Book: Faith in a Changing Climate. Table of Contents

Credit: Ian Sutton

We are working on a book Faith in a Changing Climate. Shown here is the top-level working Table of Contents. (We stress the word working — the contents will change as the book progresses.)

Chapter 1 — A Journey
Isaiah (8th century BCE)
A Chemical Engineer’s Journey
Steps in the Journey
The Machine Stops
Entropy: Into the Greenhouse World
Twilight in the Desert
The Hubbert Peak
Sustainable Growth — An Oxymoron
Predicaments, Not Problems
City of God
Light Bulbs
The Ladder of Awareness
No Net Zero
A Need for Theology
A Humble Comparison
Through a Glass Darkly
Organization of This Book
No Happy Chapter

Chapter 2 — The City of Man
M. King Hubbert (1903-1989)
The 300-Year Party
Deforestation
The Industrial Revolution
Thomas Newcomen
The Tragedy of the Commons

Chapter 3 — Exile
John Shelby Spong (1931-2021)
The Parable of the Home-Made Wine
An Age of Limits
God Is Dead
A Word of Caution
Exile
Our Climate Change Exile
Leaving the Church of Progress
OK Boomer
The Church of Perpetual Material Progress
Material Loss
Four Groups
Governments
Business and Commerce
Individuals and Community
Faith Community
Greenwashing
The Ladder of Awareness
The End of Exile

Chapter 3 — Exile
John Shelby Spong (1931-2021)
The Parable of the Home-Made Wine
An Age of Limits
A Word of Caution
Exile
Our Climate Change Exile
Leaving the Church of Progress
OK Boomer
The Church of Perpetual Material Progress
Material Loss
Four Groups
Governments
Business and Commerce
Individuals and Community
Faith Community
Greenwashing
The Ladder of Awareness
The Missing Happy Chapter
The End of Exile

Chapter 4 — An Unresponsive Church

Chapter 5 — Green Technology to the Rescue
Al Gore (1948- )
U.N. Reports
Conference of the Parties (COP)
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
The 1.5°C Report
Jevons Paradox
The Second Law
Resilience
Eco-Technology
Oil
Energy Dense
Dispatchable
Low Cost
Portable
Cheap
Safe
Petrochemicals
Alternative Energy Sources
Challenges
Anaesthetics from Windmills
Intermittent Energy
Going First Subsidy
Progress to Date
A Windy and Sunny Future
Solar Power
Wind Power
Biomass
Nuclear Power (Fission)
Unrealized Hopes
Safety
Futuristic Energy Sources
Nuclear Power (Fusion)
Small Modular Reactors
Thorium Reactors
Energy Storage
Carbon Capture and Storage
CO2 Removal
Abiotic CO2 Removal
Geoengineering
Project Management
Time Available
Speed of Implementation
Scale of Implementation
Project Resources
Oil Companies
Energy Returned on Energy Invested
Climate Chaos
Process — Not an Event
Benedict of Nursia (480-548)
The Parable of the Man’s Body
Trust in Experts
Social Media
Experts and Generalists
Climate Scientists
Alarmists
Human Response
Framing Predictions
Mixed Messages

Chapter 6 — Toward a New Theology
Francis of Assisi (1181-1226)

Chapter 7 — The Church of the Future
The Parable of the Blind Golfers
Where is God in All This?
Semper Reformanda
The Good Old Days
Social Justice
From the Pulpit
The Net Zero Church
Scope 1
Scope 2
Scope 3
The Church’s Opportunity
Mission Statements
Personal Lifestyle Community
The Parish
A Three-Point Sermon
Theology for Our Times

Chapter 8 — Analysis
The Ladder of Awareness
Step 1. Dead Asleep
Step 2. Awareness of One Fundamental Problem
Step 3. Awareness of Many Problems
Step 4. Interconnections Between Many Problems
Step 5. All Aspects of Life
East Coker
Collapse Now and Avoid the Rush
The Emergent Church
Inconvenient Apocalypse
Why Christianity Must Change or Die
Deep Adaptation
Pilgrim’s Progress
Refugia
Pilgrim’s Progress
The Hubbert Curve
Jevons’ Paradox
Energy Returned on Energy Invested
Thermodynamics
Risk

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