{"id":4292,"date":"2017-10-01T08:00:13","date_gmt":"2017-10-01T00:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/?p=4292"},"modified":"2021-10-20T10:40:52","modified_gmt":"2021-10-20T02:40:52","slug":"185-creation-exploiting-the-earth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/?p=4292","title":{"rendered":"185. Creation: Exploiting the Earth"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong><span style=\"color: #008080;\"><sup>28 <\/sup>God blessed them, and God said to them, \u201cBe fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.\u201d<\/span><\/strong> <strong>[<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">Genesis 1:28<\/span>, <em>NRSV<\/em>]<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/Eucalyptus-Forest.5.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-4297\" title=\"Eucalyptus Forest.5\" src=\"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/Eucalyptus-Forest.5.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"869\" height=\"698\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Ecological crisis has prompted criticism that the Christian doctrine of creation has had <em>high negative influence<\/em> on attitude about nature. For some time, the command to \u201csubdue the earth\u201d in Genesis 1:28 was used as an attack against Christianity. The allegations are:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">[a] That the culture of environmental-exploitation is a result of the mandate to subdue the earth, so that the ecological crisis that we face in every age, particularly in the present age, is a \u201cgraceless consequences of Christianity\u201d.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">[b] That Christianity has transformed all powers of the universe into utilitarian objects for human beings, to misuse plants and animals and all powers of the earth for ideology of progress and for selfish ends.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The debate between two writers is representative of the common lines of argumentation.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">In the late 1960s, Lynn White, a historian, alleged that the exploitative outlook that caused the ecological crisis in Western industrialised nations was the direct result of the Judeo-Christian\u2019s tradition of humanity\u2019s <em>dominion<\/em> over nature (Genesis 1:16). The Western mindset, he insisted, was that nature existed to serve humans. By its anthropocentric view of creation, he concluded, Christianity promoted a dualism involving humankind and nature. In his theory, as it emphasized \u201cdominion\u201d, Christianity sanctioned an <em>exploitative<\/em> <em>ethic<\/em>, and fostered science and technology as instruments of that exploitation. For him, Christianity was a threat to the environment and even the existence of the planet. At the door of Christianity, then, he placed a huge blame for the ecological crisis.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #008080;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/Lynn-White-Jr.gif\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-4294\" title=\"Lynn-White-Jr\" src=\"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/Lynn-White-Jr.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"175\" height=\"248\" \/><\/a> <span style=\"color: #000000;\">Lynn White.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Arthur Peacocke, a biologist and theologian, entered a resounding rebuttal to Lynn White\u2019s theory. Exploitation of nature that was harmful to the ecosystem and the welfare of future generations, Peacocke argued, antedates the Genesis text, for it started way back in primitive societies, and not specifically associated with the Judeo-Christian cultures. Furthermore, the Judeo-Christian tradition did not depict humanity\u2019s dominion as simply exploitative. Rather, Genesis 1 clearly points to dominion as being a delegated authority from God, as vice-regent, steward, or manager. To be made in the \u201cimage of God\u201d means human beings are representatives of God on earth.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/Arthur-Peacocke.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-4293\" title=\"Arthur Peacocke\" src=\"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/Arthur-Peacocke.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"200\" height=\"283\" \/><\/a> <span style=\"color: #000000;\">Arthur Peacocke<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">In the face of the ecological crisis, Christians appreciate this \u201cdominion\u201d as humans acting on behalf of \u201cGod in transcendence and immanence\u201d, so that God\u2019s Sovereignty and Otherness on the one hand, and His nearness and closeness and even presence in creation, are respected.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">This is where we find Peacocke particularly helpful. In emphasising God as <em>immanent<\/em> in creation, he proposes three roles for human beings:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><em>The role of priest<\/em>: To see creation sacramentally, so that nature is worthy of humanity\u2019s reverence. <\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><em>The role of prophet<\/em>: A charge to call others to recognise the meaning of God\u2019s action in the world.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><em>Co-creator with God<\/em>: In relation to what we can do within God\u2019s creation, the gift of all there is means, first and foremost, that God has rendered unto us the conditions of possibility for each one of us to work and produce in ways that give praise to the Creator.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The most critical of the three roles is arguably that of the \u201cco-creator\u201d. Today, science itself will provide the means for humans to cooperate and act as co-creators in God\u2019s creative processes in nature. Science is not the cause of ecological crisis. Co-creators must make intelligent use of science, forego selfish ends, and make sacrifice of love for ecological wholeness. As individuals in community, people must be willing to be sufferers for God in creation uniquely seen in the Christian doctrine of Incarnation of Jesus Christ, that is, God\u2019s \u201ctranscendence in immanence\u201d in the world. Jesus\u2019 life story not only tells of what he did, but what he allowed to be done to him in passion!<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>How does Pope Benedict see it? <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Pope Benedict in his book, <em>In the Beginning<\/em>, took us to Karl Marx for whom the \u201cCreator\u201d and the \u201corigin\u201d of the universe were of no consequence. It was simply foolish, in Marx\u2019s view, to explore questions of \u201cwhence\u201d of universe and its design. It was foolish, he insisted, to look into the creating Intelligence. Marx had an agenda in saying all this: <em>It is humanity (the workers) that must produce the real creation<\/em>. Only this human production can count for something.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Pope Benedict suggests that here is the source of the change in humanity\u2019s fundamental directive vis-\u00e0-vis the world, for right here, in Marx\u2019s communist theory:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u201cprogress\u201d has taken over and assumed the \u201creal truth\u201d;<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u201cmatter\u201d has become the material out of which human beings would create a world that was worth being lived in.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Ernst Bloch pushed the idea further, so that \u201ctruth is now what we take it to be and that the only truth is change.\u201d Reality has become \u201ca signal to invade and an instruction to attack.\u201d <em>Creation<\/em>, then, is no longer the provider of the beauty and the radiance of truth of things, but the anticipated future which we must construct for ourselves. People will no longer need to distinguish between Sundays and workdays: there is no need for the Sabbath, for we are our own creators.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The problem in all this, is the attitude that views creation only as the product of chance and necessity, without linkage to God. Without that necessary linkage, creation has neither law nor direction of its own. In the past, we could only transform certain things in nature. Now, nature comes under complete human control and manipulation.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">And yet, we find ourselves seriously endangered. The humility of faith has disappeared, shattered on the \u201carrogance of activity\u201d. With such theories in vogue, we experience a serious loss of <em>connectedness <\/em>to the Creator-God in our \u201cbusyness\u201d, which in turn leads to disconnectedness to the environment, to others, and even to ourselves.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">From our own perspective, we appreciate the Creation of God as actualising new possibilities. The simple truth is, we can do likewise as co-creators, actualizing new possibilities for oneself in ways that contribute towards the common good, and promote human dignity.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Copyright \u00a9 Dr. Jeffrey &amp; Angie Goh, October 2017. All rights reserved.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">You are most welcome to respond to this post. Email your comments to <strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a style=\"color: #000000; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"mailto:jeffangiegoh@gmail.com\">jeffangiegoh@gmail.com<\/a>.<\/span><\/strong> You can also be dialogue partners in this <em>Ephphatha Coffee-Corner Ministry<\/em> by sending us questions for discussion.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>28 God blessed them, and God said to them, \u201cBe fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.\u201d [Genesis 1:28, NRSV] Ecological crisis has prompted criticism that <a class=\"read-more\" href=\"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/?p=4292\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"sfsi_plus_gutenberg_text_before_share":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_show_text_before_share":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_icon_type":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_icon_alignemt":"","sfsi_plus_gutenburg_max_per_row":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"rttpg_featured_image_url":null,"rttpg_author":{"display_name":"Dr. Jeffrey &amp; Angie Goh","author_link":"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/?author=1"},"rttpg_comment":0,"rttpg_category":"<a href=\"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/?cat=1\" rel=\"category\">From Our Perspective<\/a>","rttpg_excerpt":"28 God blessed them, and God said to them, \u201cBe fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.\u201d [Genesis 1:28, NRSV] Ecological crisis has prompted criticism that&hellip;","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4292"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4292"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4292\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6759,"href":"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4292\/revisions\/6759"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4292"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4292"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4292"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}