Christian Stewardship and Environmental Ethics
To some, Christian environmentalism sounds like an oxymoron. This may be true for several reasons. Christians are reluctant to take on a tree-hugging, nature-worshiping persona. Christians are also puzzled by the inconsistency of environmentalists who protest the killing of baby seals, but remain silent concerning the killing of unborn humans.
But another reason most likely stems from a famous essay in 1967 entitled, “The Historical Roots of Our Ecological Crisis,” by Lynn White, Jr. In this essay, in a Gestapo-like fashion, White blames Christianity for the world’s environmental problems. He writes, “Christianity…not only established a dualism of man and nature but also insisted that it is God’s will that man exploit nature for his proper ends. Hence we shall continue to have a worsening ecologic crisis until we reject the Christian axiom that nature has no reason for existence save to serve man.” White believes that the real loss was Christianity’s replacement of pagan animism, a belief that every object in nature possesses a spirit. To White, if we would return to animism we would avoid cutting down trees, damming up rivers, and boring holes into the side of mountains.
White’s essay became one of the most influential articles of its time and sparked a host of other essays in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Fred Van Dyke writes, “Part of its success was that it told secular academics what they wanted to hear, that religious traditions in general, and Christianity in particular, were contemptible mythologies, justifiably despised.” White’s indictment of Christianity was the prevailing belief for many years, but his accusation woke Christians from their ecological slumber. Many Christian theologians and scientists began to respond to this accusation by showing that White and others had completely mischaracterized Christianity and the Bible. Over time, many academicians dismissed White’s conclusion, but the sentiment remained in popular culture for some time. Today that sentiment is changing.
Ironically, environmentalists are now beginning to see the Judeo-Christian idea of stewardship as the last great hope in environmental ethics. Environmental philosopher Max Oelschlaeger writes, “For most of my adult life, I believed, as many environmentalists do, that religion was the primary cause of the ecologic crisis. I also assumed that various experts had solutions to the environmental malaise. I was a true believer….I lost that faith by bits and pieces…by discovering the roots of my prejudice against religion. That bias grew out of my reading Lynn White’s famous essay blaming Judeo-Christianity for the environmental crisis.” Oelschlaeger goes on to say, “The church may be, in fact, our last best chance. My conjecture is this: there are no solutions for the systemic causes of ecocrisis, at least in democratic societies, apart from religious narrative.”
In his popular conservation biology text, environmental ethicist J. Baird Callicott writes, “The Judeo-Christian Stewardship Environmental Ethics is especially elegant and powerful. It also exquisitely matches the requirements of conservation biology. The Judeo-Christian Stewardship Environmental Ethics confers objective value on nature in the clearest and most unambiguous of ways: by divine decree.”
Next week we’ll take a closer look at these divine decrees from Scripture.
a pdf version of this entry is available here
But another reason most likely stems from a famous essay in 1967 entitled, “The Historical Roots of Our Ecological Crisis,” by Lynn White, Jr. In this essay, in a Gestapo-like fashion, White blames Christianity for the world’s environmental problems. He writes, “Christianity…not only established a dualism of man and nature but also insisted that it is God’s will that man exploit nature for his proper ends. Hence we shall continue to have a worsening ecologic crisis until we reject the Christian axiom that nature has no reason for existence save to serve man.” White believes that the real loss was Christianity’s replacement of pagan animism, a belief that every object in nature possesses a spirit. To White, if we would return to animism we would avoid cutting down trees, damming up rivers, and boring holes into the side of mountains.
White’s essay became one of the most influential articles of its time and sparked a host of other essays in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Fred Van Dyke writes, “Part of its success was that it told secular academics what they wanted to hear, that religious traditions in general, and Christianity in particular, were contemptible mythologies, justifiably despised.” White’s indictment of Christianity was the prevailing belief for many years, but his accusation woke Christians from their ecological slumber. Many Christian theologians and scientists began to respond to this accusation by showing that White and others had completely mischaracterized Christianity and the Bible. Over time, many academicians dismissed White’s conclusion, but the sentiment remained in popular culture for some time. Today that sentiment is changing.
Ironically, environmentalists are now beginning to see the Judeo-Christian idea of stewardship as the last great hope in environmental ethics. Environmental philosopher Max Oelschlaeger writes, “For most of my adult life, I believed, as many environmentalists do, that religion was the primary cause of the ecologic crisis. I also assumed that various experts had solutions to the environmental malaise. I was a true believer….I lost that faith by bits and pieces…by discovering the roots of my prejudice against religion. That bias grew out of my reading Lynn White’s famous essay blaming Judeo-Christianity for the environmental crisis.” Oelschlaeger goes on to say, “The church may be, in fact, our last best chance. My conjecture is this: there are no solutions for the systemic causes of ecocrisis, at least in democratic societies, apart from religious narrative.”
In his popular conservation biology text, environmental ethicist J. Baird Callicott writes, “The Judeo-Christian Stewardship Environmental Ethics is especially elegant and powerful. It also exquisitely matches the requirements of conservation biology. The Judeo-Christian Stewardship Environmental Ethics confers objective value on nature in the clearest and most unambiguous of ways: by divine decree.”
Next week we’ll take a closer look at these divine decrees from Scripture.
a pdf version of this entry is available here
Labels: environmentalism, stewardship
posted on Friday, August 31, 2007 |
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