By This month, Daniel Castillo, Associate Professor of Theology at Loyola University Maryland, gave Carroll’s annual Faith and Reason Lecture.
His lecture was entitled “Christian Imagination, Colonialism, & Political Ecology.”
Castillo lectured on some of the most complicated questions facing not only persons of faith but humanity at large.
He tackled how political ecology, socioeconomic issues, and ecology all interact. His knowledge provided a new perspective on the intersection of these important issues.
He explained the “500-Year Project” – our world’s history of capitalism, consumerism, and colonialism. All of these issues stem from humanity and human nature. The underlying force behind this damaging 500-Year Project was the “idolatry of greed.”
Castillo explained how the human sin of greed led people to commodify human life and normalize exploitation. This greed and the conquering that ensued created false dichotomies between genders and races. These dichotomies were created to divide people to exploit value from others. The desire for power and monetary value justified slavery and racism. It also led to devaluing the work of women in society, the result of which is women being more likely to be impoverished, underserved, and uneducated.
Castillo explained that the exploitation and greed that has shaped the last 500 years of history runs contradictory to Christian faith. Drawing on stories from the Bible, particularly the creation, he explains that with God as the ultimate gardener, we are charged with caring for each other and the world.
He explained that we can look to Christ’s ministry as an example of what ethical discipleship looks like. Drawing on Mark 10, he retold the story of Jesus and the man to whom he commanded to sell all his riches. Castillo compares this to the modern world, where we are so focused on monetary gain when we should be focusing on repair and relationship building.
