Stewards of Eden

What Scripture Says About the Environment and Why It Matters

Sandra L. Richter

• Publisher: IVP Academic
• Year: 2020
• ISBN:
  9780830849277
• Topic: Biological Sciences
• Subtopic: Environmental Science
• Index: Biological Sciences

ECPA Top Shelf Book Cover AwardBiblical Foundations Book Award WinnerSandra L. Richter cares about the Bible. She also cares about creation.An expert in ancient Israelite society and economy as well as biblical theology, she walks readers through passages familiar and not-so-familiar, showing how significant environmental theology is to the Bible's witness. She then calls Christians to apply that message to today's environmental concerns.Richter is a master Bible scholar. Each chapter draws out a biblical mandate about humanity's responsibility to care for the land, domestic and wild creatures, and people on the margins. She is also a master storyteller. Well informed on present-day environmental challenges, Richter includes case studies that connect the biblical mandates to current issues.Though modern political alliances may tempt readers to sever Christian faith from environmental stewardship, in this concise and accessible book, Richter urges us to be driven by God's values instead.

CREATION AS
GOD’S BLUEPRINT

We all long for Eden, and we are constantly glimpsing it: our whole nature at its best and least corrupted, its gentlest and most human, is still soaked with the sense of exile.

J. R. R. TOLKIEN, THE LETTERS OF TOLKIEN

I GAVE MY FIRST PUBLIC MESSAGE on the issue of environmental stewardship in 2005 at Asbury Theological Seminary’s Kingdom Conference. Historically, the goal of this conference has been to engage students in larger conversations regarding Christian responsibility across the globe. Standard topics have included training for effective cross-cultural communication; messages from courageous Christian cross-cultural workers (aka “missionaries”); organizations such as Word Made Flesh and SEND International; and ministries committed to assisting orphans, refugees, and trafficked women. Never had Asbury’s Kingdom Conference taken on environmentalism. But in 2005, under the courageous leadership of Professor Christine Pohl, the committee took the plunge. It was a tense moment for everyone. In central Kentucky in 2005, this was not a topic that “the church” talked about. At least not from the pulpit. But being young and idealistic, I said yes to the event and dove into the task with a full heart. I was determined to reach my audience in a fashion that would engage and challenge without offending. And in the twenty-five minutes allotted to me, I preached my heart out. To my joy, my community responded with the same—wide-open hearts. The end result? This event launched a movement at Asbury that is still moving forward.

We definitely had our challenges. There was more than one accusation of “hippie do-gooder-ism,” there were lots of questions about finances and labor, and there was one particularly telling faculty meeting in which I had to actually show my colleagues where to find the numbers on the bottom of their plastic water bottles and explain what the numbers meant! But we moved forward, and we created one of the most effective institutional recycling programs I’ve ever seen.

The director of custodial services, Craig Reynolds, was a critical ally in this expedition into the unknown. Although he had not been socialized into institutional environmental commitments (we’re talking about Wilmore, Kentucky, here), when Craig became convinced of the moral imperative, he not only joined the team but also did the hard work of designing a financially advantageous response. Craig crunched the numbers and demonstrated that recycling our copious amounts of paper was cheaper than trashing it. He found that employing a company such as Shred-it resulted in a reduction in labor for his custodial staff. Together we found permanent solutions to our particular scenario. Then came Matthew and Nancy Sleeth (of Blessed Earth fame), who further educated the community on the topic and offered their time and resources. When President Timothy Tennent arrived in 2009, he brought the seminary to a new level, making it clear that the next phase of expansion would be organized with an eye on sustainability. As a result, after “a long obedience in the same direction,” this seminary has been transformed into a leading recycler in the region.

But as with so many efforts toward individual and systemic reform, the Asbury community was only able to respond to this challenge because the issue was addressed via the community’s own value system. In this case, Asbury needed to hear a biblical argument as to why environmental stewardship matters to the kingdom.

So how does one mount a biblical argument on this topic? Like all issues of faith and praxis, to determine whether a value is biblical, it must be subjected to a survey of the biblical text. As interpreters and exegetes, we must ask the question: Do I see this particular value or precept systematically represented in the text as an expression of the reign and rule of God? Or is this value limited to a marginal representation in the Bible via the particularities of situational ethics? To make an argument that environmental concern is a kingdom value, the issue must rise to the level of the former—a consistent component of God’s instructions to humanity, a regular attribute of God’s communicated values and affections. And as all biblical theology starts in Eden, we must start our inquiry there as well.

WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY?

In the opening chapter of Genesis, God reveals his blueprint for creation. A close reading of this chapter demonstrates that the questions the biblical author is attempting to answer are, Who is God? What is humanity? and Where do we all fit within this cosmic plan? In figure 1, we see that the reader is offered an answer to these questions via the literary framework of a perfect “week.” Here the interdependence of the cosmos is laid out within seven days of creative activity, crowned by the final day, the Sabbath. Thus, on days one through three we are offered three habitats (or kingdoms): (1) the day and night, (2) the sea and heavens, and (3) the dry land. On days four through six, the inhabitants (or rulers) of these various realms of creation are put in their proper places as well: (4) the sun and moon to rule the day and night, (5) the fish and birds to occupy the sea and sky, and (6a) the creatures who inhabit the dry land.1

Figure 1. The seven days of creation in Genesis 1–2:3

As we consider the relationship between the first three days of Genesis’s creation song, which designate the habitats/kingdoms of creation, and the final four days, which identify the inhabitants/rulers of those same realms, we find a correlation that communicates place and authority. Therefore, on day four we read that God creates the “two great lights” to “govern” (or “be lord of”; Hebrew: māšal) the day and night (Gen 1:14-19). On day five we read that fish and birds are created to “be fruitful, multiply, and fill” the seas and skies (Gen 1:20-23). On day six the land creatures are created to occupy the dry land (Gen 1:24-25). But as we approach the sixth day, we find that the literary structure of the piece shifts dramatically. Why? To communicate the crucial role that this stanza holds in the larger piece. Even the most casual reader can see that this day is given the longest and most detailed description up to this point. Why so much attention? Because this penultimate climax of Genesis 1 offers us the most breathtaking aspect of the Creator’s work so far. On this day a creature is fashioned in the likeness of the Creator himself. On this day humanity (ʾādām) is created in the image of God.

Then God said, “Let us make humanity [ʾādām] in our image [ṣelem], according to our likeness; so that they may rule [Hebrew: rādâ]2 over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” (Gen 1:26)

The profound implications of humanity (ʾādām) being fashioned and animated as God’s physical representatives on this planet cannot be overstated.3 Both the biblical text and its ancient Near Eastern counterparts make it clear that for humanity to be named a ṣelem (image) is for humanity to be identified as the animate representation of God on this planet. In essence, woman and man are the embodiment of God’s sovereignty in the created order. Here male and female are appointed as God’s custodians, his stewards over a staggeringly complex and magnificent universe, because they are his royal representatives. Like the fish and birds, humanity is commanded to “be fruitful, multiply, and fill” their habitat. But because they are the image bearers of the Almighty, they are also commanded to “take possession of” (Hebrew: kābaš), and “rule” (Hebrew: rādâ) all of the previously named habitats and inhabitants of this amazing ecosphere as well:

God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth so that you may take possession of it [kābaš].4 Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the heavens and every living thing that moves on the earth.” (Gen 1:28)

In the language of covenant, Yahweh has identified himself as the suzerain and ʾādām as his vassal. Moreover, Yahweh has identified Eden as the land grant he is offering to ʾādām.

The final stanza of the creation song introduces the ultimate climax of both the week and the message—the Sabbath day (Gen 2:1-3). This seventh day is set apart; it is sacred; it is holy. This day communicates that the universe in all of its breathtaking symmetry is finished, that the Creator is pleased, and as an expression of his good pleasure God has seated himself on his throne to revel in the beauty before him. Most important to us, the seventh day communicates that the perfect balance of this splendid and synergetic system is dependent on the sovereignty of the Creator.5 And as God is enthroned over all the vastness of our universe on the seventh day, humanity’s installation on the sixth day announces that man an...