Karen Bloomquist, Luther, And the Challenge of Climate Justice (Essay‪)‬

One does not often encounter such a stunning mixture of intellectual acumen and ability to read the signs of the times, pull diverse people into fruitful collaborative work, cross cultural and geographical boundaries with grace and apparent ease, wed social analysis to theological reflection, and do all that with a sense of humanity, humility and humor. Mix it all together and the result is Karen Bloomquist, a woman of the church, at home also in the academy and the world of social justice activism. Her art is applying the best of Christian intellectual, moral and liturgical traditions to bring the gospel to beat on issues of burning moral import in our world today. What can one write to honor the person and work of Karen Bloomquist? I propose exploring and using her own wisdom to further a purpose to which she dedicates her life: promoting justice in the world through the life of the church. Herein I do so by identifying lour defining threads woven throughout Karen's work that are grounded in her heritage as a Lutheran theologian and ethicist, and then applying those threads to the central question that she poses in one of her recent projects for The Lutheran World Federation, It is God, Creation, and Climate Change, and the series of gatherings culminating in that volume. Karen poses perhaps the paramount question facing the church of our day in that volume, "How-do we participate in the redemption of all creation to which Scripture testifies, and embody hope for the future rather than succumbing to despair?" (1)