Loading...
Denis Edwards's Theology of the Natural World : A Practical Theological Response To The Ecological Cry of The Great Barrier Reef
Graham, Timothy John
Graham, Timothy John
Citations
Altmetric:
Author
Abstract
Accelerating ecological degradation and climate disruption are reshaping Earth’s most vulnerable ecosystems. Among them, the Great Barrier Reef now stands at a critical ecological threshold, marked by unprecedented bleaching events, species loss and ongoing anthropogenic pressure. This crisis intensifies the moral and theological urgency for renewed ecological vision and action. Within the Christian tradition, the community of faith is called to sustain hope in the Cosmic Creator who neither abandons humankind nor the wider community of creation to which it belongs
but accompanies all life within an emergent and evolving cosmos.
This thesis pursues two central aims. First, it offers an ecotheological interpretation of the Reef’s lamentive ecological cry, its profound suffering, as well as the diminishment of its extraordinary relational abundance. Second, it examines how Roman Catholic ecotheological praxis may contribute to re-imagining an inclusive, ecologically just and flourishing future for the Reef.
To address the first aim, the thesis develops an Ecotheological Spiral methodology that stages dialogical encounters between ecological analysis and theological reflection. Drawing on current ecological science and guided by Denis Edwards’s trinitarian theology of the natural world, the Spiral discloses the Reef’s habitats, plants and animals as singers of distinctive laments and creational hymns that together form a Reefal Hymnal. This hymnal emerges from, and gestures toward, a triune Reefal Composer: the divine, reefal Communion-in-Love who is limitlessly life-giving and nurturing. The Composer’s character is unfolded in three theological movements – deep empathy, deep relationality and deep abundance – each illuminating aspects of the Creator’s presence within the Reef’s beauty, complexity and vulnerability, and revealing the theological significance of ecological suffering.
In its second aim, the thesis explores how this Reefal Hymnal might shape Roman Catholic ecopraxis. By integrating lament, praise and contemplative attention with moral discernment, pastoral accompaniment, prophetic advocacy and liturgical solidarity, the thesis proposes an ecopraxis oriented toward ecological conversion and hope. Such a praxis invites the human community, kin to the Reef in their shared stardust origins, into renewed communion with the more-than-human world, participating in the healing, justice and flourishing that the Reef so urgently requires, and that Christian discipleship demands in this time of ecological reckoning.
Keywords
Denis Edwards, Great Barrier Reef, Practical Theology, Ecopraxis, Ecological Conversion
Date
2024
Type
Thesis
Journal
Book
Volume
Issue
Page Range
1-378
Article Number
ACU Department
Faculty of Theology and Philosophy
Collections
Files
LS_Graham_2026_Denis_Edwardss_Theology_of_the_Natural.pdf
Adobe PDF, 1.15 MB
- Available to administrators
Relation URI
DOI
Source URL
Event URL
Open Access Status
Open access
License
CC BY 4.0 (Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International)
File Access
Notes
This work © 2026, Timothy John Graham, is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International CC BY 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/