Christian Ecology

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As Loren Wilkinson (a fellow of the Calvin Center for Christian Scholarship and author of Earthkeeping) notes, the very next chapter of Genesis puts limits on those apparent free reins: "Then the Lord God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate and keep it" (Genesis 2:15). This last phrase can also be translated "to serve and preserve it" and points up a lesson environmental theologians find prominent throughout the scriptures: Dominion is servitude. Abraham, Joshua, David and Jesus himself were successful leaders precisely because they obeyed and served the Lord.

Wilkinson thus concludes that if humans are, in one sense, the rulers of the earth, they are as equally much servants in it, whose job is that of tending a garden that actually belongs to another—God.

Book have been written concerning the other scriptural arguments for earth ethics. But perhaps the Kentucky farmer-poet Wendell Berry has summed them all up best with these simple words: "The ecological teaching of the Bible is inescapable. God made the world. He thinks the world is good. He loves it. It's his world. He has never relinquished title to it. And he has never revoked the conditions that oblige us to take excellent care of it."

ACCESS

North American Conference on Christianity and Ecology (NACCE, 3019 4th St., N.E., Washington, DC 20017; 202/269-3462). The umbrella group for Christian environmentalism offers the published proceedings of last summer's conference for $12 postpaid and its central document for $2.

Appalachian Science in the Public Interest (Rt. 5, Box 423, Livingston, KY 40445; 606/453-2105). ASPI publishes a quarterly newsletter ($5 a year), various helpful manuals (write for a listing), the popular "Simple Lifestyle Calendar"($7 each) and "Earthen Vessels: An Environmental Action Manual for Churches" ($10).

11th Commandment Fellowship (1555 Rose Ave., Santa Rosa, CA 95407). Small local groups follow what founder Vincent Rossi calls the 11th Commandment: "The Earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof; Thou shalt not despoil the Earth, nor destroy the life thereon." Free brochure.

New Creation Institute (518 S. Ave. W., Missoula, MT 59801; 406/721-6704). This center runs programs "to convert the church by its own gospel for saving God's creation and building human wholeness." It offers a free introductory brochure and, for $12.95 postpaid, A Worldly Spirituality, Wesley Granberg-Michaelson's fine, Bible-based analysis of the case for Christian environmentalism.

Epiphany (P.O. Box 14727, Dept. 11, San Francisco, CA 94114). Three issues, Fall 1985, Fall 1987 and Winter 1988, of this theologically conservative Christian journal contain Vincent Rossi's clear explanations of eco-Christianity (along with various writers' attacks on Creation Spirituality). Back issues are $6 each plus $1 shipping for one copy and 25¢ for each additional one.

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