Stories of Grief and Courage
a conversation with Hannah Malcolm & Anupama Ranawana
Occurred on December 16, 2021
On Thursday, December 16, we invited you to join us in a conversation with Words for a Dying World: Stories of Grief and Courage from the Global Church editor Hannah Malcolm and contributor Anupama Ranawana. This anthology weaved together a rich tapestry of diverse experience, all focused around the question of how we grapple with ecological grief in a way that is particular to our location and moment.
In her introduction, Hannah Malcolm writes: “I began this project with the conviction that rooting a theological response to climate grief in particular places really mattered. But what has emerged are stories that emphasize that this grief not only belongs in place, but in time. These are not just grief locations – spontaneous eruptions of sorrow from a wounded earth – but grief histories. The earth remembers, even when the people have forgotten.”
As we come to terms with what it means, and will mean, to live in a climate-changed world, many of us are just beginning to understand our ecological grief and its connection to our places and our privileges. It takes practice and patience to meet our own grief and the grief of others with courage and compassion. And understanding these griefs through a theological lens will inform our spiritual leadership now and in the days to come.
This event was part of The BTS Center’s ongoing season of programming around ecological grief, which has included a book study of Words for a Dying World during the month of November. All were welcome, regardless of participation in other programs.
View the conversation with Hannah and Anupama, recorded on December 16, 2021:
Meet Our Guests
Hannah Malcolm
Hannah is an ordinand in the Church of England and is writing a PhD on a theology of climate and ecological grief. She is on the board of Operation Noah, and regularly speaks and writes about climate justice and the church. She is the editor of Words for a Dying World: Stories of Grief and Courage from the Global Church (SCM Press, 2020).
Anupama Ranawana
Anu is a theologian and political economist with over eight years of experience working in academia and international development. Her research and teaching expertise and interests are focussed on gender and justice, decolonial thought, diversifying research methodological practice, religious thought in the Global South, faith and international development and the intersections between racial and climate justice. She holds advanced degrees in Theology and International Politics. Her most recent publication has been on the importance of women’s religious thought to global politics. She is currently working on her first book: A Liberation for the Earth: Reflections on Race, Climate and Cross, due to be published with SCM Press in 2022.
