ecotheology

Calvin De Witt

2012-01-06T19:51:00.001Z

Christian Ecology Link Conference 10 March 2012 in Bristol

2012-01-06T19:24:00.002Z

Full details here

Donald Woster on John Muir

2011-02-26T09:59:00.001Z

The ethics of climate change

2010-12-20T08:12:00.002Z

The ethics of climate change with Stephen Bouma-Prediger

<p>&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;a href='http://vimeo.com/17847072'&amp;gt;Ethics of Climate Change&amp;lt;/a&amp;gt; from &amp;lt;a href='http://vimeo.com/calvincollege'&amp;gt;Calvin College&amp;lt;/a&amp;gt; on &amp;lt;a href='http://vimeo.com'&amp;gt;Vimeo&amp;lt;/a&amp;gt;.&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;br /&amp;gt; &amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;br /&amp;gt; &amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/div&amp;gt;</p>

Climate change explained cartoon style

2010-12-15T07:23:00.002Z

"Creation's Care and Keeping" issue of Theological Forum

2010-09-04T15:30:00.002+01:00

Theological Forum Issue

Vol. XIX, No. 4, December 1991

CREATION'S CARE
AND KEEPING

From the Editor - Paul G. Schrotenboer
Creation's Care and Keeping: A Reformed Perspective - Calvin B. DeWitt
Creation and Spirituality: A Perspective from Christianity - Wesley Granberg-Michaelson

Book Review - The Environment and the Christian, Calvin DeWitt, editor. Reviewed by Paul G. Schrotenboer.

In praise of slow reading

2010-07-18T09:59:00.001+01:00

Ray Pennings points to the Slow Reading Movement mentioned in the Guardian. Slow is the new fast. John Newkirk, a professor of English at the University of New Hampshire, has some helpful advice to help us slow read:

Memorizing: Memorization is often called “knowing by heart,” and for good reason. Memorizing enables us to possess a text in a special way.
Reading Aloud: Reading aloud is a regular activity in elementary classrooms, but it dies too soon. Well-chosen and well-read texts are one of the best advertisements for literacy. By reading aloud, teachers can create a bridge to texts that students might read; they can help reluctant readers imagine a human voice animating the words on the page.
Attending to Beginnings: Writers often struggle with their beginnings because they are making so many commitments; they are establishing a voice, narrator, and point of view that are right for what will follow. These openings often suggest a conflict. They raise a question, pose a problem, create an “itch to be scratched.” Readers need to be just as deliberate and not rush through these carefully constructed beginnings. As teachers, we can model this slowness.
Rethinking Time Limits on Reading Tests: We currently give students with disabilities additional time to complete standardized tests; we should extend this opportunity to all students. Tests place too high a premium on speed, and limits are often set for administrative convenience rather than because of a reasoned belief in what makes good readers.
Annotating a Page: In this activity, students probe the craft of a favorite writer. They pick a page they really like, photocopy it, and tape the photocopy to a larger piece of paper so they have wide margins in which they can make notations. Their job is to give the page a close reading and mark word choices, sentence patterns, images, dialogue—anything they find effective. A variation of this activity is a quote and comment assignment in which students copy out passages by hand that they find particularly meaningful and then comment on why they chose those passages. Copying a passage slows us down and creates an intimacy with the writer’s style—a feel for word choice and for how sentences are formed.
Reading Poetry: Even in this age of efficiency and consumption, it is unlikely that anyone will reward students for reading a million poems. Poems can’t be checked off that way. They demand a slower pace and usually several readings—and they are usually at their best when read aloud.
Savoring Passages: Children know something that adults often forget—the deep pleasure of repetition, of rereading, or of having parents reread, until the words seem to be part of them.

How To Write Good

2010-06-15T07:53:00.001+01:00

How To Write Good

by Frank L. Visco

My several years in the word game have learnt me several rules:

1. Avoid alliteration. Always.
2. Prepositions are not words to end sentences with.
3. Avoid cliches like the plague. (They're old hat.)
4. Employ the vernacular.
5. Eschew ampersands & abbreviations, etc.
6. Parenthetical remarks (however relevant) are unnecessary.
7. It is wrong to ever split an infinitive.
8. Contractions aren't necessary.
9. Foreign words and phrases are not apropos.
10. One should never generalize.
11. Eliminate quotations. As Ralph Waldo Emerson once said: "I hate quotations. Tell me what you know."
12. Comparisons are as bad as cliches.
13. Don't be redundant; don't more use words than necessary; it's highly superfluous.
14. Profanity sucks.
15. Be more or less specific.
16. Understatement is always best.
17. Exaggeration is a billion times worse than understatement.
18. One-word sentences? Eliminate.
19. Analogies in writing are like feathers on a snake.
20. The passive voice is to be avoided.
21. Go around the barn at high noon to avoid colloquialisms.
22. Even if a mixed metaphor sings, it should be derailed.
23. Who needs rhetorical questions?

Vote for policies

2010-04-25T18:06:00.001+01:00

Here's another useful website that will help you choose who to vote for based on policies and not personalities:

Lovelock on the origins of the Gaia hypothesis

2010-04-11T16:39:00.001+01:00

James Lovelock on Gaia: a final warning

2010-04-11T16:38:00.001+01:00

Vision - Creation care issue

2010-04-10T18:11:00.001+01:00

Vision: a Journal for Church and Theology is an Anabaptist journal available here.
Volume 9 Number 1 is devoted to 'Creation care' and is available here as a pdf. The article by Steve Bouma-Prediger is well worth checking out.

Biblical Prophets and Contemporary Environmental Ethics

2010-03-02T10:06:00.002Z

Biblical Prophets and Contemporary Environmental Ethics
Re-Reading Amos, Hosea, and First Isaiah
Hilary Marlow
Oxford University Press, 2009
978-0-19-956905-2
338pp +xvi

Academic tomes have a tendency to be boring, inaccessible to non-specialists, without cultural relevance beyond the ivory tower and have unaesthetic covers. This book defies the stereotype in every way. Despite being the product of a Cambridge PhD, under Katherine Dell, it is readable, accessible, and will have an impact within and without the academia - and has a great cover to boot!

Hilary Marlow has been associated with most British evangelical organisations. She is a director of Director of the John Ray Initiative, has been involved with A Rocha for over a decade, until recently she was a Research Associate in Theology and Science at the Faraday Institute, has written for the Jubilee Trust and Grove Books and is at present involved in a project with the Kirby Laing Institute for Christian Ethics based at Tyndale House, Cambridge. She has also found time to complete her PhD and this book is the product of that.

The first chapter takes an overview of creation in church history, it is a broad brush view but is full of insight - I made a long list of further avenues to explore as a result of it. She starts - rather predictably - with Lynn White Jr's critique before looking at some theological perspectives on creation. This stems from the early church with its Greek influences to Calvin via the Cappodocians and Aquinas. She mentions that Irenaeus sees Adam typologically, but I'm not certain that this is a true picture. Tony Lane argues that 'Irenaeus's theology is undermined more than most others by the suggestion of a non-historical Adam' (Darwin Creation and the Fall p. 141). This, of course is a minor quibble.

She draws upon a number of important secondary sources including Glacken, Harrison, McGrath, Santmire.

Chapter 2 takes the historical perspective on from the sixteenth century. She looks at the divide between history and nature. Von Rad and Eichrodt are singled out for their Hegelian influences which allows them to set up a dualism of nature and history. Following Brueggeman, Marlow agrees that this led to an abandonment and marginalisation of serious thinking about the creation in biblical theology.

Two theologians helped to reverse this trend: Bernhard Anderson and Claus Westermann. As a result many others challenged the setting up of history over creation. Theodore Hiebert, Ronald Simkins and William Brown an three that Marlow briefly focuses on. She rightly notes that these three have helped towards a corrective reading of the Old Testament.

The developoment of an ecological hermeneutic is the subject of chapter 3. Here Norman Habel's Earth Bible Project (EBP) is examined. Taking a cue from feminist theologies the EBP stands with the oppressed Earth in dialogue with the text.

The emphasis on methodology and the methodoogy itself is criticised. As Marlow points out Bouma-Preideger comes up with a similar but more biblically robust set of guidelines. Following Christopher J. H. Wright's hermeutical triangle God (Israel/humanity and Land/ earth) she forms an ecological triangle: God at the apex and a base of humanity and the non-human creation. It is the interrelationship between these three vertices that are examined in the next three chapters. Three important questions are also posed (p. 111):

1. What understanding of the non-human creation does the text present
2. What assumptions are made about YHWH's relationship to the created world and how he acts in it?
3. What effect do the actions and choices of human beings have on the non-human creation and vice versa?

Chapters 4-6 look at Amos, Hosea and Is 1-39 in light of these questions and the ecological triangle. She provides a detailed exegesis and analysis of key passages from these prophets. In Amos the non-human creation plays an important role, 'the natural world engages in a "dialogue" with its creator' (p 157). In Hosea it has less of a role and the emphasis is on God and humanity, but this relationship when broken does have a marked effect on the earth. Finally, in Is 1-39 there is a link between humanity, God and the rest of creation in that 'natural' disaster is a consequence of disobedience to God and this broken relationship is shown in metaphors and parables of the natural world.

The final chapter looks at the implications of the foregoing for an environmental ethic. Here she starts by providing a broad overview on using the Bible in ethics. The issue of how we move from the scriptures to any ethic is problematic. I was suprised to read a criticism of Walter Kaiser, she writes 'His study is based on a high view of biblical authority, and this theological perspective colours his selection and interpretation of texts' (p. 248). All theological perspectives are coloured, theology is never neutral. It left me wondering what is Marlow's view of the authority of scripture and how has that has shaped her choice of passages?

She then turns to environmental ethics in particular. She looks at some key issues; including: what is the value ascribed to the non-human creation? Is it intrinsic or instrumental? Is nature a stable entiry or in flux? and the tension between nature and culture. She concludes that the prophets recognise instrumental value but also give the non-human creation a value that is greater than any utilitarian one. She does not address the issue of how anything can have intrinsic value, unless it is value given to it by God - and in which case it is not intrinsic. For the other issues she sees an ambiguity in the prophets.

Few other books have examined the Old Testament in the light of the current environemtal issues. Two other books are by Cyril Rodd Glimpses of a Strange Land (T&T Clark, 2001) which deals with some individual texts and Chris Wright's Old Testament Ethics for the People of God (IVP, 2004) which takes a broad brush approach. Marlow's book is an example of how to interpret scripture in the light of contemporary issues and how to understand contemporary issues in the light of scripture. It shows that we have not exhausted the scriptures in what it can say to environmental ethics. As Marlow concludes:

'it is vital that the church be better informed of the rich contribution of its own scriptures to a positive understanding of the creation as a basis for raising awareness of environmental issues and promoting good practice amiong its own members and the wider community'.

I wholeheartedly agree.

Contents
Foreword by John Barton
Introduction
1: Creation in Church History
2: Nature Versus History: An Artificial Divide
3: Ecological Hermeneutics: Meaning and Method
4: Who Can But Prophesy? Creation Dialogue in the Book of Amos
5: The People do not Know: Covenantal Failure in the Book of Hosea
6: The Vineyard of the Lord of Hosts: YHWH, the People and the Land in Isaiah 1-39
7: The Old Testament Prophets and Environmental Ethics: A Dialogue

Publisher's website

Available in the UK from:
amazon.co.uk
eden
book depository

How to write an assignment

2010-01-22T07:49:00.001Z

Assignment Writing Chart

Cornelius Hunter on a major cause of global warming: hot air

2009-12-06T09:18:00.001Z

'[H]ot air emitted by evolutionists' is the cause of global warming, claims Cornelius Hunter. It must be true he has a graph to prove it (above)!

Buy Nothing Day

2009-11-27T13:48:00.002Z

But Nothing Dat

2009-11-27T13:45:00.001Z

[HT Tony Jones]

Jubilee 2010

2009-11-21T23:39:00.001Z

Jubilee from Jubilee on Vimeo.

Check out the jubilee 2010 website and the living jubilee blog

Christianity and the environment

2009-11-21T23:17:00.001Z

Denis Alexander interviews Margot Hodson author of Cherishing the Earth.

Why should Christians care for the environment?

2009-11-21T22:47:00.001Z

Harvard Reference Generator

2009-09-24T07:44:00.001+01:00

This useful website (click here) will automatically provide references in the Harvard format:

This tool takes in the raw information - author, title, year of publication - and creates the reference in the correct form.
You can then highlight and copy these into your essays and reports.

John Calvin and the natural world

2009-08-22T09:47:00.001+01:00

Davis A. Young's book John Calvin and the Natural World (University Press of America, 2007; ISBN 0761837132) is reviewed in PSCF by J W Haas and in Pro Rege by John Zwart [HT Reformed Academic]

The Green Bible

2009-07-16T08:07:00.002+01:00

There is now a Green Bible Apparently, it will:

equip and encourage people to see God's vision for creation and help them engage in the work of healing and sustaining it. With over 1,000 references to the earth in the Bible, compared to 490 references to heaven and 530 references to love, the Bible carries a powerful message for the earth.

There is an interesting review of it at First Things by Alan Jacobs.

Planetwise - a review

2009-07-12T09:54:00.001+01:00

Planetwise
Dare to Care for God's World
IVP, 2008
156pp £7.99
ISBN 978-1-84474-251-6

Recent years have seen a proliferation of books on a Christian approach to environmental care. We have had Russell, the Hodgsons, White and Spencer, Berry and Bookless. Why the resurgence of interest? What is interesting is that most of these authors have imbibed a neocalvinist framework: creation, fall and redemption. Many via Tom Wright and his amplification of the three stage into a five part play. Such is the case of Bookless in this book.

Bookless was throwing away some rubbish while on holiday when he felt God spoke in an inner whisper to him 'How do you think I feel about what you are doing to my world?' This book is the result of careful thought about that revelation and shift in perspective. As he puts it: 'God spoke, creation groaned, and worship could never be the same again'.

Bookless is the National Director of A Rocha UK, a Christian environmental group, so this book is the result of thought and action. This is no armchair theorising.

He starts by utilising Tom Wright's five acts framework of Creation, Fall, Israel, Jesus and the present future age. These form the first five chapters of the book. He writes in an engaging and helpful way. Though I would have liked to have seen more emphasis on the cultural mandate. His approach is very accessible and readable, each chapter ends with a three questions which aid reflection and discussion. The influence of another Wright - Christopher J. H. - is also evident here. Not only in the number of triangles but with the emphasis on land.

The remaining chapters, 6-9, all look have the title: 'Living it out: X as if creation matters'. Where X is discipleship, worship, lifestyle and mission. Here we see these important topics in the light of creation. He makes an important observation: 'Can you spot Christians by the cars that they drive (not just the the bumper stickers)...?' p.117. There are many wise practical and attainable ideas for how we can make our discipleship and lifestyle consistent with our beliefs and he manages to do it in a way that is not guilt inducing.

Unfortunately, there is no index, but there are three pages of end notes and two and a half pages of useful resources.

This is one of the best of the recent spate of green books. Highly recommended!

Book website

Available in the UK from:
IVP
amazon
book depository
eden books
wesley owen

Saving Planet Earth by Colin Russell - a review

2009-07-02T22:57:00.001+01:00

Saving Planet Earth: A Christian Response

Colin A. Russell

Authentic Media

x + 133pp, £8.99, pbk

ISBN 9781850787716

Colin Russell has produced an interesting and accessible book on a Christian response to the environmental crisis. The great strength of the book is that it places the present environmental crisis within a historical context. Pollution is not a new problem. One problem with books that deal with environmental problems is that they can date very quickly. Science changes, populations increase and decrease (occasionally) and the data can become dated. Russell in looking at historical contexts has managed to get round this problem, history rarely gets out of date!

In nine short chapters he provides an overview of the problems and some of the possible responses we can make as Christians. He starts with looking at our stumbling blocks to Christian involvement; these are: the subject is depressing, difficult, demeaning and even dangerous. By dangerous he means that some maintain that it's a dangerous distraction, though Russell maintains that it might not be the heart of the gospel though it is part of the gospel.

He then looks at how special a place the earth is, a place designed for human life and yet a place spoiled by sin. The polluted planet is examined in more detail in the next chapter. Modern concern goes back to the 1960s, but Russell places this all in historical perspective looking at land, water and air pollution. from biblical times onward. 'A ravaged planet' is the topic of chapter 4. Waste, destruction of habitats and hence species, deforestation and overpopulation are all briefly dealt with. 'The big one', climate change, gets a chapter to itself. It is interesting to see how this topic has come to the fore in recent Christian discussions on the environment.

From chapter 6 onwards we are offered some hope. It is God's earth and he cares for it, he sustains the whole of creation. In chapter 7 our role as stewards is examined. This has been called the 'default position' for Christians, I would have liked to have seen some discussion on the weaknesses of this position. If we are stewards what then? How does stewardship prescribe how we might respond? What does it mean, for example, for population control?

The earth belonging to God and we being its stewards are two good reasons for Christians to care for the planet, but Russell adds a third. And one that is often neglected in other similar discussions: the call to mission. This missional aspect is seen in care for the poor. The needs of the poor can be helped by environmental care. Christian mission without environmental care is inadequate.

Overall this is an excellent introductory primer. A great book for those beginning to get interested in a more greener Christianity.

Book wesbite

Other reviews:
David Thistlewaite

Ian Hore-Lacy

Available in the UK from
amazon
wesley owen
eden books

Enviromental Stewardship (ed. R. J. Berry) - a review

2009-06-30T07:45:00.001+01:00

Environmental Stewardship
Critical Perspectives - Past and Present
edited by R. J. Berry
T&TClark International
ISBN 9780567030184
xii+348
£39.99

Over two hundred years ago a British clergyman published a book that has had unprecedented effects. Its effect on Charles Darwin was so profound that it provided the seed thoughts for his theory of natural selection. It was perhaps the first doomsday-scenario environmental book to be written. It was Thomas Malthus's Essay on the Principle of Population (1798). Malthus (1766-1834) was the first to spell out the apparently inevitable consequence of a geometric growth in population and an arithmetic growth in food supply. Survival meant a reduction in population growth. The same idea as taken up in the 1970s by the think tank the Club of Rome in their book The Limits to Growth. The book was based on computer models; their conclusions were similar to Malthus's: a limit to the population growth is required or we are on an apocalyptic collision course.

Less than a decade previously in 1962, Rachel Carson's Silent Spring was published. the book brought attention the problems of pesticides such as DDT in the food chain. This marked the beginning in the rise of an environmental awareness or consciousness. In the nineties there were signs that such environmental enthusiasm was beginning to wane - at least if membership numbers of environmental pressure groups were any indication. Now with climate change a major issue it seems we are all greens.

Christians cannot be culture transformers and shapers if they follow such cultural ebbs and flows. We have a responsibility to God's good creation irrespective if it fashionable to be green or not. Unfortunately, the shadow of Lynn White's seminal paper 'The historical roots of our ecologic crisis' Science 155 (10 March 1967) has loomed large over Christian discussion of the environment. Until recently most Christian writing has been to defend Christianity against the accusation of Lyn White that Christianity with its emphasis on dominion has been to blame for the environmental crisis. The debate, however, must move on. And that is exactly what these essays do. Christianity is not merely environmentally benign but it has something vital to contribute to a robust theocentric environmental ethic. An ethic that avoids the excesses of anthropic approaches and the sloppy mysticism of biocentric approaches.

The role of humans as stewards is a crucial issue and it is this that volume, Environmental Stewardship, seeks to address. Stewardship has been the 'default position' for most Christians. However, not many stop to consider it and examine its implications. What does it mean to be a steward? As Gandalf once said we are all stewards now. But is stewardship dominion and technological imperialism by another name?

This book was conceived at the 2000 consultation on 'environmental stewardship' organised by the John Ray Institute at St George's House, Windsor Castle. Four of the papers delivered there are included here - but this is far more than the proceedings of a conference. The list of authors is truly impressive - though there are some notable omissions Steven Bouma-Prediger, Celia Deane Drummond, Loren Wilkinson, Lukas Vischer, Tim Cooper are the ones that immediately spring to mind. Most of the papers were written specifically for this volume, some are (revised) reprints from elsewhere.

The book is split into six parts with an introduction by Sam Berry. Berry's introduction is clear, precise and provides an excellent overview. Part I looks at the history of the idea with two excellent essays by Peter Harrison and Richard Bauckham - both for me were the highlights of the book.

Part II looked at some criticisms and expositions of stewardship. Despite being the default position for many stewardship hasn't escaped criticism. Critics include Clare Palmer (ch 5). Her objections include:

There is no 'biblical concept of stewardship of nature' (p 65) - 'even if there were, it would only represent one view of many displayed in biblical writing' (p 65)
It has the problem of accommodating God's action or presence in the world. God becomes an absentee landlord (this is also an accusation made by Matthew Fox) (p. 68)
It originates in a society based on slavery, a represents an autocratic form of government. It is thus unsuitable for modern society (p. 70)
It assumes that humanity is separated from the rest of creation. (p 70)
It may lead to the assumption that the natural world is a resource that humans are in control of. (p 70) (p 72) This attitude is in a feudal perception of stewardship (p 72)
In the light of evolution this metaphysical set apartness is impossible to justify (p 71) [Might not the same also be said on being the image bearers of God?]
It is influenced by the idea that the eath needs to be managed because it is fallen and imperfect (p 71). The earth existed for millions of years without humans.
Stewardship is an anthropocentric ethic, which considers it to be best for humans and the natural world to be it to be managed by humans. (p 73)
Is non-theistic stewardship exercised on behalf of the planet? (p 74)
It is un-ecological (p 75)

Many of these concerns are directly addressed by Attfield in the next essay. The agnostic James Lovelock (ch 9) also dislikes the stewardship model, he senses that it is ‘an imperial concept that assumes an automatic superiority invested in those in charge’ (p 108), he prefers a partnership model - a partnership with the Earth/ Gaia. Ruth Page also proposes a similar model, but from a theistic perspective, preferring to call it ‘fellowship with creation’ (ch 8). The advantage of such approach is that it avoids the anthropocentrism that can accompany stewardship but the danger is that it can slip into pan(en)theism.

In Part III, Consolidation, Douglas Hall makes an excellent point, which does much to alleviate many concerns of stewardship - he writes: ‘The steward is different [from the rest of creation], but the steward is also the same. Like all the others, the steward is recipient of that which can never be his or hers to own’ (p. 143). Cal de Witt contends, rightly, that stewardship must be ‘highly interactive and dynamic’ (p150). He sees it involving an engagement with science, ethics and praxis. This raises the question why not also with religion, history, law and so on? He then advocates a two-books approach. I have reservations about such a framework/metaphor - why, for example, only two books? Other essays in this section look at stewardship in the context of evolutionary theory. Christopher Southgate sees stewardship - in a limited way - as a part of a matrix of our relationship with the rest of creation. Larry Rasmussen sees it as one symbol among others including dominion, partner and priest

In Part IV, Applications, Susan Power Bratton examines the implications of stewardship for marine systems by extending the sabbath and jubilee principles to include them. Michael Northcott applies it to the soil and agriculture. Crispin Ticknell opens his essay with a great statement: ‘Environment is the stuff of religion, and religion is the stuff of the environment’ (p 220). He goes on to clarify what he means but it seems his view of religion is more mystical than a robust earthy Christianity. Derek Osborn makes a valid plea to slay the four giants of unsustainability: the ideas that growth, efficiency, money and the present all come first.

Part V, Relevance/ Ways forward, may have been mis-titled as I saw little to take the discussion forward in these articles. There is little attention paid to how a stewardship model might help say climate change or deforestation or further avenues for philosophical or even theological exploration. Zizioulas advocates seeing humans as priests of creation but there is no discussion as to what this model could add to a stewardship view, or even if it is compatible with it. The highlight in this section for me is Murray Rae’s paper originally presented at the St George’s House consultation. Rae covers much ground including examining other models that have been proposed. It provides a good summary of the many approaches mentioned elsewhere in this volume.

Part VI - by far the shortest has a three-page conclusion by John Houghton. The book concludes with a 21-page bibliography and a 10-page index.

This is an excellent compilation of some of the best material available on stewardship. Berry has a done a great service in pulling together these articles. Taking stewardship as the default position is now no longer an option - here are the resources to examine closely the issue. It seems to be that the malleable concept of stewardship has taken a bit of battering in recent decades but it has come out in better shape and though it can no longer be seen as the panacea for a Christian approach to the environment it certainly seem to be the best model or metaphor to work from.

Publisher's website

Available in the UK from:
amazon
book depository
eden

The Earth Charter Initiative

2009-06-25T08:04:00.003+01:00

Sustainable energy: without the hot air

2009-06-18T18:26:00.001+01:00

[HT @climateprayer]

An environmental history timeline

2009-06-13T13:42:00.002+01:00

Pollution is not new - as this environmental history time line, compiled by Bill Kovarik, shows.

Christianity, Climate Change and Sustainable Living - a review

2009-06-12T12:00:00.001+01:00

Christianity, Climate Change and Sustainable Living
Nick Spencer and Robert White
SPCK, 2007
pbk, ISBN 978-0-281-05833-4
x+245 pp
£9.99

This book was 'conceived and nurtured' by the Jubilee Centre and the John Ray Institute. Nick Spencer was a researcher for the Jubilee Centre until 2007 and is now Director of studies at Theos, and Bob White, a geophysicist, is director of the Faraday Institute for Science and Religion.

The book split into three parts: the nature of the problem, the biblical perspective and the Christian response.

The first takes a look at global warming (ch 1) and sustainability and well-being (ch2). Here we have the science of climate change this is explained in an accessible way and contains abundant figures and charts. Unfortunately, the issue of 'climate scepticism' isn't addressed: 'The take home message is that global warming is real and unequivocal, and is caused by humans' (p. 25).

Climate change is the result of unsustainable development and so the issue of sustainability is examined in the next chapter. As they put it: 'The way we use energy at home, the way we travel and the manner in which we consume lie at the heart of climate change. Unless they change it won't' (p. 72).

Part 2 poses the question should Christians care about the environment? (Ch 3) Their answer an emphatic Yes! - they then look at what a Christian response might look like (Ch 4-5). In response to Why care? They respond:

because God does
because it is part of what it means to be human
to obey the command to love 'our neighbours'
because of our hope for the future

Chapter 4 looks at the biblical vision of sustainable living here they draw heavily on Isaiah 40-66 as 'it offers the fullest biblical vision the Bible has to offer of sustainable living', an example of how life on earth should be lived. Next drawing upon the Jubilee theme, in chapter 5, they look at the biblical practice of sustainable living.

The final part looks at the vision (ch 6) and practice of sustainable living (ch 7). In chapter 6 they outline eight helpful - the 'shoulds' notwithstanding - principles for sustainable living:

We should value and protect creation, seeing that as a joy rather than a burden
We should reflect the close bond between society and environment in our decisions
We should pursue justice for the vulnerable and marginalized
We should not confuse wealth and value: our goal should be relational health rather than money or personal freedom
We should favour regulated, market-based solutions that take account of natural, human and social capital
We should express commitment to our immediate environment and favour local solutions
We should aim to offer just and equitable access to natural resources
We should respond seriously and with hope.

Chapter 7 looks at what we can do as individuals, as part of a community, nationally and internationally.

The brief final chapter looks at the new creation. God has not given up on his creation but will re-create it.

There are 16 pages of notes, a 3-page index of biblical references and a 6-page subject index. Sadly there is no bibliography, but a list of organisations such as the Jubilee Centre, The Faraday Institute, The John Ray Institute, Tearfund and WorldVision all judging by the logos on the back cover have supported the book.

The authors close this book with the comment that 'Christians are in a unique position to live and promote such "responsible and collaborative behaviour". We need to do so now.' This book doesn't provide all the answers or solutions but it is certainly a great place to start so that we can become more responsible and informed stewards of God's good earth.

Jubilee Centre has a number of Bible studies to accompany the book here.

Available in the UK from:
SPCK
amazon
eden
book depository

Other reviews:
Celsias
Geoff Stratford
Ethel White

Extracts
Times OnLine

Earthkeeping in the '90s now on Google Books

2009-05-29T19:21:00.001+01:00

One of the best books on Green Christianity is Loren Wilkinson (ed) Earthkeeping - it is now available in limited preview on Google book here.

CPJ Guidelines for the environment

2009-05-26T08:53:00.001+01:00

The Center for Public Justice has a set of guidelines for the environment here.

Their Public Justice Report has an amplification of the guidelines written by Jim Skillen: Conserving the environment: guideline no 19 for government and citizenship.

Cherishing the earth - a review

2009-05-25T11:18:00.000+01:00

Cherishing the Earth: How to Care for God's Creation
Martin J. Hodson and Margot R. Hodson
Monarch Books, 2008
ISBN 978-1-85424-841
978-0-8254-6275-7 pbk
254 pp £8.99

US edition: 978 0 8254 6275 7

Books on the environment from a Christian perspective are a bit like buses. You can wait for ages for one to come along and then along come several all at once. This is one of them. The others published in late 2007 and 2008 include: Serve God Save the Planet by J. Mathew Sleeth, Planetwise by Dave Bookless, Christianity, Climate and Sustainability by Nick Spencer and Robert White, Saving Planet Earth by Colin Russell and Living with the Planet by Catherine Von Ruhland. All of them are written at a popular level.

This is a very British book, a gentle book that is irenic in style. It is very Anglican - and in this lies its strengths and weaknesses. Even when controversial issues are broached it is done in a sane way. For example, they are old earth - but of the opinion that the age of the earth is irrelevant in whether or not we care for it; they are theistic evolutionists, but are quick to point out that 'all Christians, whatever their views on origins will concede that our Earth originates with God and is rightfully his' (p. 92). On nuclear power: 'I do not feel comfortable with nuclear power, but I have a strong suspicion that we may need it.'

Occasionally the dualistic language grates: 'I hope to answer some of the spiritual questions that Christians might bring' p. 14,and they write of the '... supernatural effects of the fall in creation' p. 56. It's not a great start when the authors seem to adopt an independence view of science and religion and fail to see that all of life is spiritual - not just the theological bits. However, the message of the book is an important one: we urgently need to know how to care for God's creation.

It is a good introductory book, but they do skirt over some of the tricky biblical issues. For example, the two words translated as subdue (kabash) and rule (radah) in Genesis 1 are strong words - they don't seem to convey the connotation of care. Kabash is elsewhere translated as rape (Esther 7:8) and Westermann has translated radah as "to tread out the wine press" and von Rad as "trample". This can not simply be dismissed by describing it as 'a command to interact with nature and aid its fruitfulness' (p. 29) without further understanding of context and linguistics.

Sometimes the book reads like a patchwork quilt, the scientific and the biblical patchworks are attempted to be tied mosaic-like together. Sometimes this works at other times it jars. Often it gives the impression that 'spirituality' is an icing on the cake rather than the leaven for the whole cake.

'Climate scepticism' is briefly dealt with by reference to N Oreskes' Science 306 article. They are convinced that 'human induced climate change is real, and needs our urgent attention at all levels...' p. 61.

Chapter 5 looks at the 'seeds of history', this is a broad-brush overview of green Christian history and it inevitably oversimplifies. They rightly maintain that individuals can make a difference (ch 6) and highlight some things that can be done. One inspiring example is a Green semi in Oxford (see here for details). Transport and food are also examined in this chapter.

Chapter 7 looks at 'Caring communities' and what can be done through community involvement. Again a number of helpful case studies are included. In Chapter 8 on leadership - Job is used as an example of farming; Joseph as an example of climate care and Moses as a leader of change. Here they examine what effective leadership can do as well as take a look at energy and transport issues. Chapter 9 turns from local into global issues including debt, climate change and development. In chapter 10 'Dreams and visons' GM foods and international environmental agreements and reports are examined. Christian initiatives such as the impact of the Climate Forum 2002 which involved the Hodgsons and its effect on Richard Cizik are discussed. It was this forum that was instrumental in Cizik's 'conversion experience' to green issues. Cizik was vice-president of the National Association of Evangelicals in the States and has been instrumental in 'climate care'.

The final chapter looks briefly at the fate of the earth - a crucial issue for Christians - they conclude that it will be renewed not destroyed. But even if God does destroy it, this does not mean we should not protect what we presently have' (p. 202).

The strength of the book is that both authors write from complementary perspectives and we are provided a binocular vision of a number of important issues - they are strong on individual and group involvement at the grassroots level. However, there is little encouragement for Christians to get involved with politics - no sense that we can serve God in doing politics. Many of the issues require political change as well as the need for a grassroots movement.

The authors are obviously passionate about the environment; but unfortunately, it's not often that that passion comes through in the pages of the book. They are pragmatist rather than idealists - but perhaps that is not such a bad thing.

For me the highlight of the book was a brief discussion of rest - part of the jubilee and sabbath legislation. Environmental degredation means a loss of rest for many. Deforestation means that women and children have to go much further to find fuel for their fires - this results in a loss of rest. Sabbath should mean a rest for all not merely rest for the powerful at the expense of the poor (pp158-160): 'We need to act to implement Sabbath as a justice principle for our global community' (p. 160). As far as I'm concerned this section is worth the price of the book alone.

There are 24 pages of notes, 4 pages of useful websites and a 7 page index, but unfortunately, no bibliography.

It provides a useful introduction to light green thinking for Christians and one that could, because of its gentle tones, usefully be given to your local green-sceptic vicar.

Available in the UK from:
Amazon
Book depository
Eden

The book has an accompanying website.
Publisher's website

Why we disagree about climate change

2009-05-21T20:41:00.001+01:00

Mike Hulme - looks at this question on the Guardian's Science Weekly podcast: here

Mike is the fonder of the Tyndall Centre for Climate Research. The centre is named after John Tyndall who was one of the first scientists to recognise the earth's greenhouse effect in 1859. There is a New Scientist article on Tyndall here.

Mike is the author of Why We Disagree about Climate Change.

The Place of Environmental Theology

2009-05-19T20:52:00.001+01:00

The Place of Environmental Theology: a course guide for seminaries, colleges and universities - is available here. It is edited by John Weaver and Margaret Hodson.

It contains a paper by John Weaver on 'teaching environmental theology' and a number of examples of environmental practices - including A Rocha, Eco-congregation, the John Ray Institute and Tearfund.

Climate stewards

2009-05-19T07:57:00.001+01:00

ecohouse

2009-05-18T20:55:00.001+01:00

This may be a little too extreme for the Green project assignment, but it might inspire some ideas: a green ecohouse in Headington, Oxford.

Earth hour 2009: 28th March 8.30 pm

2009-03-27T09:03:00.001Z

Goudzwaard on credit crunch, climate change and environmental responsibility

2008-10-18T10:19:00.001+01:00

christian economist Bob Goudzwaard has 'A note about the credit crunch, climate change and environmental responsibility' at Empire remixed. [HT Paul Norridge]

ASBO Jesus hits the mark

2008-06-23T22:03:00.001+01:00

ASBO Jesus

The ethics of climate change

2008-02-09T16:28:00.001Z

James Garvey, the author of The Ethics of Climate Change is interviewed by Nigel Warburton.

Saving God's green earth

2008-01-29T07:57:00.000Z

This website has some useful resources to be a little more greener.

Useful advice when reading a book ...

2008-01-19T00:15:00.001Z

... but make sure it's your own book: 'How to mark a book' by Mortimer J. Adler:

There are all kinds of devices for marking a book intelligently and fruitfully. Here's the way I do it:

Underlining (or highlighting): of major points, of important or forceful statements.
Vertical lines at the margin: to emphasize a statement already underlined.
Star, asterisk, or other doo-dad at the margin: to be used sparingly, to emphasize the ten or twenty most important statements in the book. (You may want to fold the bottom comer of each page on which you use such marks. It won't hurt the sturdy paper on which most modern books are printed, and you will be able take the book off the shelf at any time and, by opening it at the folded-corner page, refresh your recollection of the book.)
Numbers in the margin: to indicate the sequence of points the author makes in developing a single argument.
Numbers of other pages in the margin: to indicate where else in the book the author made points relevant to the point marked; to tie up the ideas in a book, which, though they may be separated by many pages, belong together.
Circling or highlighting of key words or phrases.
Writing in the margin, or at the top or bottom of the page, for the sake of: recording questions (and perhaps answers) which a passage raised in your mind; reducing a complicated discussion to a simple statement; recording the sequence of major points right through the books. I use the end-papers at the back of the book to make a personal index of the author's points in the order of their appearance.

The front end-papers are to me the most important. Some people reserve them for a fancy bookplate. I reserve them for fancy thinking. After I have finished reading the book and making my personal index on the back end-papers, I turn to the front and try to outline the book, not page by page or point by point (I've already done that at the back), but as an integrated structure, with a basic unity and an order of parts. This outline is, to me, the measure of my understanding of the work.

I tend to use lines in the margin to mark something important - the more marks the more interesting/ important I feel it is. I also use an exclamation mark if it is some thing surprising and a question mark if I'm not sure about what is written. I sometimes put an x if I think it is wrong.

Faraday Institute: Environment lectures

2008-01-07T21:50:00.001Z

There are a lot more environment lectures to read, listen to or watch at The Faraday Institute.

The topics include global warming, biodiversity, caring for nature, sustainability and climate change.

The lecturers include John Houghton, Homes Rolston, Ghillean Prance, Brian Heap, Michael Northcott, Margot Hudson, Calvin DeWitt, Bob White and Mike Hulme.

They are accessible from here.

Calvin DeWitt mp3

2008-01-07T21:33:00.001Z

Here is Calvin DeWitt speaking on 'The science and ethics of caring for the environment'.

GreenIQ

2008-01-05T17:51:00.001Z

GreenIQ has a list of 100 ways to green your life today. [HT The evangelical ecologist]

Ecocongregation

2008-01-04T20:45:00.000Z

Jo Rathbone of the ecocongregation programme in England & Wales is blogging here.

Global warming

2007-12-26T18:17:00.001Z

This youtube clip from the Jubilee Centre looks at global warming. Jason Fletcher interviews Bob White.

Happy Christmas

2007-12-24T12:38:00.001Z

Good stewards

2007-10-12T09:19:00.000+01:00

Usually. the mention of strewardship in most churches provokes the idea of money and tithing. Fortunatley, this website has a larger view of stewardship:

Check out the environment page for some helpful resources.

Serve God and save the planet

2007-10-12T09:13:00.001+01:00

The website of Mathew Sleeth - the author of Serve God and Save the Planet and new director of A Rocha USA - it is replete with some excellent suggestions to live more lightly on the earth.

Operation Noah

2007-09-29T11:39:00.001+01:00

Serving God and saving the planet

2007-09-29T08:42:00.000+01:00

Andy Crouch reviews some new books on Christianity and the environment.

A blog for green Christians

2007-09-24T20:45:00.000+01:00

Sander Chan has a blog for green Christians: Joyful Anticipation. It is in Dutch and English.

Is eco-Christianity God's mandate? by David J Hill

2007-09-03T21:04:00.001+01:00

Click on the image to access this article.

Assignment writing

2007-08-29T15:15:00.001+01:00

The University of Surrey has some useful assignment writing help here.

Andrew Linzey in the Church Times

2007-08-18T09:47:00.001+01:00

Andrew Linzey, Director of the Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics, writes a piece in the Church Times on 'First hit the pets, then the people': 'Christians need to act on the link between animal and human abuse'.

Books on green living

2007-08-10T09:44:00.001+01:00

Byron Borger at Hearts and Minds has listed and described some books on practical green living. They inculde:

Simpler Living, Compassionate Life: A Christian Perspective edited by Michael Schut (Living the Good News)
Food & Faith: Justice, Joy and Daily Bread edited by Michael Schut (Living the Good News)
Living the Good Life On God's Good Earth Edited by David Koetje (Faith Alive)
EarthTrek: Celebrating and Sustaining God's Creation Joanne Moyer (Herald Press)
Sustainable Living for Dummies Michael Grosvenor (Wiley)
Our Ecological Footprint: Reducing Human Impact on the Earth Mathis Wackernagel & William Rees (New Society Publishers)
An Earth Careful Way of Life Lionel Basney (Regent College Press)

GM Organisms lecture

2007-07-26T10:03:00.001+01:00

Wednesday, 1st August, 8 pm @ WYSOCS

Dr. Uko Zylstra, Professor of Biology and Academic Dean of Calvin College, Grand Rapids, Michigan, will visit WYSOCS on 1st August to give a lecture on:

GENETICALLY MODIFIED ORGANISMS - creation confounded?

Followed by a discussion at 9 pm on
THE PLACE AND TASK OF A CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY in today's world
Details here.

How to read a book

2007-05-26T09:07:00.001+01:00

David Field has a five page pdf on 'How to read' ... it's a handout for the 'Stating the obvious' module at Oak Hill  College.  It's well worth reading!

WWJD?

2007-05-06T11:34:00.001+01:00

What would Jesus drive? is a discussion initiated by the Evangelical Environmental Network & Creation Care Magazine because transportation is a moral issue.

A response to global warming?

2007-04-30T21:20:00.001+01:00

Tips for becoming green

2007-04-29T11:50:00.001+01:00

Gathering| inlight.com has some useful tips and resources for 'becoming green and protecting our environment'.

living lightly 24:1

2007-04-19T23:25:00.001+01:00

Do check out A Rocha's Living lightly 24:1 website here.  There are lots of ideas and resources for greener living.

Playgreen: a new wiki

2007-04-12T08:27:00.001+01:00

Playgreen is a new wiki that hopes to be the 'biggest book on green living'.  It's well worth checking out.

How to green your electronics

2007-03-27T20:51:00.001+01:00

Lifehacker points to an excellent post on treehugger: how to green your electronics.

Center for Applied Christian Ethics

2007-03-23T08:02:00.001Z

The Center for Applied Christian Ethics at Wheaton has a number of useful resources. There are several mp3s from their conference on 'Environment, economics, equity' as well as resources on global warming by Sir John Houghton

Mums for global warming

2007-03-14T07:40:00.001Z

[HT Icarus redeemed]

Living day to day by a gospel of green

2007-03-10T08:38:00.000Z

The New York Times has an interesting article on evangelical Revd Jim Ball.

It turns out that Jim and Kara Ball spend a lot of time thinking not just about what Jesus would drive, but also about how his people should wash their clothes, light their bathrooms, clean their windows, shop for groceries and furnish their living rooms — the day-to-day elements of what some Christian environmentalists call “creation care.”

[HT Jack Haas]

The fair tracing project

2007-03-08T07:30:00.001Z

World Changing brings us a piece on 'The fair tracing project':

A group of computer scientists and economic geographers in the UK put their heads together over the last few months to address a challenge in food systems design. As they see it, the Fair Trade movement faces obstacles to widespread adoption due to an ongoing divide between Northern consumers and Southern producers, as well as a lack of direct, specific information for customers about particular products. Their Fair Tracing Project proposes to enhance the growth of equitable global trade systems by adding digital tracing technology to individual items so that they can be tracked, and their stories recorded, as they move from farm to table.

HT Matthew Bartlett - he describes fair tracing and the next step on from fair trade.

mindmaps

2007-03-03T10:37:00.001Z

I love mind maps and concept maps they are a great first step to writing an assignment. There are some great software that enable mindmapping- I have reviewed Inspiration 8 here for the ATM.

One web-based application for mindmapping is mindomo.

Other free (yes - free) software that can be downloaded is:

Here's a sample they created to help you learn mindmapping by doing. [HT lifehack]

Do feel free to include your mind maps when you send in assignments.

NB contratry to popular belief Tony Buzan didn't invent mindmapping - Porphy of Tyros got there a while before him!

Christianity and the environment conference mp3s

2007-03-02T14:02:00.000Z

The recent conference lectures from the MacLaurin Institutute on Christianity and the environment are now available as mp3s:

September 23rd, 2006 - Paul Capel
Paper presentation: Our Consumption of Creation: Actions and Attitudes

September 23rd, 2006 - John Nagle
Paper presentation: The Evangelical Debate Over Global Warming

September 23rd, 2006 - Gregory Poore
Paper presentation: Life Is a Miracle: The Spirituality and Philosophy of Wendell Berry

September 23rd, 2006 - David O’Hara
Paper presenation: The Nature of Nature: C.S. Lewis’ Literary Response to Henri Bergson

September 23rd, 2006 - Matthew Dickerson
Paper presentation: Beyond Romanticism: Applications of Tolkien’s Christian Agrarian Romance

September 23rd, 2006 - Ed Brown
Paper presentation: From Garden to City: Living Theologically in the

September 23rd, 2006 - David Foster
Paper presentation: Green Religion vs. the Greening of Religion

September 23rd, 2006 - Karl Johnson
Paper presentation: Church and the Environment: Common Grace, Saving Grace, and Stewardship of the Natural Environment

September 23rd, 2006 - Susan Emmerich
Closing plenary: A Faith-Based Approach to Social and Environmental Transformation: Three Case Studies From the Chesapeake Bay Watershed

September 23rd, 2006 - Rolf Bouma
Plenary address: Rules for Intelligent Tinkering: Should Nature Be Engineered?

September 23rd, 2006 - Stephen Bouma-Prediger
Plenary address: God the Homemaker and Recycler: A Biblical Case for a Green God

September 22nd, 2006 - Cal DeWitt
Keynote address: Pristine Harmony in the Ecological Economy: Dynamic Stewardship for a Dynamic World

Studying with full-time job ...

2007-03-01T07:20:00.001Z

.... lifehack.org has some useful tips here.

Pollution and the Death of Man ...

2007-02-28T21:00:00.000Z

... by Francis Schaeffer (Hodder and Stoughton, 1970) is one of the earliest books written by an evangelical on a Christian view of the environment. It still repays careful study. David Fairchild has posted a reflection on Schaeffer’s book here.

Positive proof of global warming

2007-02-22T23:46:00.001Z

Originally from here.

A green lent?

2007-02-21T19:05:00.001Z

The evangelical ecologist has some great ideas for a green lent.

The cost of leaving you computer on

2007-02-19T22:07:00.000Z

This site has some useful tips on how to calculate the cost of leaving your computer on. It might provide some ideas for the green project. [HT lifeh h acker]

Green patches

2007-02-19T22:03:00.000Z

One of my students has started a blog check it out here.

Global warming

2007-01-31T07:26:00.000Z

Climate scientists say White House pressured them

Updated Tue. Jan. 30 2007 5:52 PM ET

CTV.ca News Staff

U.S. scientists have been pressured to make their writings on global warming fit with the Bush administration's skepticism on the topic, a U.S. Congressional committee has been told.

Full details here.

[HT David Koyzis]

Animal ethics

2007-01-05T21:58:00.000Z

Animal ethics is a blog dedicated to philosophical discussion of the moral status of nonhuman animals. There are a number of links to related websites and a list of books on animal ethics.

Clmate Change and Global Warming

2006-11-11T09:43:00.000Z

WYSOCS is organising a conference on Climate Change and Global Warming on Saturday 2nd December 2006. The speakers are Bob Goudzwaard and John Houghton. They will speak on 'Unmasking the ideologies obstructing global economic change' and 'Global warming: a challenge to scientists and Christians' respectively. Full details and a booking form can be obtained here.

The Bible in Transmission Autumn 2006

2006-09-02T08:31:00.000+01:00

The Autumn issue - is it autumn already? What happened to summer? - of The Bible In Transmission is out; the theme is Sustainable Development. It includes:

Jane Williams 'Theologies of the environment'
Sam Berry 'Is religion bad for the environment?'
John Houghton 'The crisis of sustainability'
Ian Hore-Lacy 'Christian stewardship and energy sustainability'
Edward Echlin 'Living sustainably locally'
John Guillebaud 'Population growth, global warming and sustainability of the environment'

Global warming adverts

2006-04-22T08:56:00.000+01:00

Here are two adverts produced to help Americans think about climate change.

A conversation with Wendell Berry

2006-04-19T18:28:00.000+01:00

There is an interview with the poet, essayist and novelist Wendell Berry at counterpunch.

Waking up to climate change

2006-04-18T20:25:00.000+01:00

Jim Skillen's comments on 'Climate Change: An Evangelical Call to Action' are here.

John Houghton: Looking after creation

2006-04-09T22:07:00.000+01:00

There is an interesting interview with John Houghton in this month's Christianity Today: 'Looking after creation'.

Ecological blindspots

2006-04-08T10:30:00.000+01:00

John Jefferson Davis, author of Evangelical Ethics (P 1993, 2nd edn), has an article - available online - in JETS: 'Ecological "blind spots" in the structure and content of recent evangelical systematic theologies'.

The purpose of this paper is to argue that certain “blind spots” in the structure and content of recent evangelical systematic theologies have contributed to the neglect of environmental issues and environmental stewardship in certain segments of the evangelical subculture. More specically, it will be argued that de˜ciencies in the doctrines of creation and the atonement in evangelical systematic theology textbooks have contributed to this problem.

Environmental ethics bibliography

2006-04-06T10:39:00.000+01:00

There is a useful and technical directory to bibliographies in environemental ethics here. It is complied by Timothy C. Weiskel - it was last upated in 1998.

More recent 92005) is the International society for Environemental Ethics Bibliography.

The Evangelical ecologist

2006-04-03T10:12:00.000+01:00

The Evangelical Ecologist is a blog worth checking out: "A Christian ecoblog - 'cause the world isn't ours to mess up Psalm 24:1."

Why the blog? I started it because I think there's a need for a conservative evanglical voice in the environmental movement today. Clearly, though, I'm not the evangelical ecologist. All of us who desire to care for God's creation while spreading the Good News of salvation through Jesus Christ are evangelical ecologists. And this site is here to help.

Ecological footprint

2006-01-26T14:29:00.000Z

Take the ecological footprint quiz to see how many hectares are need for your lifestyle.

Earthkeeping

2006-01-24T14:28:00.001Z

This is really the best book on ecotheology: Earthkeeping in the '90s: Stewardship of Creation (Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, 2nd edn, 1991) - despite being nearly fifteen years old. Sadly it is out of print. But interlibrary loans may be able to find a copy. It is an updated version of a book that was published in 1980 (though most of the research was done in 1977-78) at a time when not many Christian thinking or talking about the environment - let alone writing. It is a product of the Calvin Center for Christian Scholarship.

The writers include: Loren Wilkinson, Calvin DeWitt, Peter DeVos, Eugene Dykema, Vern Ehlers, Ailen Van Genkel (nee Van Beilen) and Derek Pereboom.

Update

It looks like AuSable have copied for sale see here.

Science, Religion and Technology Project

2006-01-22T16:34:00.000Z

The SRTP was set up as the result of the vision of Dr Willie Robertson in 1970. His desire was that theologians should be in touch with technologists so that "the beam of theological thinking is pointed ... where it is needed to avoid the chaos".

Under its current Director, Donald Bruce, it now has an environment page, with links to aspects of its work.

The first couple of decades of the SRT are told in the book Technology at the Crossroads: The Story of the Society, Religion and Technology Project (St Andrew Press, 1994) by Ronald Ferguson.

European Christian Environmental Network

2006-01-22T16:08:00.000Z

The ECEN was first started in 1998. It aims to help the churches and Christian groups to share information, to pool common experiences and to encourage each other in being a united witness to caring for God's creation.

Eco-congregation

2006-01-22T16:05:00.000Z

EcoCongregation is an ecumenical environmental toolkit with resources, support and an award scheme. It encourages churches to weave creation care into their life and mission.

The Parish Pump Programme

2006-01-22T16:02:00.000Z

The Parish Pump Programme is a project of the Conservation Foundation. It is organised in association with the Public Affairs Divison of the CofE.

Tags: ecotheology

The Earth is the Lord's

2006-01-22T15:03:00.000Z

Perhaps the best book ever published on green theology from a Christian perspective is The Earth is the Lord's: A Message of Hope for the Environment (Regius Press, Bristol, 1990) (ISBN 18554 002 4). I should know I'm one of the authors!!!

Unfortunately, it is now out of print - however copies can be obtained from Richard Russell's Christian Studies Unit here.

Tags: ecotheology

Au Sable resources

2006-01-22T14:44:00.000Z

There are a number of helpful resources at the Au Sable site:

1. Biblical Principles for Respecting the Integrity of Creation

2. Caring for Creation: Awareness,Appreciation, Stewardship

3. Caring for Creation: An Introductory Bibliography

4. Loving Rembrandt. . . but Despising His Paintings

5. Seven Degradations of Creation

6. Three Biblical Principles for Environmental Stewardship

7. Who and Whose is Behemoth

Tags: AuSable

Christian Environmental Studies Center

2006-01-22T14:41:00.000Z

The CESC at Montreal College is a collaborative effor between Christian environemntal organisations , academic programming andf the Christian community.

There are links to a number of papers and articles.

Technorati Tags: ecotheology

John Ray Initiative

2006-01-22T14:33:00.001Z

The John Ray Initiative (JRI) is an educational charity that develops and communicates a Christian understanding of the environment. Find out Who's Who in JRI, and about John Ray. Investigate our Associates programme, Briefing papers, JRI Resources and our Gateway, an annotated directory of resources.

Tags: JohnRayInitaitive, ecotheology

ecotheology

Calvin De Witt

Christian Ecology Link Conference 10 March 2012 in Bristol

Donald Woster on John Muir

The ethics of climate change

Climate change explained cartoon style

"Creation's Care and Keeping" issue of Theological Forum

In praise of slow reading

How To Write Good

Vote for policies

Lovelock on the origins of the Gaia hypothesis

James Lovelock on Gaia: a final warning

Vision - Creation care issue

Biblical Prophets and Contemporary Environmental Ethics

How to write an assignment

Cornelius Hunter on a major cause of global warming: hot air

Buy Nothing Day

But Nothing Dat

Jubilee 2010

Christianity and the environment

Why should Christians care for the environment?

Harvard Reference Generator

John Calvin and the natural world

The Green Bible

Planetwise - a review

Saving Planet Earth by Colin Russell - a review

Enviromental Stewardship (ed. R. J. Berry) - a review

The Earth Charter Initiative

Sustainable energy: without the hot air

An environmental history timeline

Christianity, Climate Change and Sustainable Living - a review

Earthkeeping in the '90s now on Google Books

CPJ Guidelines for the environment

Cherishing the earth - a review

Why we disagree about climate change

The Place of Environmental Theology

Climate stewards

ecohouse

Earth hour 2009: 28th March 8.30 pm

Goudzwaard on credit crunch, climate change and environmental responsibility

ASBO Jesus hits the mark

The ethics of climate change

Saving God's green earth

Useful advice when reading a book ...

Faraday Institute: Environment lectures

Calvin DeWitt mp3

GreenIQ

Ecocongregation

Global warming

Happy Christmas

Good stewards

Serve God and save the planet

Operation Noah

Serving God and saving the planet

A blog for green Christians

Is eco-Christianity God's mandate? by David J Hill

Assignment writing

Andrew Linzey in the Church Times

Books on green living

GM Organisms lecture

How to read a book

WWJD?

A response to global warming?

Tips for becoming green

Further reading ....

living lightly 24:1

Playgreen: a new wiki

How to green your electronics

Center for Applied Christian Ethics

Mums for global warming

Living day to day by a gospel of green

The fair tracing project

mindmaps

Christianity and the environment conference mp3s

Studying with full-time job ...

Pollution and the Death of Man ...

Positive proof of global warming

A green lent?

The cost of leaving you computer on

Green patches