Renewing the Whole Creation

When the May Day celebrations were held in the late 1980s in Archangel in the Soviet Union, most flags in the parade were green rather than red. The parade had been overtaken by local ecology groups, the fastest growing informal organizations throughout the USSR. Alexei Yablokov, who heads the Academy of Sciences biology institute, said that 20 percent of Soviet citizens lived in "ecological disaster zones." And the editor of Novy Mir, the famous Soviet literary journal, said that the country's ecological crisis confronted them with profoundly "spiritual issues."

Throughout the world, ecological issues have been seizing center stage in recent decades. Within the Third World, ecological threats are increasingly being understood as linked to the perpetuation of economic injustice. In concrete situations, and among the thousands of self-help grassroots groups found in these nations, justice and ecological preservation are seen as interdependent parts of one whole.

But despite a truly incredible mushrooming of ecological groups in every corner of the globe, and the rhetorical embrace of environmental issues by most of the world's leading politicians, not much is happening to save the globe from ecological catastrophe. In a quite literal sense, the world is heading toward physical death; it is afflicted with a growing illness and decay caused by humanity's ecological transgressions.

Most striking in today's picture of ecological deterioration around the world is the sense of spiritual inadequacy to meet this crisis. The framework of modernity has crippled both capitalists and Marxists in their attempts to heal the rupture between humanity and the created world. Even secular environmental groups such as the World Wildlife Fund and the United Nations Environment Program have appealed earnestly to the world's major religions for help in addressing spiritually the environmental crisis.

IN RECENT DECADES, Christian churches around the globe have begun to realize that part of God's call in this day is to save the world. Today, virtually every time a major ecumenical group meets to address the challenges presented by contemporary realities, the threats to the integrity of creation are prominent on their agenda.

Mainline denominations not only pass resolutions dealing with the greenhouse effect and related matters, but they are beginning to fund staff with responsibilities in these areas. Official and unofficial initiatives within the Catholic Church have been launched as well. The Vatican established an institute on ecological problems in the late 1980s.

Agencies devoted to mission and development have begun giving major attention to integrating environmental perspectives into the understanding of holistic outreach. The World Council of Churches global conference on mission and evangelism challenged all the churches to rethink their understanding and programs of mission in light of the biblical affirmation, "The Earth is the Lord's." And in March 1990, hundreds from around the world gathered in Seoul, South Korea, at the WCC's much anticipated world convocation on Justice, Peace, and the Integrity of Creation.

But despite such response by the churches, much remains unclear. First, a fundamental search is under way around the world for new theological approaches that can address the ecological crisis. This process is filled with unanswered questions, presenting the need for a creative and deeply rooted theology to meet this challenge.

Second, relating ecological survival with the imperatives of economic justice is an urgent priority that the churches have not yet sufficiently addressed. Many who are committed to struggles for justice and are captivated by various forms of liberation theology remain deeply distrustful of any new emphasis by the church on ecological preservation.

Third, the churches have yet to perceive the connection between the demand for ecological survival and the quest for new social, economic, and political models that break out of the confines of the modern Western worldview formed by the Enlightenment and the Industrial Revolution. Secular political activists and new thinkers around the world -- rather than theologians or religious leaders -- are the source of far more creative vision concerning how to reshape their societies for the sake of the world's preservation.

Theology of the Earth
A few decades ago, theology dealing with the environment and ecology was almost nonexistent, especially in the Protestant West. Most thought on the subject concluded that humanity's duty was to conquer the earth. Some theologians celebrated the process of secularization, allowing primitive religious superstitions about nature to be overcome by the power of liberating technology.

Many ecological thinkers concluded that the biblical tradition, with its anthropocentric bias and its charge to "subdue the Earth," was largely responsible for the environmental perils facing the world. Few in the church could offer much of a defense. Evangelical theology was still crippled by an unbiblical wall of partition between the spiritual and the material. Liberal theology was being reshaped by the challenge of neo-orthodoxy. And Karl Barth, as another German theologian told me several years ago, "never thought much about the lilies of the field."

Further, the church's social activism was just emerging from the civil rights struggle and beginning to confront the Vietnam War. Defending the Earth seemed like neither a theological imperative nor a practical priority.

That all this has changed so radically, and in so short a time, is remarkable. Yet, what the churches are rejecting as inadequate and mistaken views about the environment is far clearer than what they are embracing as alternative theological perspectives. Questions abound, new spiritual approaches seem to multiply, and discernment is in short supply.

To simplify matters, three general approaches to the theology of creation can be considered. The first is the theology of domination. Crassly put, this assumes that humanity's God-given duty is to exploit the Earth in meeting any needs and fulfilling any desires. Any forms of technology -- regardless of their environmental recklessness -- are sanctioned in this task. And Genesis 1:26-28 is regarded as the proof text, giving the Bible's sole and conclusive word on the subject.

The biblical and theological arguments against this view are overwhelming and becoming widely accepted. Over the past years, Christians have become more aware of the vast biblical passages dealing with the value of creation, and the commandments, covenants, and teachings concerning its protection. While this is still the starting point for many Christians, it is seldom argued any longer that God blesses the destruction of the Earth.

Second is the theology of stewardship. This stresses humanity's obligation to be a wise caretaker of the Earth. Instead of subduing the Earth, from Genesis 1:28, we are asked to "tend the garden," from Genesis 2:15. The emphasis is placed on using resources wisely, remembering that they are not our own but only entrusted to us for our care.

From this view, technologies are evaluated in light of their environmental side effects. Further, the answers to problems of bad stewardship usually are given in terms of better technology and regulation. Scrubbers on coal-burning smokestacks, catalytic converters on cars, and superfunds for toxic waste cleanup are the kinds of responses prompted by responsible stewardship.

One need not minimize the value of such measures. But the churches should ask whether calls for better stewardship address either the whole of the biblical message regarding creation, or the heart of the challenge presented by global ecological deterioration. On both scores, in my judgment, a theology of stewardship is inadequate.

For most people, stewardship still implies a managerial relationship to nature. Humanity's task is to govern and order nature wisely, like a good monarch. Certainly, some biblical images and passages suggest such a view. And, as theologian Douglas John Hall and others have pointed out, the full and rich biblical meaning of humanity as a "steward" has been distorted and lost by dominant Christian thought on the subject.

Yet, the biblical pictures and the theological views that should form our understanding of God's creation move beyond advice to use it wisely. This doesn't deny, of course, that all of us are presented daily with occasion when we are in a managerial relationship toward some part of our physical environment, calling for more responsible actions. But the theological challenge is far more serious. Just as an adequate theology of peace in our time asks far more than simply urging combatants to settle their differences through negotiation, a solid theology of creation must do more than urge good stewardship.

Creation's Relationship to God
The third approach to creation may be called a theology of interrelationship. In several aspects, this rejects notions of domination and moves beyond the approach of stewardship. Here, in my view, are the main points:

Creation has value because of its relationship to God, rather than its utility for humanity.

If the churches are to fight for the preservation of the environment, they should be clear about the basis for defending the created world. And the final biblical answer lies in the relationship of creation to God, rather than its benefit for humanity. This makes a striking difference. Many biblical passages can be cited, beginning in fact with the first chapter of Genesis, which underscore the inherent value of the creation simply because it was created by God, is constantly sustained by God, and gives glory to God.

Several psalms, the concluding chapters of Job, and doxological passages such as Revelation 4:11 overturn the common idea that creation is valuable simply because humanity needs it. A theocentric, rather than an anthropocentric, view lies at the heart of an environmental ethic built on this foundation.

Creation offers a trustworthiness and reliability that, while not to be idealized, expresses the presence of God's grace upholding the world.

The habit of the modern Western mind has been to assume that God's work of creation stands in need of fundamental improvement. The rise of the scientific revolution was originally understood as the means for transforming and perfecting the created order. Such a transformation has surely occurred. But despite its many temporary benefits, the impact of the industrial and technological revolutions now threatens the Earth with destruction rather than offering perfection.

A recast theology of creation, therefore, now must affirm that our first impulse should be to trust and cooperate with the creation rather than remake it. Ecology -- a word that barely existed three decades ago -- has brought to science the study of the intricate interrelationships in the created world. Its theological counterpoint is found especially in the Wisdom literature of the Bible. Within God's creation, one can discover an order, wisdom, and trustworthiness that manifests God's presence and grace. The message comes early in Genesis as well, after the flood. God's Covenant with the Earth (not, please note, just with humanity) in Genesis 9 promises that creation can be trusted. God's faithfulness upholds the world, "seed time and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter."

Not that this is a guarantee against human disruption; in fact, the greenhouse effect, resulting from humanity's failure to respect this internal order of the creation, now threatens to unravel exactly this dependability of the creation provided by God. Rather, the insights from the Bible's Wisdom literature invite humanity to discover the harmony, wisdom, and grace given by God within the creation, and then to live accordingly.

God's work of redemption in Jesus Christ encompasses the whole of creation, and provides the grounds for restoring the brokenness in the relationship of humanity to creation, and both to God.

Some argue correctly that much of the recent attention to recovering a theology of creation has focused mostly on Old Testament themes and has not connected these with the whole of the biblical message. So it is worth remembering that God's intentions and purposes for the creation become focused in Jesus Christ. Through his life, death, and resurrection, the "new creation" breaks into this world.

The Old Testament images of salvation imply a healing and wholeness that encompasses relationships with God, between people, and with the land. These are made interdependent in ways that are hard for the modern, compartmentalized mind to understand. But continually, human rebellion and sin result in "the land mourning." Disobedience against God yields unfruitfulness at harvest time. Faithfulness calls the people of Israel to a powerful vision of the Jubilee year and sabbatical observances that embody a reconciled relationship between humanity and the creation.

This promise of "shalom" finds its full expression in Jesus. The reign or kingdom of God, which he announced, fulfilled the hope of creation's brokenness, in all ways, being healed. The New Testament sees the victory of Christ over the principalities and powers as defeating the rebellion that threatens to destroy all that God intends for the world. Thus, the New Testament declares both that "all things" were created through Christ and are reconciled in Christ.

This "new creation" in Christ can neither be simply individualized nor spiritualized. It relates to the whole of life, and to the material world. This sweeping scope of redemption has long been neglected in modern Western theology, but finds a consistent voice in the tradition of Orthodox theology stretching back for centuries. Essential to reformulating the churches' understanding of creation today is a full understanding of redemption and its implications for us in the face of modern ecological desecration.

The Holy Spirit

A fresh understanding of the Holy Spirit is central to the church's faith and witness on behalf of renewing the whole creation.

Perhaps the most neglected, and potentially the most fruitful, resource for reconstructing a contemporary theology of creation is the work of the Spirit. God's Spirit, after all, first blew over the waters, bringing forth the wonder of creation. Further, the Hebrew word means not only Spirit, but also "breath" and "wind." Thus, the psalmist says that God's breath gives life to all creatures and renews the face of the earth (104:30). This same breath, or Spirit, revives the dry bones of Ezekiel's vision (37:1-14), reminding us of that combination of "dust of the earth" and "breath of God" that gives life in Genesis 2:7.

This deep understanding of the Spirit's interrelationship to the gift of life in all the creation lies behind the promise in Joel, quoted at Pentecost, for the Spirit to be poured out on all flesh (Joel 2:28). Immediately before this verse, the vision of Joel declares, "Fear not, O land; be glad and rejoice ... Fear not, you beasts of the field, for the pastures of the wilderness are green; the tree bears its fruit, the fig tree and vine give their full yield" (2:21-22).

The gift of the Spirit is linked to the renewal of creation. The same connection is reflected in Paul's picture of creation's groaning for liberation, and the first fruits of the Spirit as the sign of that promise, in Romans 8. Remember, of course, that the presence of the Spirit in the community following Pentecost transformed their relationships to the material world. Life and economic goods became a gift, not a possession.

This presence, biblically underscored, of the Spirit in the world invites the church to look beyond its own confessional boundaries and resources in searching for a full understanding of God's relationship with the creation. For despite our need for prediction and control, the Spirit, as Jesus said, "blows where it wills."

Thus, the insights of other religious faiths, the relationship of indigenous peoples to their environment, and the perspectives that come from ecological and geological understandings of the creation must be considered openly and seriously in shaping a theology of creation. This calls for discernment. The contemporary worldwide quest for ecological health draws on a wide variety of cosmologies, spiritualities, philosophies, and experiences. But it is within this wider setting, rather than being secluded from it, that we can ask and expect that the Spirit will guide the churches "into all the truth" (John 16:13).

A trinitarian theology weaves together God's work of creating, redeeming, and sustaining the creation.

By now it should be clear that a comprehensive theology of creation will draw upon each of the three persons of the Trinity in relationship to the created world. Thus, time-honored dimensions of the church's understanding of faith can be infused with fresh vitality and undergird responses to the globe's ecological peril.

The meaning of faith in God the Creator, which starts all the church's historical creeds, can become a confessional statement with radically political consequences in today's world. The holistic understanding of the Old Testament concerning God's purposes not simply for a people, but for creation, can be recovered as prophetic words for our time.

Likewise, the cosmic dimensions of Christ's work of reconciliation, and the sustaining, creative presence of the Spirit in the creation, can be integrated into a powerful understanding of God's relationship to the world. This need is particularly crucial in light of how the modern secular worldview tends to separate humanity from "nature" and relate neither to any spiritual reality. A theology of creation grounded in the Trinity can provide the framework for overcoming such dangerous dualisms by affirming the interrelationship of God's activity in creating, redeeming, and sustaining.

New models and pictures must be found that appropriately present the theological truth of God's relationship to the creation.

Our past pictures of how God relates to the creation have been more influenced by the secularization of the world than by imagery of scripture or the creativity of theology. God is detached, like the clock maker who invented the clock, started it ticking, and then left.

The full tapestry of biblical pictures, and the theology that flows from them, offer a far richer variety of ways to understand God's relationship with the world. The pictures of God as Creator, the dramatic images of the incarnation, and the metaphors of the Spirit's creative presence all speak of how the world's life is connected to God -- and how God entered, in flesh, into the material life of the creation.

Some theology pushes us even harder to reflect on what this means. Is not the organic creativity in the world, essential to ongoing life at the simplest biological level, a mark of God's presence? Does the pattern of life, death, and new life, through which all creation is upheld, speak of an intrinsic grace? Have we neglected not only the immanence of God to the world, but the immanence of the world to God?

On such points, perspectives of feminist theologians also have much to contribute. The same patriarchal metaphors that place women subject to men also put the Earth, as an object of possession, under the domination of humanity. God is at the top of a hierarchy, sanctioning these patterns of power and far removed from the powerless. Feminists rightly argue that the entire metaphor, and the structures it supports, cruelly distort the message of God's liberating love.

More inclusive images of God's presence within the world respond to the whole of biblical affirmations that God is not only "above all" but also "through all and in all" (Ephesians 4:6). Some theologians suggest that God is related to the creation more like a mother is related to a developing child within her womb. While this maintains the Christian truth that God is the transcendent source of creation's life, it emphasizes the immanent, sustaining presence of God to the world, as well as the Earth's continuing growth and life.

From its earliest roots, Christian theology has sought to maintain both God's transcendence and immanence. God is not the creation. Yet, the life of creation rests in God. The new models and metaphors that will interpret these biblical truths to the ecological urgencies of our time must seek to express the deep interrelationship between God and the creation that Western theology of the past century or more has largely neglected.

A theology of creation for our time must provide a new worldview, offering a fresh framework for reorienting science, technology, economics, and politics.

We are in a time of changing paradigms. The way of understanding the world offered to us by the legacy of the Enlightenment and the scientific revolution, which developed the industry and technology of our time, cannot guide civilization to a sustainable future. Contemporary scientific insights and projections, as well as ecological realities and theological questions, all underscore the need to see the world in a new way.

Thus, the final mark of the church's theology of creation must be its ability to inspire such a new paradigm of understanding. And this relates not merely to the environment, but to the whole framework of modern life. If the church can enter into this search, then the quest for a new theology of creation can become our contribution to discovering God's life for the world's future.

AT BOTH A THEOLOGICAL AND A PRACTICAL level, ecological threats and injustice are the inseparable parts of one whole. Neither can be pursued in isolation from the other, and the biblical vision of "shalom" assumes such a holistic integration.

While much recent theology has begun to stress the interrelationship between justice, peace, and the integrity of creation, many still have doubts or hesitations at the practical level. The emphasis on preserving the creation, for instance, still prompts fears that work for justice will be compromised. And old attitudes enforcing the division, rather than the interdependence, between these still persist.

After representatives of the Green Party of Brazil visited the offices of the ecumenical movement in Geneva, Switzerland, in 1989, they reported, "The general feeling we received ... is that the ecology issue is a luxury Latin Americans should not think of until the problems of democracy, women, unemployment, agrarian reform, and racism are resolved." Such a view contradicted their own convictions that in Brazil "social issues cannot be separated from environmental issues." And it was also opposed to ecumenical theology that is committed, in principle, to uniting justice, peace, and the integrity of creation.

One practical consequence of developing a theology of creation for the future will be for the churches to discover a more solid framework for confronting the reign of injustice throughout the world today. Ultimately, such injustice is a rebellion against God's purpose for all creation, and in the end, pushes the world toward death.

Combating injustice, then, must find its roots in affirming the gift of God's creation. Few practical challenges are as great in the future as the task of joining back together the Christian calling to defend the creation and to establish justice, and then seeing both as essential to peacemaking.

THE URGENCY OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL crisis, the rise of "green politics," and the commitment to save the Earth plead for an understanding of how economic life can be molded by ecological wisdom to sustain the creation. In both the West and the East, traditional assumptions about economic development are being severely questioned. Both have often shared the idea that the only purpose and value of "nature" was for its resources to be exploited. And growing views, both theologically and politically, now reject such a thought.

What should be affirmed as an alternative, to inspire practically the contemporary search for new societies molded by justice, participation, and the preservation of creation, is less clear. But the search for such alternatives provides the churches with a historic opportunity. Underneath this quest is the growing realization that past social, political, and economic visions have failed, and cannot guide the world to a sustainable future.

In short, the world as a whole is not working. It is not working for the millions of people afflicted with economic deprivation. It is not working for the societies of the South that are crippled with debt. It is not working for the forests, animals, water, and land that are in fights for survival. It is not working for societies that attempted to resist the injustices of market economies with state-sponsored socialist structures.

Even for the prosperous societies, the environmental decay and spiritual emptiness spawned by mindless consumerism, along with pockets of economic despair in their midst, haunt their worlds. The future wholeness and life of creation, enabling survival and livelihood for all the Earth's people, is the challenge. And the present reality is that the world is not working toward that end.

Some, of course, reject such a picture. Talk is heard, and much discussed in the West, about reaching the "end of history," meaning that liberal, pragmatic capitalism has won over the world, answering the historical struggle for the future. We hear it claimed that pragmatic, technological power has triumphed over all ideology. And promises are made that we can trust the powerful forces guiding "development" and "growth" to secure a bright and hopeful future for all. Christians should be among the first to know that this is a lie.

Millions around the world are searching for some other vision, and looking for alternative paths, that might guide us toward a future in which the creation can be sustained for all. And this, I think, presents the churches with an exciting, hopeful, and spiritually rooted challenge for the years ahead.

Green parties in the West, and now beginning in the South, are transforming the terms of political debate. And they are starting to take local political power in places from West Berlin to Tasmania.

The dramatic events within the formerly socialist societies in Eastern Europe give further witness to this reality. Ecological concerns are one important part of these movements. On the whole, these developments represent from within their context the urgent search for political, economic, and ecological structures that can shape societies to meet the challenges of future decades. The churches in these societies have critical roles to play as they seek to discern their contribution to the future shape of their societies.

Many people speak of the challenge to live with a vision for a "post-modern" world. Modernity's worldview was formed through the lens of the Enlightenment and the scientific and industrial revolutions and has been imposed on much of the world's thinking. But increasingly, that way of perceiving the world feels like an illusion. Scientists, environmentalists, social activists, theologians, artists, and many others are sensing a spiritual inadequacy in seeing and treating the world through the lens of modernity.

A Christian commitment to God's creation, then, must challenge the dominant modern framework of thinking about the world and offer a new vision for societies, rooted in God's ongoing activity as Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer. Ultimately, this may be the most important result of the churches' growing involvement in ecological preservation.

We are rooted in the faith that this creation, though so wounded by sin, is in fact becoming God's new creation, through Jesus Christ. As this commitment is translated into the heart of the world's search for new models of society that can build a sustainable future for all, then Christians can embody in the life of our times the faith that God, indeed, creates, redeems, and sustains a world that can yet be saved by grace.

Wesley Granberg-Michaelson, author of Ecology and Life: Accepting Our Environmental Responsibility (Word Books, 1988), was the director of the Sub-unit on Church and Society of the World Council of Churches in Geneva, Switzerland when this article appeared. He was managing editor of Sojourners from 1976 to 1980.