Hope in the Age of Climate Change

Creation Care This Side of the Resurrection

Doran

• Publisher: Cascade Books
• Year: 2017
• eBook ISBN: 9781498297035
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christian Theology

It is difficult to be hopeful in the midst of daily news about the effects of climate change on people and our planet. While the Christian basis for hope is the resurrection of Jesus, unfortunately far too many American Protestant Christians do not connect this belief with the daily witness of their faith. This book argues that the resurrection proclaims a notion of hope that should be the foundation of a theology of creation care that manifests itself explicitly in the daily lives of believers. Christian hope not only inspires us to do great and courageous things but also serves as a critique of current systems and powers that degrade humans, nonhumans, and the rest of creation and thus cause us to be hopeless. Belief in the resurrection hope should cause us to be a different sort of people. Christians should think, purchase, eat, and act in novel and courageous ways because they are motivated daily by the resurrection of Jesus. This is the only way to be hopeful in the age of climate change.

1

God the Creator

There are two features of contemporary American Protestant Christianity that make thinking about creation care in general and climate change in particular exceptionally difficult at times. First, many American Protestants tend to believe that Christianity has very little to do with the matters of this world and instead are focused on preparing people for a life far away in heaven. We often preach an other-worldly faith in spite of the distinctly this-worldly emphases of the ministry of Jesus. Therefore, we tend to believe, or at least live as if we believe, that caring for creation is quite far down the list of Christian priorities, if it is a part of our witness at all. It is as if we are modern-day descendants of the Great Awakenings of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, attempting to save souls from the fiery pits of hell. While this may indeed be an important component of the Christian mission, it is not the entirety of the Christian gospel, by any stretch. Second, the Evangelical stress on individuals finding a personal relationship with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ has also radically shaped the landscape of Protestant Christianity in the United States. Again, such a position may be defensible theologically, but it unduly shapes the character and concerns of many Protestant Christians. In particular, it dramatically reinforces a blatant sort of anthropocentrism that is famously critiqued by those outside of Christianity, and supposedly prevents Christians from dealing with environmental woes adequately. Perhaps these critics are onto something. If Christians believe that God is only interested in human affairs, then it is a short step to believing that we should not care about any creatures other than humans either. This view, however, is theologically indefensible; it finds no support in the biblical witness.

There are many ways that Scripture talks about God. God is our father; God is our rock; God is our shepherd; God is like a mother eagle who gathers her chicks; God is like a mother bear robbed of her cubs. Two dominant ways that the biblical witness and traditional Christian theology speak about God is as Creator and Redeemer. Both of these descriptions of God are significant when it comes to understanding and addressing ecological crises. For example, we might ask: Does the Creator of the universe really care about the myriad consequences climate change has on pandas, penguins, and polar bears, not to mention palm trees, peppermint vines, and pansies? If God does not, then maybe we should not either. But, if God does, then what might our response be as creatures made in the very image of God? Or, we might ask: does the great Redeemer who brought the slaves out of Egypt care that the effects of climate change are harming the planet’s poor and dispossessed disproportionately? Moreover, we might ask: If God is solely worried about human affairs, then does God have a cosmic redemptive plan or merely a plan to save humans?

God Cares for Nonhuman Creatures and the Rest of Creation

It has become all too common among American Christians to believe that God cares very little, if at all, for nonhuman creatures. Our anthropocentrism appears to know no bounds. Scripture, however, depicts something very different from our self-centered view of the universe. God cares deeply and intimately for nonhuman members of creation. God’s omniscience is not limited merely to human concerns. This care is demonstrated resolutely in God’s instructions to Noah in preparation for the flood. Noah was instructed to build an ark not merely to save his family, but to make suitable room for the creatures that God would send to him to save as well.40 While there are obvious difficulties with claiming God cares for nonhuman creatures while reviewing a narrative that depicts God violently wiping out most of creation, the inclusion of nonhuman creatures within the ark cannot be undersold. In Leviticus, God instructs the Israelites to allow the land to lie fallow every seven years so that it might rest and not be abused.41 With current scientific knowledge explaining just how teeming with life healthy soil is, the idea of a Sabbath for the land seems more pertinent than ever—even microbiota can be overworked. One of the vastly underestimated components of the account of God sending Jonah to Nineveh is God’s words in the short book’s final verse, which emphasizes the scope of God’s concern. Jonah is furious that God decided not to destroy the people of Nineveh despite their repentance. God responds thusly: “And should I not be concerned about Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also many animals?”42 God demonstrates how intimately God cares for creation by describing in explicit detail to Job in the whirlwind encounter the role God plays in the daily lives of its nonhuman members. God assists the lions and ravens with their search for prey. God knows when mountain goats and deer give birth.43 “Pathos drives God’s recitation of creation, beginning with the farthest reaches of the cosmos and concluding with the tightly knit scales of the sea-dragon, from the farthest to the smallest scale of perception, from cosmos to chaos.”44 Psalm 104 exhibits this sort of creation care as well. God makes sure the thirst of wild animals is quenched and causes the grass to grow for cattle. God listens for the lions’ roars because they seek their food from God. God also created trees, mountains, and rocks for various creatures to make their homes secure from predators. The psalmist records God’s care for inanimate members of creation and depicts God placing the mountains and waters in their proper places so that the foundations of the Earth might never be shaken. The psalmist also recognizes that without the divine presence the Earth would be devoid of life and all things would return to dust. The psalmist notes that creation is a source of joy for its inhabitants and its Creator.45 God delights in the biodiversity of life that is present on the Earth. One could say that God displays biophilia. This is not limited to the Old Testament; Jesus reiterates this central theme by reminding his followers that God takes care of the needs of the ravens of the air and the lilies of the field.46 God’s love for the world or cosmos is the reason that Jesus came into the world.47 In the longer ending of Mark, Jesus even commands his disciples to proclaim the gospel message to all of creation.48 Indeed, G...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• Chapter 1: God the Creator
• Chapter 2: God the Redeemer
• Chapter 3: The Resurrection Hope as the Foundation for Creation Care
• Chapter 4: Are We Really Stewards?
• Chapter 5: Humans: The Humble Creatures Who Hope in God
• Chapter 6: The Idol of Economic Growth
• Chapter 7: An Economy of Hope
• Chapter 8: The American Association with Food
• Chapter 9: Eating as a Christian Act of Hope
• Chapter 10: The Church as a Beacon of Hope: Part 1
• Chapter 11: The Church as a Beacon of Hope: Part 2
• Epilogue
• Bibliography