18 Christianity, Creation, and the Climate Crisis …
359
pause for thought. For if it is true that destroying creation is akin to tearing a page out
of the bible, what might it be called when—as the United Nations recently warned—
“1,000,000 species [are now] threatened with extinction”? (UN 2019; IPBES 2019,
pp. 3, 13) This situation has been described by McKibben (2005) as “tantamount to
… ‘decreation’ of the natural order we found on this earth” (p. 8).
Several scriptures hold important hermeneutical implications for nature conservation efforts,
10 and especially for those Christians who accept that on the authority
of the bible the Earth was formed by God and declared ‘very good’: “God saw all that
he had made, and it was very good” (Genesis 1: 31). Consequently, if it is true that
nature reflects something of who God is, then its conservation becomes a strategic
epistemological concern. In other words,
if God can be known through creation, then creation has inherent worth in and of itself—apart
from utilitarian value to humans. And importantly, if God can be ‘known’ through what He
has made, then ‘creation care’ is an epistemological priority of the highest order. Following
this argument, epistemologically speaking, God becomes progressively less ‘knowable’ from
what He has created as the defacing and careless destruction of His creation continues … Or
inversely, the knowledge of God can be preserved through the conservation of His creation.
(Luetz et al. 2018, pp. 59, 69)
In short, conserving creation conserves ‘revelatory knowledge’ about God. This then
translates into a clear and unambiguous mandate for caring for the Earth. Vociferous
Christians may also stand relieved of self-imposed efforts to verbally evangelise
about God, knowing that by simply safeguarding his creation they can support him
while he himself continues to disseminate his own message to all who are prepared
to receive it.
Having looked at the ‘book of creation’, we now turn to consider the ‘book of the
bible’ itself. Many scriptures attest to the preeminent place of ‘the truth’ in the biblical
canon. First and foremost, Jesus is quoted in the Gospel of John as embodying the
truth: “Jesus said: ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father
except through me” (John 14:6). Stated differently, with Christ laying claim to ‘the
truth’, the bible seemingly appropriates ‘the truth’ as belonging to God. This reading
of scripture is reminiscent of the widely quoted truism attributed to St. Augustine,
one of the Latin Fathers of the Church, who famously posited at the end of the fourth
century: “All truth is God’s truth” (Book Two, XVIII, 28; in Green 1997, p. 47).
Accepting this precept holds an important implication, for if all truth is God’s truth,
then it might be discovered in (and mined from) a range of sources, including (as
Augustine reminds his readers), “even in pagan literature”.
11
A modern-day appropriation of this principle can be found in climate change,
which science has unequivocally established as a fact: “Warming of the climate
10 “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands” (Psalm 19:
1). “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine
nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are
without excuse” (Romans 1: 20).
11 In the original rendition St. Augustine’s quote is recorded and translated by Green (1997) as
follows: “A person who is a good and true Christian should realize that truth belongs to his Lord,
wherever it is found, gathering and acknowledging it even in pagan literature…” (p. 47).
359
pause for thought. For if it is true that destroying creation is akin to tearing a page out
of the bible, what might it be called when—as the United Nations recently warned—
“1,000,000 species [are now] threatened with extinction”? (UN 2019; IPBES 2019,
pp. 3, 13) This situation has been described by McKibben (2005) as “tantamount to
… ‘decreation’ of the natural order we found on this earth” (p. 8).
Several scriptures hold important hermeneutical implications for nature conservation efforts,
10 and especially for those Christians who accept that on the authority
of the bible the Earth was formed by God and declared ‘very good’: “God saw all that
he had made, and it was very good” (Genesis 1: 31). Consequently, if it is true that
nature reflects something of who God is, then its conservation becomes a strategic
epistemological concern. In other words,
if God can be known through creation, then creation has inherent worth in and of itself—apart
from utilitarian value to humans. And importantly, if God can be ‘known’ through what He
has made, then ‘creation care’ is an epistemological priority of the highest order. Following
this argument, epistemologically speaking, God becomes progressively less ‘knowable’ from
what He has created as the defacing and careless destruction of His creation continues … Or
inversely, the knowledge of God can be preserved through the conservation of His creation.
(Luetz et al. 2018, pp. 59, 69)
In short, conserving creation conserves ‘revelatory knowledge’ about God. This then
translates into a clear and unambiguous mandate for caring for the Earth. Vociferous
Christians may also stand relieved of self-imposed efforts to verbally evangelise
about God, knowing that by simply safeguarding his creation they can support him
while he himself continues to disseminate his own message to all who are prepared
to receive it.
Having looked at the ‘book of creation’, we now turn to consider the ‘book of the
bible’ itself. Many scriptures attest to the preeminent place of ‘the truth’ in the biblical
canon. First and foremost, Jesus is quoted in the Gospel of John as embodying the
truth: “Jesus said: ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father
except through me” (John 14:6). Stated differently, with Christ laying claim to ‘the
truth’, the bible seemingly appropriates ‘the truth’ as belonging to God. This reading
of scripture is reminiscent of the widely quoted truism attributed to St. Augustine,
one of the Latin Fathers of the Church, who famously posited at the end of the fourth
century: “All truth is God’s truth” (Book Two, XVIII, 28; in Green 1997, p. 47).
Accepting this precept holds an important implication, for if all truth is God’s truth,
then it might be discovered in (and mined from) a range of sources, including (as
Augustine reminds his readers), “even in pagan literature”.
11
A modern-day appropriation of this principle can be found in climate change,
which science has unequivocally established as a fact: “Warming of the climate
10 “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands” (Psalm 19:
1). “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine
nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are
without excuse” (Romans 1: 20).
11 In the original rendition St. Augustine’s quote is recorded and translated by Green (1997) as
follows: “A person who is a good and true Christian should realize that truth belongs to his Lord,
wherever it is found, gathering and acknowledging it even in pagan literature…” (p. 47).