Twelfth International Conference on Religion & Spirituality in Society

Abstract

This study introduces, defines, and elaborates on agrarian social critic and novelist Wendell Berry’s concept of “propriety” in hopes of forming an ethical foundation for Christianity’s involvement in climate action. I start with the observation that the practical demands imposed by the climate crisis were discerned and acted on by countercultural artists and thinkers long before the terms “global warming” and “climate change” first appeared and thus emerged from outside of the pragmatic context in which they are discussed today. From Fourier to Brook Farm to the hippie communes of the 1960s, certain ethical/spiritual stances concerning environmental stewardship have been taken—stances which conspicuously align with the social and political challenges imposed by climate change (living and eating locally, avoiding overconsumption, etc.)—and which predate the political issue of “climate change.” With this correlation in place, I argue that Berry’s understanding of “propriety” accounts for the correlation and in Christian terms, terms which are in a rare rhetorical position to impact hearts and minds and mobilize action in a demographic typically skeptical, if not totally dismissive, of the climate crisis.