A Christian approach to nature should contemplate more than a single verse or single word in Genesis.  Even in the next chapter of Genesis we have “Then the LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keept it.”  The Hebrew for tend means to “work or serve” and referring to a garden or ground can mean “to till or cultivate”  Keep means “to exercise great care over”  It implys that God wants Adam to watch over and guard the garden.  But besides this biblicist approach, there are the teachings of our Christian tradition, wider biblical perspectives that include consideration of the well being of mankind and the common good.  Additionally, humans have learned much about the environment and the web of life and how it is interdependent.  Christians would do themselves a great disservice to not consider the whole Bible, Christian theology, and the insights of science and reason.

That we might learn to dream as God and love as God has shown, caring for creation as noble stewards, not as ones who own.

Enjoying understanding St. Francis of Assisi’s deep regard for creation and our (e/i)nter-dependence with/on it. Plan on reading more soon on him and his thoughts. Would love to have a prophetic political voice like that to hear.

An interesting discussion at my dissertation defense circled around that word “dominion” (kibosh in Hebrew). My reader thought the violent undertones of kibosh undermined my theological claims from that text. I did not like being pressed on that point in the text; I believe instead that it forces us toward a far wider reading of scripture than staking all claims on one verse, or word in that verse.

If one truly cares for the environment, how can he at the same time support the continued slaughter of innocent children. Not too supportive of this bunch of Republicans, but I am tired of Christian’s support of a pro-abortion Democrat because he speaks a message of creation care.

I agree that God has called us to be good stewards of his creation, not exploiting or mistreating living creatures or wasting valuable natural resources but does that mean that creation is of limits for the sustaining of human life? As one gentleman already stated, “A Christian approach to nature should contemplate more than a single verse or single word in Genesis.” I agree, so let’s look at another verse. In Genesis 3:21 “The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them.” Also, throughout scripture God commanded his people to kill animals by the thousands in the sacrificial system for the remission of sin. Once again, these acts of killing were to serve humans and these acts were not considered misuse of creation but good stewardship by God. However, they would be deemed mistreatment by many in society today. I believe the heart of the problem lies in determining what the correct definition of stewardship is.

There are those who have wasted and abused God’s earth and the living creatures, I am not arguing that. However, I believe in many cases the pendulum has swung to far in the other direction.  The needs of humans are being neglected today in the name of saving the planet. An example, in the state of Idaho all of the Boise Cascade sawmills have been removed so the timber would be saved. Timber is a renewable resource and the industry provided thousands of jobs to needy families. There are 235,000 people now on food stamps in the State of Idaho. We have less than a million people in Idaho that means one fourth of our population is hungry. Where is the justice in that? There are many other examples in our country where the harvesting of our natural resources (in a reasonable/Godly manner) could provide the common man with sustenance and dignity.

What is needed today is moderation in the management of resources (not extreme measures driven by fear and panic) with a heart for hurting people!!! Hopefully our politicians on both sides will discover this needed Biblical balance!

I really like the fact that you plainly said that caring only for the afterlife indicates a phony theology. If one does not care for others or creation in this life, how can the afterlife be that different? Also a point of translation that I don’t know exactly how relevant it is. The early English Bible translators tended to be very oriented toward Latin. Dominion is closely related to the the Latin word for lord. Lordship then is closley related to the word dominion. The example of our Lord is distinctly different from a secular and harsh view of “dominion”.

I enjoyed reading this! Being someone who is on the fence when it comes to politics, it’s nice to see that some issues don’t have to be a problem within politics but simply within humanity. And I do agree that Democrats typically, not always, have more of a “heart” per say for the earth and creation. And it sickens me that Republicans immediately pinpoint it as “tree-hugging”. And about Obama having a phony theology, I don’t think it is up to anyone else to accuse someone of phony theology because ultimately we all have some phony theology. I can’t say much more because I don’t know much about Santorum but thanks for the insight!

It seems to me that discussion that the country is having has cut God out of the picture. We want to make it about how man can control nature (specifically the discussion about Global change). We have turned our worship to creation and cut out the creator. You see we my have care over the World but we did not create the world. We need to care for the world as a man cares for his wife or as Jesus cares for the Church. However As a man does not “master” his wife we do not master our world. Tree huggers in my opinion are the new bread of people that want to worship this world they only want to worship something they think they can master or control. That is why throughout the old testament and right into modern time humans have always been creating things to worship so they don’t have to focus on something they can’t control like God. In the past it was Baal, then the worship of rules (pharisees), then money (still money), now the environment. If you really observe America today we are trying to find a rally cry a “uniting thing”, a thing to worship or a new religion. And now we have if you are not “green” or hugging a tree then you are not socially accepted. There is a movement away from God and on to our new faith in the human control over the environment. I still believe that if we teach people to love as Christ loves then we don’t need to have a discussion about the environment because when you are full of Christ it flows into every aspect of your life and you don’t want to hurt His creation human or atom.

I suggest a read of Mies’ and Shiva’s ‘Ecofeminism’ ISBN-10: 1856491552. They don’t examine ecotheology per se, but they do a pretty job of linking patriarchal societies and their legacies of mindset and outlook (can we all say ‘Old Testament’)with domination of women and the ‘... the frenetic plunder of ever more resources for ever more unequally distributed economic gain to dominate nature ...’

Here ya go:

http://www.wloe.org/what-is-ecofeminism.76.0.html

I have had the privileged to serve as pastor in three different area, all where stewardship of the land is their life and livelihood. I have seen nothing from those whose interests are in preserving the environment except the blatant dismissal of the human presence and interest as part and partial to the created order. This is the reason for much poverty, and degradation to community and balanced perspective of stewardship of nature as integral to self and family.
While I no longer follow the sound bites of the present campaign, I have not found a theological commonplace with our current President. The above link of “Ecofeminism” would be the type of ideology that has been the black plague of the souls in the communities where I have served. Leaving young and old to severe poverty, alcoholism, suicide, and broken families, all the while the land sits begging to provide and be productive.
I for one have learned to dismiss the environmentalist as a cruel and unloving person, who considers humanity as evil evolved. Never has an environmental organization or individual had a strengthening impact on the communities where I have lived. (strong absolute, I recognize, but more sad to me that it is true)

“But it does say something important when so many pro-environment groups back Democratic nominees.”

I suspect, somewhat cynically, that it speaks to the Democrats’ propensity for handing out piles of free Federal money in the form of grants. I’m not so sure that the eco-policies of the Dems are all that lucid, however.

For example, how many ‘green’ industries embraced by the Obamanians have to file bankruptcy after taking those piles of free Federal money, before we ask the question - do those who are shoveling out the free money have a clue as to what they are doing?

Here’s something else. The Democrats are virulently opposed to coal-fired power plants. They like wind - as but one example. Wind is clean, you see. Doesn’t smog up the countryside. Well, neither do the coal-fired plants using the newest technology, but trying to convince them of that is akin to trying to convince the Baptists that the newest NIV is not a missive straight from the printing presses of Hell. But back to wind ... we are Hicks from the Sticks. We can take a drive on Colorado 71 between Rocky Ford and Limon, some 75 miles, and see very little other than rolling prairie and the mountains some 80 miles to the west. It’s magnificent. Until we get to Limon. And then north of Limon we see the new Cedar Point wind turbine farm. Acres upon acres of huge turbines, turning that magnificent prairie into something obscene. How about California’s Tehachapi and San Gorgonio, which are even worse. Or how about that Walney Wind Farm over in the UK, the largest in the world with an output of 367mw and where the turbines are sticking up out of the water like Satan’s own pinwheels. Think that’s something? Well, then how about the Dogger Bank farm, planned at 9,000mw. But wait! It gets better! Dogger Bank is a highly productive fishing ground for cod and herring. It is also remarkably productive in phytoplankton, so much so that eco-groups have been agitating to have it designated a Marine Nature Reserve. How’s that going to work with a 9 gigawatt wind farm in the middle of it? If that is *anyone’s* idea of a ‘covenant with creation’, I’d say they have really missed the boat. And the waste and pollutants from manufacturing and maintaining those monsters? Has anyone actually factored that in? We don’t even want to get started on battery-powered cars, and their related manufacturing and disposition pollutants.

There is much to be concerned about, regarding our treatment of the world in which we live, and the critters with whom ... which ... we share it. Our politicians love the opportunity to play to that concern and parlay it into some votes. All of the candidates, including our incumbent president, embrace ‘theologies’ that center on the worship of The Great God of the Upright Pronoun, and if pumping out a ‘false theology’ based on protecting the environment will get them those votes, so be it. I am reminded of that old military approach to innovative thinking: “Yes sir, yes sir, three bags full sir, and what would you like to hear today, sir?”

In my understanding, “Phony Theology” is the worship of nature and not God. I do not hear any talk of God or stewardship in the ecology movement. The Phony Theology is that humanity has no more right to earth then the worm. (PETA states that if a girl is walking a dog and they both fall into a river, save the dog, he did not choose to be there.) In fact humanity is seen as an infestation, a pestilence, not part of the Created order as well.

It is interesting that when the Communist countries fell, it was discovered that the environment was utterly destroyed. It was so bad that children were being given vacations in the Baltic Sea just to get out of the pollution for a while. They did not worship God, they worshiped the state. I believe that there is a direct correlation. Love God, love God’s creation.  Worship the state or nature and humanity and nature suffers. 

The natural world God has given us is full of wonderful resources. Most of our medicines come from nature. The power we use to light and heat our homes comes from nature. The fuel that powers transportation to the four corners of the world come from nature. These are all gifts from God. It is when greed and self-centerdness (sin) dominate our use of these resources that we have betrayed our responsibility.
 
I have maintained for a long time that stewardship and respect for nature is a God given responsibility.  How can someone who loves God not be a steward of God’s creation?

@Ron Hunter, Jr, who wrote: “The above link of “Ecofeminism” would be the type of ideology that has been the black plague of the souls in the communities where I have served.”

Hi Ron! So tell me, what was it you read in “Ecofeminism” that elicits such a strong condemnation?

I appreciate Robert Wade’s comment reminding us that “nature” includes humans and (in his comment) the unborn.  The Democratic Party’s position on abortion is atrocious,  so why do we “trust” them or respect them on their “greener” looking position?