Is the bible green?

Some notes from a presentation by Prof David G Horrell (Exeter University) at the Eco-congregations Ireland conference September 2012...

The bible is not a simple green book. There is a green bible published (a version of the NRSV) in which all the parts that have positive things to say about the environment are highlighted. But there are also many negative aspects in the bible that cannot be ignored.

Some of the problems with the Bible as a green text are:

• In Genesis 1 the word subdue used in reference to the human relationship to the earth can be interpreted in terms of stewardship but has often been used to justify exploitation. In 1967 Lynn White published a paper claiming that the command to subdue the earth was at the heart of all the environmental problems of the world because the western Judeo Christian ethic originating from this text had dominated the world.
• The end times such as the apocalypse in Mark or 2 Peter indicate that Christians should be doing whatever they can to hasten the end of the world! This will make people bad stewards of the earth. However the ideas of destruction can be interpreted as ideas of transformation and renewal of the new heaven and the new earth

There are however numerous good texts from an environmental point of view

• Genesis 1.31  Goodness of the earth emphasised in every stage of the creation story
• Genesis 9  Noah's covenant is with the whole earth
• Psalms  (104 and 148 :3-10) hymns of praise of all creation
• Job ch 38-41 - humanity is not seen as the centre of all that exists as God asks "Who do you think you are?"
• Prophetic visions of future peace such as in Isaiah 11:6-9 where the lion and the lamb lie in peace. Here peace goes beyond the human world to encompass all creation
• In Matthew 6  v 26-39 Jesus outlines God's care for creation (but also says God loves people more!)
• Romans 8  outlines God's saving purpose for all creation
• Colossians 1 is a vision of all things being reconciled and saved
• The vision in Revelation 21.5 is ambiguous and could be good or bad from an environmental point of view.

The bible is not a simple green Christian text book but it contains within it great potential for the green reconfiguration of Christian theology.

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