Panel Two: Presentation by Sister Isabel Smyth on the creation and the environment in Christianity. (Part 2 of 3) 

Sister Isabel focused on the Catholic perspective with an analysis of Pope Francis’ letter, Laudato si that sets out the Pope’s care for creation using the theology of creation as a motivation for believers. It reflects a change in the theology in response to changes in society, as is the ongoing process within Catholicism. The initial understanding of Genesis was that nature was created for the ease of human beings, however, due to the original sin of Adam and Eve, humans were left on earth to suffer in their sinful state. This reading had far-reaching consequences in Christianity including implications for the treatment of women. The changes in Laudato si came about as a recognition that the chapters of Genesis contained truth but were written as myths. The changes also reflect our evolving knowledge of science and cosmology.    

Sister Isabel is the Scottish Catholic Bishops’ Secretary for Interfaith Relations, secretary of the West of Scotland Council of Christians and Jews and a member of the UK Churches Committee for Interreligious Relations. In 2007 she was awarded an OBE for her work in interfaith relations.    

She taught for over twenty years in the religious education department of St Andrew’s College of Education and has long-standing experience in interfaith work and has served on a variety of interfaith and religious education bodies including the Churches Agency for Inter-Faith Relations in Scotland and the UK Interfaith Network.