A Clear Inversion of the End Times Schema

To respond to the theme of this painting, I would simply like to begin with Laudato si’ and reflect on the originality of the idea, as anthropological as it is theological, that Pope Francis puts forward in his encyclical. I’d like to read this text in order to show how it brings about a clear inversion of the end times scenario. And I don’t think the consequences of this inversion have been drawn out enough (or their impact on iconography made visible in Rauch’s work). To take up the question of what the Anthropocene does to the theology of Creation, it goes without saying that I have no particular qualifications relating to the two elements that I want to link, except perhaps having followed the literature on the Anthropocene fairly closely.