8/29/25

Part 3: Knowledge and Wonder: Bridging Science, Faith, and a Shared Future

Mary Evelyn Tucker, John Grim, and Reverend Walter Kim close their conversation by naming the deeper problem underneath climate inaction: a split between knowledge and values, where decades of scientific consensus from bodies like the IPCC hasn't translated into action, in part because science trains people toward empirical distance rather than wonder. Kim pushes back with a question of his own — why can evangelical communities lose trust in scientific expertise, while academia struggles to speak the language of awe? The conversation turns to what actually builds trust across these worlds: not credentials, but "relational proximity" — the same reason a pastor is trusted more for showing up during a diagnosis than for a divinity degree. They close by naming a shared, disarmingly simple common ground that could unite scientists, clergy, and everyday citizens across their differences: food, health, and children.

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Part 2: Beyond Hope — The Obstacles to a Christian Environmental Ethic