Ecology and Faith

Reflections on Ecology and Faith

A Paper by Craig H. Scott, Unitarian Universalist Minister

A.  Rethinking the Relationship Among Humans, Nature, and "God"

Historically, religious traditions, including the Western Judeo-Christian tradition have played a significant role in forming our view of humans, God, and nature, and how they interact. As shown in the scripture passages and commentary that follow, for much of history, that relationship has been seen as a hierarchical one, in which "God" creates the cosmos, and then creates humans in "his" own image. Humans then are given dominion (which many have interpreted as "domination" over the natural world). Although this is the view that has tended to predominate, religious traditions, and scripture, do provide other, more ecological, ways of envisioning this relationship.

The purpose of this brief reflection is to suggest that we begin to envision a different sort of relationship among humans, God, and nature, one that is not hierarchical. Unitarian Universalists descended from the Congregationalists of early New England, but also tracing our roots back to Reformation Europe and even before that to the early 4^th Century C.E. are a faith based on relationship rather than creed. That is, our theology says that we connect with Divine power in the world through relationship with other humans and with the animals and plants rather than through a set of beliefs. We do, however, affirm Seven Principles of our faith. The seventh of these principles, in its entirety, calls on us to affirm and promote respect for the interdependent web of all existence, of which we are a part. The web provides us with a powerful symbol of an ecological worldview, suggesting the interdependence of ecosystems, but it also provides a powerful theology. If we look at the world in terms of an interdependent web, we place "God," the sacred, transforming power, within the horizontal framework of the web of all existence, rather than in a position of dominance over the rest of creation. Humans, nature, and God work together to spin the web of existence.

The readings from scripture help us to see what various religious traditions have to say about the relationship among the Divine, humans, and nature, based on ancient sources. Some of them can be seen to carry negative implications for a healthy ecological relationship. Others might be read to point the way toward deeper ecological understandings and relationships.

The Commentary that follows these readings is intended to suggest ways that we might see how principles of "dominance" have tended to shape our thinking, and how we might begin to rethink our world view towards one of interdependence.

B. Passages From Ancient Scriptures (Bible, New Revised Standard Version)

1. Hebrew Bible

1. Dominion

So Elohim created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them, Male and female, he created them.

Elohim blessed them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it;

and have dominion over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth." (Gen 1:27-28).

"Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth.

The fear and dread of you shall rest on every animal of the earth,

and on every bird of the air, on everything that creeps on the ground, and on all the fish of the sea;

unto your hand they are delivered. Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you; and just as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything." (Gen 9:1-3).

2. Stewardship

Six years you shall sow your land and gather its yield; but in the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie fallow. Let the needy among your people eat of it, and what they leave let the wild beasts eat. You shall do the same with your vineyards and your olive groves. (Exodus 23:10)

When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap all the way to the edges of your field, or gather the gleanings of your harvest.

You shall not pick your vineyard bare, or gather the fallen fruit of your vineyard; you shall leave them for the poor and the stranger: I am the Lord your God. (Lev 19:10-11).

Six years you shall sow your field, and six years you shall prune

your vineyard, and gather in their yield;

but in the seventh year there shall be a sabbath of complete rest for the land, a sabbath for the Lord; you shall not sow your field or prune your vineyard. (Lev 25:3-4).

You shall observe my statutes and faithfully keep my ordinances,

so that you may live on the land securely.

The land will yield its fruit, and you will eat your fill

and live on it securely. (Lev 25:18-19).

The land shall not be sold in perpetuity, for the land is mine;

with me you are but aliens and tenants.

Throughout the land that you hold, you shall provide

for the redemption of the land. (Lev 25:23-24).

3. Kinship; Interdependent Web

Then YHWH formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living being.

And YHWH  planted a garden in Eden, in the east; and there he put the man whom he had formed. (Gen 2:7-8)

Then YHWH said, "It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper as his partner."

So out of the ground YHWH formed every animal of the field and every bird of the air, and he brought them to the man to see what he would call them; and whatever the man called every living creature was its name.

The man gave names to all the cattle, and to the birds of the air, and to every animal of the field; but for the man there was not found a helper as his partner.

So YHWH caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then he took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh.

And the rib that YHWH had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. (Gen 2:18-22).

Have you entered the storehouses of the snow, or have you seen the storehouses of the hail ... ?

What is the way to the place where the light is distributed,                                                  Or where the east wind is scattered upon the earth?

. . .

Can you lift up your voice to the clouds, so that a flood of waters may cover you?

. . .

Who has the wisdom to number the Clouds? Or who can tilt the waterskins of the                 heavens,

When the dust runs into a mass and the clods cling together? (Job 38:22, 24, 34, 37-38).

Can you hunt prey for the lion, or satisfy the appetite of the young lions,

when they crouch in their dens, or lie in wait in their covert?

. . .

Do you know when the mountain goats give birth?

Do you observe the calving of the deer?

Can you number the months that they fulfill,

And do you know the time when they give birth?

(Job 38:39-40; 39:1-2)

Is it at your command that the eagle (Heb.: vulture) mounts up and makes its nest on high? in the clouds?

It lives on the rock and makes its home in the fastness of the rocky crag.

From there it spies the prey; its eyes see it from far away.

Its young ones suck up blood; and where the slain are, there it is.

(Job 39:27-30)

2.   New Testament

Kingdom of God

The kingdom of God is not coming with things that can be observed;

nor will they say, "Look, here it is!" or "There it is!  For, in fact,

the kingdom of God is among [or within] you. [Luke 17:20-21 (NSRV)]

It will not come by watching for it. It will not be said, "Look, here!" or "Look , there!" Rather, (the Father's) imperial rule is spread out upon the earth, and people don't see it. (Thomas 113)^[1].

But if by God's finger I drive out demons, then for you God's imperial rule has arrived. (Luke 11:20).

Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. (Matthew's version of the Lord's prayer, Mt 6:10).

Jesus said, "If your teachers say to you, 'Look, the kingdom is in heaven,' then the birds will get there before you. But the kingdom is within you, and it is outside you. If you know yourselves, then you will be known; and you will know that you are the sons of the living Father." (Thomas 3, Mitchell trans.).^[2]

3.   Later Judeo-Christian Views

The high, the low

All of creation,

God gives to humankind to use.

If this privilege is misused,

God's justice permits creation to punish humanity.

(Hildegard of Bingen)

The world, we are told, was made especially for man a presumption not supported by all the facts . . . Why should man value himself as more than a small part of the one great unit of creation? (John Muir)

The land ethic simply enlarges the boundaries of the community to include soils, waters, plants, animals, or collectively: the land . . . it changes the role of Homo sapiens

from conqueror of the land to plain member and citizen of it. It implies respect for its

fellow members, and also respect for the community as such. (Aldo Leopold).

In the Judeo-Christian tradition, the biblical concept of dominion is quite different from the concept of domination, and the difference is crucial. . . . [F]ollowers of the tradition are charged with the duty of stewardship, because the same biblical passage that grants them "dominion" also requires them to "care for" the earth even as they "work" it. [Al Gore, Earth in the Balance, p. 243].

C.  Commentary

Hebrew Scripture -- Dominion, Stewardship, and Kinship

Dominion

The image of "the interdependent web of all existence, of which we are a part." Has not been the prevalent view in the modern world of the relationship among humans, nature, and the divine. Western Judeo-Christian scripture and doctrine have espoused other, more prevalent, views of humans and nature, and some of these views have done a great deal of harm over the centuries.

In the very first chapter of Genesis, the author, whom scholars refer to as the "Priestly writer," recounts how Elohim, his name for God, created the world. All was chaos, waste, and darkness, the earth was a "formless void," and the first thing that Elohim created was light. Step by step, Elohim created the sea,  the sky, and the land, and then began to populate it with fish, birds, and animals. Finally, the author describes  Elohim's creation of humans:

So Elohim created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them, Male and female, he created them.

Elohim blessed them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it;

and have dominion over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth." (Gen 1:27-28).

And later in Genesis, after the account of the great flood, this same author recounts how Elohim said to Noah and his sons:

Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth.

The fear and dread of you shall rest on every animal of the earth,

and on every bird of the air, on everything that creeps on the ground, and on all the fish of the sea;

unto your hand they are delivered. Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you; and just as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything. (Gen 9:1-3).

So, in this "dominion" creation account, the author tells us that God created humans in his own image (and yes, God is definitely male here), and gave them dominion over the earth, including all the plants and animals. In effect, humans were created to be little gods, or little generals for God, here on earth, holding god-like powers over the rest of creation. Unfortunately, this view of creation, sometimes called "dominion theology" by scholars, has been prevalent throughout the history of development in the West. And it continues to be the dominant view, as humans go on using up the world's resources at an unsustainable rate.

These passages were written roughly 2,500 years ago, in the context of Middle Eastern societies that were agrarian in character. The populations consisted primarily of peasants who took their flocks into the hills or who struggled to eke out a living by farming the arid soil. In this context, the idea that humans would ever actually subdue the world might have seemed desirable, but probably also seemed far-fetched. However, times have changed, populations have exploded, and we are in serious danger of over-exploiting the world's resources. So it is not too surprising that critiques of dominion theology have been a very recent phenomenon. An article written by a  professor at UC Berkeley, and published in the journal Science, in 1967, opened up scholarly debate about the adverse effects of dominion theology.^[3] Although debate continues, and dominion theology has its apologists, most progressive scholars today are looking for scriptural and doctrinal authority to support a more ecological view of humans and nature.

Stewardship

"Dominion theology" is tempered somewhat by biblical injunctions that require humans to be good stewards over the land. Thus, for example, the author of the book of Leviticus shows us God telling the Israelites, through Moses, that they must give farmland a rest every seventh year:

Six years you shall sow your field, and six years you shall prune

your vineyard, and gather in their yield;

but in the seventh year there shall be a sabbath of complete rest for the land, a sabbath for the Lord;

you shall not sow your field or prune your vineyard. (Lev 25:3-4).

These injunctions were meant to enable the Hebrew people to live within their resources, so that the land would continue to sustain them:

You shall observe my statutes and faithfully keep my ordinances,

so that you may live on the land securely.

The land will yield its fruit, and you will eat your fill

and live on it securely. (Lev 25:18-19).

Humans were given the land only as tenants, and they must care for it and maintain it:

The land shall not be sold in perpetuity, for the land is mine;

with me you are but aliens and tenants.

Throughout the land that you hold, you shall provide

for the redemption of the land. (Lev 25:23-24).

So, the Bible enjoins humans to be good stewards of the land, and this certainly helps to moderate some of the harshness of dominion theology. This concept of stewardship has become popular within the field of environmental ethics. For example, Al Gore used the stewardship model for caring for creation in his book, Earth in the Balance. Gore writes:

In the Judeo-Christian tradition, the biblical concept of dominion is quite different from the concept of domination, and the difference is crucial. . . . [F]ollowers of the tradition are charged with the duty of stewardship, because the same biblical passage that grants them "dominion" also requires them to "care for" the earth even as they "work" it. [Earth in the Balance, p. 243].

Thus, the concept of stewardship calls on humans to be responsible and to care for the earth. Note, however, that it does not disturb the underlying premise of dominion theology -- that humans are created in the image of God and that they stand in some sort of hierarchical relationship to the rest of creation. Under this view, humans have authority and control over nature. Although they are enjoined to use their authority responsibly, they are above nature in the hierarchy, and they occupy a place of particular importance, with special status and power.  So, even if we add stewardship to the picture, we are still a long way from an ecological worldview. What we need is a view of humans and nature that sees the environment as more than just a backdrop for

human drama, that sees the natural world as what sustains us. A view that focuses, in other words, on sustainability and distributive justice, on our profound dependence on each other and on the earth.

Kinship; the Interdependent Web

The Unitarian Universalist 7^th Principle provides an ecological lens through which we might view the relationship between humans and the earth. The model of the interdependent web of existence stands in opposition to the dominion theology of humans and nature that we find in Genesis. Rather than occupying a dominant position over the earth, humans are seen as being part of an interdependent system of relationships. The image of the web is important because it illustrates the interdependence of all things something that affects one part of the web affects the entire web, and the web cannot exist when parts of it are removed; every part is essential. Buddhist activist and teacher Robert Aitken put it this way:

Watching a spider at work,

I vow with all beings

To cherish the web of the universe;

Touch one point and everything moves.

It is also essential that humans recognize that they are also part of the web of existence. We need to remember that humans are just as much a part of ecosystems as all the other plants and animals, so that everything we do affects every other part of the system. So, if the concept of the interdependent web stands squarely opposed to dominion theology, does this mean that we have to jettison the Bible altogether, along with 3,000 years of Judeo-Christian tradition, in order to take an ecological worldview?

No, it doesn't. As it happens, the Bible also provides abundant support for a theology based on the interdependent web. Chapters 2 and 3 of Genesis, which contain the Garden of Eden story, were written by another author than the "priestly" writer of chapter one, and they contain a completely different creation story. This creation story uses the name "YHWH" for God; the English translation is usually "lord" or "lord God" and the author is therefore known to scholars as the Yahwist writer. At some point these two stories  were combined into a unified, but inconsistent, book of Genesis. In the Yahwist version, creation begins not out of a chaotic void, but with an uninhabited world, in which YHWH has not yet made it rain, and there is no one to till the soil. In this account, the first act of creation occurs when YHWH forms the first human out of the dust of the ground and breathes life into Adam's nostrils. Only then does YHWH plant the Garden of Eden, and begin to create trees and rivers, animals and birds, and of course Eve, from Adam's rib.

So in this account, humans are made from arable soil and not in God's image. It is important that arable soil is the medium of creation, because it is clear in this account that humans have been created, not to rule over the earth, but to cultivate the soil in

the garden. The Hebrew word used for this purpose means "to serve," as opposed to the word that is translated "to subdue" in dominion theology's creation story. Thus, this writer sees the human as the servant, not the master, of the land, emphasizing human interdependence with, rather than dominion over, the earth.

In the Garden of Eden account, the animals are also created from the soil, and humans are not distinguished from other forms of life, but identified with them. In fact the same phrase, "living beings," is used for both humans and animals, although many translators have been unable to accept this usage and have attempted to make unwarranted theological distinctions. The priestly writer of chapter 1 sees humans, created in God's image, as distinct from other forms of life, while the Yahwist writer views humans as made, like the animals, from arable soil, and thus related to other forms of life.

The Book of Job provides a set of very powerful images of the interdependent web of existence. After YHWH subjects Job to a series of privations to win a bet, He appears to Job as a voice from a whirlwind, and speaks to Job in some of the most beautiful poetry to be found anywhere in world literature. YHWH speaks with obvious pride and delight of the wildness of the natural world, of things that are inexplicable and painful but unbearably beautiful, of the rightness of the natural world, which brews in YHWH, and in us, a fierce and intoxicating joy. The author writes movingly of YHWH's pleasure in the wonders of the natural world (these are just a few examples):

Have you entered the storehouses of the snow, or have you seen the storehouses of the hail. . . ?

What is the way to the place where the light is distributed,                                                  Or where the east wind is scattered upon the earth?

. . .

Can you lift up your voice to the clouds, so that a flood of waters may cover you?

. . .

Who has the wisdom to number the Clouds? Or who can tilt the waterskins of the                 heavens,

When the dust runs into a mass and the clods cling together? (Job 38:22, 24, 34, 37-38).

          And then the voice from the whirlwind begins to speak of YHWH's delight in the wildness of the animals:

Can you hunt prey for the lion, or satisfy the appetite of the young lions,

when they crouch in their dens, or lie in wait in their covert?

. . .

Do you know when the mountain goats give birth?

Do you observe the calving of the deer?

Can you number the months that they fulfill,

And do you know the time when they give birth?

(Job 38:39-40; 39:1-2)

The author ends this beautiful imagery of the natural world with YHWH telling Job about vultures:

Is it at your command that the eagle (Heb.: vulture) mounts up and makes its nest on high? in the clouds?

It lives on the rock and makes its home in the fastness of the rocky crag.

From there it spies the prey; its eyes see it from far away.

Its young ones suck up blood; and where the slain are, there it is.

(Job 39:27-30)

What kind of an answer is this? Job demands justice of YHWH, and complains that otherwise the world makes no sense, and in response YHWH shows Job an image of little vultures drinking blood! YHWH ignores Job's demands completely, and answers with what seems to be a total non-sequitor. But if we think about it, we can see that the author has given us an ecological model of the world. He shows us a world of interdependent parts, each one of which is equally important: humans are not at the center of things, and they play no greater role than baby vultures, or lions, or antelopes, or, for that matter, than trees and rain clouds, mountains and oceans. The author gives us a vision of the world in which humans are not made in the image of God and are not meant to rule over the earth. Instead, the author describes a world of interconnectedness, in which each creature is equally important and all are part of the interdependent web.^[4]

The author of Job may have been the first great nature writer, but many writers since have echoed this theme. Thus, for example, John Muir wrote:

The world, we are told, was made especially for man a presumption not supported by all the facts . . . Why should man value himself as more than a small part of the one great unit of creation?^[5]

The great naturalist and writer, Aldo Leopold, used the term "land ethic," for what we call the interdependent web:

The land ethic simply enlarges the boundaries of the community to include soils, waters, plants, animals, or collectively: the land . . . it changes the role of Homo sapiens from conqueror of the land to plain member and citizen of it. It implies respect for its fellow members, and also respect for the community as such.^[6]

2.  The New Testament -- The Kingdom of God

Jesus of Nazareth was an important social critic and activist  in the tradition of many Old Testament prophets who challenged the existing order. As a Jewish peasant of the 1^st Century Middle East, Jesus confronted a multi-layered system of oppression, and he challenged it in a number of ways, offering an alternative social vision.^[7]

· There was the oppression of the Romans and the Herodian kings who served under them;

· A very small wealthy elite monopolized most of the wealth in society at the expense of the peasants;

· The patriarchal society was both hierarchical and male-dominated.

· Under the oppressive system controlled by the Temple in Jerusalem, priestly elites, including lawyers, scribes, and Pharisees imposed a purity system that was rigidly hierarchical and repressed women, slaves, the disabled, and so on.

This domination system, of course, is seen by eco-feminist scholars as a system that must be challenged. Oppression of women and other groups was typical of a broader culture of oppression that extends to the earth as well.^[8] According to this view, human domination of nature is inextricably linked to systems of gender, class, and racial domination.  Thus, to begin to articulate a different relationship to the earth, we must approach the issue in terms of eco-justice, bringing about a social reordering that overturns these systems of domination. In his attacks on the domination system, Jesus went beyond simply acting as a social critic; Jesus articulated and advocated an alternative social vision.

This social vision provides powerful arguments for a theology of ecology that lies in what various scholars have characterized as the "kingdom of God" passages. Most notable in this regard are the following:

The kingdom of God is not coming with things that can be observed; nor will they say, "Look, here it is!" or "There it is!  For, in fact, the kingdom of God is among [or within] you. (Luke 17:20-21)

It will not come by watching for it. It will not be said, "Look, here!" or "Look, there!" Rather, (the Father's) imperial rule is spread out upon the earth, and people don't see it. (Thomas 113)

Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. (Matthew's version of the Lord's prayer, Mt 6:10).

Jesus said, "If your teachers say to you, 'Look, the kingdom is in heaven,' then the birds will get there before you. But the kingdom is within you, and it is outside you. If you know yourselves, then you will be known; and you will know that you are the sons of the living Father." (Thomas 3, Mitchell trans.).^[9]

As Jesus describes the kingdom, it is open to anyone who can perceive it, and it does not require the mediation of the Temple or the priests. It can also be seen as a social vision, articulated by Jesus in his prophetic role.  As such, it contrasts the kingdom of God with the kingdoms of Herod, Caesar, and so forth. It is what life would be like on earth if God were king and Herod and Caesar were not. It may also refer to the community of those living under the kingship of God. In a world governed by the kingdom of God, the poor would be blessed, gender and purity restrictions would not exist, and the domination system would be replaced by God's domination-free reign. Notably, in the Lord's Prayer, we pray for the existence of this kingdom on earth, as well as in heaven. (Mt 6:10).

How is Jesus' alternative social vision, as articulated in his "kingdom of God" teachings, helpful to creation of an ecology-based theology? First of all, in his "kingdom of God" teachings, Jesus provides a pathway for challenging systems of domination and setting forth an egalitarian and inclusive social vision. As leading eco-feminist scholars have pointed out, systems of domination over nature are coextensive with systems of domination over other oppressed groups, especially systems of domination over women. Jesus' alternative social vision is domination-free. Although we are unlikely ever to attain a totally domination-free system, it nonetheless serves as a worthy social vision, one that provides a context for an ecological vision in which humans are not seen as dominant over nature. Such is the "dream of God" as articulated in Jesus' teachings of compassion and the kingdom of God.

Sallie McFague takes the argument a step further, and points to a further ramification of "kingdom of God" imagery. Jesus' life and teachings suggest that the shape of the earth, as "God's body," includes all, especially the oppressed, the needy, the outcast.^[10] She suggests that the list of the oppressed and outcast should include the planet itself and its myriad creatures, including outcast humans, focusing on oppressed vulnerable, suffering bodies. This view suggests that nature also falls in the category of the "oppressed," and that even microorganisms have their place in creation, independent of their usefulness, or threat, to humans. She refers to a statement by the World Council of Churches on the "integrity of creation:"

The value of all creatures in and for themselves, for one another, and for God, and their interconnectedness in a diverse whole that has unique value for God, together constitute the integrity of creation.

^[1]  Translation from Funk, Robert W., Roy W. Hoover, and the Jesus Seminar, The Five Gospels,

(San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1993), 531.

^[2] Stephen Mitchell, The Gospel According to Jesus (New York: HarperCollins, 1991), p. 146.

^[3] See Lynn White, Jr., "The Historic Roots of our Ecologic Crisis," in Spring, David, and Eileen Spring, Eds., Ecology and Religion in History  (New York: Harper Torchbooks. 1974). 15-31. This article originally appeared in the March, 1967 issue of Science.

^[4] Nature Writer Bill McKibben provides a marvelous discussion of the Book of Job and its ecological implications in Bill McKibben, The Comforting Whirlwind: God, Job, and the Scale of Creation (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmanns, 1994).

^[5] John Muir, A Thousand-Mile Walk to the Gulf  (New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1916).

^[6] Aldo Leopold, A Sand County Almanac (New York: Oxford, 1949).

^[7] See, Marcus J. Borg, The God we Never Knew (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1997)  and  Crossan, John Dominic, Jesus: A Revolutionary Biography (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1994). 

^[8] See, e.g., Rosemary Radford Ruether Gaia & God, (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1992), and Sallie McFague, The Body of God (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1993).

^[9] Stephen Mitchell, The Gospel According to Jesus (New York: HarperCollins, 1991), p. 146.

^[10] McFague, Ibid., 164.