Prophets With Enchantment: Framing Christian Climate Activism

This paper argues for a re-enchantment of studies of contemporary climate change activism. We examine how religious beliefs relate to Christian participation in climate activism in local dioceses, international aid agencies and social movements. How are Christians in these contexts reinterpreting and communicating their theological beliefs in ways that mobilise religious communities for climate change activism? We engage with this question by critically employing a social movement framing perspective to discover the nature of the ‘interpretative work’ undertaken by Christian climate activists. Using survey data (n=319) and in-depth interviews (n=62) with Anglicans and Catholics, we argue that familiar ‘stewardship’ framings of Christian climate action are open to dispute. ‘Prophetic’ framings instead dominated in the political wing of Christian climate activism, providing theological support, moral impetus, and a distinct emotional inflection to Christian participation in political protest. We conclude that Christian activist groups effectively amplified existing beliefs in social justice to mobilise climate activism and bridge to groups like Extinction Rebellion. However, prophetic framings did not displace the dominance of an anthropocentric discourse on climate change. With Christians comprising about one third of the world’s population, it is of global significance to the environmental movement that in certain enclaves and across denominations, Christian beliefs are being reinterpreted in ways that can lead to mobilisation for political protest.