Eco-theology and social onto-theology

Specialization / Direction

The course is also offered to exchange programme students.

This course is the fruit of a collaboration between two disciplines, theology and political philosophy, in order to better analyse an important issue for today's and tomorrow's societies, that of the ecological crisis. At the end of the course, students will acquire the necessary tools for a more comprehensive analysis of the ecological problem. They will be able to better interpret the root causes of the ecological problem, and discern what the real solutions are. They will be able to understand why the cooperation between science and religion is necessary to solve problems related to the ecological problem.

The ecological crisis is taking on uncontrollable proportions day by day, causing concern in the political and scientific world. The various religions, and especially the Christian world, have become active in creating a responsible ecological consciousness. The initiatives of the Ecumenical Patriarchate and especially the tireless efforts of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, the "green patriarch", constitute a real ecological shift. These initiatives are but a natural continuation of the patristic cosmology and the liturgical practice of the Orthodox Church, which, with their anti-Manichaean character, consider the material world as the "very good creation" of the trinity God. Man's attitude can only be Eucharistic, since the created world is a gift of God and man must respect and protect it. The misuse of material creation is a sin and against the spirit of consumerism and exploitation, an ascetic attitude of life is suggested. The historian Lynn White is severely critical of the Western, mainly Christian, world on the issue of the ecological crisis. Both the thought of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and Pope Francis' ecological encyclical Laudato' Si (2015), which highlights the Ecumenical Patriarchate's contribution to ecological issues, bring back to the fore a revolutionary Christian ecological message, rejecting man's domination of creation, which he has been practicing inconsistently, especially since the industrial revolution, subverting the balanced and harmonious relationship between man and creation, according to the famous historian of religions Mircea Eliade. The purpose of Professor Spyridon Makris’ six lectures is to highlight the critical aspects of eco-theology and philosophy in the contemporary era: Christian environmental ethics, the relationship of systematic theology to climate change, waste ontology, ecological theology of nature and secular ecology, and to demonstrate the theoretical perspectives of a radical ecology through the work and thought of important contemporary social and political onto-theologians. The explicit relation of Christian theology to ecology has now shaped the field of eco-theology. The main form of Christian eco-theology has developed as a theology of grace where divine energies are reflected in Nature. Christian eco-theology in its ecumenical dimension has three forms: eco-justice, Christian stewardship and ecological spirituality. From the onto-theological point of view, Christian eco-theology is grounded in the soteriological concepts of sanctification, redemption and deification, which tend towards a theology of grace and, by extension, a theology of hope. In contemporary theological thought, two major eco-theologies stand out. On the one hand, Jürgen Moltmann's eco-theology, where God signifies creation itself. On the other hand, the eco-theology of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, where the collaboration of science and theology lead to an Omega Point, where man and Nature converge with Christ. An attempt is also made to make use of Martin Heidegger's fundamental ontology in order to highlight the deeper ontological and phenomenological immanence of all creations and objects, which should not be perceived as rubbish and disposable, but as self-existent beings worthy of our respect, thus paying respect to Nature itself. Two of the most radical contemporary social and political onto-theologies, which pose in a holistic and sometimes traditionalist way the question of ecology, the environment, Nature and the Inhuman in general, are those of Paul Virilio and Jean Baudrillard. Virilio constructs a kind of urban ecology, where the human city is alienated by speed, technology and the prevalence of an almost militaristic logic. Baudrillard composes an ecological dystopia where, through virtual reality, postmodern man corrupts and destroys every non-human entity. The Christian religion is posited as an ethical model for the formation of a metaphysically and ontologically grounded ecological consciousness. Planning of the course: 1.Joint introductory course: the relationship between Ecology, Theology, Philosophy and Politics (Fr. Filiotis - Sp. Makris). 2. Theology and Cosmology: a theological approach to the problem of Ecology (Fr. Filiotis). 3. Creation as a gift: a Eucharistic approach to material creation (Fr. Filiotis). 4. The ecological issue in the Ecumenical Movement and the ambivalence of the responsibility of the Christian world (Fr. Filiotis). 5. The initiatives of the Ecumenical Patriarchate on ecology and environmental protection (Fr. Filiotis). 6. The ecological thought of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew (Fr. Filiotis). 7. The ecological encyclical Laudato' Si of Pope Francis (Fr. Filiotis). 8. Ecology and onto-theology: the strategy of Christian stewardship (Sp. Makris). 9. Eco-theology as a theology of hope (Sp. Makris). 10. Climate change, Christian ethics and political theology-political theology (Sp. Makris). 11. The ontology of trash through the philosophical thought of Martin Heidegger -An ontology of trash (Sp. Makris). 12. The case of an Ecological Theology of Nature: the contribution of Jürgen Moltmann (Sp. Makris). 13. Paul Virilio's radical ecology of the city (urban ecology) and Jean Baudrillard's ecology of virtual reality - virtual reality, Biosphere I and Biosphere II (Sp. Makris).

Eco-theology, ecology, Laudato'si, eco-justice, ecological spirituality

25-09-2025