Re: [asa] a thought for earth day (tomorrow)

@ Do I correctly understand you and those you
admire to be saying that we can "murder" the
earth? Do we also "murder" animals rather than "kill" them?

~ Janice ... http://www.onecosmos.blogspot.com/

At 05:32 PM 4/23/2007, Don Nield wrote:
>To supplement what Ted and George have said, I
>mention a very useful book that I have reviewed
>in the latest issue of PSCF. Two extracts
>(unedited) from my review follow. I will be
>happy to send my full review privately on request.
>*********************************
>
>ENVIRONMENTAL STEWARDSHIP: Critical
>Perspectives- Past and Present, by R. J. Berry
>(ed.), New York, NY ,T & T Clark International,
>2006, 338 pages, index. Paperback; $49.50, ISBN 0567030180
>
>This book contains 26 essays and an introduction
>by Berry, who is a Professor Emeritus of
>Genetics at University College, London. The core
>essays are updates of papers, from a 2000
>conference to explore “the Christian approach to
>the environment” at Windsor Castle organized by
>the John Ray Initiative, by Robin Attfield
>(philosopher), Murray Rae (theologian), Calvin
>DeWitt (environmental biologist) and James
>Lovelock (biogeochemist). These are supplemented
>by classical expositions/criticisms by Richard
>Bauckham, John Black, Anne Clifford, René Dubos,
>Douglas Hall, Peter Harrison, Ruth Page, Clare
>Palmer, Larry Rasmussen, Paul Santmire, Lisa
>Sideris, Joseph Sittler, and John Zizioulas,
>plus papers written especially for this
>collection by Elving Anderson and Bruce
>Reichenbach, Susan Bratton, Martin Holdgate,
>John Houghton, Michael Northcott, Derek Osborn
>and Chris Southgate, plus previously unpublished
>lectures by Chris Patten and Crispin Tickell.
>
>************************************
>
>Santmire contrasts the creation theology in the
>priestly and Yahwist stories, and then that in
>the Book of Job. He says that the Yahwist story,
>with its small-scale agrarian setting,
>exemplifies what sensitive care for the earth
>can mean. In this theological drama the land is
>a character in its own right. The human’s
>relationship to the animals is depicted in terms
>of tangible solidarity rather than intervention.
>Santmire notes that in the Bible there is no
>doctrine of ‘cosmic fall’. The soil remains
>innocent; the divine curse rests on it because
>of the disobedience of humans and because of the
>fruits of violence that grow from that
>disobedience. The promise is that, in Christ,
>with the deep human fault healed and the curse
>therefore removed, we humans can begin to live
>in Eden again. In contrast, in Job we are led
>into the experience of a wilderness. We see
>noble wild creatures nurtured by God, celebrated
>precisely because they resist human
>domestication. No longer is conquering and
>controlling nature part of the equation for
>discerning human dignity. We have a complex and
>rich biblical theology of partnership between
>God, humans and all other creatures.
>*************************************
>
>Don Nield
>
>
>
>George Murphy wrote:
>
>>----- Original Message ----- From: "Ted Davis" <TDavis@messiah.edu>
>>To: "ASA list" <asa@calvin.edu>; "George Murphy" <gmurphy@raex.com>
>>Sent: Monday, April 23, 2007 12:14 PM
>>Subject: Re: [asa] a thought for earth day (tomorrow)
>>
>>
>>>Concerning the history of Christian ideas about "dominion," including a very
>>>thoughtful and accurate refutation of Lynn White's famous claim that Xty
>>>caused the environmental crisis, I recommend reading Cameron Wybrow's
>>>excellent book, "The Bible, Baconianism, and Mastery of Nature." Here is my
>>>review:
>>>http://www.asa3.org/ASA/PSCF/1994/PSCF6-94Davis.html
>>>
>>>This is one of the very finest books on this topic, IMO, and ought to be
>>>much better known.
>>
>>
>>I've always thought that some Christians leaped
>>much too quickly to "refute" White. While it
>>would certainly be an overstatement to say that
>>Christianity necessarily leads to our "ecologic
>>crisis," it's true that empirical Christianity
>>- i.e., the way most Christians have read the
>>Bible & behaved toward the natural world in
>>accord with what they think it says - has
>>contributed significantly to environmental
>>problems. With some exceptions (White noted St.
>>Francis in particular), humanity's relationship
>>with the non-human world has been considered to
>>have relatively little religious significance.
>>& the problem goes back well before the time of
>>Bacon. I suggest H. Paul Santmire's _The
>>Travail of Nature: The Ambiguous Ecological
>>Promise of Christian Theology_ (Fortress, 1985)
>>as a good survey of Christian attitudes toward
>>nature from the earliest times to the twentieth century.
>>
>>Christians ought to make it clear, over against
>>non-Christian criticisms, that there are ways
>>of reading scripture & doing Christian theology
>>that give a proper role to the natural world.
>>But we also need to respond properly - &
>>sometimes sternly - to conservative Christians,
>>& especially those with political influence,
>>who think that any kind of Christians
>>environmentalism is New Age stuff, Gaia worship
>>&c. An article of mine at
>>http://www.elca.org/scriptlib/dcs/jle/article.asp?aid=97
>>deals briefly with this.
>>
>>Shalom
>>George
>>http://web.raex.com/~gmurphy/
>>
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>
>
>
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Received on Tue Apr 24 13:15:23 2007