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.

Image courtesy of Arvind Balaraman / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

One sentence that says so much...

I was on a journey recently and to help the time pass on trains, buses and ferries I read Mark Twain's classic "Huckleberry Finn". I have known about the book since I was in primary school but had never before got round to reading it.

To read "Huckleberry Finn" in the era of a black president of the USA was a strangely disconcerting experience as I found this relatively recent history more than a little alarming. In those days it would seem that black people were not only slaves but not even regarded as human beings. They were property and only valued for their utility.

The story is about Huckleberry Finn, a young lad, probably aged about thirteen who lives on his wits on the fringe of society and his view of the world was at best unconventional. The portrait of the southern states of the USA was also very revealing. It is set in the mid-nineteenth century and black people are referred to as niggers throughout. Slavery was still normative then. Huck sometimes accepts that his companion Jim, a runaway slave, has feelings as he has, and at other times he regards him as one might regard a pet dog. 

The one extract that I remember and will stay with me for a long time exemplifies the attitudes of the time. It was a conversation  between Huck and Mrs Phelps when he was explaining his later than expected arrival by steam boat. The passage went like this

...We blowed out a cylinder-head"
"Good gracious! Was anybody hurt?"
"No mam. Killed a nigger."
"Well, it's lucky; because sometimes people do get hurt..."

What more can you say. 
With such attitudes only one hundred and fifty years ago, it becomes easier to understand contemporary American racial tensions.

Away with the Fairies

When you mention the literary genre fantasy fiction, you most usually think of dragons and dungeons in the neo-Gothic settings of other worlds. The novel "Some Kind of Fairy Tale" by  Graham Joyce is fantasy set in contemporary England describing the interface between the real world and the fairy realm. (Actually he never uses the word Fairy as he says they don't like this name!)

The plot centres on a young woman, Tara, who disappears in some enchanted woods at the age of 16 and then returns to her parents house twenty years later, not seeming to have aged and swearing she has been away only for six months. She claims to have been living with the fairies in a parallel universe. Tara's brother, parents, and teenage sweetheart find it difficult to accepting her return and the explanation of events she gives. It is this collision of belief and unbelief that drives the plot forward. It is basically a novel that explores themes of love and loss. The descriptions of the land where Tara went are beautifully evocative and the description of the dysfunctional relationships between Tara and her family, and Richie - the ex-boyfriend - are subtly nuanced and well written.

`Some Kind of Fairy Tale' is a contemporary take on the classic `abducted by fairies' tale and Joyce admits that he was inspired and influenced by many such stories from the past. Joyce creates a recognisable, comfortable middle class semi-rural suburbia then over paints this scene with shades of unreality. His fairies are not the sentimental version: they are not tiny and they don't have wings and wear pretty little dresses. They are not evil but dark and sinister with a very different morality and code of behaviour. It is a dark Faerie-land which is both a menacing and yet also a very beautiful place. 
The book occupies the hinterland between psychology and fantasy. Joyce's fiction is noted for its juxtaposition of the real and unreal, with an element of ambiguity regarding whether the supernatural element is truly supernatural or is in fact a metaphor, or psychological manifestation. Alongside the supernatural element of this story we are offered alternative explanations, possibilities and reactions through the narratives of the different characters. Tara tells her story to a psychiatrist and to her sister in law, a psychologist, and they both make their own diagnosis. There is much scepticism about Tara's story, and we see the attempts to test and disprove her account.

I enjoyed the book and found the use of many narrators to tell the story a masterful device to show that every story is seen differently through the eyes and experiences of each unique individual.

Click here to buy this book

 Image courtesy of dan/ FreeDigitalPhotos.net