Should Christians Be Environmentalists?

Should Christians Be Environmentalists?
Author: Dan Story
Publisher: Kregel Publications
Total Pages: 205
Release: 2012-04-13
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0825488834

Did God instruct the human race to be His caretakers over nature? If so, is environmental exploitation disobedience to God? Is it true, as many critics claim, that Christianity is the root cause of today’s environmental problems--or are all religions and cultures responsible? How should the church respond? Should Christians Be Environmentalists? systematically tackles these tough questions and more by exploring what the Bible says about the environment and our stewardship of creation. Looking at three dimensions of environmentalism as a movement, a Bible-based theology of nature, and the role the church has in environmental ethics, Dan Story examines each through a theological, apologetic, and practical lens.

Stewards of Eden

Stewards of Eden
Author: Sandra L. Richter
Publisher: InterVarsity Press
Total Pages: 173
Release: 2020-02-25
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0830849270

Sandra L. Richter cares about the Bible and the environment. Using her expertise in ancient Israelite society as well as in biblical theology, she walks readers through biblical passages and shares case studies that connect the biblical mandate to current issues. She then calls Christians to apply that message to today's environmental concerns.

The Bible and the Environment

The Bible and the Environment
Author: David G. Horrell
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 160
Release: 2015-08-12
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1317324374

The biblical and Christian traditions have long been seen to have legitimated and encouraged humanity's aggressive domination of nature. Biblical visions of the future, with destruction for the earth and rescue for the elect, have also discouraged any concern for the earth's future or the welfare of future generations. But we now live in a time when environmental issues are at the centre of political and ethical debate. What is needed is a new reading of the biblical tradition that can meet the challenges of the ecological issues that face humanity at the beginning of the third millennium. 'The Bible and the Environment' examines a range of biblical texts - from Genesis to Revelation - evaluating competing interpretations. The Bible provides a thoroughly ambivalent legacy. Certainly, it cannot provide straightforward teaching on care for the environment but nor can it simply be seen as an anti-ecological book. Developing an 'ecological hermeneutic' as a way of mediating between contemporary concerns and the biblical text, 'The Bible and the Environment' presents a way of productively reading the Bible in the context of contemporary ecology.

An Introduction to Christian Environmentalism

An Introduction to Christian Environmentalism
Author: Associate Professor and Chair Kathryn D Blanchard
Publisher:
Total Pages: 230
Release: 2020-11-15
Genre:
ISBN: 9781481315005

Christians share a common concern for the earth. Evangelicals emphasize creation care; mainline Protestants embrace the green movement; the Catholic Church lists 10 deadly environmental sins; and the Eastern Orthodox Patriarch has declared climate change an urgent issue of social and economic justice. This textbook examines seven contemporary environmental challenges through the lens of classical Christian virtues. Authors Kathryn Blanchard and Kevin O'Brien use these classical Christian virtues to seek a golden mean between extreme positions by pairing each virtue with a pernicious environmental problem. Students are thus led past political pitfalls and encouraged to care for other creatures prudently, to develop new energy sources courageously, to choose our food temperately, to manage toxic pollution justly, to respond to climate change faithfully, to consider humanity's future hopefully, and to engage lovingly in advocacy for God's earth. Readers will emerge from this text with a deeper understanding of contemporary environmental problems and the fundamentals of Christian virtue ethics.

The Gospel of Climate Skepticism

The Gospel of Climate Skepticism
Author: Robin Globus Veldman
Publisher: Univ of California Press
Total Pages: 331
Release: 2019-10-22
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0520972805

Why are white evangelicals the most skeptical major religious group in America regarding climate change? Previous scholarship has pointed to cognitive factors such as conservative politics, anti-science attitudes, aversion to big government, and theology. Drawing on qualitative fieldwork, The Gospel of Climate Skepticism reveals the extent to which climate skepticism and anti-environmentalism have in fact become embedded in the social world of many conservative evangelicals. Rejecting the common assumption that evangelicals’ skepticism is simply a side effect of political or theological conservatism, the book further shows that between 2006 and 2015, leaders and pundits associated with the Christian Right widely promoted skepticism as the biblical position on climate change. The Gospel of Climate Skepticism offers a compelling portrait of how during a critical period of recent history, political and religious interests intersected to prevent evangelicals from offering a unified voice in support of legislative action to address climate change.

Beyond Stewardship

Beyond Stewardship
Author: David P. Warners
Publisher:
Total Pages: 252
Release: 2019-06
Genre:
ISBN: 9781937555382

Beyond Stewardship is intended to equip Christians to live better in this world by helping us all think more intentionally about the relationship we have with the nonhuman creation in which we are necessarily and thoroughly embedded. It responds to these questions: "What if God didn't place humans on earth to be stewards of creation, but something else?" and "if not stewards, then what?" The chapters in Beyond Stewardship are written by scholars from diverse disciplines who share a deep passion for a flourishing creation. Each chapter begins with a compelling story that draws the reader into new ways of thinking. Each author then looks beyond stewardship from the context of her or his own discipline and experiences. Some reimagine creation care by expanding on the traditional notion of stewardship. Others set aside the stewardship model and offer alternative ways to understand our presence within the broader creation. The chapters mark out ways to live better in the places we inhabit as individuals, communities, and institutions. Collectively, the essays in Beyond Stewardship offer an expanded and enlivened understanding of the place of humans in the context of God's creation.

Pollution and the Death of Man

Pollution and the Death of Man
Author: Francis A. Schaeffer
Publisher: Crossway
Total Pages: 162
Release: 2011-03-02
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 143351950X

At the creation of the world, God gave mankind the responsibility to exercise dominion over the earth. Man was to use the earth and its abundance of resources to satisfy his physical needs, but he was also to care for the earth and its creatures as a wise and godly steward. Reading about endangered species or another oil spill will make it abundantly clear that the human race has failed miserably in its God-given mandate. How did we get to this point? Where should we go from here? This classic by Francis Schaeffer, now repackaged, looks at contemporary ecological crises through the lens of theology and Scripture. Renowned for his work in applied philosophy and theology, Schaeffer answers serious philosophical questions about creation and ecology. He concludes that we must return to a profoundly and radically biblical understanding of God’s relationship to the earth, and of our divine mandate to exercise godly dominion over it. Repackaged and republished, Pollution and the Death of Man carries an important and relevant message for our day. With concluding chapter by Udo Middelmann.

Between God & Green

Between God & Green
Author: Katharine K. Wilkinson
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 257
Release: 2012-06-08
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0199942854

Despite three decades of scientists' warnings and environmentalists' best efforts, the political will and public engagement necessary to fuel robust action on global climate change remain in short supply. Katharine K. Wilkinson shows that, contrary to popular expectations, faith-based efforts are emerging and strengthening to address this problem. In the US, perhaps none is more significant than evangelical climate care. Drawing on extensive focus group and textual research and interviews, Between God & Green explores the phenomenon of climate care, from its historical roots and theological grounding to its visionary leaders and advocacy initiatives. Wilkinson examines the movement's reception within the broader evangelical community, from pew to pulpit. She shows that by engaging with climate change as a matter of private faith and public life, leaders of the movement challenge traditional boundaries of the evangelical agenda, partisan politics, and established alliances and hostilities. These leaders view sea-level rise as a moral calamity, lobby for legislation written on both sides of the aisle, and partner with atheist scientists. Wilkinson reveals how evangelical environmentalists are reshaping not only the landscape of American climate action, but the contours of their own religious community. Though the movement faces complex challenges, climate care leaders continue to leverage evangelicalism's size, dominance, cultural position, ethical resources, and mechanisms of communication to further their cause to bridge God and green.

Inherit the Holy Mountain

Inherit the Holy Mountain
Author: Mark Stoll
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Total Pages: 441
Release: 2015
Genre: History
ISBN: 019023086X

Inherit the Holy Mountain puts religion at the center of the history of American environmentalism rather than at its margins, demonstrating how religion provided environmentalists with content, direction, and tone for the environmental causes they espoused.

Is God Green?

Is God Green?
Author: Lionel Windsor
Publisher:
Total Pages: 71
Release: 2018-09
Genre: Environmental protection
ISBN: 9781925424317

What the Bible says about how we rule, serve and enjoy the world.