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Scholarship on Faith and the Environment in the Mainline Protestant Denominations
Profound theological and ethical questions are
raised by the increasingly problematic relationships
between human beings and nature. What are Christians
to make of the way in which human civilization
is fraying the very fabric of life that sustains
it? What historic role have religious and secular
values played in that process? What religious
visions and moral values can guide us to a healthier
human ecology?
Theologians have been probing these questions
for decades:
- Uncovering the basis for creation care in
scripture and Christian tradition;
- Developing new theological perspectives on
nature, humanity, and God in conversation with
science, philosophy, and other religions;
- Formulating social and moral principles for
an eco-justice ethic, and applying them to particular
issues
- Challenging conventional understandings with
fresh perspectives from non-Western Christian
churches, feminists, indigenous peoples, and
marginalized communities.
The resulting literature, especially within mainline
Protestantism, is diverse. It includes retrievals
and defenses of Christian teachings as well as sharp
critiques of dominant forms of Western piety. Environmental
concern is regarded as a challenge to otherworldly
and individualistic interpretations of the faith,
and as a recovery of a fundamentally Christian,
God-centered affirmation of the goodness of the
material world. |
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Theologians argue
that ecological health is inseparable from justice
among human beings and that we need to transcend
human-centered values and embrace the independent
value of all creation. The discoveries of Western
science the benefits of technology and economic
development are affirmed, and criticized for their
devastating consequences for nature and people.
The contrasts often produce tensions and disagreements,
but they are not always blunt contradictions in
themselves: Theologians are adept at balancing
and integrating seemingly opposing truths, and
self-critique and reformation is itself a deeply
Christian tradition.
As a further step in this process of reflection,
a group of leading scholars on theology and the
environment gathered in September 2004 at the
College of Preachers. They reviewed past denominational
statements and theological scholarship, and developed
the NCCC's first ecumenical statement of environmental
principles.
See
a selected bibliography of mainline Protestant
writings on ecology and theology.
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