Green Spirituality: What Has the Christian Life to dowith Nature?

Name: David Chong Wui HoweCourse: Christian Spirituality Instructor: Dr Tony Lim Date: 31

October 2011

Green Spirituality: What has the Christian Life to do with Nature?

The 2009 blockbuster movie “Avatar” told a futuristic tale of two species locked in astruggle for the planet Pandora. The villains were a group of greedy, materialistic andcolonizing humans hell-bent on mining precious minerals even though it would destroythe habitat of the natives. For these cut-throat mercenaries, Pandora’s lush, intricate eco-system was “nothing but ferns”. On the other hand, the protagonists were 10-feet-tall, blue humanoids called the Na'vi who lived in harmony with nature and worshippedEywa, the life-force permeating all of life. In the context of ecological problems that plague our own planet, it appears that popular culture presents us with a similarlystraightforward choice between crass capitalism and nature-friendly pantheism.For instance, the well-known Lynn White thesis traced the historical roots of our modern ecological crisis to the emergence of medieval Christian belief in “man’stranscendence of, and rightful mastery over, nature”

. Ancient pagans were afraid to cutdown a tree or mine a mountain because of spirits that supposedly reside in them. But bysupplanting pagan animism, it was argued that Christianity made it possible for Westernman to exploit nature in a “mood of indifference”. If the Bible legitimates man’sdominion over nature, isn’t Christian theology guilty of providing justification for environmental degradation? Isn’t a pantheistic belief that “everything is divine” or “weare one with the universe” more helpful to engender respect for every rock, tree, animalor blade of grass? In this assignment, I would like to propose that Christians could draw

Lynn White,

The Historical Roots of Our Ecologic Crisis,

Science 155, (March 10, 1967), pages 1203 – 12

on powerful resources from within its own spiritual tradition to care for creation withoutworshipping nature.

The Human Vocation: Dominion or Domination?

The first verse in the Bible affirms that God freely created the heavens and the earthin the beginning. The book of Genesis recounts poetically the handiwork of the DivineArtist in making the sun, moon, stars, animals and plants. It culminates with the creationof human beings in God’s own likeness. God exults in what He has made and declaresthat it was very good. When the work is done, He sanctifies and blesses the seventh dayfor rest and communion. Contrary to dualistic tendencies of Greek and Eastern philosophies, the Christian worldview actually affirms the goodness of the material worldand physicality. The human body is not a prison of the soul, to be discarded for adisembodied existence elsewhere. For the Christian, humanity is an integrated physicaland spiritual being. As such, we neither downplay material existence nor worship naturesince all of creation sings praises to God “for He commanded and they were created”(Psalm 148:5).In the Garden of Eden, human beings are mandated to exercise "dominion" over therest of creation (Gen. 1: 28). However, it is not a license to dominate or abuse other lifeforms. John Stott commented, “Since we hold it in trust, we have to manage itresponsibly and productively for the sake of both our own and subsequent generations”.

John Stott,

Issues Facing Christians Today: New Perspectives on social and moral dilemmas

, (London:Evangelical Publishing, 1990), page 121