Fred Bahnson on Christianity and Climate Change

Climate change raises existential questions—ones that, some argue, exist more comfortably in the realm of morality than science. So might the world’s religious traditions help us face the challenges of the Anthropocene in a new, and sustained, way?  Listen to author Fred Bahnson speak with Orion editor Helen Whybrow about “The Ecology of Prayer,” his essay in the 35th Anniversary issue of the magazine, and about his effort to reclaim Christianity as an “earthier” faith.

 Fred Bahnson is the author of the book Soil and Sacrament. His essays and journalism have appeared in Harper’sOxford AmericanOrionNotre Dame MagazineEmergenceImageThe Sun, and the Best American Spiritual Writing series. His essay “On the Road with Thomas Merton” won a 2020 Wilbur Award for Best Magazine Article from the Religion Communicators Council and was selected by Robert MacFarlane for Best American Travel Writing 2020. He has given keynotes at Yale, Duke, Georgetown, TEDx Manhattan’s “Changing the Way We Eat,” and most recently at the 2019 Halki Summit in Istanbul, where he spoke about religious responses to climate change before an international gathering of faith leaders convened by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew. He lives with his wife and sons in southwest Montana.