By Jim Vitale
Theology is bad for the environment.
Or, at least, some of it is. Let me explain.
Scientific evidence is quite clear that our climate is changing: oceans are rising, global temperatures are rising, weather patterns are becoming more erratic—and human activity appears to be largely to blame. But whether you are convinced of this or not, we can all see clear evidence of the human abuse of creation: deforestation, garbage heaps, gender-reveal-party wild fires. Just this past week a sewage line ruptured in Snyder County, dumping raw sewage into Penn’s Creek, Middle Creek, and the Susquehanna. The line carries about two million gallons of sewage daily (Not to mention the fact that Harrisburg delivers a nauseating 600-900 million gallons of raw sewage to the Susquehanna annually).
It is clear that God’s creation suffers by human hands. What is perhaps less obvious is that the church is particularly culpable. The church may not be directly responsible for deforestation, coral reef bleaching, the great Pacific garbage patch, or the dramatic loss of arable farmland, but throughout history we have tipped the scales in favor of these injustices through faulty theology.
The most obvious examples are those vocal fundamentalists loudly proclaiming that God will eventually destroy the earth and so we might as well use creation’s resources with reckless abandon. Some have even gone so far as to argue that the sooner we destroy the planet ourselves, the sooner Jesus will return. Quite apart from that small minority, most Christians are still no better than anyone else at caring for God’s creation. We consume just as much and produce just as much waste as everyone else. Why is that?
Lynne White Jr. argues that Christian theologians have drawn a false dichotomy between humanity and nature, largely misunderstanding God’s proclamation of human “dominion” over creation.
In Genesis 1, we hear that God gives all humanity “dominion” or “rule” (radah) over creation. Genesis 2:15 however clarifies what “dominion” really means; it is more about sustainability and protection than domination and consumption. Genesis 2:15 says that “the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it.” The verb that we translate as “till” (avad) can also be translated as “to labor” or “to serve.” It is the same word Joshua famously uses to pledge his service to the Lord (Josh. 24:15). The verb we translate as “to keep” (shamar) appears also in the blessing: “May the Lord bless you and keep you” (Num. 6:25). When we pray for God to “keep” us, are we asking God to brutally dominate us and discard us when God has no more need of us? Of course not! Then neither can we reasonable conclude that that is what God desires us to do with God’s creation. Contrary to what preachers in the past have stated, our relationship to the land is one of God-ordained service and protection, not control and consumption.
Lynn White argues that the environmental crisis is a theological problem more than a technological problem; therefore, the world requires a theological solution more than a technological one. Wendell Berry says it like this: “Our destruction of nature is not just bad stewardship, or stupid economics, or a betrayal of family responsibility; it is the most horrid blasphemy.” It is blasphemy because in seeking to control rather than serve, in seeking to consume rather than protect, we have made light of God’s mandate in Genesis 2:15. It is blasphemy because we act hatefully toward what God created lovingly. It is blasphemy because we have taken God’s holy creation and brought it down to ruin. The stewardship of God’s creation is the responsibility of all humans, and the church cannot escape its culpability in environmental decline and its responsibility in seeking justice for God’s creation.
Lest we think care for creation is merely an Old Testament vocation, our biblical responsibility extends into the New Testament as well. The New Testament speaks to the value of creation and the faithful Christian’s responsibility to it. John 3:16 says that “God so loved the world.” The word “world” here is cosmos which has universal implications—God loves everything. And so should we.
In his letter to the Colossians, Paul states that Christ is “the firstborn of all creation…all things have been created through him and for him. He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together” (Col.1:15-17). If all creation is in Christ, then everything has a share in redemption, the “new creation” (II Cor. 5:17).
Paul further underscores this point in his letter to the Romans. He writes, “For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God, for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its enslavement to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning together as it suffers together the pains of labor…” (Romans 8:19-22). Resurrection, redemption, renewal—these things are not meant only for humanity but for every created thing! Birds, trees, rocks, rivers, animals, fish, microbes—all these things have a share in the coming redemption. We should therefore be working with Christ for the redemption of all things, not against him.
By declaring all created things good (Genesis 1), God expresses God’s love for all creation. Since we are made in God’s image, then we have a responsibility to love all creation as well. We bear a responsibility for all our created neighbors, to steward, heal, and guard the world that God has made.
Centuries of poor theology has created in the subconscious Christian mind a sense that nature is a resource intended purely for our own wellbeing, rather than a being deserving of love and care itself. And it is true that climate change and environmental abuse are problems far too complicated to be fixed simply by a change in Christian theology. But I believe it is a good place to start. If we as the body of Christ can change the way we think about God’s creation, then maybe we can finally start taking care of it the way God intended.
If you’re interested in reading more on these subjects, here are a few books to get you started:
- Ellen Davis’s Scripture, Culture, and Agriculture
- Wendell Berry’s The Unsettling of America
- Norman Wirzba and Fred Bahnson’s Making Peace with the Land