Ecotheology

I often think about our relationship with the environment, and how our environmental values have been shaped by our religious heritage. Generally, Christianity has been perceived as not being helpful to conservation of our natural resources. The history of Christian civilization is replete with examples of destruction of native cultures and exploitation of economic and natural resources, particularly in European exploration and conquest of the Americas. Church and State have collaborated to subdue the natural world for economic gain.

While Paganism has been important in my life in clarifying and emphasizing the connection of the human spirit and the natural environment, I recognize that the vast majority of Americans are Christian, or at least guided by Christian values and beliefs. Pagans are not likely to represent a majority unless other faiths redefine themselves and look to their roots. The initial lectures outline how pagan beliefs may have merged with the founding of many of the world’s major religious traditions. We need to touch the common beliefs of Pagans and Christians – to maintain a dialogue, to educate, and to lead in the direction of a better relationship with the environment by using their own spiritual language and culture.

The Christian Bible does not bestow ownership of the Earth to human beings: “The earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof: the world and they that dwell therein” (Psalms 24:1). While civilization has developed a system of property rights and codified these rights as law, the Bible emphasizes that land transcends human ownership: “The land is mine; for ye are strangers and sojourners with me” (Leviticus 25:23). In a Biblical sense, land ownership is an artificial construct, antithetical to God’s will.

The Creation does not seem to be a finite occurrence, a one-time event; rather, it appears to be an ongoing process, where Divine inspiration allows for evolution and change through biological cycles more complex and delicate than we may ever comprehend. The “perfection” of God’s Creation 3000 years ago is certainly different from the “perfection” of Creation as it exists today. William Blake wrote that “everything that lives is holy”. The American poet and conservationist Wendell Berry has written “We are holy creatures living among other holy creatures in a world that is holy”.

Henry David Thoreau called the Bible a “hypaethral book” – one that is “open to the sky” and best read outdoors in nature rather than in a church. Perhaps it is through outdoor worship services that we could begin to reconnect Christians to the natural environment: “God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands” (Acts 17:24). If indeed the Church is described as “where two or three are gathered together in my name” (Matthew 18:20), then outdoor worship could provide a climate of receptivity to the natural wonders of earthly existence. Biologist Daniel Botkin wrote in No Man’s Garden:
“…like it or not, accept it or not, our perceptions of biological nature and of our connection to it do affect our spiritual sense. Within the context of Western civilization, which has treated religion as a historical process, a theologian who ignores this change risks having his religion become irrelevant to the masses of people when religious precepts no longer fit human needs, no longer answer human questions, no longer are congruent with the emerging world view.”