From the Publisher
A growing number of calls plead for the church to address 'the long emergency' of the climate crisis. Few, however, say how to do so as people of faith who courageously take on the mantle of moral leadership. Jim Antal does both in his sure-footed and bracing way. Climate Church, Climate World is a gift.
As a pastor, a civil/human rights activist, and a psychologist, I find this book to be the best I have ever read at simply explaining climate change to the average person. It details the 'required action steps' to take if the Church is to assume its rightful place in saving and sustaining what God has entrusted to its care.
For far too many mainstream churches, climate change is still considered a topic too hot for Sunday mornings. And yet, as the Reverend Dr. Jim Antal writes in this learned, heartfelt, and prophetic epistle to American churches and people of faith everywhere, the climate crisis and the suffering it brings are the overriding physical and moral facts of the world that we as Christians are called to love and serve. Where, then, if not in our churches, must we engage this greatest of human crises? With candor, emotional honesty, and moral clarity, Antal offers a profound new vision for what it means to be a church, and a follower of Jesus, in the twenty-first century.
If you ever meet Jim Antal, your first thought will be, 'This man has the energy of a dozen people wrapped up in one body.' You'll see his brilliance, his enthusiasm, his focus, and his resilient determination. You'll also see his faith. You'll sense all of these qualities in Climate Church, Climate World. You will be drawn from well-written page to page, until you have to put the book down and join the movement to . . . quite literally . . . save the world. On top of being brilliant, energetic, and inspiring, Jim Antal is, in my opinion, 100% right, and his message is prophetic in the truest sense.
Jim Antal embodies the moral imagination that we so desperately need in order to rise to the challenge of the climate crisis. His book invites us to imagine a church that puts its principles into action in the twenty-first century and offers a wealth of resources for people of faith who are ready to answer that call.
Jim Antal is among the most knowledgeable and passionate advocates of creation care, and he captures the complete story in Climate Church, Climate World.
Jim Antal is not preaching to the choir. He is preaching to all of us for all of us, summoning us and the church to an urgent new calling--to heal a creation broken by the ravages of global warming and climate disruption. His inspiring book and the stories he tells lift us up and prepare us for the great moral challenge of our time.
Jim Antal's passion for eco-justice and his bold faith adhere in his emerging theological claim that faith communities have a new vocation: care for the Earth. This book breaks new ground in claiming that a faith not fully committed to the preservation of the planet loses its raison d'être."
People of faith have been charged to answer the call of environmental stewardship in the twenty-first century. Too often a theological fringe element has silenced the compassionate and caring faithful serving in faith communities across this nation. Jim Antal's book is a profound answer to fringe and ethically suspect theological movements attempting to silence faith voices committed to creation care. This book is part manual, part theological reflection, and all prophetic witness.
This is the book for which we have been waiting concerning the climate crisis. It is clear: the time for ambiguity is long since past. It is bold: deeply rooted boldness is required to counter the forceful ideology of the fossil fuel lobby. It is institutionally realistic: this is no generic moral appeal, but a bid to the church to take up its primal mission. It is practical: it anticipates active ways for pastors and churches to get to it. This is a welcome must read.
After analyzing the history and social implications of climate change, Antal reimagines the role of church communities and their capacity to confront and resolve the problem. After each chapter throughout the book, there are discussion questions aimed at prompting readers to engage in their communities -- through everything from Bible study to civil disobedience. Clearly, Antal's purpose in writing is not simply to educate but to inspire readers' hearts, heads and hands to "repurpose" the church, and reimagine its moral calling.
Antal argues that climate injustice is a force that amplifies every other social injustice, and that without a whole and restored earth we won't achieve a whole and restorative society. In urging the church to more deeply consider its obligation in calling society to action, this book will help Christians, both congregationally and individually, act in response to climate change and maintain an outlook of Christ-centered hope while doing so.
Antal braids science, testimony, and action plans into a strong tether between a planet sliding into climate disaster and a hope of creation restored. This book shows how we together can pull back from the brink. People of faith need to read this book--now!
Antal pulls no punches, trenchantly calling people of faith to live beyond our denial and into our interdependence. Theologically grounding our call to action, he provides pragmatic ways for us to proceed as we seek to address the calamity at hand. He stretches us to live free from the limits of our fears. Climate Church, Climate World is an essential resource.
Even more than an environmental problem, climate change is humanity's greatest collective moral crisis, and no one understands that better than Reverend Jim Antal. He's borne witness to its test of our resolve from pulpits, in paddy wagons, and now through this book, which offers recipes for hope (and prescriptions for action) on every page. To people of faith--lay or clergy--who are seeking ways to engage on this great global challenge: Here is your guide.
For years we've been waiting for a book that has the power to awaken communities of faith to their high calling: to lead the way in preserving the web of life and averting climate chaos. We've been waiting for a book that gives us straight talk about the climate crisis, faces the terrifying facts without flinching, and provides its readers with the moral grounding, motivation, and tools for faithful and effective action. We've been waiting for a book that, in challenging us to take action on climate, skillfully articulates our moral and ethical responsibility and offers a humble, brilliant, and provocative reflection on the nature of hope. Climate Church, Climate World is that book. It is a joy to welcome it into print.
From the Foreword: This book is written with unusual authority, because for as long as there has been a serious climate movement in the United States, Jim Antal has been at the forefront. I have stood with him at a hundred demonstrations, languished with him in jail, sweated next to him in paddy wagons. I have listened to him preach the powerful good news--and bad news--about the energy and climate crises from pulpit after pulpit. And I've watched as his cheerful, insistent, relentlessly loving approach has allowed so many Americans to join in this fight. He is on the short list of heroes who have given their all.
In his life and work Jim Antal has been a tireless Christian witness to the moral challenge of climate change. In this comprehensive book Jim brings together his compelling personal experience and his broad knowledge to assist other leaders in carrying on this great work. With his powerful prophetic voice he has done a great service to the cause of promoting climate awareness and climate justice.
In his new book, Climate Church, Climate World, Jim Antal has written an inspired and inspiring call to arms--inspired by his fervent belief in God and inspiring to all those of faith who respond to his call. The book charts the damage humankind is causing to its planetary home and points to the many ways in which humankind can change its ways--indeed must--before the damage becomes irreversible. A most timely and important book!
In Climate Church, Climate World, public theologian Jim Antal calls on people of faith to act courageously for the common good. . . . Antal's book is an obvious choice for church book groups and seminary audiences. Its congregational focus also makes it worth considering as a textbook for college courses that explore the role of Christianity in social movements. Antal's hope is that people of faith take from the book a zeal for climate activism, grounded in a clear sense of how God calls them to address climate change in their congregations and local communities. It will embolden faith leaders to address the ethical challenges of climate crisis with prophetic imagination. For academic readers, Antal's book will enrich discussions of religious engagement in the public sphere around issues of social and environmental justice.
Jim Antal has written an inspired and inspiring call to arms--inspired by his fervent belief in God and inspiring to all those of faith who respond to his call. The book charts the damage humankind is causing to its planetary home and points to the many ways in which humankind can change its ways--indeed must--before the damage becomes irreversible. A most timely and important book!
Jim Antal is a faithful and courageous advocate in the struggle to save the earth. I am thankful for his leadership. His new book is a must read for all who desire ideas and inspiration.
Jim Antal reminds us that the climate crisis, while overwhelmingly frightening, recalls the church to its deepest vocation: incarnating the love that is God. The book describes a path forward, full of inspiration, scriptural grounding and science. It's also a path that leads to a world of peace, joy, and a more hopeful future.
Jim Antal shows how the church can engage the urgent moral crisis of climate change. This book will inspire both the courage and conviction people of faith need to provide the leadership necessary to realise God's dream of a just world in which humanity is reconciled to all of creation.
Jim Antal's leadership and religious witness is legendary, and so is the power and beauty of his voice. This book will give you the courage, conviction, and practical tools you will need to be part of this movement!
Jim Antal's Climate Church, Climate World arrives at the perfect, most- needed moment. Tears came as I read it--tears of relief and joy that the church had found its voice in this time of crisis. Jim's brave, resounding summons to his fellow Christians comes as marching orders for us all.
There are gems throughout the book that inspire. . . . I've been working on these issues for decades, but there was still much to learn in these pages. Antal gave me new ways to talk about climate change with people who may be in denial. And, best of all, he helped me understand radical hope.
We must be honest enough to admit that religions originally acknowledged climate change with hesitation, even reluctance. Today, they embrace their responsibility in raising awareness about creation care. In this urgent vocation, Jim Antal has demonstrated unique leadership: proclaiming the gospel of the sacredness of God's creation, promulgating the dire effects of global warming on the most vulnerable, as well as practicing what he preaches in church and society. This book is the fruit of mature discernment and extensive ministry.
Larry Rasmussen
A growing number of calls plead for the church to address “the long emergency” of the climate crisis. Few, however, say how to do so as people of faith who courageously take on the mantle of moral leadership. Jim Antal does both in his sure-footed and bracing way. Climate Church, Climate World is a gift.
Alice Hunt
Antal pulls no punches, trenchantly calling people of faith to live beyond our denial and into our interdependence. Theologically grounding our call to action, he provides pragmatic ways for us to proceed as we seek to address the calamity at hand. He stretches us to live free from the limits of our fears. Climate Church, Climate World is an essential resource.
Rev. Dr. Gerald L. Durley
As a pastor, a civil/human rights activist, and a psychologist, I find this book to be the best I have ever read at simply explaining climate change to the average person. It details the ‘required action steps’ to take if the Church is to assume its rightful place in saving and sustaining what God has entrusted to its care.
Jim Winkler
Jim Antal is a faithful and courageous advocate in the struggle to save the earth. I am thankful for his leadership. His new book is a must read for all who desire ideas and inspiration.
May Boeve
Jim Antal’s leadership and religious witness is legendary, and so is the power and beauty of his voice. This book will give you the courage, conviction, and practical tools you will need to be part of this movement!
Walter Brueggemann
This is the book for which we have been waiting concerning the climate crisis. It is clear: the time for ambiguity is long since past. It is bold: deeply rooted boldness is required to counter the forceful ideology of the fossil fuel lobby. It is institutionally realistic: this is no generic moral appeal, but a bid to the church to take up its primal mission. It is practical: it anticipates active ways for pastors and churches to get to it. This is a welcome must read.
Bevis Longstreth
Jim Antal has written an inspired and inspiring call to arms—inspired by his fervent belief in God and inspiring to all those of faith who respond to his call. The book charts the damage humankind is causing to its planetary home and points to the many ways in which humankind can change its ways—indeed must—before the damage becomes irreversible. A most timely and important book!
Friends Journal
There are gems throughout the book that inspire.. .. I’ve been working on these issues for decades, but there was still much to learn in these pages. Antal gave me new ways to talk about climate change with people who may be in denial. And, best of all, he helped me understand radical hope.
Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu
Jim Antal shows how the church can engage the urgent moral crisis of climate change. This book will inspire both the courage and conviction people of faith need to provide the leadership necessary to realise God’s dream of a just world in which humanity is reconciled to all of creation.
Margaret Bullitt-Jonas
For years we’ve been waiting for a book that has the power to awaken communities of faith to their high calling: to lead the way in preserving the web of life and averting climate chaos. We’ve been waiting for a book that gives us straight talk about the climate crisis, faces the terrifying facts without flinching, and provides its readers with the moral grounding, motivation, and tools for faithful and effective action. We’ve been waiting for a book that, in challenging us to take action on climate, skillfully articulates our moral and ethical responsibility and offers a humble, brilliant, and provocative reflection on the nature of hope. Climate Church, Climate World is that book. It is a joy to welcome it into print.
Bill McKibben
From the Foreword: This book is written with unusual authority, because for as long as there has been a serious climate movement in the United States, Jim Antal has been at the forefront. I have stood with him at a hundred demonstrations, languished with him in jail, sweated next to him in paddy wagons. I have listened to him preach the powerful good news—and bad news—about the energy and climate crises from pulpit after pulpit. And I’ve watched as his cheerful, insistent, relentlessly loving approach has allowed so many Americans to join in this fight. He is on the short list of heroes who have given their all.
Tim DeChristopher
Jim Antal embodies the moral imagination that we so desperately need in order to rise to the challenge of the climate crisis. His book invites us to imagine a church that puts its principles into action in the 21st century and offers a wealth of resources for people of faith who are ready to answer that call.
Mary Evelyn Tucker
In his life and work Jim Antal has been a tireless Christian witness to the moral challenge of climate change. In this comprehensive book Jim brings together his compelling personal experience and his broad knowledge to assist other leaders in carrying on this great work. With his powerful prophetic voice he has done a great service to the cause of promoting climate awareness and climate justice.
Wen Stephenson
For far too many mainstream churches, climate change is still considered a topic too hot for Sunday mornings. And yet, as the Reverend Dr. Jim Antal writes in this learned, heartfelt, and prophetic epistle to American churches and people of faith everywhere, the climate crisis and the suffering it brings are the overriding physical and moral facts of the world that we as Christians are called to love and serve. Where, then, if not in our churches, must we engage this greatest of human crises? With candor, emotional honesty, and moral clarity, Antal offers a profound new vision for what it means to be a church, and a follower of Jesus, in the twenty-first century.
James Hansen
Jim Antal is among the most knowledgeable and passionate advocates of creation care, and he captures the complete story in Climate Church, Climate World.
Michael Brune
Even more than an environmental problem, climate change is humanity's greatest collective moral crisis, and no one understands that better than Reverend Jim Antal. He's borne witness to its test of our resolve from pulpits, in paddy wagons, and now through this book, which offers recipes for hope (and prescriptions for action) on every page. To people of faith—lay or clergy—who are seeking ways to engage on this great global challenge: Here is your guide.
Rev. John C. Dorhauer
Jim Antal’s passion for eco-justice and his bold faith adhere in his emerging theological claim that faith communities have a new vocation: care for the Earth. This book breaks new ground in claiming that a faith not fully committed to the preservation of the planet loses its raison d’être.
Otis Moss III
People of faith have been charged to answer the call of environmental stewardship in the 21st century. Too often a theological fringe element has silenced the compassionate and caring faithful serving in faith communities across this nation. Jim Antal’s book is a profound answer to fringe and ethically suspect theological movements attempting to silence faith voices committed to creation care. This book is part manual, part theological reflection, and all Prophetic witness.
Joanna Macy
Jim Antal's Climate Church, Climate World arrives at the perfect, most- needed moment. Tears came as I read it—tears of relief and joy that the church had found its voice in this time of crisis. Jim's brave, resounding summons to his fellow Christians comes as marching orders for us all.
James Gustave Speth
Jim Antal is not preaching to the choir. He is preaching to all of us for all of us, summoning us and the church to an urgent new calling—to heal a creation broken by the ravages of global warming and climate disruption. His inspiring book and the stories he tells lift us up and prepare us for the great moral challenge of our time.
Jim Wallis
Antal argues that climate injustice is a force that amplifies every other social injustice, and that without a whole and restored earth we won’t achieve a whole and restorative society. In urging the church to more deeply consider its obligation in calling society to action, this book will help Christians, both congregationally and individually, act in response to climate change and maintain an outlook of Christ-centered hope while doing so.
Chicago Tribune
After analyzing the history and social implications of climate change, Antal reimagines the role of church communities and their capacity to confront and resolve the problem. After each chapter throughout the book, there are discussion questions aimed at prompting readers to engage in their communities — through everything from Bible study to civil disobedience. Clearly, Antal’s purpose in writing is not simply to educate but to inspire readers’ hearts, heads and hands to “repurpose” the church, and reimagine its moral calling.
Richard Rohr
Jim Antal reminds us that the climate crisis, while overwhelmingly frightening, recalls the church to its deepest vocation: incarnating the love that is God. The book describes a path forward, full of inspiration, scriptural grounding and science. It’s also a path that leads to a world of peace, joy, and a more hopeful future.
Brian D. McLaren
If you ever meet Jim Antal, your first thought will be, “This man has the energy of a dozen people wrapped up in one body.” You’ll see his brilliance, his enthusiasm, his focus, and his resilient determination. You’ll also see his faith. You’ll sense all of these qualities in Climate Church, Climate World. You will be drawn from well-written page to page, until you have to put the book down and join the movement to…quite literally…save the world. On top of being brilliant, energetic, and inspiring, Jim Antal is, in my opinion, 100% right, and his message is prophetic in the truest sense.
John Chryssavgis
We must be honest enough to admit that religions originally acknowledged climate change with hesitation, even reluctance. Today, they embrace their responsibility in raising awareness about creation care. In this urgent vocation, Jim Antal has demonstrated unique leadership: proclaiming the gospel of the sacredness of God’s creation, promulgating the dire effects of global warming on the most vulnerable, as well as practicing what he preaches in church and society. This book is the fruit of mature discernment and extensive ministry.
Rev. Sharon E. Watkins
Antal braids science, testimony, and action plans into a strong tether between a planet sliding into climate disaster and a hope of creation restored. This book shows how we together can pull back from the brink. People of faith need to read this book—now!
Reading Religion
In Climate Church, Climate World, public theologian Jim Antal calls on people of faith to act courageously for the common good.. .. Antal’s book is an obvious choice for church book groups and seminary audiences. Its congregational focus also makes it worth considering as a textbook for college courses that explore the role of Christianity in social movements. Antal’s hope is that people of faith take from the book a zeal for climate activism, grounded in a clear sense of how God calls them to address climate change in their congregations and local communities. It will embolden faith leaders to address the ethical challenges of climate crisis with prophetic imagination. For academic readers, Antal’s book will enrich discussions of religious engagement in the public sphere around issues of social and environmental justice.
The Rev. Dr. John C. Dorhauer
Jim Antal’s passion for eco-justice and his bold faith adhere in his emerging theological claim that faith communities have a new vocation: care for the Earth. This book breaks new ground in claiming that a faith not fully committed to the preservation of the planet loses its raison d’être.
Chicago Tribune
After analyzing the history and social implications of climate change, Antal reimagines the role of church communities and their capacity to confront and resolve the problem. After each chapter throughout the book, there are discussion questions aimed at prompting readers to engage in their communities — through everything from Bible study to civil disobedience. Clearly, Antal’s purpose in writing is not simply to educate but to inspire readers’ hearts, heads and hands to “repurpose” the church, and reimagine its moral calling.
The Rev. Dr. Margaret Bullitt-Jonas
For years we’ve been waiting for a book that has the power to awaken communities of faith to their high calling: to lead the way in preserving the web of life and averting climate chaos. We’ve been waiting for a book that gives us straight talk about the climate crisis, faces the terrifying facts without flinching, and provides its readers with the moral grounding, motivation, and tools for faithful and effective action. We’ve been waiting for a book that, in challenging us to take action on climate, skillfully articulates our moral and ethical responsibility and offers a humble, brilliant, and provocative reflection on the nature of hope. Climate Church, Climate World is that book. It is a joy to welcome it into print.
Otis Moss
People of faith have been charged to answer the call of environmental stewardship in the 21st century. Too often a theological fringe element has silenced the compassionate and caring faithful serving in faith communities across this nation.Jim Antal’s book is a profound answer to fringe and ethically suspect theological movements attempting to silence faith voices committed to creation care. This book is part manual, part theological reflection, and all Prophetic witness.
