White Ecotheology

The issue of Deforestation has been high on the global environmental agenda for many years, and remains a serious problem today. In the tropics and many other parts of the world, nations continue to lose the valuable biodiversity, soil and water conservation, and climate regulation that natural forests provide. Christianity can only address this matter by continuing to combine an acceptance of the command to people to ‘multiply and replenish the earth’ (Genesis 1:28) with a balancing injunction to act as stewards of the environment. Charities such as Christian Ecology Link and World Vision work to increase awareness of the current ecological crisis and encourage adherents to live sustainably and make ‘green’ consumption choices.

As individuals on this earth, it is common to seek answers to questions which pertain to the origin of life. While some believe in a major scientific occurrence or some spiritual influence brought forth this world. Some may have no care in the matter, yet a large part of the world’s population has a belief based off the teachings and principles of Christianity. The purpose of this paper is to further explain the Christian worldview and many of its key factors such as God, Jesus Christ and the influence they have in the life of humanity.

Introduction In the book, The Advancement: Keeping the Faith in an Evolutionary Age, L. Russ Bush provides a synopsis of the worldview he called, “The Advancement.” Bush believed the worldview included thoughts of naturalistic evolution, inevitable progress, and process theology forming a worldview that dominates Western civilization. Bush overall purpose for his thesis, “The older worldview is not true because it’s old, and it too may be in need of refinement in light of better understandings of the Bible, but authentic Christianity is the best antidote for a culture that is dying from the venom of the Advancement.” The purpose of my evaluation of this book is to provide a summary of the main ideas and provide a critique of Bush’s strengths

Our earthly habitat is not an unexpected occurrence of little worth, but rather, it is one to be highly valued and preserved. The biblical doctrine of creation helps the Christian to understand the true significance of the world in order to deal with the environmental crisis. The Bible says, “For thus saith the Lord that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; he hath established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited…” (King James Version, Isaiah 45:18). In Christian teaching, God not only created Heavens and Earth, but expressed His delight in His creation. This creation meant, everything encompassing the trees, the

With the Pope’s latest publication there has been an increase in media coverage and interest with Christianity and environmentalism, but this is far from the first time these two subjects have crossed paths.When it comes to looking for examples of earlier “eco-theologists” several can be found in the american writing movement known as transcendentalism. This was an example of environmentalists and Christianity clashing. The transcendentalists were one of the earliest groups of environmentalists in the united states. The philosophical movement often challenged the teachings of the church and lead many to question Christianity. The leader of this movement, Ralph Waldo Emerson, went to school to become a preacher but ended up dismissing the Church

Christianity did play a role in the ecological crisis because it gave an excusal for the use

In the Historical Roots of Our Ecological Crisis, Lynn White argues that western Christianity is guilty and responsible for the current environmental crisis. He writes that Christianity gave human a reason to be a master over other living creatures and “nature objects”. I agree with White’s opinion that Christianity affected the nature negatively, but I expect no responsibilities for Christians. In this paper, I will write about why I support White’s idea, but not fully.

Despite many Christians, such as Patriarch Batholomew from the Greek Orthodox church who states that ‘For humans to contaminate the Earth’s waters, its land, its air, and its life, with poisonous substances. These are sins’ in an attempt to encourage prioritising environmental protection, climate skeptic Calvin Beisner states that “the Bible teaches that earth and all its subsystems… are the product of a God who is an infinitely wise designer”, reflecting that his personal interpretation of God’s revelation has led to his understanding of the Earth being intelligently design, so that humankind could not potentially destroy it, consequently leading to him not placing priority on the protection of the environment.

Too much of the Christian worldview’s attention is focused on reconciling the Bible with science and archaeological discoveries when it should be focused on redemption. The theme of the Bible could be summarized into four categories Creation,

In the following paper, I will be examining Lynn White Jr.’s (1967) chargers that Christianity, specifically Catholicism, is the reason behind our ecological crisis because of its emphasis on God’s transcendence, thus making it “the most anthropocentric religion in the world” (p. 1205). By turning to Pope Francis’ (2015) encyclical “Laudato Si’” and to John E. Carroll’s (2001) chapter titled “Catholicism and Deep Ecology”, I will seek to argue against White, by showing how Catholicism is fundamentally concerned with ecology based on its vision of God’s immanence.

Genesis explains that man derives free will from God, God’s greatest creation. The ability to think and do whatever one desires is the answer to individuals slaughtering the earth. However, to blame every person in the world is not fair to babies’ choices suppressed by their inferior minds, leaving the group of people that “have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth” (Genesis). These people teach and show their babies their dominance to the world simply by living life. The problem is not that humans dominate the earth, but their choice to unrestrainedly harvest from it, rather than to nourish and control it.

We are not victims of our biology or circumstances, we are responsible for our decisions and making choices is the most powerful thing in the universe, only beneath God of course. It was with this premise that great nations were built. The true Christian faith is the largest and most powerful force of civilization in history. It arose with just a few disciples in a dusty region far away from the centers of global decisions, and in a few centuries became the dominant culture of the world. We created a beautiful, scientific, technological, and advanced civilization. In spite of its many defects, what we call Judeo-Christian western civilization is the most beautiful invention of mankind up to today. Vishal Mangawadi in his wonderful work “The Book that Made Your World”, describes how, through the influence of the Bible, we had the anti-slavery movement, caring for the weak, widows, orphans, disabled, and miserable, democracy, justice, freedom of expression and human dignity.

In this essay environmentalism is a religion for some but not for others. Apon reviewing these articles and the authors takes on environmentalism as a religion or culture system. I will be using Chernus’ article to start an explanation on the role religion plays. Some examples will be pointed out as well as my opinion, using the aspects of these arguments of whether I agree, disagree towards any of these authors’ viewpoints. As comparing it to the United States’ overflowing melting pot, of ideas, experiences and opinions. Humans are what you let them mold themselves into.

A recurring idea called “Gnostism” is an example of flawed theology which can be exposed by the Creation story. The Gnostics claimed that “the one true God is too high and pure to be contaminated by our lower, physical reality. . . Thus, when Gnostics read the Old Testament, they concluded that the God presented there must be an inferior god.” (Wittmer) The story of Creation reminds Christians of how the world should be, well and good, and can help to paint a clearer picture of what the restored earth will be like.

“In the beginning,” reads the very first verse of the Bible, “God created the heavens and the earth.” Christians did not have a reason to doubt the truth of this statement before the mid-19th century until Charles Darwin’s research led him to postulate a naturalistic explanation for the diversity of species, including human beings that inhabit the Earth. Differing reactions to Darwin’s theory of evolution helped to split many Protestant denominations, with the modernists obliging the creation story to modern scientific findings and fundamentalists insisting upon the original