The World Council of Churches (WCC) addresses environmental issues in three modes in
its institutional work as a religious non-governmental organization: in the
prophetic mode, in the public policy expert mode and in the mode of an advocate. If
one is to understand the WCC’s commitment to environmental issues, this three-tiered
hermeneutic is necessary so that its complex institutional aims are represented
accurately. Moreover, this hermeneutic also aids in sketching the WCC’s larger
ethical commitments as a Christian body and as a consultative religious
non-governmental organization within the United Nations. This paper affords a more
complete vision than many scholars have offered in terms of how religious NGOs
approach extraordinarily complex ethical issues in the world today.
Le Conseil oecuménique des Églises (COE) s’adresse aux questions environnementales en
trois modes dans son travail institutionnel comme organisation non-gouvernementale
religieuse : le mode prophétique, le mode d’expert en affaires publiques, et le mode
d’un avocat. Si on veut comprendre l’engagement du COE aux problèmes
environnementaux, cet herméneutique à trois gradins est necessaire pour que ses
objectifs institutionnels complexes soient representés fidèlement. D’ailleurs, cet
herméneutique aide aussi à esquisser les engagements moraux plus grands du COE comme
organisme chrétien et comme organisation non-gouvernementale religieuse au sein de
l’Organisation des nations unies. La communication présente permet une vision plus
complète que celles offertes par plusieurs savants en ce qui concerne la manière
dans laquelle les ONG religieuses abordent des questions morales extrêmement
complexes du monde d’aujourd’hui.
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