Teaching Seminar

Turning Up the Heat: Biblical and Practical Responses to Climate Change

In our seminar, we will present some theological thoughts on climate change before describing various ways how believers can practically engage in scripture-based advocacy and campaigning. Doing so, we will challenge some of the current and traditional narratives of responding to climate change.
About the speaker

Matthias K. Boehning serves as Director of the World Evangelical Alliance Sustainability Center (http://wea-sc.org) and Permanent Representative of the World Evangelical Alliance to the United Nations in Bonn/Germany, the UN’s global sustainability hub. He has an academic background in development economics and business administration, and has studied in Hohenheim/Germany and Stellenbosch/South Africa. He has worked in different positions in international cooperation in Europe and Africa over the past decade. Furthermore, he is Managing Director of PIRON Global Development (http://www.piron.global), an agency for project management, fundraising, consulting, and communication services with offices in Germany (Bonn, Berlin) and Ghana (Accra) assisting clients active in international development cooperation, humanitarian aid and faith-based charitable work.

About the speaker

Ruth Valerio is Global Advocacy and Influencing Director at Tearfund. An environmentalist, theologian and social activist, Ruth holds a doctorate from King’s College London, and honorary doctorates from the Universities of Winchester and Chichester. She is Canon Theologian at Rochester Cathedral and her home church is part of the 24/7 Prayer Network. She enjoys living sustainably, practising what she preaches and inspiring others as she does so in the South of England with her family. She is the author of L is for Lifestyle:Christian Living that doesn’t cost the earth, and Just Living:Faith and Community in an age of Consumerism, and has written the Archbishop of Canterbury’s 2020 Lent book, entitled Saying Yes to Life. Ruth is a regular contributor on Radio 4 and the BBC World Service.