God's Environmentalism: A Study of Biblical Ecology

Abstract

For the past half century, the philosophies of environmentalism and ecology have powerfully influenced the passage of international and domestic legislation, the writing of curricula for every stage of learning, and the shaping of the morals and ethics of society at large. Since 1966, when Lynn White first placed the responsibility for the modern environmental crisis at the doorstep of Christianity, scholars have studied the Bible through the lens of environmental thought. For many of these scholars, the conclusion has been that Scripture needs to be revamped, reinterpreted, or altogether tossed out as a basis for learning environmental responsibility. This paper will view environmentalism through the lens of Scripture. It will argue that God’s Word does not need to be revamped nor reinterpreted through an ecological lens. Instead, this paper will present God’s environmentalism: an ecological theology in which humans are bound to nature in the context of each of the four great events in salvation history: Creation, the Fall, Redemption, and the Last Day.