The Ecology of the New Testament

The Ecology of the New Testament PDF

Author: Mark Bredin

Publisher: InterVarsity Press

Published: 2012-01-05

Total Pages: 225

ISBN-13: 0830858849

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God is the Creator of all and cares deeply for all that he has made. His vision for creation is seen through a world teeming with life where eternity is breathed into and through all creation. Jesus teaches that humans must live with a spirit of generosity and restraint; however, a spirit of meanness and greed dominates human culture and leaves nearly 1.3 billion people living on less than $1 a day. The politics of globalization based on principles of greed have resulted in the loss of biodiversity, deforestation, and a shortage of food and clean water. Jesus teaches that those who are generous are blessed, and such generosity brings justice to all creation. There cannot be God's social justice without ecological sanity, and yet we tend to speak of social justice as though non-human creation doesn't matter. God cares even for the flowers of the field, yet we show contempt for God in our careless plunder of his creation. To love God is to love all that he has made, from our own families to the soil outside our homes.

Bible and Ecology

Bible and Ecology PDF

Author: Richard Bauckham

Publisher:

Published: 2010

Total Pages: 394

ISBN-13:

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In this well-argued and timely book, Bauckham considers the relationship of humans to the rest of creation.He argues that there is much more to the Bible’s understanding of this relationship than the mandate of human dominion given in Genesis 1, which has too often been used as a justification for domination and exploitation of the earth’s resources. He also critiques the notion of stewardship as being on the one hand presumptuous, and on the other too general a term to explain our key responsibilities in caring for the earth. In countering this, he considers other biblical perspectives, including the book of Job, the Psalms and the Gospels, and re-evaluates the biblical tradition of ‘dominion’, in favour of a ‘community of creation’.With its clear analysis and thought-provoking conclusions, The Bible and Ecology is an essential read for anyone interested in a biblically grounded approach to ecology.

Ecology and the Bible

Ecology and the Bible PDF

Author: Frederic Baudin

Publisher: Hendrickson Publishers

Published: 2021-10-05

Total Pages: 200

ISBN-13: 1683073339

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This book offers Christian laypeople a brief and accessible perspective on what the Bible teaches about ecology and about Christians responsibility to care for the environment. The book situates these subjects within the framework of the Bibles overarching teachings about creation, fall, redemption, and new creation. The author also explores his theme by examining relevant scientific and historical data, as well as by discussing the history of philosophy and theology. The books chapters and subsections are brief, making the discussion easy to follow, and the volume ends with practical tips for how people of faith can care for the environment in their daily lives. Key points and features: • Handy and accessible book on an increasingly vital topic • Includes practical tips for how Christians can care for the environment in their daily lives • Affordable and relevant guidebook for pastors, students, teachers, people in the pews, and more

The Bible and the Environment

The Bible and the Environment PDF

Author: David G. Horrell

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2015-08-12

Total Pages: 160

ISBN-13: 1317324374

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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.

Let Creation Rejoice

Let Creation Rejoice PDF

Author: Jonathan A. Moo

Publisher: InterVarsity Press

Published: 2014-05-02

Total Pages: 191

ISBN-13: 083089635X

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"Let all creation rejoice before the LORD, for he comes." Psalm 96:13 The Bible is bathed with images of God caring for his creation in all its complexity. Yet in the face of climate change and other environmental trends, philosophers, filmmakers, environmentalists, politicians and senior scientists increasingly resort to apocalyptic rhetoric to warn us that a so-called perfect storm of factors threatens the future of life on earth. Jonathan Moo and Robert White ask, "Do these dire predictions amount to nothing more than ideological scaremongering, perhaps hyped-up for political or personal ends? Or are there good reasons for thinking that we may indeed be facing a crisis unprecedented in its scale and in the severity of its effects?" The authors encourage us to assess the evidence for ourselves. Their own conclusion is that there is in fact plenty of cause for concern. Climate change, they suggest, is potentially the most far-reaching threat that our planet faces in the coming decades, and also the most publicized. But there is a wide range of much more obvious, interrelated and damaging effects that a growing number of people, consuming more and more, are having on the planet upon which we all depend. Yet if the Christian gospel fundamentally reorients us in our relationship to God and his world, then there ought to be something radically distinctive about our attitude and approach to such threats. In short, there ought to be a place for hope. And there ought to be a place for Christians to participate in that hope. Moo and White therefore reflect on the difference the Bible's vision of the future of all of creation makes. Why should creation rejoice? Because God loves and cares the world he made.

The Ecology Book

The Ecology Book PDF

Author: Jean Lightner

Publisher: New Leaf Publishing Group

Published: 2013-04-15

Total Pages: 93

ISBN-13: 161458317X

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Study the relationship between living organisms and our place in God's wondrous creation! Learn important words and concepts from different habitats around the world to mutual symbiosis as a product of the relational character of God. Designed with a multi-age level format especially for homeschool educational programs. Examine influential Scientists and their work, more fully understand practical aspects of stewardship, and investigate ecological connections in creation! The best-selling Wonders of Creation series adds a new biology-focused title that unveils the intricate nature of God's world and the harmony that was broken by sin. This educational resource is color-coded with three educational levels in mind: 5th to 6th grades, 7th to 8th grades, and 9th through 11th grades, which can be utilized for the classroom, independent study, or homeschool setting. Whether used as part of our newly developed science curriculum or simply as a unique unit study, the book includes full-color photos, informative illustrations, and meaningful descriptions. The text encourages an understanding of a world designed, not as a series of random evolutionary accidents, but instead as a wondrous, well-designed system of life around the globe created to enrich and support one another.

Apocalyptic Ecology

Apocalyptic Ecology PDF

Author: Micah D. Kiel

Publisher: Liturgical Press

Published: 2017

Total Pages: 192

ISBN-13: 0814687822

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The author of the book of Revelation struggled, as we do today, to live out a Christian faith in the context of an empire that trampled and destroyed the earth and its creatures. In this book, Micah D. Kiel will look at how and why Revelation was written, along with how it has been interpreted across the centuries, to come to an understanding of its potential contribution to a modern environmental ethic. While the book of Revelation is replete with images of destruction of the earth, Kiel shows readers, through Revelation's ancient context, a message of hope that calls for the care of and respect for the environment.

Creation Care

Creation Care PDF

Author: Douglas J. Moo

Publisher: Zondervan Academic

Published: 2018-02-27

Total Pages: 255

ISBN-13: 0310416558

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From Genesis to Revelation, the Bible reveals a God whose creative power and loving care embrace all that exists, from earth and sky and sea to every creeping, crawling, swimming, and flying creature. Yet the significance of the Bible’s extensive teaching about the natural world is easily overlooked by Christians accustomed to focusing only on what the Bible says about God’s interaction with human beings. In Creation Care, part of the Biblical Theology for Life series, father and son team Douglas and Jonathan Moo invite readers to open their Bibles afresh to explore the place of the natural world within God’s purposes and to celebrate God’s love as displayed in creation and new creation. Following the contours of the biblical storyline, they uncover answers to questions such as: What is the purpose of the non-human creation? Can a world with things like predators, parasites, and natural disasters still be the ‘good’ world described in Genesis 1? What difference does the narrative of the ‘Fall’ make for humankind’s responsibility to rule over other creatures? Does Israel’s experience on the land have anything to teach Christians about their relationship with the earth? What difference does Jesus make for our understanding of the natural world? How does our call to care for creation fit within the hope for a new heaven and a new earth? What is unique about Christian creation care compared with other approaches to ‘environmental’ issues? How does creation care fit within the charge to proclaim the gospel and care for the poor? In addition to providing a comprehensive biblical theology of creation care, they probe behind the headlines and politicized rhetoric about an ‘environmental crisis’ and climate change to provide a careful and judicious analysis of the most up-to-date scientific data about the state of our world. They conclude by setting forth a bold framework and practical suggestions for an effective and faithful Christian response to the scriptural teaching about the created world. But rather than merely offering a response to environmental concerns, Creation Care invites readers into a joyful vision of the world as God’s creation in which they can rediscover who they truly are as creatures called to love and serve the Creator and to delight in all he has made.

Ecological Hermeneutics

Ecological Hermeneutics PDF

Author: David G. Horrell

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2010-06-02

Total Pages: 346

ISBN-13: 0567266850

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Leading scholars reflect critically on the kinds of appeal to the Bible that have been made in environmental ethics and ecotheoloogy and engage with biblical texts with a view towards exploring their contribution to an ecological ethics. The essays explore the kind of hermeneutic necessary for such engagement to be fruitful for contemporary theology and ethics. Crucial to such broad reflection is the bringing together of a range of perspectives: biblical studies, historical theology, hermeneutics, and theological ethics. The thematic coherence of the book is provided by the running focus on the ways in which biblical texts have been, or might be, read. This volume is not about ecotheology, but is instead about ecological hermeneutics. Indeed, some essays show where biblical texts, or particular approaches in the history of interpretation, represent anthropocentric or even anti-ecological moves. One of the overall aims of the book is to suggest how, and why, an ecological hermeneutic might be developed, and the kinds of intepretive choices that are required in such a development.

Eco Bible

Eco Bible PDF

Author: Yonatan Neril

Publisher:

Published: 2021-12-04

Total Pages: 300

ISBN-13: 9781735338842

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"What can the Bible say about ecology? As people face huge ecological challenges-including growing hurricanes, floods, forest fires, and plastic pollution-the groundbreaking Eco Bible dives into this question. Drawing on 3,500 years of religious ethics, it shows how the Bible itself and its great scholars embrace care for God's creation as a fundamental and living message. Eco Bible both informs the reader and inspires spiritual commitment and action to protect all of God's creation. Eco Bible has been a #1 bestseller on multiple Amazon Kindle categories.This 'earth Bible' is a great read for those interested in Jewish and Christian social issues. It also represents an important contribution to eco theology, and to the spiritual ecology movement. Publishers Weekly called the book an """"insightful analysis,"""" which """"will inspire contemplation on how to live in harmony with nature and the power of conservation. Ecologically minded readers interested in the Hebrew Bible will love this."""" Eco Bible Volume 2 explores Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. Together they cover 450 verses in the Five Books of Moses / Pentateuch / Old Testament. By linking faith and science, the book connects religion with contemporary scientific thought regarding human health, biodiversity, and clean air, land, and water. Professor Bill Brown, Professor of Old Testament at Columbia Theological Seminary, calls Eco Bible "a rich repository of insights?for people of faith to move forward with wisdom, inspiration, and hope, all for the sake of God's good creation." Applying Biblical ethics to stewardship, conservation, and creation care is not just an idea for today, but is essential for a future where we live in balance and thrive on a planet that remains viable for all life. At a time of both ecological and spiritual crisis, an ecological reading of the Bible can have profound impact on human behavior, since billions of people worldwide consider it a holy book. Eco Bible uniquely explores the Bible's deep inspiration for fulfilling the blessing of all life, changing course to preserve God's creation, and sustaining human life in harmony with nature and all God's creatures."