Book Review, Faith in Disaster: Finding Deep Hope in the Climate Crisis
Author: Harold Munn, 2026, available in paper or electronically from sites listed at the bottom of the home page of the author’s website.
I know very few people who find hope in the face of the climate crisis. I grieve terribly to think that my grandchildren are unlikely to live to the end of what is now a normal lifespan, whether because of climactic calamities or disputes provoked between nations by shortages of food, water or energy or by large movements of people.
Harold Munn is clearly no stranger to this grief, but he has plumbed its depths with a wise reflection on what it means to be Christian and human in a world created and sustained by a loving, generous God.
Harold is also a scientist, and has explored the profound connections between science and faith in his first book in this series, Faith in Doubt. In an unusual combination of orthodox (to my mind) Christian theology and innovative cross-cultural translation (to our surrounding secular culture), Harold explores what happens when we as humans and as Christians allow ourselves to experience and trust the depths of our grief and despair.
Our climate crisis should carry us to those depths! As he illustrates through the story of a likable if geeky young couple, there is no realistic hope of a human solution to the human catastrophe of rapidly rising greenhouse gases. None. And God is not answering the millions of prayers to magically solve our problem. We have doomed ourselves, and the other species on this planet will likely be much better off without us. (As the former Archbishop of Canterbury said at Lambeth 2022, this is called “judgement” in theological terms, when we live the effects of what we have caused).
As Christians should know better than anyone else, grief and despair are not the end in the story of life. When we become truly humble, or when we allow ourselves to experience humility, we accept that the story of our lives is not “all about us”; it is about God, God’s purposes, and our participation in those purposes and in declaring God’s glory. Jesus lived that out for us, and through his self-offering (“not my will but yours”) a tectonic shift was made possible.
It is at that point, with the three life forces of grief, despair and humility, that we open ourselves up to the joy of being and participating in creation. We can begin to trust in God’s grace, whether we live or die, whether we feast or we suffer. Countless Christians throughout history have testified to God’s glory and goodness even as they suffered.
Perhaps we who live lives sheltered so far from daily tragedies, who have the wonderful supports of modern science, medicine, transport, education (and I could go on), and who live in a safe country with reliable governments, police, neighbourhoods, food supplies (and again, I could go on), perhaps we lose the habits needed to trust and to be humble in the face of our griefs and despairs.
Harold takes us on a faithful and readable journey to the hope at the end. Thanks be to God.
