CTA conference 2021: 'Eco-Theology: A New Heavens and a New Earth'

Photo by Noah Buscher on Unsplash

The annual conference of the Catholic Theological Association of Great Britain was, for the first time, organised jointly with the Irish Theological Association. It was postponed from September 2020 and was originally planned to take place at Maynooth - but because of uncertainties arising from the pandemic took place completely online from 7 - 9 September.

The theme was 'Eco-Theology: A New Heavens and a New Earth', and this was planned at the end of 2019. In the first session on Tuesday 7 September two speakers focussed on theological perspectives on the way in which human beings are affecting the planet. Ashley Beck (St Mary's University) reflected on how our theology of the Holy Spirit relates to the way we look at Creation (drawing on the joint Pastoral letter from the Bishops of England and Wales on the feast of Pentecost) and Peter Scherle (retired Professor at Herborn Theological College, Hesse, Germany) looked at a wide variety of issues relating to our views of God's immanence and the implications of creation ex nihilo. On the second day, focussing on the science which has to undergird our theology of creation, Celia Deane Drummond (Laudato Si' Institute, Campion Hall, Oxford) spoke about the scientific implications of our damage to biodiversity on the planet and Cathriona Russell (Trinity College, Dublin) gave a comprehensive survey of the current scientific analysis of the world's state at the moment and our possible reactions to this. On 9 September Eco-theology was examined in relation to spirituality and material culture by Professor Peter Tyler (St Mary's) and Professor Salvador Ryan (St Patrick's College, Maynooth).

At the AGM of the CTA which took place on 6 September Fr Michael Kirwan SJ (Loyola Institute, Trinity College Dublin) succeeded Fr Ashley Beck as President of the association. Professor Stephen McKinney (School of Education, University of Glasgow) was elected Vice President (www.ctagb.org.uk). The co-operation with the ITA will continue and next year's conference is due to take place at Maynooth from 5 - 8 September.

LINK

Catholic Theological Association - https://ctagb.org.uk/