The Theology of Climate Change
Sin as Agency in the Enlightenment’s Anthropocene
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12451990 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Louise Barnett (0000-0002-6654-9202, Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, corresponding author), Lydia Barnett |
| Year | 2015 |
| Volume | 20 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 217-237 |
| Publication date | 2015-02-10 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Environmental History (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1084-5453 • E-ISSN: 1930-8892 |
| Publisher | University of Chicago Press (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1093/envhis/emu131 |
| OpenAlex | W2003788721 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 12 |
| References cited | 17 |
This article surveys a brief and forgotten episode in the history of climate science when a handful of European scholars at the turn of the eighteenth century formulated some of the first theories of global climate change. Appearing incidentally in several works of world history, these conjectural accounts of a dramatic downturn in the earth’s ancient climate following Noah’s Flood were intended to explain the physical and spiritual decline of humankind since biblical times. Although theories of local climate change were becoming widespread in this moment, theories of global climate change were distinguished by their emphasis on sin as a potent form of human agency capable of transforming the entire planet, a global force no less powerful and deadly for being largely unintentional. I focus on the Italian physician and naturalist Antonio Vallisneri (1661–1730), whose emphasis on the physical suffering of humans as a result of climate change highlighted the role of humans in bringing such a calamity about in the first place. Paying attention to these long-neglected theories illuminates the key role of religion in fostering the idea of a global climate capable of alteration by human activity
Agency (philosophy · Anthropocene · Climate change · Enlightenment · Environmental ethics · Epistemology · Global warming · Naturalism · Social science · Sociology · Climate variability and models · Geology and Paleoclimatology Research · Religion, Ecology, and Ethics · Ecology · History · Philosophy
The Jesuit Who Wanted to Control the Climate
Religion and Climate Change
A Genealogy of the Anthropocene
Restoring Eden in the Amish Anthropocene
Interrupting the Anthropo-obScene
Hunted to Extinction
Eco-Remorse, Eco-Metanoia, and the Anthropocene
Narrative matters for sustainability
Acts of God
The Anthropocene as a historical hyperobject
Polar bears and ice
A Myth for the Sixth Mass Extinction
| Unique citing works | 12 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1,33 |
| Citation span | 2017 - 2024 (8) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 11 |