (Sufi)—Quoted from
Heather Eaton, Introducing ecofeminist theologies (New York; London:
T&T Clark International, 2005), 2.
Acknowledgments
vii
viii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Jan-Olav Henriksen
Contents
1 The Task 1
Part I Preliminaries 7
2 The
“Before” in Theological Anthropology 9
It Does Not Start with Us: And Why We Forget It 10
What Comes First? On Realms of Experience Prior to Agency 12
Is Creation a Gift? Or a Given? Or Both? 21
3 The
Anthropocene as a Heuristic Concept and the Role
of Experience in Theological Work 25
The Anthropocene’s Perfect Storm 25
The Spiritual Awareness of the Anthropocene 30
4 Nature
in Focus: For Various Purposes—Why a Notion
of Creation Is Needed for Theological Anthropology 35
Nature: Contextualized and Historicized 35
More Than Human Agency: Latour 41
Creation Instead of Nature? The Gains from a Theological
Concept 45
ix
x Contents
5 On
Producing Theological Anthropology in the
Anthropocene 49
A Pragmatist View 49
The Symbols and Metaphors of Tradition: And Their Present Use 52
Religion: Practices of Orientation, Transformation, and
Normative Reflection 55
The Theological Vision and the Present Predicament 56
6 The
Conditions for the Symbol Image of God 65
Belief as the Result of Evolutionary Processes 67
To Make the World a Home: Niche Construction 71
The Theology of Niche Construction 76
Agency as Constitutive for Stewardship? 82
7 T
he Symbol Imago Dei Reconsidered 89
Basic Traits in the Human Capacity for Using Symbols 89
Image of God—An Alternative Interpretation 91
God as Represented 94
The Desiring and Vulnerable Imago Dei 95
On Vulnerability 97
Desire—Basic Features 101
To Live Lovingly as Imago Dei 107
Conclusion: Love as the Fulfillment of Desire and Vulnerability 110
8 We
Are Not in Control. The Limits of Stewardship113
“Stewardship” and Its Problems 114
Concluding Remarks on Stewardship 120
Excursus: The Limitations of Kantian Ethics in Light of the
Anthropocene 122
9 Erotic
Attention to the Whole: The Spirituality of the
Imago Dei125
Contents xi
10 Relation
and Separation: Gendered Diversity and
Patriarchy in the Anthropocene129
On the Need for Recognition of Diversity 129
The Separative Self and Nature: Elements from
Catherine Keller 132
12 Sin
as Estrangement or Alienation?163
Alienation and the Human-Nature Relationship 164
From Alienation to Sin: Tillich 169
13 The
Consumer Society and Sin175
Consumer Culture as a Pervasive Influence on Civilization 176
Consumer Culture: The Moral and Spiritual Dimensions 180
14 The
Destruction of Authentic Agency: The
Contemporary Relevance of Romans 7189
Causes Behind Denial: Norgaard’s Analysis 191
Subjectivity as Bound to Sin: The Consequences of Idolatry 194
17 Basic
Elements to Consider About Agency and Its Limits223
On the Personal Agent: Ricœur’s Contribution 228
Agency and Self-understanding: Charles Taylor 234
Agency, Structures, and Practices 247
xii Contents
18 Christian
Practices Guided by Faith, Hope, and Love257
On Christian Practices 257
Revealed Conditions for Agency and Its Relevance for the
Anthropocene 269
Divine Agency as Human Practice: Relation, Passivity, and
Participation 273
References279
Index293
CHAPTER 1
The Task
Hence, although all religion is, directly and indirectly, related to the
natural world and ecological practices, the experiences they ponder are not
similar to those presently facing humanity and all life on this planet Earth.
1
Eaton, Introducing Ecofeminist Theologies, 67–68.
2
Further on the definition and content of the concept “Anthropocene,” see Chap. 3.
3
Celia Deane-Drummond, “Evolution: A Theology of Niche Construction for the
Twenty-First Century,” in Theology and Ecology Across the Disciplines: On Care for Our
Common Home, ed. Celia Deane-Drummond and Rebecca Artinian-Kaiser, Religion and the
University (London: T&T Clark, 2018), 255.
4
“At the core of the standard conception [of agency] are the following two claims. First,
the notion of intentional action is more fundamental than the notion of action. In particular,
action is to be explained in terms of the intentionality of intentional action. Second, there is
a close connection between intentional action and acting for a reason.” Markus Schlosser,
“Agency,” in The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, ed. Edward N. Zalta (Stanford:
Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University, 2019), Section 2. https://plato.stanford.
edu/archives/win2019/entries/agency/. For more on different aspects of agency, see
below, Part III.
5
This point entails that the present is not a book on morality as such or on ecological eth-
ics. It nevertheless aims at providing fundamental elements for ethics and moral agency, and
hence, references to works in these areas will be found in the following.
1 THE TASK 3
Instead of a fixed and inalienable human nature or essence that secures dig-
nity and identifies where we might speak of humanity, dehumanisation and
rehumanisation, I suggest we do not look first towards the human as an
independent existent or a universal essence. Rather, I suggest we turn our
attention first to the God in active movement towards the full flourishing of
humanity (full humanisation), and so towards biological human beings in
their particularity as the loci of God’s active movement towards us creatively,
redemptively and eschatologically.7
6
David S. Cunningham, “The Way of All Flesh: Rethinking the imago dei,” in Creaturely
Theology: On God, Humans and Other Animals, ed. Celia Deane-Drummond and David
Clough (London: SCM Press, 2009), 120.
7
Alistair McFadyen, “Redeeming the Image,” International Journal for the Study of the
Christian Church 16, no. 2 (2016): 122.
8
Willis Jenkins, The Future of Ethics—Sustainability, Social Justice, and Religious
Creativity (2013).
4 J.-O. HENRIKSEN
9
However, this does not mean that all notions of salvation are irrelevant for topics like the
one discussed here. See Willis Jenkins, Ecologies of Grace: Environmental Ethics and Christian
Theology (New York: Oxford University Press, 2008).
10
This means that the present book focuses on issues that others have developed in a wider
and also more detailed manner. For other contributions in the field, see especially
E. M. Conradie, An Ecological Christian Anthropology: At Home on Earth? (Aldershot, UK;
Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2005); Celia Deane-Drummond, Sigurd Bergmann, and Markus
Vogt, Religion in the Anthropocene (2018); Celia E. Deane-Drummond, Theological Ethics
Through a Multispecies Lens: The Evolution of Wisdom, Volume I (Oxford: Oxford University
Press, 2019); Adam Pryor, Living with Tiny Aliens: The Image of God for the Anthropocene
(Baltimore, MD, 2020); Celia Deane-Drummond, Shadow Sophia (Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 2021); as well as more general and extensive works, such as David H. Kelsey,
Eccentric existence (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2009); Wolfhart
Pannenberg, Anthropology in Theological Perspective (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1985);
Jürgen Moltmann, God in Creation: A New Theology of Creation and the Spirit of God
(Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1993); and Edward Farley, Good and Evil: Interpreting a
Human Condition (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1990).
11
Forrest Clingerman, “Geoengineering, Theology, and the Meaning of Being Human,”
Zygon 49, no. 1 (2014): 15.
1 THE TASK 5
12
The profile here is part of the so-called Scandinavian Creation theology, which has some-
thing in common with other works that focuses on commonalities with all humans as the
horizon within which the Christian message can be understood (e.g., W. Pannenberg,
S. McFague). Cf. Niels Henrik Gregersen, Trygve Wyller, and Bengt Kristensson Uggla,
Reformation Theology for a Post-secular Age : Løgstrup, Prenter, Wingren, and the Future of
Scandinavian Creation Theology, Research in Contemporary Religion (Göttingen:
Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2017).
6 J.-O. HENRIKSEN
Preliminaries
CHAPTER 2
1
For the importance of the social dimension for the evolution of and maturation of human
beings, cf. Melvin Konner, The Evolution of Childhood: Relationships, Emotion, Mind
(Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2010).
2
Cf. for example, Ian A. McFarland, “Rethinking Nature and Grace: The Logic of
Creation’s Consummation,” International Journal of Systematic Theology 24, no. 1 (2022).
3
This point is crucial in self-psychology and also in recent philosophy of recognition, as,
for example, in H. Kohut and A. Honneth.
12 J.-O. HENRIKSEN
4
Underlying this critical consideration about making human agency the point of departure
for our identity is another theological trope, as well: the doctrine of justification. A funda-
mental point in Christian theology is the belief that we are saved by God’s grace, that is, by
what God offers us, and by what God has done for humanity, and not by our own works or
efforts. The tendency to rely on our own agency and put our trust in it runs counter to the
trust humans are called to have in God, prior to any activity on our own. The self-justifying
human who does not recognize his or her dependence on God’s works in creation and
redemption. An exclusive focus on human agency prevents us from seeing God’s grace as the
most fundamental element in our lives. The problem addressed here has also been identified
in G. Kaufman’s theology. In her criticism of Kaufman, A.K. Stricker argues that by conflat-
ing evolution and nature with creation, “his concept is built on a radically active understand-
ing of taking on responsibility, which seems to be exclusively linked to acting. This might
prove to be difficult from a Lutheran perspective and its stress on the creation as something
humans receive from God to support them in their daily life.” See Stricker Anne Katrin,
“Creation versus Nature?—Gordon Kaufman and the Challenge of Climate Change,”
American Journal of Theology & Philosophy 37, no. 3 (2016): 291, https://doi.org/10.5406/
amerjtheophil.37.3.0279.
5
A more comprehensive presentation of these realms, but not with emphasis on the pre-
given elements, is developed in Jan-Olav Henriksen, Life, Love, and Hope: God and Human
Experience (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 2014), 35–54. For other ways of acknowledg-
ing the impact of different realms on human life, see Wolfhart Pannenberg and Matthew
J. O’Connell, Anthropology in Theological Perspective, 1st ed. (Philadelphia: Westminster
Press, 1985)., and Farley, Good and Evil: Interpreting a Human Condition.
2 THE “BEFORE” IN THEOLOGICAL ANTHROPOLOGY 13
Humans have evolved from nature and would not exist unless the evo-
lutionary process had worked in our favor.6 We emerge from nature and
continue to be dependent on it. The most obvious example of this is our
dependence on water, nourishment, and oxygen, without which we can-
not live. But we are also dependent on other conditions in biology, ecol-
ogy, and physics. We have to adapt to conditions given by seasons and
cycles. Ignoring these can be fatal. The fact that people sometimes are
ignorant of or choose to ignore their fundamental dependence on these
elements or live in a social world that continues to estrange them from
nature contributes to the problems we face today concerning our place in
the total ecology of the Earth.7
To overcome willed ignorance, we need ecological sensitivity and eco-
logical literacy. Ecological sensitivity is not a mere intellectual task. It
implies being willing to become exposed to, experience, and engage with
nature in ways that allow for the development of intellectual, sensual, and
emotional experiences. Contrary to those who see human “instinct-
reduction” as a hallmark of humanity,8 one may argue that developing
sensitivity by instinctual responses to what goes on in nature might con-
tribute to ecological sensitivity and widen the conditions for our response
to what is going on. This sensitivity may also contribute resources and a
context for the ecological literacy needed to understand and relate ade-
quately to the problems at hand.
The experience of our dependence on nature and how we are ourselves
biological and physical entities is immediately present in our experience of
ourselves as embodied. As embodied, we are both subject and object of
6
Cf. Martin J. Rees, Just Six Numbers: The Deep Forces That Shape the Universe (New York:
Basic Books, 2000).
7
For more on estrangement, see below Chap. 12.
8
See for this Pannenberg and O’Connell, Anthropology in Theological Perspective.
Pannenberg builds on the insights in philosophical anthropology (Portmann, Plessner,
Gehlen) to make a case for the specific openness to the world that constitutes a condition for
human religiosity and the human relationship with God. Although this might be argued with
regard to the cognitive conditions for religious belief, it is nevertheless a reduction of the
human ability to respond to and experience the world as God’s creation. It needs supplement
from insights articulated by Celia Deane-Drummond: “the cognitive should go hand in hand
with the affective and spiritual modes of human being in the world: they are bound up
together in human being and becoming, and our futures will be poorer if any one element is
left behind.” Deane-Drummond, “Evolution: A Theology of Niche Construction for the
Twenty-First Century,” 256.
14 J.-O. HENRIKSEN
our experience of being a bio-physical being,9 thus also related to the envi-
ronment in which we live and participate. This embodied awareness con-
stitutes the experience of being part of a larger and interconnected world
in which God’s creative powers are constantly present—and a world we
have not created ourselves. “The body is an indicator of environmental
and social alterations: It embodies the sentiments, emotions, norms, and
narratives that accompany socio-ecological changes, and resonates with
the world, others, and nature according to this knowledge. This knowl-
edge is by no means only cognitive knowledge but to a far extent ‘knowl-
edge’ in the bones acquired through informed and learned experience.”10
Accordingly, the body, and not only the mind, is a source of wisdom nec-
essary for human agency. To acknowledge the embodied sources of wis-
dom for agency entails a more holistic approach to human agency.11
To experience oneself as part of and dependent on nature represents an
experientially based alternative to modern, atomistic individualism and to
notions of freedom that entail the delusion of a human ability to make
unconditional choices independent of anything else than one’s own given
preferences.
Furthermore, by being born, we enter a social and cultural world in
which we need to orient ourselves. Such orientation involves interacting
with others in ways that allow the world to appear meaningful and valu-
able.12 The social and cultural worlds represent several different features,
9
Cf. Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Phenomenology of Perception (New York,: Humanities
Press, 1962).
10
Claudia Jahnel, “The Created, Lived, and Vulnerable Body Reasonating with the
World – Perspectives for a Non-anthropocentric Anthropology and a Body-Sensitive Eco-
theology,” in KAIROS FOR CREATION: Confessing Hope for the Earth – The “Wuppertal
Call”– Contributions and Recommendations from an International Conference on Eco-
Theology and Ethics of Sustainability Wuppertal, Germany, 16–19 June 2019, ed. Louk
Andrianos et al. (Solinen: Foedus, 2019), 225.
11
This point is also underscored in Deane-Drummond, Theological Ethics Through a
Multispecies Lens: The Evolution of Wisdom, Volume I, 249. She argues for an approach “that
focuses on the deep roots of core virtues of justice, love, and wisdom, and by doing so gener-
ally avoids foregrounding rights language. Further, wisdom puts stress on an interlaced,
relational approach, while including rather than rejecting reason. It is the narrowly pro-
scribed and disembodied reasoning that fails to gain traction. The evolution of wisdom is
therefore holistic, inclusive, and open to the transcendent.” (ibid.)
12
“Culture … is the context, the framework, the milieu that embodies and gives meaning
to our experiences of the world. … [I]t is what makes the human mind possible.” Agustin
Fuentes, Why We Believe: Evolution and the Human Way of Being (New Haven; West
Conshohocken, PA;: Yale University Press, 2019), 79.
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