Spirituality and ecology

Finland has a strong Christian history, and underneath that, the Fenno-Ugric nature religion has fundamental influence. Panu grew up, as roughly 90 % of Finns did at the time, with Lutheran Christianity. The confirmation school camps, held at camp centers next to woods and lakes, had a profound impact on him when he was young. The group leader education, isoiskoulutus, provided incentive for learning about group dynamics and facilitation.

Environmental theology – the relations between theology and environmental issues – became Panu’s main field in theology since his Master’s Thesis in 2005. Panu published his first book about Christianity and ecology for a general audience in 2010 (“Luonto ja Raamattu”), and later developed many materials for nature spirituality (e.g. “Luontokirkkovuosi”, with Suvielise Nurmi).

Panu’s dissertation focused on early 20^th Century eco-theology, and this research period 2010–2014 took him also to Chicago and the Joseph Sittler Archives. He worked in Prof. Risto Saarinen’s research groups both during and after the dissertation. An open access article, “Rediscovery of Early Twentieth-Century Ecotheology”, summarizes major findings from his dissertation.

Since early 2015, Panu has focused more on eco-emotion work than religious environmentalism, but he still leads workshops and teaches on the topic. Panu has a critical attitude towards the ambiguous ecological legacy of Christianity, and co-operates with all people who pursue more ethical ways of living on Earth.

Some of Panu’s work includes integrations of his earlier expertise and the eco-emotion dynamics, such as his 2018 article “Eco-anxiety, Tragedy, and Hope”. He has written about “theology of eco-anxiety” as contextual theology, and his recent article explored ways in which religious communities could engage with climate guilt, anger, and grief.