Laudato Si 121-126: "More than law abiding: a reflection on our call to an 'uprising of conviction' " by Robin Lutjohann

In today's entry, Robin  will help us continue exploring this 'proactive' language the pope uses in Chapter 3. This has been an exciting chapter in which  the Holy Father encourages us to challenge certain aspects of our 21st century culture, by applying the lens of faith on our world. As we'll see, this lens teaches us to love more deeply, and act upon that love with respect towards the dignity of the other. 

 Robin  (writing his second entry for this blog) is the pastor of Faith Lutheran Church in Cambridge, MA. He received his education for ordained ministry at McGill University in
Montreal, Harvard Divinity School in Cambridge, and Trinity Lutheran Seminary in Columbus, OH.
Baptized as an adult in Boston’s Charles River, he feels closely tied to the ecological and political life of this city. As a Lutheran, he understands himself as standing in a historical reform movement within the Western Catholic Church.
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In sections 121-126, Pope Francis tackles two problems resulting from the excessive anthropocentrism of our age:

 (1) the practical relativism that justifies the exploitation of neighbor and Creation, and 

(2) the degradation of work that make a God-ordained vocation into an odious burden.

Rather than treating each of these in great depth (which would exceed the length of this blog post), I’ll focus on one quote that I found intriguing.

After outlining the problem of moral relativism and its effect on society, Francis states:

“We should not think that political efforts or the force of law will be sufficient to prevent actions which affect the environment because, when the culture itself is corrupt and objective truth and universally valid principles are no longer upheld, then laws can only be seen as arbitrary impositions or obstacles to be avoided.” (123)

 

                Pope Francis is also calling us to go beyond slogans, no matter how clever
                     and relevant the slogan may be!!As Robin says...what we're really looking for is an uprising of conviction!

This statement on the insufficiency of laws to guarantee proper care for Creation struck me as a timely parallel to Paul’s message in the Epistle to the Galatians, which millions of Christians (Catholics and others) have been hearing as part of the lectionary readings on Sunday for the last few weeks.

In this letter, Paul is arguing against the idea that the (non-Jewish) Galatian Christians needed to abide by Jewish religious law in order to follow Jesus. He argues instead that nothing but faith (that is, trust^[1]) in Jesus and in God was necessary for salvation (that is, wholeness/healing^[2]). Laws, whether religious or civil, serve primarily to restrict harmful behavior. That makes them good and necessary for creating a safe environment for everyone. It also teaches members of society the parameters of our life together, what is “ok” to do and what isn’t. To use Paul’s metaphor: the law is a “disciplinarian” or a “guardian”:

“Now before faith came, we were imprisoned and guarded under the law until faith would be revealed. Therefore the law was our disciplinarian until Christ came, so that we might be justified by faith.” (Galatians 3:23-24, NRSV)

The Greek word translated “disciplinarian” refers to the role of a slave in wealthy Roman households, who was tasked with the education (and punishment!) of children. In Paul’s mind, Law serves a similar function.

However, just like the guidance of a “disciplinarian” cannot by itself create character or maturity without the active participation of a parent, the legal frameworks of our society fail on their own to instill the kind of virtue and love that leads to real positive change.

I like the way the 16th-century reformer Martin Luther explains Paul’s argument:

“The Law enforces good behavior, at least outwardly. We obey the Law because if we don’t we will be punished. Our obedience is inspired by fear. We obey under duress and we do it resentfully. Now what kind of righteousness is this when we refrain from evil out of fear of punishment? Hence, the righteousness of the Law is at bottom nothing but love of sin and hatred of righteousness.” (Martin Luther, Commentary on the Epistle to the Galatians)

In other words: laws alone do not change people or society. They are, for the most part, damage control. But we need more than that! We need the spark of love and inspiration that comes through faith in God, our true Parent.

There are many calls for regulation and for commitments on the parts of nations to certain energy goals. These are positive steps forward, much needed if we are going to cut down our excessive energy consumption. But such laws are no more than mere damage control. They fail to get to the heart of the matter, which Francis sharply points out: “the disordered desire to consume more than what is really necessary.” (123)

And because of competing political interests, even the laws we do pass tend to be insufficient. The powerful lobbying of the energy industry and other business interests is effective in defanging the kind of legislation that could bring about the deep and radical change required for turning the corner on our planet’s future health. (Editor's note: case in point, citizens who live 'off the grid' and getting in trouble with the authorities for doing so)

And so we go through climate summit after climate summit, with shiny-faced bureaucrats shaking hands in conference rooms, while the Earth continues to groan beneath the cumulative effects of human excess. 

When will we realize that the law alone does not guarantee morality?

Adolf Hitler was legally elected chancellor of Germany.

The United States’ law enforcement agencies legally kill and incarcerate inordinately large numbers of primarily African American persons, 150 years after the abolition of slavery.

And according to Roman law, Jesus Christ was legally put to death on a cross.

Experience and history tell us, along with the witness of Scripture and teachers like Martin Luther and Pope Francis, that the monumental challenge of our age, the looming threat of climate change, cannot be adequately dealt with through legal restrictions alone.

There needs to be an uprising of conviction.

There needs to be movement of faith.

Because only faith, i.e. trust, can give us the confidence to risk our own comfort and wellbeing for the sake of future generations. Faith led Abraham to leave his father’s house and seek the promised land. Faith brought Israel out of captivity and through a dry desert into freedom. Faith gave Jesus Christ the love to pray for his enemies from the cross. Faith made the early Christians sing in the arena, as they were mauled by lions.

Because faith empowers us to spurn the fears and hesitations of the present, remaining steadfast in God’s commandment to love our fellow-creatures, while staying laser-focused on God’s promise for the future.

And so faith may give us the confidence that we need in this historical moment to make radical changes in the present and to model a different way of life (slower, kinder, smaller!) that could snowball into the sort of cultural change we need for our planet and our society to heal.

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^[1] The Greek word for “faith” in the New Testmant is πίστις. This word almost always refers to trust not belief. It is not so much an agreement with certain ideas as an attitude of radical, adventures reliance on God’s promises.

^[2] The Greek word for “salvation” in the New Testament is σωτηρία and its cognates. This word has connotations of healing and wholeness. To be σωζος (“saved”), therefore, is not merely related to an afterlife state or a divine legal fiction. To be “saved” in the imagination of the New Testament is to experience the reconciliation, peace, and wholeness of God’s new creation, both now and forever.