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California Institute of Integral Studies and the interconnectedness of all life. The notion of “nature” is broadened to include the human mind and The California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS), located body, the Earth and its biosphere, and the larger planetary, in San Francisco, is a graduate school engaged in scholar- stellar, and galactic realms. The contributions of ship that explores human consciousness, spirituality, indigenous wisdom, deep ecology, ecofeminism, and nature, and the cosmos. Founded in 1968 (originally as the women-centered spirituality to this emerging ecological, California Institute of Asian Studies) by the Indian-born post-modern paradigm are given particular weight. As a educator, scholar, and philosopher Haridas Chaudhuri and part of their scholarly pursuit, students and faculty his wife, Bina, and accredited since 1981, the School offers experiment with a variety of ways of knowing and inquiry doctoral and master’s degrees in psychology, philosophy, methodologies that incorporate but go beyond rational religion, anthropology, and education, all of which stress empiricism to include heuristic and phenomenological holistic, activist-oriented learning focused on questions approaches, and transpersonal methods involving such regarding humankind’s relationship to nature and the activities as dreamwork, prayer, intuition, attention to larger universe. synchronicity, active visioning, and the use of altered The work of many of the Institute’s faculty focuses on states induced by various means, including sacred, plant- consciousness studies and social transformation. Several based medicines. faculty members have been highly influential in the On the practical level, a number of faculty, such as “greening” of religious studies and the New Age move- anthropologist Angana Chatterji and environmental ment, and their work has fueled activism on the political, studies scholar Mutombe Mpanya, maintain active social, and environmental fronts for the past three research agendas with numerous international environ- decades. mental and development agencies around the world. Other Among the Institute’s best-known instructors are: faculty, such as religion historian David Ulansey, are author Charlene Spretnak, a founding figure in the eco- spearheading organizations that are exploring innovative feminist, women’s spirituality, and Green politics move- ways of creating an ecologically sustainable future. The ments; scientist Brian Swimme, who has written and spoken work of these and other faculty provides opportunities, widely on the intersection of science and spirituality; leads, and inspiration to students who wish to apply their Joanna Macy, a scholar of Buddhist philosophy, systems own ecologically based scholarship to real-world settings. sciences, and ecological and social activism; Susan Courses emphasizing community-based social action and Griffin, an award-winning poet and author of books on service learning similarly encourage activism. ecofeminism and the relationship between spiritual and social conscience; and psychologist Ralph Metzner, a Marguerite Rigoglioso leader in the field of ecopsychology, ecological and indigenous worldviews, and sacred plant medicine. Further Reading A number of the Institute’s courses and specialized Griffin, Susan. Woman and Nature: The Roaring Inside concentrations focus specifically on the intersection Her. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, between ecology and religion, exploring questions such 2000. as: the problematic split between humans and nature, Macy, Joanna R., et al. World as Lover, World as Self. body and mind, and self and world in Western thought; Berkeley, CA: Parallax Press, 1991. the interrelatedness among the denial of the sacred femi- Metzner, Ralph. Green Psychology: Transforming Our nine, the disempowerment of women, and the violation of Relationship to the Earth. Rochester, VT: Park Street nature under patriarchy; the relationship between the Press, 1999. domination of nature and the historical dominance of Spretnak, Charlene. States of Grace: The Recovery of the North over the South in geopolitical relations; and Meaning in the Postmodern Age. San Francisco: how physical, psychological, and spiritual well-being are HarperCollins, 1991. related to the health of ecosystems and bioregions. Swimme, Brian and Thomas Berry. The Universe Story: The School’s pedagogical philosophy emphasizes From the Primordial Flaring Forth to the Ecozoic Era post-mechanistic, expansive new understandings of the – A Celebration of the Unfolding of the Cosmos. San evolution of the universe, the Earth as a living organism, Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1994. 252 Callenbach, Ernest

See also: Berry, Thomas; Buddhism – Engaged; Ecopsy- ness, among other more purely philosophical topics. chology; Entheogens; Epic of Evolution; Macy, Joanna; However, Callicott has also contributed significantly to the Naropa University; New Age; Swimme, Brian; Radical literature and discussion surrounding the connections Environmentalism; Transpersonal Psychology; Wilderness between the world’s various religious and cultural tradi- Rites of Passage. tions and their environmental attitudes, ethics, and actions. In the early 1980s Callicott was already exploring the Callenbach, Ernest (1929–) connections between world religions and the newly emer- ging sub-discipline of philosophy known as environ- Ernest Callenbach is best known for authoring Ecotopia. mental ethics. For Callicott, drawing upon the planet’s Born in 1929 in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, he received religious insights offered a means by which to begin to bachelor and masters degrees at the University of Chicago. remedy the planet’s environmental woes. As Callicott him- His first book, Our Modern Art: The Movies, was published self put it, in 1955, and he served as the editor of Film Quarterly from 1958 to 1991. Inspired by the ecology and counterculture Environmental concerns cross not only political movements of the sixties, he wrote his first environmental boundaries, they also cross cultural boundaries. book, Living Cheaply with Style, in 1971. He founded Hence, we need to articulate ecologically correct Banyan Tree Books in 1975 in order to publish Ecotopia, environmental ethics in the grammars of local cul- after 25 publishers had rejected it. He is married to tures if conservation values and ethics are to be Christine Leefeldt, with whom he has co-authored two everywhere intelligible and agreeable (1999: 169). books. Callenbach was a Scholar in Residence at the Elmwood Institute, and is a frequent speaker or consultant Although Callicott views himself “as a quick-study, on environmental issues. armchair scholar, mucking about with this sacred text and Replacing a wasteful, ever-growing, overly exploitative that, trying to conjure out of each an environmental ethic” philosophy and economy with a human-scale, whole- (1999: 170), in many ways, his approach to unpacking the systems, sustainable model is the overriding theme of “grammars of local cultures” has come to typify much of Callenbach’s work. This is not limited to technology or the discussion surrounding the connections between economics, but extends to politics, business, publishing religion and nature. The core of Callicott’s contribution and communication, community, individual lifestyles, and is a discussion of the links between the worldviews of interpersonal relations. He has written several practical various traditions and their environmental philosophy and guides to various aspects of Ecotopian living. These ethics. This focus is demonstrated most completely in include Living Cheaply with Style (1972, revised edition his Earth’s Insights, a book Callicott fully expected to 2000), The Ecotopian Encyclopedia (1980), EcoManage- “incense” religious studies scholars “more expert and ment: The Elmwood Guide to Ecological Auditing and internally situated than I . . . to do a better job” (1999: Sustainable Business (1993), Bring Back the Buffalo: A 170). In general, Callicott gives us a model with which to Sustainable Future for America’s Great Plains (1996), and begin to understand ethics and the connections between Ecology: A Pocket Guide (1998). someone’s or some group’s worldview, values, ethics, and eventually their actions. Our various senses of the nature Jim Dwyer of reality and our place in it – or, our worldviews – inform our sense of value and hence our manifold ethical See also: Bioregionalism; Bioregionalism and the North commitments. According to Callicott, American Bioregional Congress; Ecotopia; Ecotopia – The European Experience; Ecotopian Reflections; New Age. In sum, ethics are embedded in larger conceptual complexes – comprehensive worldviews – that more largely limit and inspire human behavior. And Callicott, J. Baird (1941–) although idealistic, ethics exert a palpable influence on behavior. They provide models to emulate, goals Born in Memphis, Tennessee in 1941, John Baird Callicott to strive for, norms by which to evaluate actual is one of the world’s foremost environmental philoso- behavior (1994: 5). phers. Acknowledged both as a creative and rigorous scholar and as an eloquent stylist, he is also a provocative Hence, the various environmental ethics of individuals and sometimes controversial thinker. Callicott is perhaps and groups is revealed through a careful examination of best known for his work on the philosophical under- their metaphysical presuppositions. pinnings of the Land Ethic of Aldo Leopold, the nature of Callicott operates under the conceptual exemplar intrinsic value, and the debate over the concept of wilder- which suggests that the inclusivity of a group’s social Callicott, J. Baird 253 commitments bespeaks the depth and breadth of their to adopt the worldview in which the technology is ethical commitments. Since the sense of social inclusion is embedded” (1989: 205). correlative with the sense of ethical inclusion and com- The appearance of environmentally malignant activity mitment (ala the moral theory of Charles Darwin, David in the Eastern world is not, according to Callicott, an indi- Hume, and Adam Smith), a group’s environmental ethic is cation that certain Asian traditions lack a social continuity revealed not by focusing on the actions that they do or do with the nonhuman world or conceptual continuity with a not engage in, but by concentrating instead on how they basic ecological framework; nor is it proof that there exists construct their communities. Callicott’s approach, then, only a tenuous connection between worldview and ethic. moves us away from an unfruitful discussion and assess- Rather, for Callicott, it is an indication of the alteration of ment focusing on the actions of various peoples and the Eastern worldview by Western thought. As Callicott toward one centering on an unpacking and articulation of (and Roger Ames) assert, their worldview as a measure of their environmental commitment. Technology is not culture-neutral any more than The application of this basic model is perhaps seen most it is value-neutral. To adopt a technology is to clearly in the work Callicott has done in American Indian adopt, like it or not, the matrix of presuppositions in and Asian traditions of thought. While the dominant which the technology is embedded . . . Asian Western European worldview “has encouraged human environmental ills . . . are either directly caused by alienation from the nature environment and an exploita- originally Western technology (e.g., heavy metals tive practical relationship with it,” according to Callicott, pollution) or aggravated by it (e.g., soil erosion) . . . “the world view typical of American Indian peoples has contemporary environmental misdeeds perpetrated included and supported an environmental ethic” (1989: by Asian peoples today can in large measure be 177). In short, attributed to the intellectual colonization of the East by the West (Callicott and Ames 1989: 280). The implicit overall metaphysic of American Indian cultures locates human beings in a larger social, as Moreover, perhaps more deeply and universally, if well as physical, environment. People belong not there does exist a distinction between ethics and actions, only to a human community, but to a community of between ideas/ideals and descriptions of behavior, then all nature as well. Existence in this larger society, the ideas/ideals may serve not to determine behavior but just as existence in a family and tribal context, to either accelerate or dampen the innate human tendency places people in an environment in which reciprocal to exploit and transform nature. And, according to responsibilities and mutual obligations are taken for Callicott, there does exist in the East other, less nature- granted and assumed without question or reflection friendly worldviews such as anthropocentric Confucian- (1989: 189–90). ism, militarism, and bureaucratism which vie for the ethical soul of the populace. According to Callicott, disparate Asian religious tradi- Finally, perhaps Callicott’s most intriguing, and con- tions – from Daoism to Hinduism to Buddhism – also har- troversial, project within the realm of discussions about bor and manifest environmental ethics: “Eastern traditions religion and nature is his search for coherence, uniformity, of thought represent nature, and the relationship of people and monism in environmental ethics across the globe – to nature, in ways that cognitively resonate with con- both geographically and culturally. Callicott attempts to temporary ecological ideas and environmental ideals” employ the land ethic of Aldo Leopold as the exemplar of a (Callicott and Ames 1989: 279). good environmental ethic. He often compares and con- But how, then, do we explain the appearance of trasts the world’s sundry religious and cultural traditions environmentally negligent behavior in many parts of the with the land ethic in an effort to generate what he refers world where supposedly environmentally inclusive and to as a “grand narrative,” a reconstituted and scientifically ecologically resonating traditions dominate? Again, informed postmodern environmental ethic to help guide Callicott applies the basic model of connecting ethics with our environmental decision making and policy around the worldview to answer. To the extent that these traditions globe: have been influenced or infiltrated by the Western worldview – whether it be via the infusion of To construct a genuinely postmodern environmental Western technologies or ideologies – they manifest ethic – an ethic that respects diversity and the won- Western patterns of environmental indifference. The derful variety of past human culture – we must try to “massive and aggressive disruption of their belief bring the intellectual elements of the earth’s many systems” allowed for, even promoted, the acceptance of indigenous cultural traditions into a complementary European technologies by American Indians. And, and concordant relationship with those of post- as Callicott argues, “to adopt a technology is, insidiously, modern international science (1994: 210). 254 Campbell, Joseph

This attempt, however, has met with resistance from to ecological activism. He was a valuable resource to those various quarters. For example, Lee Hester, et al. refer to of a primarily mystical bent, positing a vast spiritual con- Callicott’s approach as an “intellectual coup d’ état,” not tinuity across the eons and promoting a transhumanity properly respectful of the world’s various cultural and such as has been imagined in many works of speculative religious traditions (2000: 274). fiction and progressive ecology. It is Callicott’s hope, and his life’s work, to attempt to Precisely when anthropology and religious studies forge a unified ethical vision; a standard of ethical moved away from universalizing concepts, Campbell was behavior that will not only motivate a proper respect for coming into prominence (along with, say, historian of nature, but that will at the same time also respect and tap religion Mircea Eliade) as a writer who trafficked less in into both the diversity and the uniformity of the Earth’s the specific, ordinary, banal details of the current day, various religious and cultural traditions. than in the non-ordinary and transcendental spirituality of perennial philosophy. He found continuity rather than Michael P. Nelson differentiation, and commonality (universalism) rather than difference among world populations, and so set forth Further Reading an ideal of a common world culture that was highly Callicott, J. Baird. Beyond the Land Ethic: More Essays in attractive to many. (The Power of Myth video series, pro- Environmental Philosophy. Albany, NY: State Uni- duced in the United States by Bill Moyers, and released versity of New York Press, 1999. just after Campbell died, became one of American public Callicott, J. Baird. Earth’s Insights: A Multicultural Survey television’s most frequently repeated offerings.) of Ecological Ethics from the Mediterranean Basin to With respect to nature, Campbell was adamant about the Australian Outback. Berkeley, CA: University of the direct influences of the physiological aspects of human California Press, 1994. existence, understanding rituals such as initiation to have Callicott, J. Baird. In Defense of the Land Ethic: Essays life-shaping influences upon human development, the in Environmental Philosophy. Albany, NY: State intimate touch of the baby at the mother’s breast to influ- University of New York Press, 1989. ence just how the developing child might be responsive to Callicott, J. Baird and Michael P. Nelson. American Indian the idea of a female creator figure or supreme goddess. Environmental Ethics: An Ojibwa Case Study. Upper Or how the image of the “cosmological human body” – my Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 2004. term (Doty 2000: 319–22) for the articulation of segments Callicott, J. Baird and Roger T. Ames. Nature in Asian of creation from an aboriginal deity’s bodily parts – might Traditions of Thought: Essays in Environmental guide a culture in articulating its hierarchy of societal Philosophy. Albany, NY: State University of New York and natural roles. And of course the distinction between Press, 1989. hunter-gatherer versus agriculturalist societies structured Hester, Lee, Dennis McPherson, Annie Booth and Jim his earliest works (the four-volume Masks of God) as well Cheney. “Indigenous Worlds and Callicott’s Land as some of his latest (the Historical Atlas, volume 1 of Ethic.” Environmental Ethics 22:3 (Fall 2000), 273–90. which is entitled The Way of the Animal Powers, versus See also Callicott’s response in the same issue volume 2, The Way of the Seeded Earth). Today eth- (291–310). nographers tend to emphasize the overlapping of the two Overholt, Thomas W. and J. Baird Callicott. Clothed-in-Fur types of society. and Other Tales. Washington, D.C.: University Press of “The natural” represented something strongly America, 1982. imprinted lastingly upon most cultures: it tended to merge Worldviews: Environment, Culture, Religion 1:2 (August with Campbell’s own personal Republican conservatism, 1997). Bron Taylor, ed. Special issue on Callicott’s of the type in which a sort of social-Darwinian develop- Earth’s Insights. mental model gets allied with capitalism. As opposed to See also: American Indians as “First Ecologists”; Conser- the independent creation of cultural patterns within vation Biology; Darwin, Charles; Environmental Ethics; various separated societies, for instance, Campbell was Ethics & Sustainability Dialogue Group; Leopold, Aldo; enchanted with what anthropologists call “diffusion of Natural History as Natural Religion; Restoration Ecology styles.” (See, for example, Campbell’s Historical Atlas, and Ritual; Wilderness Religion. where he capitalized upon studies tracking the influence of South Asian ceramics upon west-coastal South American civilizations.) Campbell, Joseph (1904–1987) But perhaps the most lasting influence of Campbell’s works is to be found in his delight in the new contours of During the second half of the twentieth century, Joseph possible future spiritual life demonstrated by outer-space Campbell was a major influence upon the New Age con- explorations: he repeatedly treated “Earthrise” – the sciousness which focused upon spirituality and often led experience of seeing Earth from outer space – as the most Canada 255 important instance he’d ever known of, regarding all the Campbell, Joseph. The Inner Reaches of Outer Space. New cultures of the Earth as somehow integral to each other: York: Harper & Row, 1986. Campbell, Joseph. Myths to Live By. New York: Viking We are the children of this beautiful planet that we Press, 1972. have lately seen photographed from the moon. We Campbell, Joseph. The Masks of God, 4 vols. New York: were not delivered into it by some god, but have Penguin, 1959–1968. come forth from it. We are its eyes and mind, its Doty, William G. Mythography: The Study of Myths and seeing, and its thinking (Campbell 1972: 266, and Rituals. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, see “Earthrise” in Campbell 2001). 2000. Noel, Daniel C. Approaching Earth: A Search for the With the new view of the planet comes a hint of what’s Mythic Significance of the Space Age. Amity, NY: to come in religion (the “New Mythology”) as well: “Our Amity House, 1986. mythology now . . . is to be of infinite space and its light, See also: Astronauts; Ecopsychology; Eliade, Mircea; which is without as well as within” (Campbell 1972: 266), Huxley, Aldous; Jung, Carl Gustav; New Age; Perennial and it “is to be of the whole human race” (Campbell 1986: Philosophy; Space Exporation; Transpersonal Psychology. 18). The need for ongoing care of the planet, the relativ- izing of human importance within such a framework, expressed by the late Campbell in Myths to Live By, Canada became part of the New Age bible. Perhaps few other modernists (although of course Nietzsche, perhaps Kafka In Canada, the relationship between religion and nature and Joyce) realized how many sea-changes had decimated has been troubled and uneasy. Lengthy, difficult winters traditional Western models of domination and technologi- in a sparsely populated land dominated by an immense zation of nature, although Daniel C. Noel (Approaching wilderness of granite rock have meant a country more Earth) did so in his generative reflections. promising for resources such as furs, minerals, forestry, or Campbell also anticipated the threat to traditional water than for the development of agriculture. The religious cosmology that “Earthrise” represented, and the assessments of the religious possibilities of the natural – subsequently reactive nationalism and xenophobia that to say nothing of what might be termed a full-blown developed toward the end of the twentieth century. Rather “religion” of nature – have been fraught with dualities and than looking for divine intervention from the stars, contradictions. The natural world has been regarded, from Campbell suggested, “We should see that the Earth and the general viewpoint of European immigrants at least, as heavens [are] no longer divided but that the Earth is in more hostile than benevolent, and the prevailing Christian the heavens . . . We can no longer look for a spiritual order valuations, particularly if one considers the foundational outside our own existence” (Campbell 2001: 106–7). myths as developed through Cartesian egocentricity and Indeed, “The Kingdom [of God] is here; it does not come technological culture, have been typically negative or through expectation” (107). In this way, Campbell con- doubtful. tributed significantly to the emergence of this-worldly Various estimates still place Christianity as the religion nature religion during the last decades of the twentieth of 80–90 percent of the people of Canada, though that century. proportion is dropping with the increase of those profess- ing “no religion” and with the growth of other religions, William G. Doty especially through immigration. The effects of the com- bined factors of secularization and religious pluralism Further Reading (especially with the influence of traditions having Asian Campbell, Joseph. “Earthrise – The Dawning of a New roots) will doubtless alter what has been the customary Spiritual Awareness.” In Joseph Campbell. Thou Art Christian view of nature in Canada. And, of course, that That: Transforming Religious Metaphor. Eugene Christian view will itself undergo alteration either Kennedy, ed. San Anselmo, CA: Joseph Campbell internally or through adjustments to new cultural factors. Foundation; Novato, CA: New World Library, 2001, But it was probably the general historic stance of Western 101–14. monotheism toward nature that Northrop Frye had in Campbell, Joseph. Reflections on the Art of Living: A mind when he declared: “The Bible is emphatic that noth- Joseph Campbell Companion. Diane K. Osbon, ed. New ing numinous exists in nature, that there may be devils York: HarperCollins, 1991. there but no gods . . .” (1991: 26). From this negative Campbell, Joseph. Historical Atlas of World Mythology, 5 perspective, the natural world stands in opposition to, parts in 2 vols. New York: Harper & Row, 1988–1989. rather than facilitates, the established religious outlook, Campbell, Joseph with Bill Moyers. The Power of Myth. especially the ordered rationalities of the European Chris- Betty Sue Flowers, ed. New York: Doubleday, 1988. tianity imported into Canada. Christianity has generally 256 Canada tended to look to history, not nature, as the principal This “indigenous” religious outlook, says Northrop domain of revelation. Frye, presents itself as an alternative to the “imported” The realm of nature, if not precisely regarded as the religion of the Europeans. Frye claims that the possibility abode of the demonic, is inhabited by powers frequently of understanding nature as “home” rather than merely as suspected of being antagonistic, chaotic, or indifferent. “territory” sets up other creative options. For example, Canada’s natural environment has remained vast and for- the settler might develop a sense of belonging here rather bidding, capricious and unpredictable, standing in opposi- than emerging as a potential colonizer or conqueror. tion to humanity’s projects and aspirations, dwarfing Even more, if there is a fit between humanity and the rest and defeating the efforts of puny human beings to tame, of creation, then the natural environment can become domesticate, or impose their marks. Far from being an something other than a setting for exploits, a storehouse Edenic garden arranged for the habitation and enjoyment of resources to be developed, or an emptiness to be filled of human beings, the Canadian wilderness has been repre- with the objects of human manufacture and industry. sented as “the land God gave Cain.” Even when Canadians Nature, that is to say, may have the potential to nurture have permitted themselves to regard the natural world as and sustain humans. For if nature itself is conceived of as living rather than dead, more vitalistic than mechanistic, sacred then humanity need not look beyond the Earth for then the Canadian landscape has often been conceived salvation or for hope. more as the realm of an “Ice Goddess,” rather than that of Author Margaret Atwood, in this instance functioning an Earth Mother. as critic rather than novelist or poet, has proposed an Of course, the effect of European Christianity on influential summation of the typical Canadian attitude Canadian views of nature has by no means been uniform toward the natural, one that is implicitly religious because throughout all denominations, across all regions of the of the seldom articulated cultural ideologies originating country, nor even through all of the successive eras and and sustaining it. A generation ago Atwood published her stages of settlement. In addition, even many Christians controversial examination of Canadian culture entitled have found their religion’s authorized stance toward the Survival. What she was arguing there, in a manner both created order of nature to be something that they could heuristic and polemical, was that “survival” – which not fully embrace. Here, as in so many other areas, a Atwood reduced to the need just to endure and remain church’s stated position is not the final or sole arbiter of alive – is the central motif of Canadian culture. Further- people’s outlooks and attitudes. Though the Bible as record more, it happens that this struggle for survival ends more of the mighty acts of God might be more reliable as a often in defeat than in triumph, so that failure has been source of divine disclosure than the book of nature, none- felt to be the appropriate ending in Canadian literature. theless, romantic or even deistic views of a revelatory Simply put, the natural world as setting for this doomed natural world have also had their place. struggle was unyielding and unreceptive. If the American Among all of the possible religious influences shaping organizing myth of the frontier generates feelings of the Canadian view of nature, the greatest alternative to excitement and adventure, and if in England the ideal Western monotheism comes from the religions of First that one’s home is one’s castle occasions contentment Nations peoples. Theirs is an outlook that sees the entire sometimes bordering on smugness, in contrast Atwood world filled with “persons,” some of them human beings maintained that the Canadian symbol of survival created and some other-than-human. The Aboriginal worldview, anxiety and disquiet. apprehending spiritual presences throughout the inter- Part of the angry reaction aroused in some quarters by penetrating worlds of humans, of animals, and even Atwood’s account was no doubt because her portrayal extending to what others refer to as “inanimate” nature, seemed to cast Canada as a pathetic nation of victims and tends to see the sacred as a living presence throughout the losers. Some argued that the struggle to survive, to retain whole of reality. Indeed, “nature” as an isolable phenom- one’s individuality, and to persevere against overwhelm- enon capable of being analyzed (or even “appreciated”) ing odds are characteristic modern themes in the arts and from without is contrary to the Aboriginal modes of being cultures worldwide, and not just in Canada. Though not in the world. John Badertscher rightly points out that without gesturing toward the imagination of hopeful First Nations peoples neither romanticize nor worship nor possibilities in the form of “jail-breaks and re-creations,” love nature, attitudes that make of nature a construct and the note sounded in Survival nonetheless was at jarring requiring a distancing from it. Such views are based on the odds with the growing Canadian pride and optimism after modern objectification of the nonhuman realm, an aliena- the centennial year of 1967 and in the midst of the era of tion then overcome through personification and reverence. Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau. Accordingly, contemporary pan-Indian spirituality is For all that, nature, and in particular climate, land- praised by environmentalists and feminists and neo- scape, and geography, impinges powerfully on the Cana- pagans alike for its high regard for the Earth and for giving dian consciousness, constitutive of character and values a religious basis to a more harmonious way of living. and other aspects of a national mythology. One Canadian Canada 257 scholar, Peter Slater, has persuasively advanced the Canada has no alternative anthem to compare with case that nature, not history, is the source of whatever “America the Beautiful” (unless one counts the Canadian Canadian counterpart there exists to American “civil version of “This Land is Your Land” with its substitution of religion.” For there is no great political event of defining Canadian place names, from Vancouver Island to Bon- national and historical significance to be located within avista). But the Province of Quebec does have its own the story of Canada: none, that is, more or less equally sacred song in the form of Gilles Vigneault’s “Mon pays”: accepted everywhere by all groups. As might be expected “Mon pays ce n’est pas un pays, c’est l’hiver” (“My country in a country of such pronounced regional divisions, is not a country, it is winter”). And, in fact, to single out the events celebrated in one place are ignored in others. winter as the defining ingredient of Quebecois conscious- The heroes of one group are the villains of another. That ness, as if to suggest that a very season is the most salient lack of a unifying foundational legend befits a nation characteristic of the conditions of one’s homeland, is not whose fondest image of itself is a multicultural mosaic or so far from what most Canadians suspect is our most kaleidoscope, rather than a melting-pot. The quest for a common preoccupation. The Via Rail magazine provided national identity, and for unity at the federal level, has to travelers on board Canada’s national railway system been an ongoing national preoccupation. once featured an article suggesting that the national The sacred story of Canada, Slater states, especially if obsession of Canada is simply the weather. Whereas the one looks to the foundational informing patterns of French speak incessantly about food, and Italians about biblical myth, is to be sought in setting rather than plot. love, Canadians are fixated merely on the weather. In the What unites Canadians, therefore, is the land itself as late 1990s the top news stories for three years running domain and backdrop of this national experiment and not were about weather: disastrous floods on the Saguenay particular historical figures, whether generals, politicians, and Red rivers, and a devastating ice storm in Ontario and statesmen, or legislators. There is for Canadians no Moses Quebec. who led a people out of slavery to the promised land. Nor Many songs of regional significance invoke geography any prophet who denounced the forces of Babylon. Nor a and nature, as for example Newfoundland’s “I’se the boy messianic savior whose sacrifice won redemption for that builds the boat” with its catalogue of island place- faithful followers. Formed neither in the fires of military names, or the evocation of “the sea-bound coast” and revolution nor even in less dramatic ways of throwing off “mountains, dark and dreary” in “Farewell to Nova the yoke of a foreign conqueror, Canada’s political history Scotia,” or the summer camp-song engraved on the remains unexceptional and unexciting. What stirs Cana- memories of generations of Ontario teenagers, “Land of dian patriotic fervor are songs and images of rock, lake, the silver birch, home of the beaver / Where still the and tree, or wide prairies and snowy fastnesses, of freely mighty moose wanders at will.” The prairies too have their roaming wildlife, and of rocky seascapes and mountains. songs of praise, as for instance Ian and Sylvia’s “Four It is perhaps no coincidence that the symbols by which Strong Winds:” “Think I’ll go out to Alberta, / Weather’s Canadians represent themselves to one another and to the good there in the fall.” In the same vein, Gordon Light- world are drawn from nature. The Canadian flag, brought foot’s “Alberta Bound” in its opening lines, “Oh the prairie in during the early 1960s, meant replacing the British lights are burning bright / The Chinook wind is a-moving Union Jack (of uncertain status and not universally in / Tomorrow night I’ll be Alberta bound.” approved) with a single stylized maple leaf having no If climate, geography, or nature in general are unifying political origins and no associations with any other forces in Canadian consciousness, then it is little wonder nation. While a monarch domiciled in the United Kingdom that possible scarcity of natural resources such as water still appears on all currency (and some stamps), her visage and natural gas and old-growth forests, the threats to wild- shares space on most coins (including the recently added life species, the depletion of fish stocks, loss of sovereignty one- and two-dollar denominations) with wildlife such in Arctic waters, or encroachments on the 200-mile limits as the beaver, caribou, loon, polar bear, and a pair of of coastal waters, all command large amounts of attention, maple leaves on the lowly penny. The Canadian national from politicians to ordinary citizens. Again, it is little anthem, “O Canada,” while it has undergone alteration wonder that with a comparatively small population spread and retranslation confusing to older singers, makes no so thinly across an immense land, Canadians tend to pay reference to any historical event and person. Any debates special attention to that which unifies people and spans surrounding it have focused on the repetition of “stand on those distances. Asked to name a Canadian hero, most guard,” or whether “God keep our land” is too exclusively Canadians would be at a loss unless you were to mention monotheistic, or on the sexism of “in all thy sons com- the possibility of Terry Fox. This young runner who had mand.” But its capacity to stir Canadian hearts surely already lost a leg to cancer performed the equivalent of a resides in the opening line’s reference to “our home and marathon per day during the spring and summer of 1980 native land” or the nordicity of “the true North strong and in the effort to run, in his gimpy one-legged lope, west- free.” wards across Canada. He had got almost halfway when the 258 Canadian Nature Writing recurrence of the cancer to which he eventually suc- Further Reading cumbed forced him to suspend his attempt in northwestern Atwood, Margaret. Survival: A Thematic Guide to Ontario. Since then, annually sponsored runs in his name Canadian Literature. Toronto: Anansi, 1972. have raised millions of dollars worldwide for research into Badertscher, John. “Northern Lights: Canadian Studies in cancer. Implicit Religion.” Implicit Religion 3:1 (2000), 15–29. Alternatively, Canadians are anxious about transporta- Frye, Northrop. The Double Vision: Language and Meaning tion and communications in the far-flung reaches of their in Religion. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, country. When Wilfred Cantwell Smith asked Peter Slater 1991. who might be the Canadian “Augustine,” Slater found Frye, Northrop. “Haunted by Lack of Ghosts: Some himself having to name a thing rather than a person, and Patterns in the Imagery of Canadian Poetry.” In David suggested the Canadian Pacific Railway. The CPR was Staines, ed. The Canadian Imagination: Dimensions of the foremost achievement of Prime Minister Sir John A. a Literary Culture. Cambridge: Harvard University Macdonald’s “national dream,” linking together the west- Press, 1977, 22–45. ern reaches of Canada with the east. Canadians have been James, William Closson. Locations of the Sacred: Essays on known to be the most frequent users in the world of the Religion, Literature, and Canadian Culture. Waterloo, telephone (itself a Canadian invention), and today rank ON: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 1998. among the greatest users of the internet. Others might see Slater, Peter. “On the Apparent Absence of Civil Religion as inordinate the concerns people in Canada have about in Canada.” In Henri-Paul Cunningham and F. Temple any threats to their national airline or railway or broad- Kingston, eds. L’Amité et le Dialogue entre le Québec et casting system, but for them these are the glue that “keep l’Ontario/ Friendship and Dialogue between Ontario the country together.” With the death in 2002 of the popu- and Quebec. Windsor, ON: Canterbury College, Uni- lar Peter Gzowski, for a decade host of “This Country in the versity of Windsor, 1985. Morning,” a national three-hour CBC radio show, a wave See also: Canadian Nature Writing; Nature Religion in the of national mourning and reminiscence was set off to rival United States; Traditional Environmental Knowledge the death of the most famed sports figure or politician. among Aboriginal Peoples in Canada. Speaking of the way his program moved through the time zones from east to west, gathering up guests and stories along the way, Inuit singer Susan Aglukark likened Canadian Nature Writing Gzowski’s effect to a particular kind of Arctic wind that picks things up from one place and carries them along to Given the immense importance of nature within Canadian another. culture, and especially within the literary imagination, A full comprehension of the relation between religion many types and genres could be considered to be “nature and nature in Canada involves balancing the relative writing,” from scientific treatises, memoirs, and explora- impact of the major religion’s (or religions’) official tion journals, through novels and short stories, and estimation of the natural world with the informal “folk” including all kinds of poetry from the epic to the short religiosity of people’s reverence for nature held even lyric. To be sure, a full account must include works of despite such teaching. Added to that, an interpreter must prose and poetry both in French and English, Canada’s assess the attitudinal effects of environmentalism and two official languages. While this examination of prose nature mysticism in shaping a different consciousness. written in English might seem unduly restricted, it does And, finally, the incalculable impact of various natural reveal broadly applicable trends and motifs. Furthermore, symbols and stories and songs must be factored in. The nature writing in Canada may be related to either explicit result, surely, is what might be termed a distinctive or implicit religion. If the natural world is comprehended Canadian “aesthetic” of nature that is informed at all under the aegis of a religious worldview already widely levels by religions and the religious. At one of these levels held and promoted by religious institutions, then nature at least, most Canadians would understand or assume writing in such a context is linked to explicit religion. nature to be sacred, however much formal religious In this light older Canadian writing frequently detailed views would purport the opposite. Their attachment to the in unambiguous terms a savage and unforgiving natural geography of their homeland in all of its varied natural world inhabited by forces opposed to the order of grace beauty, enduring the climatic contradictions of long cold and to the divine transformation of the human. Less winters and brief hot summers, and understanding the self common, but equally explicit, was the religion of nature in the context of nature’s infuriating self-presentation of writing that set forth a human realm corrupted by human welcoming nurturance and hostile rejection has led to sin contrasted with an unfallen and benevolent world of mixed attitudes of insecurity and respect. nature. Two stories anthologized in The Oxford Book of Canadian Short Stories in English illustrate this plain and William Closson James unambiguous portrayal of nature in the explicit religious Canadian Nature Writing 259 context of nineteenth-century Canada. Nature writer much alike.” In addition, Lucas supposed, urban dwellers Charles G.D. Roberts, in his story “Do Seek Their Meat were several generations removed from their rural fore- from God,” contrasts the instinct prompting a panther to bears, and the physical sciences had replaced the bio- stalk a child with the providential urge that leads a father logical sciences in the public imagination. Of course, from to save that child. In Susie Frances Harrison’s “The Idyl of the vantage point of more than a generation later this the Island” a city-weary visitor from a nearby hotel comes pronouncement surely has to be reckoned as premature in upon a woman sleeping on a mossy couch in an edenic the extreme. The 2002 volume, Encyclopedia of Literature island setting, described in the most lyrically romantic in Canada, gives prominence to the persistent significance terms. Up until a generation or so ago, the explicitly of nature in Canadian literature in articles on “Animal religious context of Canadian nature writing was a super- Story,” “Ecocriticism,” “Exploration Literature,” “Land- natural theism that placed the Creator outside of nature. scape,” “North,” and “Science and Nature Writing.” The world of nature was either opposed to or allied with Nature writing in Canada, in particular considered in that transcendent realm of grace. At its extreme, nature relation to religion, can be said to have undergone a com- might be portrayed in negative terms as the realm of plete and unqualified renaissance. The obvious Christian darkness and demons. use of natural phenomena as a means of evangelization, or In 1965 Alec Lucas, contributing a chapter on “Nature of demonstrating a divine order discernable in creation, Writers and the Animal Story” to Literary History of Can- continues only as a relatively minor aspect of this genre. ada: Canadian Literature in English, set Canadian nature The materials from the Moody Bible Institute’s “Sermons writing in the framework of Western literary history. Lucas from Science” ministry are one ongoing Protestant showed how writing about the natural world, from biblical evangelical example of nature understood from an and classical texts through the medieval period, inevitably explicitly religious perspective. Though “Sermons from concerned itself with the human relationship to nature, Science” was the theme of one pavilion at Montreal’s Expo and just as often, with the relationship of both the human 67, this kind of approach probably has been regarded as and natural to the divine. Accordingly, animal fables “too American” within the Canadian religious context, amounted to commentaries on people and social relations, where “born-again” Christianity is much less prominent often allegorizing and moralistic, and assuming dominion than in the United States. over nature that was provided for human benefit by God. Rather, the dynamism of this literary renaissance lies Though Renaissance humanism promoted close exami- in the implicitly religious dimensions of nature evident in nation of the whole of nature, and included humans Canadian writing since the late 1960s. Such factors as the within nature, Cartesian logic and Newtonian physics impact of a counterculture with its back-to-the land fostered a rationalistic understanding of a mechanistic emphasis, the growth of feminism stressing the human world. In the nineteenth century, though Romanticism’s connection with nature, a suspicion of high technology, discovery of a moral order within nature gave way to and the significance of the environmental movement Darwinianism, both movements restored human beings to were incorporated into a newly burgeoning Canadian the world of nature. Lucas outlines the contributions of literature in the 1970s. And, contrary to what Lucas fore- pioneer writers and field naturalists to Canadian nature saw, the study of the biological (or “life”) sciences returned writing, suggesting that by the twentieth century nature to prominence over physics and chemistry. This implicitly ceased to be a source of moral law or evidence of the religious nature writing derives from a nature mysticism divine, but a unity including both people and animals. or ecological worldview that discovers within the very He traces the Canadian tradition of outdoors and animal realm of nature itself a sacred dimension or wisdom stories, sometimes in the pastoral tradition, sometimes that is potentially illuminating or instructive. The watch- through natural history, that often advocated a return to word of this trend might be Wallace Stevens’ poetic nature to escape the evils of urban life and to refresh the injunction to seek everything within reality and nothing spirit. Within all of the schools and genres that Lucas beyond it. surveys and details, whatever estimate is given of nature From a vast spectrum of nonfiction, some principal tends to be made against the backdrop of Christianity in its exemplars might be selected. David Suzuki, a geneticist various forms. The religion of nature is subordinated to a and Canada’s leading environmentalist, is a world- Christian worldview, or understood generally within the renowned broadcaster, lecturer, and writer. In books such context of Western monotheism. as The Sacred Balance and Wisdom of the Elders, Suzuki In the final paragraph of this informative and detailed proclaims a spirituality of nature that brings science essay published in 1965, Alec Lucas concluded that the under the auspices of indigenous ways of knowing that zenith of nature writing “has long passed.” Perhaps, he retain their cultural validity today. Saskatchewan novelist surmised, it was because the “literary vein has been Sharon Butala in The Perfection of the Morning (1994), worked out,” or that after two World Wars the public had subtitled “An Apprenticeship in Nature,” explores how in learned well the lesson that people and animals are “too her spiritual journey her soul found its home through daily 260 Candomblé of Brazil contact with nature. Though Butala is more literary and a sacred source of knowledge about ourselves as part of less the environmental activist than Suzuki, like him she the web of life. links her celebration of nature to native wisdom and to feminism. In a subsequent devotional book, Coyote’s William Closson James Morning Cry (1995), she sets forth her “meditations and dreams” in a more direct presentation of her own religious Further Reading insights as derived from the natural world. Bailey, Edward I. Implicit Religion in Contemporary Other literary naturalists, or writers having scientific Society. Kampen, The Netherlands: Kok Pharos, 1997. interests, have similarly advanced a spirituality of nature Klinck, Carl F., ed. Literary History of Canada: Canadian through the medium of their nonfictional and semi- Literature in English. Toronto: University of Toronto autobiographical writing. Barry Lopez (Arctic Dreams), Press, 1965. Harold Horwood (Dancing on the Shore), Richard Nelson New, William H., ed. Encyclopedia of Literature in Canada. (The Island Within), or the books of Farley Mowat might Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2002. be cited as examples. Outdoor educator James Raffan in See also: Butala, Sharon; Canada; Christian Nature several books about canoeing relates the inner and mythic Writing; Lilburn, Tim; Memoir and Nature Writing. meanings of landscape to the Canadian spirit, as has Canadian Literature specialist John Moss whose Enduring Dreams: An Exploration of Arctic Landscape (1994) might Candomblé of Brazil be said to be a work of literary ecocriticism. Because fiction, and especially the novel, has become During the course of the Atlantic slave trade, roughly ten the preeminent literary genre, the presence of nature million forced African immigrants were brought to the writing of religious significance in the Canadian context Americas. As chattel slaves, Africans were no more must be highlighted in its various manifestations there. encouraged to introduce their modes of subsistence and One great example is W.O. Mitchell’s Who Has Seen the systems of belief than were cattle. Nevertheless, in spite of Wind (1947), a novel that contrasts the explicit religion the horrific conditions of the Middle Passage, the brutal of a prairie town with the mystical aspects of a boy’s and dehumanizing conditions of plantation life, and the experience of nature as he grows up. Here implicit imposition of an oppressive social and political structure, religiosity emerges as more vital, in terms suggestive of Africans managed to transplant the foundations of their C.S. Lewis’ account of sehnsucht in Surprised by Joy or religions in the Americas. Haitian Vodun, known variously Rudolf Otto’s Das Heilige. Margaret Atwood (Surfacing) as hoodoo, juju, root work, and conjure in North America, and Marian Engel (Bear) in two novels of the 1970s has spread from its eighteenth-century introduction to portrayed the initiation of a woman in the Canadian wil- New Orleans to the northeastern and southwestern United derness, replicating a feminist version of an Amerindian States. Bahamian Obea men, purveyors of magic and vision quest. As in the case of nonfiction writings, novels medicine, are found throughout the Caribbean, the south- that significantly render a spiritual vision of nature have eastern United States, and Panama. Cuban Santeria, a often drawn upon the worldviews of First Nations New World Yoruba belief system that is particularly rich peoples. A prime example is Rudy Wiebe’s A Discovery of in African ethnobotanical knowledge, has diffused to Strangers, winner of the Governor-General’s award for Florida, New York, and California, and even as far as English fiction in 1994, whose first chapter represents the Venezuela and Spain. In Trinidad and northern Brazil, world as it appears to the northern animals in the nine- adherents to Shango sing the praises of a pantheon of teenth-century “Barren Grounds” that are its setting. nature gods introduced from Yorubaland. And Brazilian In this way contemporary Canadian fiction embarks on Umbanda, a syncretic belief system that draws consider- an aesthetic of nature that interrogates human nature as able elements from Amerindian and spiritualist sources, well. As religion in Canada has moved away from an is estimated to reach thirty million largely white, middle- older understanding of divine transcendence that places class followers. the locus of the sacred beyond the world, so Canadian Among the list of diaspora religious introductions, literature has found within the immanent dimensions of none was more successful than Candomblé in Bahia, nature a more proximate source of meaning. Northrop Brazil. The Candomblé religion represents a set of beliefs, Frye has well described, in his comments on the Canadian practices, and cosmological traditions introduced by cultural context, the deep ambivalence of Canadians Yoruba slaves and freedmen to colonial and later imperial toward nature, attitudes alternating between the extrem- Brazil. Although African-derived religious ceremonies ities of terrified revulsion and warm devotion. In the last were reported throughout the nearly four centuries of generation, Canadian writing has moved conclusively Brazilian slavery, the first Candomblé terreiros, or temples toward affirmation of nature as the matrix of human life, of worship dedicated to the Yoruba deities, were not estab- the fundamental context of our being in the world, and as lished until the early nineteenth-century in Salvador, Candomblé of Brazil 261

Bahia. Persecuted during most of their history, these hum- point in the city of Salvador, Bahia, Candomblé ultimately ble shacks came to constitute islands of sacred space for diffused to most of Brazil’s major and minor cities. the African diaspora; structured communities within Candomblé cosmology represents an adaptive filtering which African spiritual traditions could survive and pros- of Yoruba oral traditions. Adherents recognize the exist- per in the new land. Just as importantly, Candomblé ter- ence of a supreme god, Olórun, the unknowable creator of reiros came to represent houses of healing – fertile habitats all things. Olórun does not manifest during possession wherein African herbal medicine and magic could take trance, nor is he worshipped by devotees. It is rather the root and, in time, hybridize with complementary Amerin- orixás of the Yoruba pantheon, nature gods and goddesses dian and European traditions. serving as the earthly ambassadors of Olórun, who are Candomblé is loosely divided among various sects, or directly linked to the everyday world of mortals. Roughly nations, each maintaining a unique sacred lexicon; a dozen orixás are well developed and find devotees in the chants, deities, offerings, liturgical plants and animals, various terreiros. These include Xangô, Ogun, Oxalá, and other traditional knowledge link them to their particu- Oxóssi, Omolu, Ossâim, Iroko, Yemanjá, Oxum, Iansã, lar West African source area. Those encountered today Nanã, and Oxumarê. Each is associated with distinct prov- include Candomblé de Ketu, Candomblé de Angola, Can- inces of the natural world – water, atmosphere, vegetation, domblé de Jeje, Candomblé de Congo, Candomblé de Ijexá, and Earth – and it is from these primary sources that they and Candomblé de Caboclo. With a New World starting- gather and impart their axé, or vital energy. The properties

P Orixá Iroko person, person to community, person to nature, starting I went to Salvador de Bahia to learn about a tree, a tree with the conduit of all these relationships: person to that grows not up but down, a sacred tree. My interest in orixá. While the structure of Candomblé with its pan- sacred trees has developed out of a desire to explore the theon of orixá, associated entities and rituals can seem cultures and traditions of people who still live with, and very complex, its central concept, axé, is not. Axé is the relate to, nature in a spiritual way. This tree, the game- vital force that exists in all things; it animates all things. leira, is sacred to the Candomblé tradition, a prominent It is the energy of “being.” This vital force is found religion in northeastern Brazil. I had not been in Brazil everywhere, but in everything it is not the same. Each long when an invitation came to attend a ceremony for different type of energy has a different lesson. For the orixá Iroko which manifests through the gameleira instance, every plant has axé, and understanding the dif- tree. It was to be held at a terreiro, a house of Candomblé ferent healing properties of each plant is to understand on the outskirts of the city of Salvador. That evening the axé. Leaves and plants are of tremendous importance I stepped onto the leaf-strewn floor of the terreiro and in Candomblé. They are used to heal the physical body watched a Candomblé ceremony unfold. As the par- but there is also a plant-orixá association that comes ticipants and attendees filtered into the room, this into play in the proper maintaining of the spiritual self. unfamiliar place filled with an air of warmth and When there is a disruption, an imbalance spiritually or kindness. When the rhythm of the drums picked up and physically, what has been disturbed, displaced or dis- the ceremony began, I understood immediately that regarded needs to be brought back into balance. The even if what I witnessed that night passed outside the orixá are necessary to help human beings access the realm of my usual reality, the experience would be a forces around them. positive one. Asking questions and questioning a belief system are Through the rest of the evening and in fact through- two different things – but the first is sometimes mistaken out my stay in Bahia, the presence of this kindness and for the last. People are often sensitive about discussing that rhythm pervaded my experiences. That evening I religious beliefs. The day after the ceremony I inter- listened to the drummers and their complex change of viewed Pai Valtinho, the pai de santo of the terreiro Axé rhythm. I watched the swirl and sway of the dancers, Ibá Faromin. I thought my inquiries into this religion barefeet below dresses and drapes of yards and yards of would not go easy but I was wrong. Although Pai beautiful material, feet bared and in contact with the Valtinho noticeably stiffened when the word “interview” Earth. I felt the building of energy as the pai de santo came up, his whole persona changed when it was (the spiritual leader of the terreiro) sang his call and the explained that I was interested in religions that have a dancers responded as they moved around and around strong relationship to nature. What I learned quickly in the room. This energy, the force in Candomblé they call my conversation with Pai Valtinho was that all orixá axé, was everywhere. are associated with elements of nature. Each orixá has Understanding Candomblé is all about understanding different characteristics associated with an elemental what axé is and how it is accessed to maintain right force. These forces have different lessons to teach, and relationships within one’s entire universe – person to Continued next page 262 Candomblé of Brazil

each can help an individual in need of guidance in a outside the religion but this complexity has much to do different way. with the room this religion gives to adaptability, pro- It is important to pay attention to these forces, Mãe gression and the changing reality of its followers and Detinha instructed me. “It is important to keep your two their oral tradition. What does not change is the basic feet in contact with the earth,” she looked at me intently, tenet of maintaining a “right relationship” with one’s “feel the earth.” We were sitting in one of the houses world, and the concept of axé, these are a constant. In incorporated in the compound of the terreiro Axé Opô regards to Iroko the constant amid the varying details Afonjá, one of the older terreiros in Salvador. It was and descriptions seems to be that Iroko is time universal. founded in 1910 and now sits in a beautiful spot on a Mãe Detinha addressed my confusion regarding Iroko small hilltop in the district of São Gonçalo. The com- sometimes being referred to as Loko or Tempo in dif- pound is not just a terreiro but a school where they ferent traditions. She explained that Iroko, Loko and educate children from the local community. Aside from Tempo are really the same orixá, their identity only their lessons, the children learn the Yoruba language and slightly different, as human beings are one from they learn about Candomblé. In the compound each another, but the same as all humans are the same. Iroko orixá has a small house or temple, freshly painted in the holds the awareness of each person’s destiny, under- colors associated with that orixá. All except Iroko, the stands the justice in destiny, sees what is not seeable on place of Iroko is a huge tree, the gameleira. The tree has a human scale. Iroko represents, so to speak, the “big an Oja tied around it, the same wrap of white material picture.” To look to Iroko for guidance one must under- that is worn by the human initiates of the orixá. Mãe stand that the resolution that comes might not be the Detinha made sure I understood that not all gameleiras one sought but it will indeed be the correct unfolding of were sacred. They do not venerate the tree as a tree but one’s destiny. Pai Valtinho explained to me that the force as a vehicle for the manifestation of the sacred. Likewise of Iroko, or any orixá, is not positive or negative. How when an orixá manifests through an initiate, that person someone reacts to that force, however, can result in a does not become a deity, just a conduit for a sacred force. negative outcome if that person disregards the axé of To try to explain or commit to paper what any of their orixá because in doing so that person is acting the orixá represent is to enter into a situation where a against his or her own true nature. thousand asides would not quite cover the variations of The tree of Iroko is never planted. A terreiro can be language, the variations in Candomblé traditions, the built around or near an existing gameleira, but Iroko is variations that continually evolve in a culture of oral not brought to a place chosen for it – destiny places this traditions. After reading the fieldwork of many anthro- tree. Destiny is to be respected. The telling of the origin pologists, all with varying descriptions of Candomblé, myth of Iroko will vary in detail but the premise is the the orixás, their characteristics and the practices associ- same. Iroko did not originate from the earth but started ated with each, I understood exactly what Pai Valtinho life as a seed dropped from the sky; Iroko grew from the meant when he said to me at our meeting – “I can only heavens down to the earth. Mãe Detinho, after telling tell you what I know.” The variations in myth and the me her idea of the myth, explained that the gameleira mutations of the orixá might cause confusion to those Continued next page

of their physical domain, in turn, correspond with a suite chickens, doves, and female goats, and assiduously avoids of personality traits. The orixás thus serve as archetypes horse meat, crabs, and salt. for the range of behaviors exhibited by their mortal However distant from the known world of the Yoruba, followers, embodying the strength and foresight of their coastal Brazil nevertheless presented an array of physical adherents, as well as their weaknesses. Oxóssi, for and biological features similar to those to which they example, is the masculine god of the hunt, whose tem- had previously attached cosmological significance. Oxum, perament, as well as that of his adepts, is characterized by goddess of fresh water, found a home in the region’s deep keen intelligence and curiosity. The female deity Yemanjá, perennial streams. Frequent thunderstorms suggested on the other hand, is the warm, maternal, and emotionally the presence of Xangô, god of lightning, while the stable goddess of the sea, as well as the patron saint of accompanying rain and winds indicated the presence of fishermen. Each archetype, in turn, is complemented by an his mythological wife, the unpredictable Iansã. Oxóssi and appropriate array of taboos, offerings, sacred foods, Ossâim, the hunter and the herbalist, found refuge in preferred time of worship, icons, liturgical plants, and Bahia’s broadleaf evergreen rainforests. Devastating geographical locations. Oxalá, for example, the masculine smallpox epidemics, which swept across Brazil from as god of creation and peace, is clothed in white from head early as 1562 until the early 1800s, testified to the New to foot, prefers lofty locations, requires the sacrifice of World existence of Omolu, god of infectious disease. At Candomblé of Brazil 263

does, in fact, grow not up but down. The gameleira is gods are, this valuation of nature in a spiritual sense, what is called a strangler fig. A strangler fig usually this emotional connection, might be what is lacking for sprouts in another tree as an epiphytic vine. As it grows those on this planet who do not take seriously the more it often encloses the host tree with its roots, ceasing the pragmatic lesson of nature. growth of the tree or eventually killing it. Wherever it The lessons of science are not sinking in; we know germinates, whether in another tree, on a ledge or atop a that we cannot survive as a species unless we still have humanmade structure, the roots will search for the earth oxygen to breathe, untainted soil to till and clean water and keep growing downward until they reach the to drink, yet, being fully aware of this, we continue to do ground. Once rooted, affixed to the earth, the tree will damage to our only life-support system. It is possible proceed in its growth upward, often becoming a rather that the lack of emotional connection to the rest of massive and beautiful tree. nature, as Carl Jung suggests in A Man and his Symbols, There are endless lessons to be found in nature, and that causes us to feel lost in the cosmos will lead us to the orixá’s representation of these forces is a way to being lost to the cosmos – permanently. Or perhaps there access these lessons. The gameleira, like nature as a will come a moment in time when nature once again whole, is powerful, destructive, though at the same time becomes sacred to us all and our spirituality brings us benign and life giving: both predictable and unpredic- back to being one entity, showing us how to have a table, constant and yet never the same. In looking to right relationship with our surroundings, with our the wisdom of Iroko or one of the many other orixá, community, with one another. the emotional impact the natural forces have on us as human beings becomes an everyday awareness. There is Jane Coffey Ossain who is associated with leaves, herbs and healing; Xango, fire, justice, the warrior; Iansã, wind and storms, Further Reading strength; Oxum, fresh waters, beauty/vanity; Iemanjá, Harding, Rachel E. A Refuge in Thunder, Candomblé and the ocean, motherhood. Acknowledging this energy, Alternative Spaces of Blackness. Bloomington, IN: this axé, spiritually integrates us into our world, our Indiana University Press, 2000. surroundings, instead of separating us from them. Landes, Ruth. The City of Woman. Albuquerque, NM: On one of my last days in Bahia I attended a program University of New Mexico Press, 1994. at the terreiro Axé Opô Afonjá that brought together Thompson, Robert Farris. Flash of the Spirit. New York: people from other Candomblé terreiros around Bahia. Vintage Books, 1984. One man, in expressing the importance that Candomblé Voeks, Robert A. Sacred Leaves of Candomblé: African held for him, ended his testimony with a word of caution Magic, Medicine and Religion in Brazil. Austin, TX: saying “If we destroy our forests, pollute our waters, University of Texas Press, 1997. there can be no Candomblé.” In this statement the Wafer, James William. The Taste of Blood: Spirit Posses- understanding of what is at stake, what is to be lost in sion in Brazilian Candomblé. Philadelphia, PA: a spiritual way, is strong. No matter who our god or University of Pennsylvania Press, 1991.

least for the Yoruba pantheon, Brazil’s tropical forest Candomblé terreiros are directed by the pai or mãe- landscape presented nearly all the physical ingredients de-santo, infrequently referred to by the Yoruba terms necessary for spiritual correspondence and substitution. babalorixá or ialorixá. Literally translated as the father- One of the striking processes that occurred in Can- or mother-of-saints, the pai/mãe-de-santo represents the domblé was the syncretism of Yoruba orixás with the principal line of communication between the material deified saints of the Catholic Church. For example, Oxalá world of mortals and the spiritual world of the deities. is identified with Jesus Christ, Omolu with St. Sebastian, They also serve as community curandeiros, or healers, and Iansã with St. Barbara. On the one hand, since divining the source of medical and spiritual problems and Catholic conversion had been going on in West Africa prescribing culturally acceptable solutions. Trained in the since the dawn of slavery, it is likely that the spiritual arts of sorcery and conjure, the pai/mãe-de-santo can association between orixás and saints had begun centuries likewise negate the nefarious effects of black magic and, earlier. However, in nineteenth-century Brazil this if called upon, employ the occult arts for their own ends spiritual blending process was amplified and codified. It or those of their clients. Other temple roles are occupied appears to have represented both an intentional strategy by filhas and filhos-de-santo, the Yoruba iaô, literally sons on the part of early religious practitioners to deceive their and daughters of the saints. In addition to doing most of European masters, and a calculated tolerance on the part the physical labor in the terreiro, one of their most impor- of Catholic authorities to lull Africans into conversion. tant functions is to incarnate the deities during ceremonies 264 Candomblé of Brazil via possession trance. This action, allowing the Yoruba according to Yoruba legend, was coveted by other deities gods and goddesses once again to dance and sing in the who sought to share in his secrets. mortal world, serves to instill the individual as well as the There is a legend of rivalry between Ossâim, the orixá of terreiro with the elevated axé of the orixás. medicine and leaves, and Iansã, the orixá of stars, winds, The Candomblé religion is mostly focused on practical and storms. Everything began as a result of jealousy. Iansã issues. It revolves around the resolution of the everyday went to visit Ossâim. Ossâim is very reserved, quiet, silent. trials and tribulations of human existence. Unlike reli- Iansã wanted to know what he was doing. When Ossâim gions of salvation, Candomblé is largely unconcerned has the opportunity, he explains things. But Iansã is with the afterlife. Although their cosmology clearly dis- always rushed, she wants everything done immediately. tinguishes between the world of mortals (aiê) and the She is always asking questions, and she needs to know world of spirits (orun), the focus of energy goes into everything that’s going on. When Iansã arrived at the solving earthy issues – prosperity, fecundity, spiritual house of Ossâim, he was busy working with his leaves. It well-being, and physical health. happens that there are certain types of work with leaves Candomblé medicine, as practiced by the pai/mãe-de- that you can’t talk about, you need to remain silent. Iansã santo, is characterized by a well-developed medical started asking, “What are you doing? Why are you doing etiology. Practitioners are able to associate symptoms with this? Why are you doing that?” And Ossâim remained specific illness, defined in the broadest possible sense, silent. “Alright, if you don’t want to tell me what you’re as well as prescribe culturally acceptable treatments. doing, then I’ll make you talk.” That’s when Iansã began to Although it is recognized that medical problems can “just shake her skirt and make the wind blow. The house of happen,” illness episodes are often ascribed to a state of Ossâim is full of leaves, with all of their healing properties, disequilibrium with the spiritual realm. Adherents and and when the wind began to blow, it carried the leaves in clients who fail to make timely offerings to their guardian every direction. Ossâim began to shout “Ewe O, Ewe O!” deities, who indulge in excesses, and who neglect the [my leaves, my leaves!]. Ossâim then asked the help of the preferences and prohibitions of the gods, chart a spiritual orixás to collect the leaves, and the orixás went about course that is fraught with health hazards. While healing gathering them. And it happens that every leaf that an ceremonies include a variety of approaches – spiritual orixá collected, every species, he or she became the owner cleansing, leaf whipping, teas, leaf baths, animal sacrifice, of that leaf (Voeks 1997: 117–18). and others – the feature that ties them together is reliance Scattered by the winds of Iansã, the sacred leaves on a sacred plant pharmacopoeia. drifted into the provinces of the other deities. Oxum The sacred leaves of Candomblé are comprised of collected leaves near her rivers, Yemanjá by the sea. Oxalá roughly two hundred species, native and exotic. They are gathered white leaves, Exu those that burned and pierced gathered from kitchen gardens, leaf houses, disturbed the skin. Although Ossâim retained the mysterious power habitats, and surrounding tropical forests. The African of the vegetal kingdom, each deity came to possess his or diaspora faced the obvious dilemma of continuing her personal healing flora. African-based herbal healing in an alien floristic land- The resultant correspondence of gods and leaves repre- scape. They solved this biogeographical puzzle by various sents a fundamental element of Candomblé ceremony and means, all related to the flexibility of their belief system. ritual. For devotees who belong to one or another deity, On the one hand, they were able to import a limited num- healing may be mediated through recourse to the inherent ber of sacred African medicinal and spiritual species. axé of his or her guardian’s leaves. A healing tea or leaf Where this was not possible, they substituted taxonomi- bath for one of Oxum’s followers, for example, will usually cally similar South American species for those that were include three or seven of Oxum’s personal species. A leaf left behind in Africa. Most importantly, ethnobotanical whipping intended to clean the negative fluids from a flexibility was facilitated by the Yoruba medicinal plant- devotee of Ogun will include some of Ogun’s leaves. As classification system brought from Africa, in particular, earthly embodiments of the Yoruba pantheon, the sacred the belief in Ossâim, guardian of the sacred leaves and leaves exhibit one or more features that link them with medicine. their corresponding deity. Most of these features are Ossâim is the deity most intimately involved with clearly evident; some are obscure or lacking entirely. health and healing. His domain is the forest and the field, For example, the archetypes of the deities are divided wherever curative plants grow. Often in the company of according to temperament – masculine orixás are hot tem- Oxóssi the hunter, with whom he is said to trade medicine pered and volatile, feminine orixás are cool and balanced. for meat, Ossâim is the dedicated but reticent steward of This opposition of hot and cold finds ready association the vegetal realm. Among the Yoruba and their New World among the healing flora. Some leaves maintain perceived diaspora, his image is one of absurd physical disability – heating properties; they are thin, hard, and if taken intern- one eye, one leg, one enormous ear, and a humorous high- ally tend to produce sweat or increase blood pressure. Cool pitched voice. Ossâim’s possession of the sacred leaves, leaves are fleshy, moist, and produce cooling medicinal Cannibalism – Paleolithic 265 influences; they reduce blood pressure, break a fever, or years, a better understanding of taphonomy (i.e., what calm anxiety. Further possibilities for correspondence are happens to bones between being buried and being provided by the symbols, preferences, and prohibitions unearthed by archeologists) as well as greater familiarity of the orixá’s, their choice of color for clothing and sacred with the huge variety of funerary rituals around the world, beads, offerings of food, icons, and geographical loca- and a more objective assessment of the facts, have helped tions. The end result was that Yoruba priests and their to weed out many claims for prehistoric cannibalism, descendents were able to incorporate a mostly alien while at the same time new claims have been put forward New World flora into their medicinal and spiritual which rely on more plausible evidence than before. pharmacopoeia. At the northern Spanish site complex of Atapuerca, During the course of nearly four centuries, Africans near Burgos, the recently discovered bones of a human were brought unwillingly to toil in the plantations and ancestor called Homo antecessor, dating to perhaps a mining operations of their Portuguese captors. But in million years ago, bear abundant cutmarks which have spite of the horrific conditions of the Atlantic crossing, been interpreted as evidence for cannibalism, and it is the dehumanizing influence of slave existence, and the difficult to disagree with this inference. It is known that imposition of an alien and oppressive social and religious cannibalism can occur in other species, including the structure, Africans managed to transplant the roots of chimpanzee, our closest relative, and it is also known that their indigenous belief system in New World soil. among humans it occurs today in cases of starvation or Although a host of features contributed to this diffusion, it lunacy, so there is no reason to deny its possible existence was in the end cultural flexibility and adaptability that at times in prehistory. And at such a remote point in allowed Africans and their descendents to forge a novel prehistory, when we have little idea what our ancestors African-derived belief system in the Americas. were like or how they lived, there is no reason to doubt the presence of this practice, and there is absolutely no evi- Robert Voeks dence for any kind of funerary rituals or other secondary treatment of the dead, so no alternative explanation for Further Reading the cutmarks is conceivable in the present state of our Bastide, Roger. The African Religions of Brazil: Toward a knowledge. They are most likely butchery marks, and Sociology of the Interpretation of Civilizations. Helen hence an indication of consumption of human flesh by Sebba, tr. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, other humans. 1978. However, Atapuerca also presents the earliest evidence Landes, Ruth. The City of Women. New York: Macmillan, in the world – ca. 200,000 to 300,000 years old – for some 1947. kind of funerary ritual. Ethnographic and ethnohistorical Simpson, George E. Black Religions in the New World. New records all over the globe show clearly that a huge variety York: Columbia University Press, 1978. of often bizarre funerary practices has existed, some Thompson, Robert F. Flash of the Spirit: African and Afro- involving cutting, smashing and burning of bones, either American Art and Philosophy. New York: Random shortly after death or long afterwards when bodies are House, 1983. exhumed and subjected to this kind of phenomenon. The Voeks, Robert A. Sacred Leaves of Candomblé: African archeological record contains many instances from dif- Magic, Medicine, and Religion in Brazil. Austin: ferent periods, stretching back into prehistory, which can University of Texas Press, 1997. plausibly be attributed to such practices. And Atapuerca Voeks, Robert A. “Candomblé Ethnobotany: African demonstrates that all human remains from 300,000 years Medicinal Plant Classification in Brazil.” Journal of ago onward therefore need to be interpreted with great Ethnobiology 15 (1995), 257–80. circumspection, since funerary rituals are henceforth an Wafer, James. The Taste of Blood: Spirit Possession in ever-present possibility, and indeed are one of the distinc- Brazilian Candomblé. Philadelphia: University of tive marks of humanity. Naturally, in such a remote and Pennsylvania Press, 1991. early period, when one is dealing with beings so utterly See also: Brazil and Contemporary Christianity; Caribbean different from ourselves in many ways, yet also so similar Cultures; Ethnobotany; Santeria; Trees in Haitian Vodou; to us in others, it is impossible to be sure whether the Umbanda; West Africa; Yoruba Culture (West Africa). Atapuerca disposal of the dead was definitely ritual – nevertheless, it is one of the most enduring features of archeology that anything which is difficult to explain in Cannibalism – Paleolithic more mundane terms must be “ritual.” In order to decide whether human remains were pro- Cannibalism – the eating of human flesh by humans – has duced by cannibalism or by funerary activities (or warfare, often been claimed to exist in different periods of the etc.), there are two main categories of argument. The first human past, usually on the flimsiest of evidence. In recent is the presence of human bones with marks of cutting, 266 Capra, Fritjof smashing or burning, and fruitless attempts have been Russell, M.D. “Mortuary Practices at the Krapina Neander- made to isolate specific criteria by which one might thal Site.” American Journal of Physical Anthropology recognize cannibalism, but none of them is truly diag- 72 (1987), 381–97. nostic, and alternative explanations are always available. White, Tim D. and Nicholas Toth. “The Question of Ritual The second is the presence of human bones mixed with Cannibalism at Grotte Guattari.” Current Anthropology animal bones, with similar marks and treatment; since (1991), 118–38. the animal bones are obviously the remains of food, the See also: Muti Killings; Paleolithic Religions. same must apply to the human bones – this argument has recently been presented in new claims for Neanderthal cannibalism in Europe. However, things may not be so Capra, Fritjof (1939–) simple, since the people who left the archeological record were humans, capable of all kinds of complex and odd Theoretical physicist Fritjof Capra is one of the most behavior patterns. The human and animal bones are not influential protagonists of “New Age science.” His Tao of necessarily the results of the same phenomenon, so one Physics made the issues of global environmental crises must avoid jumping to simplistic and “obvious” and the requirement of a “new thinking” in science and conclusions. society known to a wider public. In this book, Capra dwells The data are always ambiguous, as can be seen clearly on the parallels between quantum mechanics and Oriental in a couple of Neanderthal examples. At Krapina, a cave in mysticism – a parallelism that became almost canonical in Yugoslavia, the hundreds of fragments of Neanderthal New Age discourse, regardless of its validity. Furthermore, bones unearthed in 1899 were first attributed to a cannibal he refers to physicist Geoffrey Chew and his so-called feast; but modern reanalysis of the bones showed that “bootstrap philosophy,” which appears to be very similar most of the damage to them could better be explained by to Leibniz’s “monadology.” Using the concept of self- roof falls, crushing by sediments, and the use of dynamite organized individual entities, Capra develops a philosophy in the excavations; while cutmarks on some bones most of nature that comprises both science and the humanities, resembled those made during funerary practices. leading from theory to action, from fundamental laws At the Guattari Cave at Monte Circeo, Italy, the skull to dynamic events, and from separateness to mutual and jawbone of a Neanderthal were found in 1939 in a connectedness. ring of stones on the cave floor. The hole in the skull’s In the following years, Capra was heavily influenced by base was enlarged, and there were fractured areas around the systems theory of Gregory Bateson and he adjusted the right temple. This was seen as a clear case of ritual his former concept accordingly. In The Turning Point, it cannibalism, with the brains being extracted through the was no longer the bootstrap philosophy or the model of hole. However, modern analysis suggests that the “ring of quantum mechanics that grounded his argument, but the stones” was natural, caused by a landslide, while other holistic and ecological “systems view” of reality, which remains in the cave indicate that it was a hyena den. The he presents as the common denominator of both modern marks on the skull are fully consistent with being caused science and ancient mysticism. According to Capra, by hyenas, which may have taken the head from a buried Western society is in need of a new paradigm, because the body in or near the site. old mechanistic Newtonian and Cartesian paradigm has Therefore, many early claims for cannibalism have led modern society to an alienation from, if not a total been effectively debunked. The possibility remains that the destruction of, nature. This old paradigm is in a state of practice may have existed occasionally, not merely in the decline and the global crises are reaching their culminat- remote times of Homo antecessor but much later among ing point. At the same time the new holistic paradigm Neanderthals and even modern humans, but the evidence is emerging rapidly, bringing forth a society that is is always ambiguous, and must be assessed very carefully “holistic,” open to spiritual dimensions of life, and healthy and objectively, rather than with wishful thinking and a for all its members. The juxtaposition of those two love of melodrama, as has so often been the case in the paradigms serves as a master key to interpret almost every past. part of contemporary culture. Generally speaking, Capra’s books are an easily access- Paul G. Bahn ible compilation of two authors’ more complicated ideas, namely Ilya Prigogine’s and Gregory Bateson’s. While he Further Reading interprets their thinking in great detail (and sometimes Bahn, Paul G. “Atapuerca’s Double Contribution to the eclectically), he omits references to the “founders” of sys- Cannibalism Debate.” Journal of Iberian Archaeology tems theory, like Ervin Laszlo. This is also true for his latest 1 (1999), 27–31. major book The Web of Life. Here, he establishes what he Fernandez-Jalvo, Yolanda, et al. “Evidence of Early calls the “Capra-synthesis,” consisting of his former con- Cannibalism.” Science 271 (1996), 277–8. tributions and an additional application of H. Maturana Caribbean Cultures 267 and F. Varela’s so-called “Santiago Theory,” which Capra islands, most of which are part of the West Indian Archi- describes as a parallelism of learning and living, of pelago. The Archipelago stretches from the Straights of knowledge and creativity. He also includes concepts Florida nearly to Venezuela, and separates the Caribbean of deep ecology and sustainability. Sea and Gulf of Mexico from the Atlantic Ocean. Roughly Capra’s impact on New Age discourse, on environ- one-fourth of these islands are inhabited, with the mentalism, and recently also on the countermovement majority of the region’s forty million people presently against uncontrolled globalization has been decisive. living in the Greater Antilles (Cuba, Haiti/Dominican Actively supporting political and economic efforts to Republic, Puerto Rico, and Jamaica). Most Caribbean arrive at a “holistic” and sustainable culture, he is founder people are of African descent, while European languages and president of the Elmwood Institute and the Center for and religions have also largely shaped the region’s living Ecoliteracy (founded in 1995) in Berkeley, California, an cultures. With the twentieth-century influx of Chinese and ecological think-tank dedicated to fostering new concepts Indian indentured laborers, the Caribbean has become a and values for a sustainable future. Furthermore, he is lec- region of even greater cultural and religious diversity, a turer at the influential Schumacher College in Dartington, region wherein every major world religion has either Devon (United Kingdom), an international center for carved out a niche or gouged out a crater. ecological studies. His course titles include “Life, Mind and Society” (2002) and try to integrate deep ecological Nature in Taino Myth and Ritual concerns into a general systems theory of culture. The Taino migrated to the Caribbean from what is today Venezuela as early as 300 B.C.E. and were the first native Kocku von Stuckrad Americans encountered by Europeans in the late fifteenth century. Their religion was based upon a rich mythology Further Reading and shamanistic interpretations of nature and divinity. Capra, Fritjof. The Web of Life: A New Synthesis of Mind As José Oliver notes, “Taino were keen observers of the and Matter. London: Flamingo, 1997. rhythms of nature . . . [and] strove to maintain harmony, Capra, Fritjof. The Turning Point. Science, Society, and the or at least coordination with the motion of nature . . .” Rising Culture. Toronto: Bantam Books, 1983 (1982). (Oliver 1997: 140). In Taino myth, Yaya’s (the godhead’s) Capra, Fritjof. The Tao of Physics: An Exploration of first act of creation was to crack open a gourd out of which the Parallels between Modern Physics and Eastern spilled an ocean teeming with fish. A mountain grew out Mysticism. Glasgow: Flamingo Fontana, 1983 (1975). of the sea, and humans, animals, and vegetal life lived Restivo, Sal. The Social Relations of Physics, Mysticism, with the fish in a primordial realm in which they all com- and Mathematics: Studies in Social Structures, municated in a sacred language. Because of this, and Interests, and Ideas. Dordrecht: D. Reidel, 1983. because fishing was central to material Taino sustenance, See also: Bateson, Gregory; California Institute of Integral fish came to symbolize the vital force within nature. This Studies; Complexity Theory; Deep Ecology; New Age; force was understood by the Taino to be either creative or Prigogine, Ilya. destructive, and they sought to tap it through the creation and worship of zemis, or smooth triangular stones or bones. Besides zemi cults, Taino religion also featured cults of Caribbean Cultures deities who were associated with various forces in nature. The very word “Hurricane” in English derives from the Beginning in the late fifteenth century, Europeans (mainly name of the Taino god of one of nature’s most awesome Spanish, French, British, and Dutch) colonized the displays of force, Huracan. Among the religion’s most Caribbean in order to exploit its natural resources. First popular deities was Atabey, the fertility goddess who also they unsuccessfully mined for gold, and later massively rules the seas. Maintaining as best as possible harmony cultivated sugar and other cash crops for self-enrichment. with such spirits and the forces of nature was the core of They also established Christianity as the dominant religion Taino religion. The means to this harmony were often in the islands. The native peoples of the region, mainly determined and prescribed by shamans, or zemichis (“seers Tainos and Caribs, succumbed to disease and other horrors of zemis”). Shamanic trance and possessions were induced wrought by the European conquest, such that within three by meditation, chanting, and the ritual smoking of generations of Columbus’ first visit in 1492 their numbers hallucinogenic cohoba seeds mixed with tobacco leaves. had dwindled from several million to a few thousand. So important was this practice in Taino religion that With the demise of the indigenous population, Europe archeologists have uncovered a great variety of ritual turned to Africa for a replacement labor force, and over smoking paraphernalia in the Greater Antilles. the next 350 years, nearly five million Africans were Despite the disappearance of Taino people from the enslaved and brought to the Caribbean. Caribbean, Taino culture lives on in the islands more The Caribbean Basin consists of more than 7000 vibrantly than scholars usually acknowledge. For one 268 Caribbean Cultures thing, Taino lived with Africans in the sixteenth and religion despite Europeans’ administrative measures to seventeenth centuries’ maroon communities that emerged prohibit them. In adopting Christian symbolism and belief, in mountains throughout the Caribbean in resistance to Africans and their descendants established a rich, diverse, enslavement. This is an essential fact in Caribbean and still-thriving culture of religious syncretism in the religious history because maroon communities were the Caribbean. In Catholic colonies like Saint-Domingue and site of religious activity that has been as influential as any Cuba, where French and Spanish missionaries baptized other in shaping Caribbean identity and consciousness. and evangelized slaves, Africans took saints like the For two illustrative examples of this legacy, we may turn Virgin Mary and Saint James to be manifestations of to Boukman’s experience at Haiti’s Bwa Kayman in the spirits from their homeland, whose New World cults were late eighteenth century, and Leonard Howell experience at transformed accordingly. Because the Catholic “pantheon” Jamaica’s Pinnacle in the mid-twentieth, which have was so structurally congruous with African pantheons indelibly marked Vodou and Rastafarianism respectively. (each consisted of a single distant creator God and lesser, Herein the refuge of nature, and especially the wilderness, yet more familiar, spiritual beings or the living-dead) cooperated with indigenous and African resistance to Catholic colonies proved the Caribbean’s most fertile soil colonial and post-colonial oppression, and contributed for the growth of African-derived religions like Haitian forcefully to the creation of Caribbean religious culture. Vodou and Cuban Santería. Wilderness, resistance, and religion are thus deeply inter- Nowhere is African culture more vibrant in the twined in the Caribbean imagination, and the Taino Caribbean than in Haiti, where West and Central African deserve recognition as the founders of this tradition of religious traditions mated with Iberian and French Marronage. Catholicism to breed the religion of Vodou. In Vodou, spirits (lwa yo) and ancestors (lemò yo) live in nature, Christianity, Slavery, and Sugar and many of them embody natural features and forces. The European conquest of the Caribbean benefited from Maintaining or restoring harmony with them is Vodou’s Christianity’s sanction, first in Catholic and later in primary concern, and nature provides the best media Protestant form. Enjoying the papal legitimization of a and mechanisms to ensure this harmony. For instance, series of fifteenth- and sixteenth-century papal bulls, spirit-embodying trees surround temple compounds and the Spanish and French monarchies vowed to baptize provide the material for sacramental drums used in com- unchurched Africans in exchange for the God-given munal possession ceremonies. Also, leaves are essential to right to enslave them. The presumption that God wills the religion because herbalistic healing is one of Vodou’s Christians’ domination of nature and of other peoples primary functions. was reflected in the symbolism and mythology of post- Vodou is thus firmly rooted in nature, and many lwas Reformation Iberian Catholicism. To the Spanish, for are associated with natural phenomena. The serpent- example, it was the Virgin Mary who brought them to the rainbow lwa Dambalah Wedo, for example, lives in water- Americas, hence Columbus’ arrival on a boat christened falls; Ogun is the spirit of metals; Agwe is the lwa of the “Santa María.” The Virgin Mary had long been European sea, and so on. The dead are also forcefully present in Catholicism’s ruler of the seas (e.g., Stella Maris; Our Lady nature, being understood as living either under the of the Navigators), thus making her the logical patroness ground, across the water, or in the forest. Trees and the of the European conquest of the Caribbean and all of Latin forest (like the sea, animals, and other natural beings or America. forces) have “nam” (soul) and are thus prominent in Yet, it was not so much European religious zeal as capi- Vodou’s rich symbolism and mythology. talistic greed that fueled the colonization of the “New Santería likewise focuses upon spirit and ancestor cults World.” Initially the Spanish hoped to extract massive and is deeply sensitive to nature. For humans, harmony amounts of gold from the Caribbean Earth, but they failed. with such deities (orishas) and the dead (los muertos) So, instead they aggressively exploited the rich soil of is essential to a life full of ashé. Olodumare, the single Caribbean plains to produce sugar. In the French colony of creator god, infused ashé (vital force) into all of creation. Saint-Domingue alone, there were over 2000 plantations Ashé is the healing force of herbs, the animating force of on the eve of the Haitian Revolution in 1789, most of them the wooden and animal-skin drum, and the whirl of the over 1000 acres in size. In all, colonial Caribbean sugar possessed dancer: The ocean’s ashe is present, for instance, plantations received more than 40 percent of all African in ritual dance for Yemaya, the beautiful goddess of the victims of the transatlantic slave trade, and were pro- sea. viding well over half of all sugar consumed in Europe. Like Vodou, Santería teaches that the spirits and the dead live in the natural wilderness (el monte) and that Nature in Afro-Caribbean Religions we can best communicate with them through possession, West and Central African slaves and their descendants sacrifice, and divination. The West African divination managed to preserve the spirit of traditional African system known as Ifá, which is identified with the orisha Carson, Rachel 269

Orunmila, has been marvelously preserved in Santería. In living in harmony with the sacred is thus only possible Ifá, nuts, shells, and chains, are cast, read, and interpreted because of nature and the eternal living force, or ashe, that by ritual specialists called babalawos. Babalawos commit inhabits it. thousands of myths (patakis) to memory and use them, as This rooting in and respect for nature of Caribbean directed by Ifá, to communicate their interpretation and religious cultures has not, however, ever inspired broad advise believers on life. Patakis are replete with nature environmental activism anywhere in the Caribbean. symbolism and often prescribe offerings or sacrifices (ebó) Deforestation, one of the region’s most pressing environ- that require animals, plants, music and dancing for the mental concerns, is the result of poverty, a force that over- orishas. powers Caribbean people’s deep reverence for nature. At Beginning in the seventeenth century, British and the local level, trees considered to be the homes of spirits Dutch colonialism established Protestantism as a major in African-derived religions like Vodou and Santería, are religion in the Caribbean. African religious traditions spared the axe, while Rastafarians decry the exploitation on mainly Protestant islands did not survive as intact as of nature as another crime committed by Babylon, or Haitian Vodou and Cuban Santería. There is nonetheless the White oppressor. Yet these religions are generally a distinctly African spirit that pervades West Indian made up of the region’s poor, whose daily struggle for Christianity, especially in Pentecostal and Revivalist survival makes any threat to Caribbean ecosystems forms, whose spirit possession, drumming, dancing, and (though obvious to everyone) seem a tertiary concern at speaking in tongues are clearly rooted in traditional best. Christian missions, meanwhile, have throughout the African religion. Also rooted in Africa, belief in sorcery islands financed soil conservation and reforestation (obeah) and in ritual specialists who combat it is wide- projects, although their efforts have had a relatively spread in the Protestant Caribbean. weak impact overall and cannot atone for Christianity’s In twentieth-century Jamaica, Ethiopianist interpreta- economic sins that have for five hundred years underlied tion of the Bible found scriptural prophecy of the return the Caribbean’s environmental degradation. of God to Earth as an African king. This inspired the African focus of Jamaican Rastafarianism, which emerged Terry Rey from a confluence of Ethiopianism, Garveyism, and Revivalist Christianity. As a result, Rastas believe that Jah Further Reading (God) has returned to the Earth in the person of King Hailie Barrett, Leonard E., Sr. The Rastafarians. Boston: Beacon, Selassie I, who was crowned King of Ethiopia in 1930. 1988. Rastafarianism reveres nature as Jah’s self-expression Métraux, Alfred. Voodoo in Haiti. New York: Schocken, and gift to humanity, and thus as sacred. Rasta’s symbolic 1972 [1959]. color triad of red, gold, and green reflects this, as green Oliver, José R. “The Taino Cosmos.” In Samuel M. Wilson, represents the vegetation of Africa and Jamaica. The ed. The Indigenous People of the Caribbean. Gaines- religion is strongly influenced by this reverence for nature, ville: University Press of Florida, 1997, 140–53. as Rastafarian biblical exegesis demonstrates. For See also: Candomblé of Brazil; Mother Earth and the example, the ganja herb was first grown on the tomb of Earth People (Trinidad); Rastafari; Santería; Shamanism – King Solomon, and its use for communion with Jah is Traditional; Trees in Haitian Vodou; Umbanda. encouraged in the Book of Genesis (“And the Earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind . . . and God saw that it was good” [1:12]) and in Psalms Carson, Rachel (1907–1964) (“He causes the grass to grow for the cattle, and herb for the service of man” [104:14]). Besides its uses in healing, Rachel Carson certainly deserves the title, “Mother of the ganja is smoked for meditation and communal rituals Environmental Movement.” Her book, Silent Spring, pub- called Nyabingi, and thus the ganja herb, along with the lished two years before her death in 1962, was a clarion Lion of Judah (Hos. 5:10–14), is a dominant symbol in call to the world to balance the needs of humans with the Rastafariansim. needs of the Earth. Born in rural Springdale, Pennsylvania, Carson had a Conclusion life-long interest in the natural world. Her mother taught In spite of the wide diversity of Caribbean religious her a love for nature that informed all her writing, from cultures, taken as a whole the region’s people generally her first book, Under the Sea Wind (1941), to her last, share a deep sensitivity to nature as an expression of Silent Spring (1962), a work that started a global move- and gift from God. From the Taino to the Rastafarians, ment to save a planet that was well on the way to being Caribbean believers have always viewed God, spirits (or destroyed by industrial and governmental policies that the Holy Spirit, the lwas or the orishas) and the dead as ignored the delicate balance required in humans’ dealings manifest in nature. Understanding, communing with, and with nature. In only twenty years between her first and 270 Carson, Rachel last book, Carson explored and translated the oceanic became General Editor of Conservation in Action, a series world for millions of readers around the globe, challenged of pamphlets put out by the Fish and Wildlife Service. the most powerful corporations and the male-dominated She also had begun to study the effects of DDT on the scientific community, and laid the groundwork for an environment and suggested to Reader’s Digest an article ecofeminist movement that highlighted the inter- on the deleterious effects of the chemical on the environ- connectedness of every part of the natural world. Her ment. The magazine rejected her proposal, and it took theories about nature and about the obligations of the sci- another ten years before Carson was able to focus on DDT. entific community undermined long-held beliefs about Before becoming engaged with research on the use of linking the control of disorderly nature and the control of pesticides, Carson focused on two books about the sea, The women. Sea Around Us and The Edge of the Sea. These two books, In 1925 Carson began her scientific training at Penn- especially The Sea Around Us, illustrate the most powerful sylvania College for Women (later renamed Chatham themes in Carson’s work: a religious reverence for the sea, College), under the mentorship of Mary Skinker, a biology the womb of life, and a belief in the connectedness of all teacher. Skinker’s influence on Carson was tremendous; it living things. The sea, she believed, was the generator and was she who encouraged Carson’s scientific interest, the grave for all: the alpha and omega of the planet. The helped her get a place in graduate school at Johns Hop- life of the sea controls the life of the land and thus human kins, and mentored her in her struggle to enter the male- life, an axiom that Carson believed should humble human dominated scientific community. beings. In the summer of 1929, before Carson entered Johns After the enormous success of her two books about the Hopkins, she received a scholarship to work at the Marine sea, Carson turned once again to the issue of the chemical Biological Laboratory at Woods Hole in Massachusetts. poisoning of the environment. During the late 1950s, the Living on the ocean was not only a thrill to the young New Yorker had a weekly column called “These Precious scientist, but that summer focused her graduate studies on Days,” a “fever chart of the planet Earth, showing Man’s marine biology, the subject of The Sea Around Us (1951) ups and downs in contaminating the air, the sea, and the and The Edge of the Sea (1955). Her enduring interest in, soil.” Carson collected all these columns and noted the and reverence for, the sea was as close as Carson came to a rise in Strontium 90, the rise in pesticide use, and the rise philosophy of life. She saw in the oceanic world what she in cancer rates around the world. Humans were, she con- referred to as “material immortality,” the slow accretion of cluded, poisoning the Earth and themselves. new life from the old. While universities around the United States were doing After finishing her Masters of Arts in Marine Zoology studies that showed alarming consequences from the use in 1932, Carson taught briefly at the University of Mary- of pesticides, the U.S. Department of Agriculture insisted land. The death of her father and the Depression forced her that, with precautions, the chemicals would have no to look for more financially secure employment, and she adverse effects on humans or wildlife. Into this conflict began working for the U.S. Bureau of Fisheries (later the Carson brought her skill as a researcher and her passion as Fish and Wildlife Service). After a brief stint in Chicago an environmentalist. She also experienced the ways in during World War II, Carson returned to Washington and which government controlled the truth. The Department of Agriculture and several chemical companies that had large governmental contracts set out to destroy Carson’s reputa- tion when Silent Spring came out and when the book was Carson on Sea Spirituality widely heralded as “a plea for reason and balance in the From Rachel Carson’s The Sea Around Us: use of pesticides.” Vesicol Chemical Corporation tried to The sea lies all about us. The commerce of all have Houghton Mifflin suppress the book before publica- lands must cross it. The very winds that move tion, and Montsanto chemical company questioned over the lands have been cradled on its broad Carson’s credentials as a scientist and discounted her as a expanse and seek ever to return to it. The con- “hysterical woman.” When CBS showed “The Silent Spring tinents themselves dissolve and pass to the sea, of Rachel Carson,” Carson was attacked on air by Robert in grain after grain of eroded land. So the rains White-Stevens of American Cyanamid, claiming that her that rose from it return again in rivers. In its book was a series of gross distortions. On the contrary, mysterious past it encompasses all the dim origins even today no one has been able to document an error in of life and receives in the end, after, it may be, Silent Spring. many transmutations, the dead husks of that same In the opening chapter of the book, the reader is life. For all at last return to the sea – to Oceanus, returned to a pristine rural landscape that experiences the ocean river, like the ever-flowing stream of sudden death and decay. From there the book begs for a time, the beginning and the end (212). considered and selective approach to the use of pesticides. Carson questions whether any civilization can wage Cartesian Dualism 271 relentless war on life without destroying itself, and with- Apologetic History, totaling six hefty volumes, still con- out losing the right to be called civilized. stitute the wealthiest sources of information about the Carson’s concern for the balance of nature, for the culture and society of the Indians of the New World. Yet, respect for the wilderness, and for the place of humans these works were only published three hundred years in the magnetic chain that binds all life, made her later. A summary, however, was published during de las deeply conscious of the ways in which seemingly minute Casas’ lifetime under the title of Very Brief Account of the causes produce mighty effects that no human being can Destruction of the Indies (1552). This became a sixteenth- escape. century best seller, translated into six European languages and undergoing many editions shortly after its publica- Mary A. McCay tion. Such was the fervor and vivid nature of de las Casas’ descriptions of the devastation of the Indies that it is Further Reading alleged that this book became the source of the so-called Brooks, Paul. The House of Life: Rachel Carson at Work. “black legend” imputed on the Spaniards, who having Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1972; London: Allen and suffered defeat in history were haunted by a divine curse Unwin, 1973. because of their sinfulness, savagery, and unjust treatment Carson, Rachel. Under the Sea Wind. New York: Dutton, of the Indians. 1991 (fiftieth anniversary edition). First published in His treatise De único vocationis modo (The only Method 1941. of Attracting All people to the True Faith) (ca. 1534–1537) Carson, Rachel. Silent Spring. Boston: Houghton Mifflin became the inspiration for Pope Paul III’s encyclical Company, 1962. Sublimus Deus (1937), in which the rationality of the Carson, Rachel. The Edge of the Sea. Boston: Houghton Amerindians is proclaimed as a manifestation of God’s Mifflin Company, 1955. sublimity. Because of his defense of the Indians’ right to be Carson, Rachel. The Sea Around Us. New York: Oxford treated on the same terms as the other European nations of University Press, 1950, 1989. his day, de las Casas’ work is also thought to be a precursor Gartner, Carol B. Rachel Carson. New York: Ungar, 1983. of the international declaration of human rights and the Graham, Frank. Since Silent Spring. Boston: Houghton idea of an order of law that applies to all human beings Mifflin, 1970; London: Hamish Hamilton, 1970. regardless of race, class, gender, or religion. In chapter 48 Hynes, Patricia. The Recurring Silent Spring. New York: of his Apologetic History we find the rudiments of an Pergamon Press, 1989. international declaration of human rights. McCay, Mary. Rachel Carson. New York: Macmillan, 1993. In a famous debate with Juan Ginés de Sepúlveda See also: Environmental Ethics. in Valladolid, de las Casas confronted and refuted the Aristotelian-derived “right” to wage war and enslave the Indians. In the treatises prepared for his encounter Cartesian Dualism – See Descartes, René – and the against Sepúlveda, de las Casas developed and defended a Problem of Cartesian Dualism. prophetic, Christian, and theological humanism that laid down the foundations for a radical and pacifist democratic ethos that enshrined the unity of all humanity. The publi- Casas, Bartolomé de las (1485–1566) cation of his complete works in a critical edition, number- ing thirteen volumes, made available for the first time in Bartolomé de las Casas was a Dominican friar, born in complete and unabbreviated form carefully crafted trea- Seville, Spain, who after an experience of conversion in tises and legal briefs on behalf of the Indians. 1514 spent the rest of his life defending the rights of the De las Casas’ work is characterized by its tenacity and indigenous peoples of the New World. His devotion to just- unwavering nature. His defense of the Indians was a ice, expressed in pointed, indignant, and prodigiously vocation and calling. Above all, his work reveals his active documented critiques of the Spanish colonization, as well advocacy for pacifism. Furthermore, it is a theologically as numerous crusades to the canonical courts, and court grounded pacifism (i.e., to wage war is contrary to the hearings on the conquest, earned him the name “defender gospel and the Christian teachings, notwithstanding the of the Indians.” He was also a major theologian of peace, long tradition of using Aristotle, Augustine and Aquinas and arguably one of the founding fathers of anthropology, to develop a theory of “just war”). Both the tenacity of his ethnography, and what can also be called “nature writing,” vocation and commitment to pacifism are rooted in his for his works abound in anthropology and ethnographical boundless love for the Indian. descriptions of the natural world of the Indies. This love in turn led de las Casas to give himself over to He wrote extensive and passionate histories of the a prophetic activism that was guided by Christian utopian- inequities committed by the Spanish in their conquest of ism. Being a witness to the plight of the Indians, he was an the new world. Both his History of the Indies and the engaged advocate and he clamored for justice on their 272 Castaneda, Carlos behalf. These elements gave shape to what has been called evangelization. Rationality as the supreme expression a “Lascasian” prophetic humanism. As the “protector of of human dignity, as well as the freedom to pursue that the Indians” he is also considered the father of Christian human vocation, culminate in the right of self- humanism, witness to the inhuman violence of the con- determination for all peoples. This right is complemented quest and sinful extermination and exploitation of the by the realization that evangelization can only be under- encomienda, the Spanish institution by which Indians taken peacefully and by way of rational persuasion of were given over in care to the Spanish conquistadors. the peoples to be evangelized. After five hundred years of Along with the priceless documentation of the “destruc- critical reception, in many cases skewed by the ideological tion” of the New World that detailed extensively a then struggles about the right of Spaniards to colonize and unknown, voluptuous, and unique fauna and flora, de las evangelize the New World, and only after the appearance Casas has bequeathed humanity a gospel of prophetic of his complete works during the last decade of the humanism that is framed by five tenets. First and fore- twentieth century, a richer and more comprehensive most, de las Casas consistently departed from popular understanding of his prophetic work can now be under- Christian doctrine regarding the dignity of the human taken. He is the patron saint of the Indians, but also the being, a dignity that was, for him, enshrined and exempli- father of a thoroughly Christian universalism and pacifism fied in human rationality. De hominis dignitate describes that remain unsurpassed and that still projects a utopian human beings’ irreducible and unalienable capacity to vision worth witnessing. reason, to persuade and to be persuaded. Second, in de las Casas’ view, the Indians were not the least of humanity Eduardo Mendieta and creation, but rather its exaltation. The Indian was a superlative human, the exemplar of God’s humility and Further Reading magnificence, and so was their environment and sur- Casas, Bartolomé de las. Witness: Writings of Bartolomé de rounding world, which de las Casas compared with las Casas. George Sanderlin, ed. Maryknoll, New York: paradise. Most of his major treatises and histories of the Orbis Books, 1992. New World contained descriptions of the mountains, Gutiérrez, Gustavo. Las Casas: In Search of the Poor of rivers, trees, fish, fruits, bays, etc., because de las Casas Jesus Christ. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1993. thought that the cultures of the Indians could not be Hanke, Lewis. All Mankind is One: A Study of the Disputa- separated from their environment. De las Casas argued on tion Between Bartolomé de las Casas and Juan Ginés de behalf of the Indians’ basic human condition, and this Sepúlveda in 1550 on the Intellectual and Religious included defending the world that they tended and in Capacity of the American Indians. DeKalb, IL: North- which they lived in dynamic relationship. In de las Casas, ern Illinois University Press, 1974. then, we find an explicitly articulated theology and mis- Hanke, Lewis. The Spanish Struggle for Justice in the Con- siology that for the first time combines reverence for quest of America. Philadelphia, PA: University of the dignity of human beings along with their “natural Pennsylvania Press, 1949. environment,” without which human beings would not be See also: Christianity (7c) – Liberation Theology; Mayan able to live and flourish. At the same time, this natural Catholicism; Roman Catholicism in Latin America. environment is seen as the expression of the creative and nurturing culture of the Indians. Thus, the chronicling of the destruction of the Indies Castaneda, Carlos (1925/31?–1998) was not just a narrative about the devastation of the Indians but also of their habitat. De las Casas’ work also Carlos Castaneda is a “father” of the New Age movement stands in a critical and contentious relationship to the through his series of books detailing Yaqui Indian works that engaged in the so-called “debate on the nature shamanism. Castaneda remained an enigmatic figure who of the New Indies,” a debate among sixteenth-century avoided being photographed, interviewed or recorded. His theologians, historians, and evangelizers, which tried to autobiographical information is also controversial with established the immaturity and incompleteness of the new conflicts concerning his place of birth (Cajamarca, Peru world, and consequently, the need for European Christians or São Paulo, Brazil) and other details of his early life. In to intervene and take over a continent they argued was 1951, however, he moved to the United States and began being wasted. It is this aspect of de las Casas’ work that has studies in anthropology. He received his Ph.D. from the made him the supreme apostle of the poor for liberation University of California, Los Angeles in 1973. theologians, as Gustavo Gutiérrez has argued. The third Allegedly meeting Don Juan Matus in a Nogales, pillar of Lascasian prophetic integral humanism is his Arizona Greyhound bus station in the early 1960s, Cas- unequivocal and unqualified defense of the freedom of taneda described him as a nagual or master sorcerer (a all human beings, a freedom that cannot be sullied by “man of knowledge”) of mixed lineage: a Yuma Indian or mortgaged to the promise of salvation or task of mother and a Yaqui Indian father from Sonora, Mexico. Cathedral Forests and the Felling of Sacred Groves 273

When he was ten, Don Juan was taken to Mexico by his Further Reading parents who were subsequently killed in the Yaqui- Castaneda, Carlos. Tales of Power. New York: Washington Mexican wars. He then grew up with relatives in southern Square Press, 1976. Mexico. According to Castaneda, at the age of 20, Don Castaneda, Carlos. Journey to Ixtlan: The Lessons of Don Juan met Julian Osorio, a son of European immigrants, Juan. New York: Pocket Books, 1972. who had himself been initiated by nagual Elias Ulloa into a Castaneda, Carlos. A Separate Reality: Further Conversa- lineage of brujos that reputedly went back 25 generations. tions with Don Juan. New York: Simon & Schuster, Becoming part of this tradition, Don Juan eventually 1971. acquired four disciples: Taisha Abelar, Forinda Donner- Castaneda, Carlos. The Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui Grau, Carol Tiggs and Carlos Castaneda. He taught a series Way of Knowledge. Berkeley & Los Angeles: University of body movements described as “magical passes.” of California Press, 1968. Castaneda claimed that Don Juan bequeathed to him Noel, Daniel C. Seeing Castaneda: Reactions to the “Don everything he knew about his lineage of sorcerers. Toward Juan” Writings of Carlos Castaneda. New York: G.P. the end of his life, Castaneda developed the “magical pass” Putnam’s Sons, 1976. of Don Juan into a modern practice dubbed “Tensegrity.” Zolla, Elémire. “The Teaching of Carlos Castaneda.” North In this blend of meditation and movement exercises, American Indian Studies. Pieter Hovens, ed. Gottin- the individual is depicted as a “luminous egg” that con- gen: Edition Herodot, 1981. tains about 600 “assemblage points” or places where See also: Anthropology as a Source of Nature Religion; awareness shift can occur. As a process of depersonaliza- Harner, Michael – and the Foundation for Shamanic tion, Tensegrity seeks to break through the restrictions of Studies; New Age; Religious Studies and Environmental ordinary cognition to understand the dynamics of pure Concern; Shamanism – Neo; Shamanism – Traditional; energy. Yoeme (Yaqui) Ritual. Critics have insisted that Castaneda writings are essen- tially fictions, and many have doubted that such a person as Don Juan ever existed. Nevertheless, Castaneda’s Cathedral Forests and the Felling of Sacred first book about his alleged experiences, The Teachings of Groves Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge (1968), in which he vividly describes the spiritual and pharmaceutical “Cathedral forest” is becoming a commonplace reference adventures he had under Don Juan’s tutelage, proved to be to ancient or old-growth forests, from the ancient rain- an enormous success by answering to an emergent sub- forests of South America and the “Cathedral Grove” of cultural desire to employ non-rational approaches to Vancouver Island to the giant Redwoods of the Pacific reality. He pursued these portrayals of “non-ordinary Northwest and the great Hemlocks of Cathedral State Park reality” with a series of further works: A Separate Reality: in West Virginia. Old-growth forests are, of course, highly Further Conversations with Don Juan (1971), Journey to valued for their great biological diversity. They are also Ixtlan: The Lessons of Don Juan (1972), and another prized as well for their aesthetic and spiritual values. The half-dozen books in which he promoted Don Juan’s enormous trees of cathedral forests are often described as interpretation-free seeing or “stopping the world” as a “majestic,” offering an ancient beauty distinguished from replacement to belief without experience. The huge secondary-growth forests and tree farms. The light that success of his books (8 million copies in 17 languages) filters down through the branches and leaves has been caused Castaneda to become increasingly reclusive. likened to the light pouring through the stained glass Even his death was not revealed until two months windows of the great medieval cathedrals. Conversely, the afterwards. pillars and branchlike vaults of the gothic cathedrals also The importance of Castaneda’s works, however, lies in convey the grandeur of old-growth forests. their shamanic stress on the need to be inaccessible and The term “cathedral forest” reflects a widespread con- elusive and, as a “spiritual warrior,” for a person to temporary and ancient experience of forests as sacred. As become completely one with his or her environment. From Bryant’s poem “Forest Hymn” describes, “The groves were this perspective, it is incumbent upon the individual to be God’s first temples” (in Schama 1995). Indeed, for millen- flexible and unencumbered by sentimental emotions or nia trees have been a location for prayer, worship, and past history. The message of Don Juan and Castaneda is divine revelation. In Shechem, Hebron, and Beersheba, perhaps best summed by Alan Watts’ evaluation: “By not altars were built to Yahweh under sacred oak trees. Pillars separating ourselves from nature, we return to a position called Asherim were used in the ancient Isrealite worship of dignity.” of Yahweh and his consort Asherah, a tree and fertility goddess. Pillars also harbored the souls of sacred trees in Michael York the Mycenean cult. Furthermore, Vitruvius wrote that the columns in Greek and Roman temples were modeled on 274 Cathedral of St. John the Divine tree trunks. The temples of Greece were thick with col- Many of the trees in Ireland were cut down to eradicate umns, and oftentimes possessed an adjacent, sacred grove. Celtic worship, which also justified using the wood to The forest origins of temple architecture are portrayed in build the imperial fleet. The imperial habit continues into the tree-trunk tapering of the classical column. Robert the present as conservative religious groups, such as Pogue Harrison discusses the symbolism of Greek and the Acton Institute for Religion and Liberty, refer to the Gothic columns and suggests “if a single column once “anti-idolatry” actions of St. Boniface as a champion for symbolized a sacred tree, a cluster of columns may well today’s capitalist venues of deforestation. In contrast, have symbolized a sacred grove” (1992: 178). other religious groups, such as the Religious Campaign From the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, many for Forest Conservation, follow a Christian and Jewish texts argue that Gothic architecture was modeled on the tradition that loves and honors forests as the creation of forest, with its “ribbed vaults” depicting interweaving God. In this view, sacrality need not imply idolatry. As tree branches, the aisle down the nave of the cathedral religious studies scholar Belden Lane has emphasized, “for resembling the path in a forest of ancient trees. Consider every story about saints who cut down trees . . . there are the story of Chartres Cathedral, built in 1194. Medieval two stories of saints living in hollow oaks.” The ancient tradition says it was built upon the site of a Druidic sacred and continued sense of the sacred in such groves and the grove, explaining the ceiling’s name – “the forest” (in allusion to these ancient forests in architecture of Gothic Branner 1969: 104). In this way, Gothic cathedrals involve cathedrals inspires Christians, Jews, and Pagans to work to worship in stylized groves. save the few remaining cathedral forests. As Chartres Cathedral was built upon the site of a Druidic sacred grove, the Christianization of the empire Nicole Roskos meant countless cathedrals and chapels would replace sacred groves destroyed in the forced conversion of Further Reading Earth-revering peoples. Yet, this violence did not begin Branner, Robert. Chartres Cathedral; with Source Material with Christians. The book of Deuteronomy prescribes the and Selected Critical Writings. London: Thames & cutting of the Asherim (Deut. 7:5; 12:3) in its assertion Hudson, 1969. that Yahweh alone was God. The historian Tacitus gives an Butler, Alban. The Lives of the Saints. Collegeville, MN: account of the Roman takeover of the island of Mona, a Liturgical Press, 1995; Tunbridge Wells: Burns & Celtic Mecca for British Druids. The Romans cut down Oates, 2000. their sacred groves and broke their altars. Chidester, David. Christianity: A Global History. San The Christian empire reenacted the tradition of destroy- Francisco: Harper, 2000. ing sacred groves. Hagiography describes legends of Glacken, Clarence. Traces on the Rhodian Shore: Nature monks working to root out paganism by forcing newly and Culture in Western Thought. Berkeley: University converted Christians or outraged pagans to decimate their of California Press, 1967. sacred trees and groves (Glacken 1967: 310). On Monte Hadley, Judith M. The Cult of Asherah in Ancient Israel Cassino around 525, St. Benedict cut down a sacred grove and Judah. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University and destroyed the temple to Apollo in order to convert the Press, 2000. people in the surrounding area to Christianity. In place of Harrison, Robert Pogue. Forests: The Shadow of Civiliza- the grove, he built the first monastery. In 772, Charle- tion. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1992. magne felled a popular Irminsal (giant column) represent- Schama, S. Landscape and Memory. New York: Alfred A. ing the Anglo-Saxon tree of the universe. The most Knopf, 1995. recounted story is that of St. Boniface, who sometime Tamblyn, W.F. “British Druidism and Roman War Policy.” shortly after 722, cut down the Oak of Thunor (also American Historical Review 15:1 (1909), 21–36. referred to as Thor or Geismar) located on the top of Mount Vitruvius. “De Architectura.” Frank Granger, ed. and trs. Gudenberg, near Fritzlar, Germany. Upon the first few from the Harlian manuscript 2767. London: W. Heine- blows, the sacred tree of the Saxon thunder-god split into man, 1931; New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1934. four parts. Described as a miracle, many in the crowd were See also: Religious Campaign for Forest Conservation; converted since the feared god did not respond with any Wise Use Movement. great power or harm. Boniface used the tree to build a chapel to St. Peter on the same spot. In spite of this violent past, naming these forests Cathedral of St. John the Divine “cathedral forests” now exalts the few old-growth forests left on the planet. This history of cathedral forests none- More visibly perhaps than any of other religious institu- theless reveals a continual tension between disrespect and tion, the Episcopal Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine reverence for ancient forests. The desacralization of the in New York City has been at the forefront of the greening forests provided an avenue for economic exploitation. movement in American religion. The world’s largest Cathedral of St. John the Divine 275 gothic cathedral, the mother church of the Episcopal Dio- mental and scientific leaders to be guest speakers in the cese of New York and the seat of its bishop, the Cathedral cathedral pulpit. Figures such as physicist Amory Lovins has created vanguard programs to bring together scientists (founder of the Rocky Mountain Institute, which is and diverse religious leaders to address environmental dedicated to the development and implementation of problems, while promoting experiments in green liturgy alternative renewable energy sources), British scientist and congregational sustainability, and introducing green and Gaia theorist James Lovelock, and Earth in the architecture and creation-affirming aesthetics into tradi- Balance (1992) author, former Vice President Al Gore. tional worship space. In the last three decades of the In 1990, with direction from Paul Gorman, the former twentieth century and into the twenty-first Century, the Vice President of programs at the Cathedral, and led by the Cathedral as an institution has provided solid leadership now-deceased astronomer Carl Sagan, a collective group on environmental issues and sent a strong message to of senior religious leaders and prominent scientists formed Christian and non-Christian faith communities alike about the Joint Appeal by Religion and Science for the Environ- the pressing need to prioritize the Earth’s ecological ment (JARSE) “to put forward a scientifically informed problems. theological and moral response to the global environ- The strides the Cathedral community has made toward mental crisis” (Logan 1992). In 1991, the JARSE organiza- greening theology, worship, and institutional infra- tion took up residence at the Cathedral of St. John the structure, fostering institutes and conferences, com- Divine and convened a summit meeting on the environ- missioning ecospiritual artwork, developing learning ment to foster collaboration between religious and programs, and implementing recycling programs, are scientific communities on addressing environmental con- largely attributed to the leadership role played by the cerns. In the fall of 1993, again under Gorman’s direction, former Cathedral Dean, The Very Reverend James Parks the National Religious Partnership for the Environment Morton. When he began his 25-year tenure as Dean of the evolved, which placed four major religious groups (the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in 1972, Morton set about National Council of Churches, the U.S. Catholic Con- cultivating an intellectual community of what he called ference, the Evangelical Environmental Network, and the “cultural evolutionaries” – philosophers and futurists such Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life) into con- as environmental author William Irwin Thompson and versation with one another about issues such as environ- John and Nancy Jack Todd, the co-founders of Ocean mental stewardship, eco-justice, and sustainability. Arks International, an organization that develops natural The Cathedral at St. John the Divine is also head- purification systems for contaminated water (Ausubel quarters for numerous other organizations and programs 1997). By 1975, Morton’s encounters with microbiologist working on environmental issues. The Gaia Institute René Dubos and Passionist priest and “geologian” Thomas (founded in 1984), for instance, works to translate Gaian Berry, in particular, had helped fundamentally shift theory into “on-the-ground” ecological practice and is Morton’s views on “man’s relation to the Earth as it responsible for the Cathedral-based “Urban Rooftop had been spelled out in the Judeo-Christian traditions” Greenhouse Project,” which promotes sustainable urban (AtKisson 1990: 16). living and the greening of cityscapes. The Cathedral has Morton began to make major changes at the cathedral become home to a recycling center for the Upper West in accordance with this new shift in thought. Morton held Side of New York City and has hosted programs that help that, like the great holy places and sacred centers of the congregations conduct “Earth audits” to determine their world, the Cathedral ought to be a great microcosm of level of resource use or “ecological footprint” and to find the community – but the whole life community, not just ways to reduce the size of that footprint. the human community. An “Earth Shrine Habitat,” which Ecological consciousness is even being built into the included the flora and fauna from the local bioregion (blue very structure of the Cathedral, which increasingly reflects crabs, striped bass, and mussels) as a “tapestry of sacred its stated “architectural commitment to sacred ecology.” biodiversity,” was installed in the Cathedral’s nave (Naar Completion of construction at the Cathedral has been 1993). An “ecology trail” was put into place, which wove painstakingly slow (the building has been under construc- together various sacred sites inside and outside the tion for over 100 years) and has been set back at various Cathedral and which celebrated the wonders of creation, times by capital shortages and a fire that occurred and was honored humanity’s sacred connections with the contained in 2001. Nevertheless, the commissioned south planetary community and promoted good stewardship. transept will take the form of a greenhouse “bioshelter” Innovative liturgical experiments and artistic expressions which has been designed to embody a “profound com- devoted to what Morton called “sacred ecology” munion between nature and humanity.” Plans also include flourished. The Cathedral of St. John the Divine soon the addition of a solar tower to the Cathedral’s green became popularly known as the “Green Cathedral.” architectural plan. What is more, throughout the decades of the 1970s to Inside the building, the Cathedral’s “Ecology Trail” the 1990s, Morton invited a steady stream of environ- brings the outdoors in and honors creation as a living part 276 Caves – Sacred of the worship space. The trail begins at the west end of the is thus operating today in a very different context than it Cathedral at the “Creation Window,” where images of was during the 1970s – one in which inspiring an eco- the sun and its planets evoke the cycles of birth, death, and logical consciousness among the faithful and their leaders resurrection from the dawn of time. In the north side of is not the uphill battle it once was. In any survey of the the Cathedral hangs a Native American medicine wheel “greening movement” in American religion, it is critical to dedicated to healing the land of the Americas and giving note that this more receptive and Earth-conscious climate thanks to the continent’s “First Peoples.” (An annual among congregations largely exists now precisely because Native American Thanksgiving service of reconciliation is of the watershed effects of the Cathedral of St. John the held at the Cathedral.) In the nave, there is a fallen walnut Divine’s early programming and policy risks on the larger tree that has been split in two and rejoined, forming the religious landscape. “Peace Altar.” A banner created by artist Frederick Franck hangs above the altar and depicts humankind in all its Sarah McFarland Taylor diversity. Other stops along the trail include the “Religious Life Bay” or the “Earth Bay,” which features a fossil of a Further Reading giant mollusk shell. The spiral or nautilus configuration of AtKisson, Alan. “The Green Cathedral: An Interview with the mollusk shell represents the unfolding sacred history The Rev. James Parks Morton.” In Context 24 (Late of creation. Here, pilgrims along the Ecology Trail are Winter 1990), 16–18. invited to meditate on their relationship to the Earth and Ausubel, Ken. Restoring the Earth: Visionary Solutions its creatures. From the Bioneers. Tiburon, CA: H.J. Kramer, 1997. The Cathedral has become perhaps most famous in Gore, Albert. Earth in the Balance: Ecology and the Human recent years, however, for its innovative liturgy, in particu- Spirit. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1992. lar its annual Festival of St. Francis Animal Blessing and Logan, William Bryant. “Saint Francis in the Cities: the accompanying “Gaian Mass.” During the Gaian/Earth Celebrating the Tenth Annual Feast of St. Francis.” Mass, first performed by Cathedral artist-in-residence Paul Cathedral 8:2 (Fall 1994), 7–9. Winter and his Consort in 1981, clergy bless everything Logan, William Bryant, ed. The Green Cathedral. New York: from family dogs and cats to monkeys and llamas, even Cathedral of St. John the Divine Publication, 1992. birds and bluegreen algae. The giant doors at the front of Naar Jon. “The Green Cathedral: In This Crusading the Cathedral are opened for the occasion, and a great Congregation, Ecology Is God’s Work.” The Amicus African elephant leads the procession of creatures down Journal (Winter 1993), 22–8. the nave to the altar. Participants sing hymns of praise to Quirk, Howard E. The Living Cathedral – St. John the the Earth and liturgical dancers perform to celebrate and Divine: A History and Guide. New York: Crossroad honor creation. Like the Day of St. Francis, the winter and Press, 1993. summer solstices are also recognized as “Earth holy days” See also: American Indians as “First Ecologists”; Berry, or festival days within the Cathedral’s liturgical calendar Thomas; Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life; and are celebrated with concerts featuring Paul Winter’s Epic of Evolution; Evangelical Environmental Network; music. These celebrations consistently draw more than Francis of Assisi; Gaia; Gaian Mass; Music and Eco- 3000 participants. activism in America; National Religious Partnership for Despite these successes, being on the “cutting edge” of the Environment; Sagan, Carl; Winter, Paul. sacred environmental work has not been easy. The Cathedral and its deanship (Morton left in 1997 to found The Interfaith Center of New York) have faced various Caves – Sacred (Thailand) accusations from within and outside the Church that the community’s programs promote “paganism,” “animism,” Buddhist monks and nuns dwelled and meditated in caves or “New Age” worship. Still, the Cathedral’s innovative in northern India some 2500 years ago. Subsequently this green liturgies and environmental programs have stood practice spread with Buddhism to other parts of Asia. The the test of time. As the “greening” of theology, worship, sacredness of a cave usually discourages, if not completely and ministry has become more mainstream and accepted excludes, the human use of the animal species in it, and within a diverse range of denominations and religious to some degree, around it. Bats are usually the most communities across the U.S., Canada, and beyond, much important fauna in caves. They are also keystone (critical) of this early criticism has faded (except from the most species in forest and other ecosystems as pollinators, conservative of sectors). The Cathedral-based National seed dispersers, and insect predators while they forage Religious Partnership for the Environment, for instance, widely at night. An ecological connection between now represents over 100 million American church and Buddhist practices in sacred caves on the one hand, and on synagogue members who have acknowledged a moral and the other, the conservation of bats and the maintenance ethical responsibility to the care of creation. The Cathedral of the ecosystems in which they forage seems not only Caves – Sacred 277 plausible but quite likely. Given the antiquity, multitude, or extinction of a whole species would precipitate far- and widespread distribution of such sacred caves in many reaching ecological changes. Frugivorous bats are espe- parts of Asia, they are probably a significant force in cially important in pollination and seed dispersal, while environmental and biodiversity conservation, even if insectivorous bats are significant in controlling insect previously unrecognized as such. populations. Distances flown in foraging vary with the The use of caves for religious practices by individuals type and availability of the preferred resources. In tropical and groups goes back in time for millennia in India. forests, bats fly over long distances to locate and feed on The Buddha dwelled and meditated in caves, forests, and trees with appropriate fruit, some making nightly round- other kinds of sites, practices which became common for trips of 40–50 kilometers between their cave and fruit- Buddhist monks and nuns during his lifetime and beyond. foraging areas. Whenever Buddhism expanded into other parts of Asia, The majority of the species of bats worldwide (70%) and this use of caves spread as well. in Thailand (83%) are insectivores. Bats are the only major Thailand provides a good example of this phenomenon. predator limiting the populations of nocturnal insects like The earliest known use of caves by Buddhists in Thailand rice-hoppers and mosquitoes. Insectivorous bats consume dates back to at least the sixth to seventh centuries. At large quantities of insects; a single colony of bats can least 112 Buddhist sacred caves have been identified in consume hundreds of tons of insects annually. Thailand by Christophe Munier (1998). Furthermore, it is Bats are especially vulnerable. They are the slowest likely that there are many more caves in Thailand, hun- reproducing mammal in the world for their body size, dreds if not thousands, given the combination of several most species producing only one offspring annually. Many limestone mountain ranges which run from north to the bat species are rare, occurring in few habitat types and south through the western portion of the country, together with restricted geographical ranges. Major factors with the heavy tropical monsoon rainfall with some acid threatening or endangering bat populations and species content that can slowly erode these soluble carbonate include: habitat destruction (roosting locations and deple- rocks over long periods of geological time. tion of critical food resources); poisoning from chemical Caves serve monks and nuns as a secluded, quiet, and pesticides; and human overexploitation (for food, tourism, peaceful place for monastic life, meditation, and chanting. and other economic uses). They may also be used as reliquaries and tombs. A holy On the other hand, there are economic uses of bats that person occupies a cave for only a few days or for months do not harm them. For example, bat droppings accumulate or even years. In Thailand and elsewhere, sacred caves on the cave floor of large colonies. This guano is a high- typically contain rows of several sizes of seated statues of grade fertilizer that is gathered for sale by some villagers the Buddha in the meditation posture, and often a huge who are therefore concerned with protecting the bats. reclining statue of him as well. In some caves, stalactites Indeed, the temple of Khao Chong Pran, in Ratchaburi, has are also worshipped when they resemble figures associated a cave housing more than two million free-tailed bats with Buddhism. Bat colonies also inhabit many caves. Bats (Rhinopoma hardwickei). Every two weeks local villagers (Order Chiroptera) are one of the largest and most widely are allowed to collect the guano, and the income earned distributed groups of mammals (Class Mammalia) in the is used by the monks to support a school and various whole world and also in Thailand. There are nearly 1000 development projects. species of bats in the world comprising about one quarter Sacred caves usually discourage, if not completely of all mammalian species. Like other mammals, including exclude, the molestation or exploitation of the fauna humans, bats are warm blooded, hairy, give birth to live therein and nearby, thus effectively promoting the con- young, and nurse their young with milk. Bats are found servation of roosting bats. This in turn helps guard their on every continent except Antarctica. In Thailand, 107 role as keystone species in forests and other ecosystems species of bats have been identified thus far, 38 percent of which may be a long distance from the caves. Sacred the 280 species of mammals in the country. Bats are com- caves are a component of a very ancient, widespread, and mon in most terrestrial ecosystems in the nation. diverse system of sacred places throughout Thailand that Bats roost in a variety of places, depending on the have far-reaching significance for environmental and species, and some roost mainly or exclusively in caves. biodiversity conservation. Some bat colonies are the largest concentrations of mammalian populations on Earth with thousands or even Leslie E. Sponsel millions of individuals. In Thailand, at the minimum, Poranee Natadecha-Sponsel 27 species of insectivorous bats and four species of frugivorous bats roost in caves, although not necessarily Further Reading exclusively. Graham, Mark and Philip Round. Thailand’s Vanishing Keystone species, like bats, play a disproportionate Flora and Fauna. Bangkok, Thailand: Finance One, role in an ecosystem and the extirpation of a population 1994. 278 Celestine Prophecy

Lekagul, Boonsong and Jeffrey A. McNeely. Mammals of is to raise positive, loving energy to such an extent that Thailand. Bangkok, Thailand: Association for the heavenly and earthly dimensions come into alignment, Conservation of Wildlife, 1988. inaugurating a utopian New Age. Realizing this mission is Munier, Christophe. Sacred Rocks and Buddhist Caves in nothing less than the human destiny. As put by various Thailand. Bangkok, Thailand: White Lotus Press, 1998. characters: Sponsel, Leslie E., Poranee Natadecha-Sponsel, Nukul Ruttanadakul and Somporn Juntadach. “Sacred and/or Our destiny is to continue to increase our energy Secular Places to Biodiversity Conservation in level. And as our energy level increases, the level of Thailand.” Worldviews: Environment, Culture, Religion vibration in the atoms of our bodies increases . . . we 2:2 (1998), 155–67. are getting lighter, more purely spiritual . . . Whole Stewart-Cox, Belinda. Wild Thailand. Bangkok, Thailand: groups of people, once they reach a certain level, Asia Books, 1995. will suddenly become invisible to those who are still Whitfield, Roderick, Susan Whitfield and Neville Agnew. vibrating at a lower level. When humans begin to Cave Temples of Mogao: Art and History on the Silk raise their vibrations to a level where others cannot Road. Los Angeles, CA: The Getty Conservation see them . . . it will signal that we are crossing the Institute, 2000. barrier between this life and the other world from See also: Biodiversity and Religion; Buddhism (various); which we came and to which we go after death. . . . Hinduism; Siam’s Forest Monastaries; Southeast Asia; At some point everyone will vibrate highly enough Thai Buddhist Monks. so that we can walk into heaven, in our same form (Redfield 1993: 241–242).

Celestine Prophecy The human destiny is, therefore, “to realize that we’re all here to bring the Earth dimension into alignment with The Celestine Prophecy is a 1993 adventure novel by New the Heavenly sphere” (Redfield 1996: 183). To do this we Age author James Redfield (1950-) that spent over three must open the portals between these dimensions. One way years on the New York Times bestseller list, establishing to do so is through human love making: itself as the most widely read spiritual novel of the 1990s, The act of lovemaking itself opens up a portal from rivaled only by Tim LaHaye’s evangelical Christian apoca- the afterlife to the Earthly dimension . . . Sexual lyptic “Left Behind” series. The book tells the story of the culmination creates an opening into the Afterlife, discovery in Peru of an ancient manuscript that provides and what we experience as orgasm is just a glimpse a series of nine insights that transform the lives of those of the Afterlife level of love and vibration as the who learn about them, presaging an era of heightened portal is opened and the energy rushes through, spiritual awareness, promising, in turn, a utopian New potentially bringing in a new soul . . . Sexual union Age. Following the stunning commercial success of The is a holy moment in which a part of Heaven flows Celestine Prophecy, Redfield followed up with a number of into the Earth (Redfield 1996: 80). other books, including two novelistic sequels, The Tenth Insight (1996) and The Secret of Shambhala (1999). Another way is through especially powerful natural The main worldview elements in these novels are sites, namely, those that have not been destroyed through conveyed through the experiences and words of their unconscious human enterprise. This possibility was sig- characters, who increasingly develop their spiritual naled early in The Tenth Insight when a Native American acumen. In the following sections these themes are indicated that his ancestors “believed this forest was a briefly summarized and then illustrated in the words of the sacred midway between the upper world and the middle characters in the novels. world here on Earth” (1996: 8). Another character later confessed that forests and other “natural areas are sacred Humankind’s Destiny and the New Age portals” between the afterlife and earthly dimensions, The universe has both an earthly and a spiritual “afterlife” and asserted that it is critical to keep “majestic, cathedral dimension. Both are interdependent and coevolving, con- forests” with their irreplaceable “diversity of life, and [the] nected by divine energy which makes positive evolution energies, inherent in a hardwood forest that had matured in both dimensions possible and mutually dependent. for centuries” from being converted to tree farms (1996: This energy travels between the earthly and spiritual 208). dimensions through “portals,” which people consciously working on consciousness evolution can increasingly Spiritual Consciousness Change and Biocultural Diversity perceive. Through these portals it is possible to receive There are diverse spiritual tributaries to this emerging teachings from ancestors and other loving presences, and New Age, including “Franciscan Spirituals,” Gnostics, and empowerment for the divine, human mission. This mission mystics in the Western world, Eastern religious avatars Celestine Prophecy 279 of enlightened consciousness, Native Americans, those and lessons to be learned from a number of animals striving to reduce human suffering, such as participants in encountered during the story. the human potential movement (a recent book Redfield The spiritual epistemology also requires that we co-authored with Esalen co-founder Michael Murphy develop and trust our own dreams and daydreams, another [Redfield, Murphy and Timbers 2002]), and environ- intuitive pathway through which spiritual insight appears. mentalists and others sensitive to nonhuman life. The “Compare the story of the dream to the story of your flourishing of both biological and cultural diversity is not life” (Redfield 1993: 164), the Prophecy declares, for only an end, in the Celestine worldview. The envisioned dreams are to guide us, they “come to tell us something consciousness change is dependent upon both biological about our lives that we are missing” (Redfield 1993: 166). and cultural diversity, for both contribute insights and Moreover, not only dreams, but also everyday “thoughts critical energies to the awakening of the human species, or daydreams guide” the spiritually intuitive individual upon whom the unfolding New Age most depends. This (Redfield 1993: 168). To recognize such things as messages provides a strong rationale for environmental activism and “we must take an observer position. When a thought solidarity with indigenous cultures, the latter of which, in comes, we must ask why?” (Redfield 1993: 169) the Celestine worldview, are often more attuned to animals Within the Celestine worldview, then, there are few if and nature, one of the key sources of spiritual insight. any coincidences – for the divine dimension is always In part because natural sites are portals between worlds, trying to break through to us, awakening our conscious- it is in the spiritual interest of humankind to protect ness. Of course, the healthier the energetic lines of com- such places and biological diversity. We need these species munication are between earthly and heavenly realms, “not because they are part of the balanced ecosphere, but which is in truth dependent on the health of the natural because they represent aspects of ourselves that we’re still world, the greater potential there will be for the full trying to remember” (Redfield 1996: 221), including flowering of our intuitive capacities. Additionally, accord- our ultimate destiny. Redfield believes that one of the ing to The Tenth Insight, it is critical to maintain an obstacles to the envisioned transformations is that “few optimistic and hopeful outlook, “so that we [can] finally of us have experienced the mysteries of the wilderness” remember the truth that our life experiences are preparing (Redfield 1996: 222). For consciousness to awaken, us to tell, and bring this knowledge to the world” (Redfield humans must continually refine their spiritual sensitivity, 1996: 234). and the prospects for this depend on nature. Healthy forests, for example, provide more dynamic energies and Between the Times greater potential for transdimension communication and As with most millennialism, there are difficult to resolve thus need reverent protection. Moreover, “the truth is that internal tensions and ironies. It is not easy, for example, to evolution is the way God created, and is still creating” reconcile the strongly stated value of the Earth’s living (Redfield 1993: 236), and since consciousness change is an systems with an envisioned mass “ascension” from the aspect of evolution, it is logically dependent on the protec- physical realm into a spiritual one. It is interesting that, tion of natural habitats. despite taking significant steps toward a nature-related religiosity, the telos seems to be more about transcending Oracles, Intuitions, and Dreams this world than living fully in it, unlike some nature Critically important for the evolution of human con- religions. Indeed, one does not find prevalent here the sciousness is the development of our intuitive capacities. language of “belonging” and “connection” to the Earth To the spiritually perceptive person, people and animals that is found in many other religions that consider nature are oracles, continually crossing our paths, pointing out sacred in some way, including much of the spirituality that the proper direction for us, or otherwise providing import- inheres to environmentalism. ant lessons to enhance our own spiritual evolution. Those who postulate that nature has intrinsic value People can certainly be oracles, for “the Manuscript would likely complain that Redfield views nature as says we will learn that sudden, spontaneous eye contact is valuable only in an anthropocentric, instrumental way, as a sign that two people should talk” (Redfield 1993: 208), natural resource, to be used to promote human spiritual for “if we are observant about who we talk with, then we well-being. They might conclude that consequently, get the messages we desire as a result” (Redfield 1993: 208). such a worldview cannot provide a strong rationale for The ability for others to be oracles for each other is espe- environmental protection efforts, for personal evolution cially powerful “in a group when all of the participants trumps all other concerns. know how to interact in this way” (Redfield 1993: 212). Redfield would likely view such complaints as typical In their own ways, nonhuman animals are oracles too, of the kind of polarizing thinking that most be overcome for “When an animal shows up in our lives, it is a coinci- with positive, conscious energy. He certainly would argue, dence of the highest order” (Redfield 1996: 218), and in on the contrary, that the health of the planet depends on The Tenth Insight the reader learns the symbolic meanings the kind of consciousness change envisioned in his novels 280 Celtic Christianity and promoted in his nonfiction books, and rejoinder that Further Reading personal and collective evolution are mutually dependent. Hawken, Paul. The Magic of Findhorn. New York: Bantam, He might well also quote one of his characters to the effect 1980. that a spiritual approach, producing human consciousness Redfield, James. The Secret of Shambhala: in Search of the change, is the way to save the planet’s biota: Eleventh Insight. New York: Warner, 1999. Redfield, James. The Celestine Vision: Living the New Once we reach the critical mass . . . and the insights Spiritual Awareness. New York: Warner, 1999. begin to come in on a global scale . . . we’ll grasp Redfield, James. The Tenth Insight: Holding the Vision. how beautiful and spiritual the natural world really New York: Warner, 1996. is. We’ll see trees and rivers and mountains as Redfield, James. The Celestine Prophecy: An Adventure. temples of great power to be held in reverence and New York: Warner, 1993. awe. We’ll demand an end to any economic activity Redfield, James and Carol Adrienne. The Celestine that threatens this treasure (Redfield 1993: 224) . . . Prophecy: An Experiential Guide. New York: Warner, And we’ll understand . . . that the natural areas 1994. of the Earth have to be nurtured and protected for Redfield, James, Michael Murphy and Sylvia Timbers. God the sources of the incredible power that they are . . . and the Evolving Universe: The Next Step in Personal As the human race evolves spiritually, we will Evolution. New York City: Tarcher/Putnam, 2002. voluntarily decrease the population to a point sus- See also: Earth Mysteries; Esalen Institute; Harmonic Con- tainable by the Earth. We will be committed to living vergence; Harmonic Convergence and the Spiritualization within the natural energy systems of the planet. of the Biosphere; New Age; Sacred Space/Place. Farming will be automated except for the plants one wants to energize personally and then consume. The trees necessary for construction will be grown Celtic Christianity in special, designated areas. This will free the remainder of the Earth’s trees to grow and age and God be with me, God within me, finally mature into powerful forests. Eventually, God behind me, God before me, these forests will be the rule rather than the excep- God below me, God above me, tion, and all human beings will live in close proxim- God where I rest, God where I rise... ity to this kind of power (Redfield 1993: 227). (from the Old Irish prayer, “The Cry of the Deer”).

Here then is the Celestine’s vision of transformation The term “Celtic Christianity” is generally used to describe and the reharmonization of life on Earth, one that is an approach to the sacred that developed in Celtic lands ultimately optimistic about humans and their technology. from around 500–800. Its philosophy is often said to Cross-fertilized with environmental and personal existen- include a perception of Deity immanent in creation, and tial concerns, the result is a powerful earthen spirituality consequently, a reverence for nature and reluctance to that resonates with millions of people largely unconnected accept the doctrine of original sin. Some scholars, such as with mainstream religions. Others involved in green Mary Low, believe that these elements result from a high religious production are critical of or suspicious of such degree of “cross-pollination” between Christianity and New Age ecospirituality – radical environmentalists, for paganism in Celtic lands (Low 1996: 4–22). The distinc- example, are generally critical of New Age anthropo- tiveness and very existence of Celtic Christianity continues centrism, optimism and technophilia, and would dislike to be hotly debated by Celticists, theologians and lay- these aspects of Redfield’s thought. Nevertheless, his people alike. books suggest that New Age spirituality may well be turn- The most detailed sources on Celtic Christian theology ing a darker shade of green, encouraging rather than hin- are Irish, because most of the oldest native written sources dering environmental activism. on Celtic traditions are Irish. While we cannot be sure Redfield himself has been actively engaged in a number that this distinctive Irish theology reflects that of Celtic of environmental causes, working with the Washington- Christianity as a whole, later traditions found in works based environmental group Save America’s Forests, and such as Alexander Carmichael’s collection of prayers and has participated in the Global Renaissance Alliance (GRA), invocations from Scotland, Carmina Gadelica, seem to a New Age organization devoted to peace and positive reflect similar cosmological views. social change. Such works have earned him a number of One early Irish manuscript described a wondrous tree humanitarian awards since 1997. with “its upper part above the firmament, its lower part in the Earth, and every melody in its midst.” It grew down Bron Taylor from a single root, with innumerable roots coming from it below. There were nine branches full of singing white Celtic Christianity 281 birds, “every branch more beautiful than that above” (Low in a sinless Otherworld, classifying them as “neutral 1996: 102–3). angels,” or branches of humanity who avoided the fall. The tree is Christ, who is above all beings, yet born of John Carey noted that this rapprochement between the Earth. The tree’s melody is perfected bliss in the depths Christian and pagan traditions represents only one strand of divinity. Its single root is the Godhead, the roots in a complex culture, but “is a notably interesting strand, described branching from the single root are the apostles, reflecting a mentality for which I know of no close parallel disciples, and saints. The nine branches are the nine in medieval Christendom.” The Irish scholars and bishops angelic orders, “with each order more noble than that sought to create a hybrid culture “both wholly Irish and before it.” The birds are the souls of the just. After his wholly Christian” (Carey 1999: 10–11). description, the writer invoked God’s mercy, that “those of The points above show clear qualitative differences us who dwell together here . . . may dwell among the between fifth-century to medieval Celtic Christianity and branches of that tree” (Low 1996: 102–3). Christianity elsewhere in this period, despite some The cosmological symbol of the “World Tree” linking scholars’ opinions to the contrary. creation’s realms from the heavens to the underworld Just as it seems that the Irish in particular would simply appears in many cultures. The downward-growing tree, not accept a faith in which all their gods and ancestors rooted in heaven, appears in the Upanishads, the Kabbalah were either demonic or damned, it seems that the Celts and Norse tradition, so while this is a Christian text, the would also not accept a “fallen” world. Animistic cultures idea of God as a downward-growing tree is much older see matter as the densest level of spirit, not something (Low 1996: 103). separate from it. If all substance is made from God, then it This archaic cosmological symbol depicts a God who is cannot be profane. in his creation, as well as above it. The Irish theologian, It also follows that God can be experienced through John Scotus Eriugena (d. 877), said that God is Essence, nature. Eriugena, in his Aulae Siderae said: “If anyone but transcends essence, he is Intellect, but beyond- with pious heart raise the wings of his mind . . . Entering intelligence, he is Substance but above substance. the harmony of things with wisdom as his guide / He will Creation is the emanation of God into form. All created perceive with the clear sharpness of reason / All places, all things, from humans to plants to thoughts are theo- times, filled with the God-Word” (O’Meara 1988: 185). phanies, or manifestations of God. Creation ex nihilo is The experience of God through form can also lead us actually creation ex Deo (Moran 1989: 236). beyond form. Eriugena said that we can experience The idea that God created the universe from itself is theosis, or deification, through contemplation (Moran completely logical. After all, if there was only God in the 1989: 148, 253). In theosis, we experience the melody beginning, what else did it have to use? While the logic is within the great tree, “the perfection of bliss in the mystic simple, the implications are complex. depths of divinity.” The first is that God is immanent in all form. This is an The experience of God with us and within us means extension of animism, the belief that all things have spirit. that the physical world is not “lower” than the spiritual But it goes beyond that. God is compassionate in the literal world. Remember that the nine branches of the great tree sense – a co-sufferer with us in all we experience. God’s are the nine heavenly orders, “with each order more noble sacrificial role is vast. than that before it.” The single root of Absolute Deity is in In this view of creation, life is not something God did heaven, but the tree grows downwards. Therefore, the to us. Rather, it is something we did to ourselves, since loftiest of the divine orders is that which touches the Earth. we were one with God when the decision to create the universe was made. There is risk on all sides. Even God doesn’t know how it will turn out. Eriugena called the Geo Athena Trevarthen doctrine of predestination, the idea that God knows who will go to heaven or hell, “stultifying, crude and insane,” in part because any being that can fully comprehend itself Further Reading is finite – and the minds of God and humanity are infinite Carey, John. A Single Ray of the Sun: Religious Specula- (Moran 1989: 189). tion in Early Ireland. Andover and Aberystwyth: Celtic The view of creation ex Deo also goes some way to Studies Publications Inc., 1999. explaining the often noted Celtic discomfort with the idea Carmichael, Alexander. Carmina Gadelica: Hymns and of original sin. The British or Irish theologian, Pelagius Incantations from the Gaelic. Compendium edition (d. 418), asserted that Adam’s sin harmed only himself and introduced by John MacInnes. Edinburgh: Floris, that human nature is indestructibly good. If we are made 2001. from God, how could our essence be sinful? Evidence of Low, Mary. Celtic Christianity and Nature, Early Irish and this view is also found outside theology. Some tales place Hebridean Tradition. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University figures from the pagan past such as the Tuatha Dé Danann Press, 1996. 282 Celtic Spirituality

Moran, Dermot. The Philosophy of John Scottus Eriugena: Sources and Speculation A Study of Idealism in the Middle Ages. Cambridge: Most sources of evidence do not come handily labeled Cambridge University Press, 1989. with the precise intent and worldview of their originators O’Meara, John J. Eriugena. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1988. and subsequent users, allowing for a great deal of interpre- See also: Animism (various); Celtic Spirituality; Christian- tive flexibility. ity (5) – Medieval Period; Druids and Druidry; Faerie Faith Written sources in relation to pre-Christian Celtic in Scotland; Heathenry – Ásatrú; Ireland; Pantheism; spirituality are problematic, for as oral tradition was Roman Britain; Scotland; Trees (Northern and Middle central to Celtic-speaking peoples at this time, no con- Europe); Trees – Sacred. temporary “insider” literature exists. The earliest accounts of Druidry (regarded by many as Celtic nature religion par excellence), for example, come from classical authors Celtic Spirituality rather than practitioners. It is only after Christianization that Celtic myth, history, story cycles, poetry, etc. go into It is widely assumed that Celtic spirituality epitomizes and written form in various languages, and it is thus difficult promotes a particular reverence for, understanding of, and to gauge the age, authenticity and original purpose of relationship with nature. Many conceptions of Celtic spir- much of this material. The presence of pre-Christian ituality are predicated upon the image of the Celt as inher- material in literature produced in a Christian context has ently spiritual and intuitive guardian of that which is “lost also been used as evidence to suggest the continuance of but longed for” in contemporary society in a respectful, older ideas and ways (such as reincarnation and reverence symbiotic and sacred relationship with nature. This char- for nature) alongside the new religion. The Arthurian acterization may be contested, but it is hugely influential. myths, powerful sources of inspiration for many modern Any blanket pronouncement on the nature of Celtic spiritual seekers, are seen to epitomize such blending, with spirituality is fraught with difficulty, due to the potential Merlin as Arthur’s Druid, and the physical condition of the breadth of understandings of the term Celtic. If linguistic land being closely connected to the moral and spiritual evidence is taken as the basis of defining the extent of state of the nation. Celtic culture, it stretched from Scotland in the north to There is a tendency to regard all “Celtic literature” Tuscany in the south, from Portugal in the west to Galatia (whether early to late medieval written material or oral (Turkey) in the east. Many involved in Celtic spirituality tradition collected in the eighteenth, nineteenth, and now prefer to concentrate on those areas where the twentieth centuries originally in a variety of Celtic “insular Celtic” language group (including Breton, languages) as uniformly “ancient” and pan-Celtic in Cornish, Irish, Manx, Scottish Gaelic and Welsh) survived provenance. It thus provides rich sources of speculation into the nineteenth century and continues in both and extrapolation in relation to belief and practice. In traditional and revived usage. Celtic myth and poetry people see evidence of a special The term “Celtic spirituality” in twenty-first-century relationship with and awareness of nature, a detailed parlance covers a huge variety of belief and praxis and knowledge of the natural world (expressed, for example, in involves a wide range of contemporary spiritual seekers – herbal lore) and a blurring of boundaries between the Christian, New Age, (Neo) Pagan, Druid and non-aligned. human and nonhuman. Current Celtic spirituality looks back to two main forms of “historic” Celtic religiosity, pre-Christian Celtic religion Art and Artifacts and Celtic Christianity. On the assumed basis of a common Celtic art is frequently seen as instructive of Celtic rela- Indo-European heritage, some link pre-Christian Celtic tionships with nature. Artifacts such as jewelry, weapons, religion (particularly Druidry) with Hinduism and Bud- mirrors and metal vessels from various European archeo- dhism, while those who regard Celts as Europe’s “native logical sites, and the distinctive high-quality artistry peoples” look to contemporary indigenous religions for of manuscripts, stonework and metalwork in the early inspiration. In contemporary Celtic spirituality, Celtic Christian period can be analyzed for clues to the world- Christianity is generally characterized as gentle, tolerant, view of their crafters. In the unbroken lines of Celtic inter- meditative, egalitarian, world affirming and holistic, and laced knot-work patterns some see evidence of holism, the it is assumed that many of “the old ways” survived either continuous cycles of nature, and possibly reincarnation. In overtly or covertly within it. the spectacular zoomorphic ornamentation of manuscripts Leaving aside the provocative views of some archeolo- (crafted by Christian scribes) some see evidence of shape gists and anthropologists who question the existence of an shifting and interconnectedness between the human and identifiable, self-aware and coherent Celtic culture prior to nonhuman world. However, there is obviously scope the eighteenth century, Celtic spirituality – both pre- for a variety of interpretations and inferences. On the Christian and Christian – is regarded by many as identifi- Gundestrup Cauldron (dated to the first century B.C.E., able in form and substance across many centuries. found in a Danish peat-bog), for instance, there is a horned Celtic Spirituality 283 human-like figure sitting surrounded by animals and performed in relation to it. Although the veracity grasping a snake in one hand, a torc (metal collar or arm- and antiquity of the “Celtic calendar” are questioned and band) in the other. Whereas this has often been interpreted practitioners of Celtic spirituality in the Antipodes as the Celtic horned god Cernunnos, some are now more and elsewhere have to reverse or remodel it to suit local inclined to see the figure as a shaman. conditions, patterning and celebrating the year on this model is regarded as a significant means of expressing Sacred Sites a Celtic closeness to the natural world. The precise purpose, significance and date of prehistoric structures such as Stonehenge and Avebury are uncertain, Celtic Spirituality and Environmental Action as is the extent to which they were made or used by Celts Celtic spirituality has been utilized both to foster and give or “proto-Celts.” However, many feel that the symbolic expression to environmental concern. Some Celtic significance of the stone circle as eternal, egalitarian and practitioners have felt impelled to act as protectors and encompassing, and the idea that worship is appropriately protesters, particularly where ancient sites and landscapes conducted outside in communion with nature accords have been under threat. In the British “Road Protest” with their understanding of Celtic spirituality. Whether movement, for example, some protesters (predominantly temples, sacred (and in warlike times, neutral) space, Pagan or non-aligned) self-consciously drew on Celtic or sophisticated solar and astrological observatories, the myth and music for inspiration, and constructed rituals stone circle (ancient or newly constructed) has become a around the eight-fold calendar. Certain trees within pro- significant focus for modern Celtic ritual. test camps were named and particularly honored, their Archeological evidence indicates highly localized well-being closely identified with that of the activists. deities connected with specific places, springs and rivers. While some Druids felt disinclined to be involved in Some regard contemporary Celtic spirituality’s topophilia political matters, others visited and held rituals at the (strong attraction and attachment to particular places) in protest sites to lend moral support. relation both to pre-Christian and Celtic Christian sites Conclusion as a continuance of that tradition. In the pre-Christian Contemporary Celtic spirituality owes much to Romanti- period there was much activity connected with water, and cism and primitivism, as well as late twentieth/early certain trees were revered. It is widely assumed that many twenty-first-century religious trends and environmental such Celtic sacred sites were Christianized; holy wells, for concerns. Nevertheless, by drawing on sources such as example, continued to be a significant feature of Celtic sacred sites, folk custom, Celtic art and artifacts and myth Christianity. Thus, in self-conscious restoration or con- and literature from a variety of Celtic languages and tinuance of Celtic tradition, offerings are frequently left periods, many spiritual seekers are today (re)constructing at what are considered sacred sites and natural features models of respectful, self-aware and appropriate engage- such as springs and trees, with tree and well dressing an ment with nature in the contemporary world. increasing activity. While some modern Pagans continue to revere local Celtic gods and goddesses (such as Sul in Marion Bowman Bath), many now regard the various ancient Celtic deities simply as aspects of the universal sacred female; to this Further Reading extent there may be a tension between the local and the Bowman, Marion. “Contemporary Celtic Spirituality.” In global, the ancient and the modern. Burial mounds are now Joanne Pearson, ed. Belief Beyond Boundaries: Wicca, regarded by some Celtic practitioners as representations Celtic Spirituality and the New Age. London: Ashgate, of the womb of Mother Earth, and used in rituals specific- 2002, 55–101. ally for women, or used seasonally for remembering and Bowman, Marion. “The Noble Savage and the Global relating to ancestors, death and rebirth. Village: Cultural Evolution in New Age and Neo- Pagan Thought.” Journal of Contemporary Religion The Celtic Calendar 10:2 (1995), 139–49. Many Celtic spirituality practitioners observe the so-called Bradley, Ian. The Celtic Way. London: Darton, Longman & “Celtic” or “eight-fold” calendar of Samhain/Hallowe’en Todd, 1993. (31 October), Imbolc/Candlemas (2 February), Beltane/ Chapman, Malcolm. The Celts: The Construction of a Myth. May Day, Lughnasadh or Lammas/Harvest (1 August), New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1992. summer and winter solstices, and spring and autumn Hutton, Ronald. The Stations of the Sun: A History of the equinoxes; the belief that the Celtic year started on Ritual Year in Britain. Oxford: Oxford University November 1st is widespread. Following this “Wheel of the Press, 1996. Year” is thought to foster awareness of nature and the James, Simon. The Atlantic Celts: Ancient People or seasons, and the cycle of life, death and rebirth; customs Modern Invention? London: British Museum Press, have been “revived” or invented and rituals are frequently 1999. 284 Centre for Human Ecology

Low, Mary. Celtic Christianity and Nature: Early Irish CHE continue to represent many shades of religious and Hebridean Traditions. Edinburgh: Edinburgh opinion and practice, ranging from Christian Episco- University Press, 1996. palian, Findhorn Foundation-affiliated “New Age,” Maier, B. Dictionary of Celtic Religion and Culture. Wood- Western Buddhism, and radical ecofeminism, to Scottish bridge: Boydell & Brewer, 1997. and Irish “Nature Religion” centered on reverence for the Matthews, John. The Celtic Shaman: A Handbook. God/Goddess. Shaftesbury: Element Books, 1991. Throughout the late 1980s and 90s successive British Meek, Donald E. The Quest for Celtic Christianity. governments sought through the 1988 Education Reform Edinburgh: The Handsel Press Ltd., 2000. Act and the subsequent Dearing Report on Higher Educa- Toulson, Shirley. The Celtic Year. Shaftesbury: Element tion to bring all aspects of education under ever tighter Books, 1996. centralized control. Educational aims and objectives were See also: Animism (various); Celtic Christianity; Christian- required to accord a central role to generic marketable ity (5) – Medieval Period; Donga Tribe; Druids and skills and “total quality” management systems applied to Druidry; Faerie Faith in Scotland; Heathenry – Ásatrú; the production of graduates with uniform, programe- Ireland; Neo-Wessex Archeology; Pantheism; Roman specified skills and competences. This rationalization of Britain; Scotland; Stonehenge; Trees (Northern and education does not easily tolerate innovative and open- Middle Europe); Trees – Sacred. ended shamanic teaching methods directed toward the informed and critical interrogation of the commercial forces accelerating global degradation; such teaching Centre for Human Ecology (Edinburgh, became deviant and institutionally suspect. In addition, Scotland) British universities were obliged to seek out commercial and industrial sources of funding for their core teaching The Centre for Human Ecology originated with the Centre (and not solely their research activity). The consequence for the Study of the Future founded in 1972 by the was a tendency in universities to ensure that nothing was biologist Professor C.H. Waddington in the University of sanctioned which might damage income flow. Edinburgh. In the early stages of the Centre’s history, In the period from 1990 to 1996 the struggle between pioneering attempts were made to secure a cohesive view the CHE and the University of Edinburgh attracted inter- of the implications of environmental policy and research national attention, and a New Scientist leader of 4 May for the global ecosystem in the face of the exponential 1996 described the University as “a narrow kirk” and the growth and fragmentation of biological and environ- CHE as “a tradition of fearless inquiry.” Within the CHE mental sciences. These concerns consolidated around itself a parallel and passionate discussion took place human ecology-defined systemics of resources, environ- between advocates of radical resistance and of comprom- ment and development (PRED), and later, as the relation- ise. Whilst Principal Sir David Smith sought to defend the ship between the social environment and the natural freedom and continued existence of the CHE, his successor environment, and as the study of human community. in 1995, Sir (later Lord) Stewart Sutherland presided over The Centre for Human Ecology gained greater political its closure in 1996 in a blaze of publicity. In effect, radical prominence during the last decade of the twentieth epistemology won out, but at the ultimate price. Such, century under the joint leadership of its Director, Ulrich however, was the loyalty and commitment of a number of Loening, and its Teaching Director, the radical Scottish the graduates that the organization was relaunched as an community activist, Alastair McIntosh. While the inter- independent organization with charitable status and its disciplinary methodology was developed and applied in MSc degree validated by the Open University (Britain’s the teaching and research of both tutors and students largest higher education provider). The core elements in in the core programme offered by the CHE, the Master the CHE MSc Programme in Human Ecology comprise of Science degree in Human Ecology of the University of scientific ecology, the social and psychological aspects Edinburgh, the personal, political and, above all, the psy- of ecological thinking, and the motivation of human chospiritual implications of this holistic approach shifted ecological activism, with particular emphasis upon the increasingly from theory into practice with controversial role of communities in relation to place and environment, consequences. A series of high-profile campaigns, in par- including the spiritual underpinning of human com- ticular the action which eventually led to the inhabitants’ munity. The CHE now experiences an unavoidable creative buy-out of the Isle of Eigg and the Harris super-quarry tension between nationally enforced criteria of “Quality” public inquiry, in which the Teaching Director played a built around the practices of efficiency, uniformity, pre- leading role, increased tensions both within the CHE, dictability and control (demanded as the price of official and between the latter and its host institution. McIntosh validation), and a teaching programme that incorporates employed Celtic shamanic and bardic techniques in the aspects of deep ecology and ecofeminism, and which also empowerment of his Quaker commitment. Members of the draws upon Scottish and Celtic spiritual traditions. Cetacean Spirituality 285

The struggle of the CHE to survive is recorded with belief held by many people that some cetacean species are poignant intensity in Alastair McIntosh’s book, Soul and spiritual beings with a message for humanity. A belief Soil. The role of the CHE as a pioneering organization is system is in the making. indisputable; many of its original analytical insights and During this time, Bottlenose dolphins began to be dis- practices have become part of the widely distributed played in aquaria, principally in the United States, where armory of the informed environmental movement. Indeed they were trained to accomplish a repertoire of tricks for this very success now poses intensified questions as to the delighted audiences. The same species then was used as future of human ecology with which the CHE is now fully the star of a long-running, popular television series, engaged. “Flipper,” which further influenced the general public to accept Lilly’s claim of their special intelligence. Richard H. Roberts In 1972, at the United Nations Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment, a resolution was passed Further Reading calling for an end to commercial whaling. It took another McIntosh, Alastair. Soul and Soil: People versus Corporate 14 years for that event to occur. Though incomplete, and Power. London: Aurum Press, 2001. challenged by a few nations where whale and dolphin Pearson, Joanne, Richard H. Roberts and Geoffrey Samuel. hunting still occurs, from 1986, a worldwide moratorium Nature Religion Today: Paganism in the Modern World. on commercial whaling was agreed upon by countries Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1998. signatory to the international whaling treaty. The impetus Roberts, Richard H. Religion, Theology and the Human for an end to commercial whaling came from members of Sciences. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press environmental groups in their millions who supported a University Press, 2001. “Save the Whales” campaign. See also: Celtic Christianity; Celtic Spirituality; Eco- Also in the early 1970s, scientists Roger Payne and feminism (various); Fairie Faith in Scotland; Ireland; Scott McVay published their findings on the mysterious Paganism; Scotland; Shamanism – Neo; Shamanism – songs of the humpback whale (Magaptera novaeangliae). Urban. The eerie but beautiful music of this species caught the public imagination and led to its incorporation into popu- lar and classical music, and to further speculation about P Cetacean Spirituality intelligence in large whales. Another watershed event happened in the 1960s In the last part of the twentieth century, human percep- and early 1970s. In the United States, in California and tions of cetaceans (large whales, dolphins and porpoises) Massachusetts, fishermen began to take tourists out to sea went through a sea-change. These mammals have to watch the whales that moved through or fed and bred always been special. They are a part of creation myths along their coasts. Whale watching grew exponentially, of indigenous people on ocean coasts; singled out for and, by the end of the century, had spread widely around special notice in the Old Testament; celebrated in song, the world. In 1991, approximately four million people story, ritual, and art from Ancient Greece to Hollywood; watched whales every year. By 2002, an estimated ten and greedily hunted over centuries for human food, million whale-watchers would spend an estimated US$1 oil, whalebone and other products. Twentieth-century billion on tours, travel, food and hotels in 87 countries and whaling technology had led to large reductions of overseas territories. numbers of whales, and even the endangerment of many Whale watching is now a thriving business from the species. Arabian Sea to the bays of Ireland, from the Mediter- Then the tide began to turn. ranean off Gibraltar to the Bahamas, from the frigid waters In the 1960s, John Lilly’s investigations revealed the of Iceland to South Africa, from Japan and the Philippines extraordinary structure of the brain of the Bottlenose to Ecuador, Argentina, Belize and the Caribbean islands. dolphin (Tursiops truncatus), leading him to speculate Interacting with great whales at sea touched many that the species was highly intelligent in ways that people profoundly. Jonathan White interviewed Roger humans could measure. While still controversial, his ideas Payne who mused: encouraged communication studies with dolphins, which are still ongoing. . . . when you encounter a large species like a red- In the decades between 1960 and 1980, a series of wood or a whale, it introduces awe into your events occurred which caused a reversal from the hunting life. And awe is a very rare but very important of whales and dolphins to the celebration and protection experience. It’s what started the major religions. of them. These events – communication studies, the dis- Experiencing awe in the hands of the wild can cause covery of whale songs, a worldwide whale conservation you to feel the same essential ecstasy (in White effort, and whale watching – led, by century’s end, to a 1995: 296). 286 Cetacean Spirituality

So remarkable is this awe that guidelines drawn up for approaches to boats, even allowing physical contact. whale-watch tour operators specifically suggest that in the There is sincere concern that this new form of ‘hunting’ first close-up approach to whales, a guide or naturalist for the whales disturbs some groups during mating and should stop talking and “encourage silence so that each calving seasons, and may disrupt their migratory patterns. watcher can have a personal encounter with the cetacean” The emerging cult of whale/dolphin spirituality will (IFAW, WWF and WDCS 1997: 11). doubtless need to establish guidelines for ethical Perhaps it is this “awe,” coupled with continuing interaction. investigation into and speculation about cetacean’s intel- Award-winning author Suzy McKee Charnas could be ligence and complex societies, which gave rise to the idea speaking for millions of people when she eloquently that some whale species and most dolphins are sentient, describes her spiritual encounter with a humpback whale even wise, beings from whom humans can learn much. in Alaska: Those who feel a kinship with cetaceans imbue them with a spiritual dimension. Books, films, television programs, I remembered Kit [a channeler] telling me that websites, and spiritual tourism expound on the notion golden light projected from the mind and heart is a that whales, and dolphins especially, can and will teach gift and a blessing that every sentient being can humans meaningful things about life, if only we are open receive . . . All my energy, all my will boiled into a to the message. (An internet search in 2002, using the fierce longing to communicate that image, that keywords whales+spirituality, yielded 8870 websites.) recognition of the gift of joy that had been given Researcher and musician Jim Nollman studies com- to us with such exuberant liberality. I focused munication with dolphins using sounds and music, this visualized globe of light and tried my best to recording and sorting through the messages, seeking a drive it across a half-mile of water and straight rebus, a language interface. In Dolphin Dreamtime he to the heart of the invisible giant swimming some- speculates: where . . . And up he came, shooting almost entirely clear of the surface, a curving, living blade of ...a period of time spent with free-swimming jubilant energy. In a suspended instant I saw – with cetaceans can provide a transformational experi- my eyes, with my mind? – something like a long, ence for human beings. This is the concept we call: low-arching rainbow spring into being between the dolphin as benefactor . . . Such an experience him and us, a tensile curve of brightness hanging has already proved itself . . . [and] . . . serves as an suspended not far above the sea, streaming slanted intellectual provocation, a source of joy, and, sheets of brilliance down the quivering air (Charnas especially, a profound connection with the natural 2001: 181). world . . . We transcend the power of dolphins as flesh and blood animals, and so, engage them as Phoebe Wray metaphor: a bridge capable of returning us to the ways and means of Gaia (Nollmann 1990: 205). Further Reading Charnas, Suzy McKee. Strange Seas. [Print-on Demand Besides whale watching and viewing cetaceans in aquaria and CD-ROM] hidden-knowledge.com, 2001, 181. and oceanaria, there are hundreds of other ways to inter- IFAW, WWF and WDCS. Report of the International Work- act with cetaceans. There are meditation retreats, places shop on the Educational Values of Whale Watching. to swim with wild dolphins (really and virtually in cyber- Provincetown, MA, 1997, 11. space), and study tours to attempt communication. One Lilly, John C. The Mind of the Dolphin. New York: Double- such program, WildQuest Tours, based in the Bahamas, day & Company, Inc, 1967. raises expectations in their internet brochure: Mendoza, Martha. “Whale of a Fight.” The Washington Times (5 March 2002). Many people have experienced that contact with Nollman, Jim. Dolphin Dreamtime. New York: Bantam these sentient beings has therapeutic effects on New Age Books, 1990. our physiology and our spiritual/emotional state. Payne, Roger and Scott McVay. “Songs of Humpback When they interact with humans in their native Whales.” Science 173 (1971), 585–97. environment, dolphins seem to revel in obvious joy. White, Jonathan. “Voices from the Sea.” In Frank Stewart, Swimmers often report a feeling of deep relaxation, ed. The Presence of Whales. Seattle, WA: Alaska even bliss... Northwest Books, 1995. See also: Channeling; Dolphins and New Age Religion; Millions of people annually chase the whales simply to New Age; Watson, Paul and the Sea Shepherd Conserva- be in their presence: to watch. The whales have, in tion Society; Whales and Japanese Cultures; Whales and general, responded by being watchable, making friendly Whaling. Channeling 287

Channeling abandoned belief in animal magnetism and concentrated instead on the power of mind and mental suggestion. He is Channeling is an increasingly popular form of extra- considered the seminal influence behind the emergence of sensory perception (ESP) and one of the most contro- American Spiritualism in the nineteenth century, although versial expressions of alternative spirituality. It has been the phenomenal popularity of the séance as a religio- defined as “the use of altered states of consciousness to social gathering developed with the “Rochester Knock- contact spirits – or . . . to experience spiritual energy cap- ings” – the alleged communication through rapping tured from other times and dimensions” (Brown, 1997: sounds by Margaretta, Catherine and Leah Fox with the viii). Following J.B. Rhine’s parapsychological experi- ghost of a murder victim in their Hydesville, New York ments at Duke University in the 1930s, four basic types of home in 1848. Despite the ensuing Spiritualist movement ESP have been recognized. Each, moreover, has biblical “scandal” of 1888 and Margaretta’s recantation of her precedents: telepathy or mind-to-mind (subconscious-to- recantation the following year, the movement continued subconscious) communication (1 Samuel 28, Matthew to flourish and produced such “channeled” works as John 17:1–9), precognition or seeing into the future (Matthew Newbrough’s Oahspe (1881/2) and Levi H. Dowling’s 2:1–2, Acts 1:15–26, 11:28, 21:1–13), clairvoyance or per- Aquarian Gospel of Jesus Christ (1908), fostered the estab- ception of the world beyond the senses and without the lishment of the Society of Psychical Research (London, aid of any other recognizable mind (John 4:16–29), and 1882) and the American Society of Psychical Research psychokinesis or mind over matter – including spiritual (1884), and culminated with the formation of the National healing (2 Kings 5:1–27, Acts 3:3–11). Consequently, the Spiritualist Association of Churches in 1893. One of the existence of psychic experience is not a recent phenom- more renowned figures to emerge in the Spiritualist wake enon, but is detectable throughout the ancient civiliza- is Edgar Cayce (1877–1945), the “sleeping prophet,” whose tions of the Fertile Crescent and Greece. We also witness messages concerning health and spiritual metaphysics it in the Puritan and Wesleyan counter-reactions to late were alleged not to derive through an intermediary “spirit seventeenth-century Deism that denied the validity of any guide” but by direct access to the akashic dimension in intercourse with spirit entities. Apart from astral travel, which all events of the cosmos are recorded. which relates to the experience of the conscious self out- The New Age development of the concept of channel- side the body, mediumship in particular appears to be a ing, however, begins with the publication by Jane Roberts form of clairvoyance and/or telepathetic communication (1929–1984) of The Seth Material (1970) and Seth Speaks with beings not of the empirical world. (1972) – Seth reputedly being “an energy personality no Two figures have been instrumental to the pursuit of longer focused in physical reality” (vide Newport 1998: parapsychology in contemporary times: Emmanuel Swe- 163). Apart from such Theosophists as Helena Petrovna denborg (1688–1772) and Franz Anton Mesmer (1734– Blavatsky, Alice Bailey and others, Roberts opened the 1815). Although an established scientist in Sweden, way for the channeling renaissance and the likes of Ruth following a series of conversations and visions concerning Montgomery, Virginia Essene, Mrs. J.Z. Knight (Ramtha), angels, Swedenborg abandoned his career to publish the “receiver” of the Urantia Book, Helen Schucman (A sixteen works based on his paranormal discourses. He Course in Miracles), Ken Carey, Pat Rodegast, Penny denied the Lutherian doctrine of physical resurrection and Torres, Jach Pursel, and those who channel the collective argued instead that the soul passes directly into conscious entity known as “Michael.” Following theosophical influ- spirit existence upon death. He also promulgated an ence, New Age channeling differs from the mediumistic exact “law of correspondence” between the physical and enterprise of Spiritualism that seeks contact with deceased the spiritual. His teachings have been preserved and pro- but previously known humans (friends or kin) and concen- mulgated by the Church of the New Jerusalem, first trates instead on what it considers more evolved discar- established by disciples in London. Overlapping with nate forms such as deities, ascended masters, bodhisattvas Swedenborg, Mesmer was a Swiss-Austrian physician who and/or extraterrestrials. New Age channeling is more uni- practiced in Paris. He developed a philosophy of magnetic versally concerned with personal identity and growth healing and hypnotism for which he was denounced by unlike Spiritualism’s preoccupation with “proving” the the French Academy in 1784 – eventually dying in dis- existence of an afterlife and seeking personal reassurance grace. Students, however, brought mesmeric ideas to that it will in all essentials be similar to life on Earth. Both America where the clairvoyant, Andrew Jackson Davis movements, however, have been dominated by women, (1826–1910), under their influence, not only claimed and both express a willingness to suspend disbelief in visionary conversations with Swedenborg and the Greek order to open the self for spiritual insight. Analytic reason- physician Galen but also developed the propensity to ing is rejected in preference for the emotions and bodily perform magnetic healing. centering. Moreover, both Spiritualistic mediums and New Unlike Mesmer who explained the “law of correspond- Age channels tend to cherish democratic improvisational ence” as mediated by a universal magnetic fluid, Davis spirituality over formal religious hierarchy and control. 288 Chaos

Critics argue that channeling is simply a means of con- Age Encyclopedia. Detroit/New York/London: Gale, tacting, extracting and developing subliminal construc- 1990. tions and understandings from the deeper, hidden recesses Newport, John P. The New Age Movement and the Biblical of one’s self. Indeed, Roberts herself always questioned Worldview: Conflict and Dialogue. Grand Rapids, MI: whether “Seth” was not merely an aspect of her own Eerdmans, 1998. psyche. Viewing the contemporary development against York, Michael. The Emerging Network: A Sociology of the the antiquity of the prophetic and oracular tradition, New Age and Neo-pagan Movements. Lanham, MD: channeling may represent a natural technique of harvest- Rowman & Littlefield, 1995. ing the output inherent between multiple selves or parts See also: Blavatsky, Helena; Eden and Other Gardens; of the individual. For the channel and the audience of Findhorn Foundation/Community; New Age; Sweden- adherents to his or her “transmitted wisdom,” it is ultim- borg, Emanuel; Theosophy; Western Esotericism. ately incidental from where the information derives – the medium’s unconscious mind, a discarnate entity, spirit, deity or space brethren. It is the message itself that is Chaos important – perhaps giving the lie to Marshall McLuhan’s assertion that the medium is the message, because, despite Chaos appears in many mythologies, including the Greek the huge numbers of channels that have appeared in the from whom the word is derived, as an undifferentiated late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, there is a primordial state or an abyss of mystery. Although mythic remarkable similarity between their individual messages – chaos was not necessarily disordered, that meaning fixed leading one to conclude that channeling is a nonlinear itself upon the word by the European Middle Ages when it social response to lacunae perceived on one level or emerged as an antonym for order and clarity. Enlighten- another within the collective milieu. ment science, seeking to eliminate the confusion associ- While most channeled messages have been saturated in ated with chaos, did not see it as an object of study. But the Gnostic and New Thought transcendentalism of the that changed in the mid-twentieth century, when math- “American metaphysical movement” of which New Age is ematician Benoit Mandlebrot articulated a geometrical a derivative constituent, not all channeled entities need be order that stressed erratic self-similarity and scale over the ethereal thought forms from “higher dimensions” but can cleanly abstract forms of Pythagoras. Then the nonlinear include nature spirits as well. Among the more famous equations of Edward Lorenz showed that minor variations instances of these last concerns, there was the channeling at the beginning of a process could through interaction of Dorothy Maclean and Eileen Caddy, two of the founders create large differences at the end (the so-called “butterfly of the Findhorn Community on the north coast of Scot- effect”). land, with devas – various plant, species and landscape From these two theories, the science of chaos was born. spirits – and the advice received that resulted in the Now more often called dynamical systems or complexity successful production of enormous vegetables (both in theory, chaos theory has proven useful in discussion size and numbers) from what had originally been the of turbulent systems (weather, earthquakes) as well as of inhospitable terrain of their caravan park. In general, the periodic or cyclical events (the stock market, population forces worked with in nature religion, pagan and goddess growth). Challenging Newton’s theory that large effects spirituality contexts are more therapeutically emotional can only be created by large causal forces, chaos theory than the safer and kinder entities of New Age channeling. shows that small effects, iterated through a system, can New Age nature spirits are allegedly encountered in what have stunningly large effects. is known as a “vortex” sites – places such as Mt. Shasta, At the same time that chaos was emerging as a subject the Tetons or Sedona as magnetic attractors of spiritual of serious scientific inquiry, it was also reappearing as a energies from other parts of the planet or universe. Never- theme in the arts, most notably in the trilogy of novels by theless, New Age comes close to Neo-paganism when it Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson called Illuminatus!, embraces nature mysticism in the name of Gaia and seeks in which followers of Chaos and of the goddess Eris (the to communicate or channel the Earth as a conscious, Greek goddess who threw the golden apple that led to the living organism. Trojan War) were pitted against fanatically orderly (but ever-elusive, conspiratorial and therefore also chaotic) Michael York opponents. Together the two forces made up the “sacred chaos,” the universal balance that demanded both order Further Reading and disorder. Brown, Michael F. The Channeling Zone: American Spir- Shea and Wilson were inspired in part by the satirical ituality in an Anxious Age. Cambridge, MA: Harvard pseudo-sect called the Discordians, who claimed to worship University Press, 1997. Eris. Although often described as a neo-pagan religion, Melton, J. Gordon, Jerome Clark and Aidan A. Kelly. New Discordianism is rather a form of social commentary that Chaos, Creation and the Winter Garden 289 derides conventional religion without offering any ritual Hine, Phil. Condensed Chaos: An Introduction to Chaos or organizational alternative. Early Discordian associ- Magic. Tempe, AZ: New Falcon Publishers, 1995. ations were the Erisian Liberation Front and the Paratheo- Kauffman, Stuart. At Home in the Universe: The Search for Anametamystikhood of Eris Esoteric, the first invented by the Laws of Self-Organization and Complexity. New Kerry Thornley (“Ho Chih Zen”), the second by Gregory York: Oxford University Press, 1995. Hill (“Malacylpse the Younger”). Both were inventive Malaclypse the Younger. Principia Discordia. San writers of “tracts” that promoted anarchic Romanticism, Francisco, CA: Loopmanics, 1980. complete with ecstatic experience, often brought about See also: Complexity Theory; Peat, F. David. through drug use. The tradition continues in the popular Church of the Sub-Genius that alleges to worship J.R. Dobbs (“Bob”) and derides conventional religion for Chaos, Creation and the Winter Garden interfering with nature’s order, especially anarchic and unconstrained sexuality. The gardening life reveals many secrets about beginnings, More seriously, chaos theory has been embraced by endings and our existence in between. From December’s those seeking spiritual metaphors based in contemporary descent into dark (and the blankness that comes after science. Notably, literary scholar John Briggs and revels and shopping sprees), chaos arises, battles of gods physicist David Peat have articulated “life lessons of and elements, the primordial stew out of which order and chaos” that resemble religious principles. Change, they disorder separate while Being and non-being unify. This is argue, comes about through small actions iterated through the unity we call “holy.” Across the months, we reel along a system; thus something as apparently inconsequential as nature’s rhythms from infinite to finite and back again. recycling can have great ultimate results. The application In winter, massive, dramatic weather recalls the first of systems thinking to ecology has also been articulated creation, reenacted year after year, chaos marking the first by physicist and religious theorist Fritjof Capra, who bubbles of beginning. A Chinese primordial myth as old as describes a “web of life” of which humankind forms a 200 B.C.E. tells us, “In the beginning there was Chaos. Out part; unlike early Christian apologists who interpreted the of it, pure light built the sky . . .” Then the dimness shaped Garden of Eden story as describing humanity dominating the Earth and together, sky and Earth, yang and yin, nature, systems thinkers envision humans as both bred the Thousand Creations. In his Metamorphoses, Ovid effecting and affected by nature. (43 B.C.E.–18 C.E.) wrote, “Before the ocean, or Earth, or Recently, “chaos magic” has been offered as a way of Heaven, Nature was all alike, a shapelessness, Chaos, all linking the discoveries of science with the precepts ruse and lumpy matter . . .” This, like the frozen, then of ceremonial magic. At its simplest, chaos magic means mucky, thawing garden, is “land on which no one can creating spontaneous rituals that draw from multiple stand.” Echoing a Pelasgian creation myth, ca. 3500 B.C.E., symbolic sources (Western magic, Chinese Daoism, Ovid speaks of how the fundamental forces for life are Tibetan Buddhism), interpreting the magical precept of polarized and out of control. “nothing is true, everything is permitted” to mean that The Tungus, native to Siberia, saw creation as “Fire on creative effort makes meaning from the flux of possibility. the primordial ocean. In time the fire vanquished the The philosophical influence of post-war existentialism power of water and burned part of the ocean . . .” The here combines with an acknowledged focus on the oldest Japanese chronicle, the Kojiki, or “Records of Dionysian worldview articulated by Frederich Neitzche, Ancient Matters,” compiled in 712, and including the whose comment that “you must have chaos within you earliest Shinto nature worship, outlines the lengthy, to give birth to a dancing star” is often cited by chaos wondrous process of creation: “When Chaos began to magicians like Phil Hine. This fusion of nihilism and condense, but force and form were not yet manifest, and creativity brings contemporary chaos magicians back to nothing was named, who could know its shape?” the original mythic meaning of the word, for to the Greeks The Hindu Rig Vega questions the origins of all things formless chaos was the birthplace of the universe. long before material life was so much as a gleam in the creators’ eyes. Buddhism speaks of the universe, like the Patricia Monaghan days of the year, expanding, contracting, dissolving, then re-evolving, again and again, forever. All existence Further Reading depends upon this marvelous, indescribable cycle. The Briggs, John and David Peat. Seven Life Lessons of Chaos. Chinese sage, Lao Tzu, who taught that quietism and non- New York: Harpercollins, 1999. action is action in accordance with nature, wrote, “The Capra, Fritjof. The Web of Life: A New Understanding of Tao, the way, stands alone / never changes . . . / Mother of Living Systems. New York: Doubleday, 1997. the World . . . / The way that can be named is not con- Carroll, Peter. Liber Null and Psychonaut. Boston: Red stant.” In winter, the weather not only mirrors the world’s Wheel/Weiser, 1987. beginnings as it struggles toward new fecundity, but the 290 Chávez, César – and the United Farm Workers garden’s hibernation demands quietude, indeed endur- With our labors – reaping, weeding, watering and harvest- ance, from the gardener, requires patience with the season, ing – with ritual, rites of seasons, the building of com- which demands careful observance of oneness and eter- munity around the garden, it is possible to renew a greater nity and the germination, then ripening of all creatures. sense of place within nature, as did our ancient forbears. In creation myths worldwide, out of chaos, and diverse Chaos, the dark, silent abyss from which all things divine adventures, the forces of nature gradually sort came into existence, is huge and terrifying. In winter, it themselves into mountain, ocean, valley, river. Tree, herb, can be as if we are truly experiencing this time/non-time shrub, grass, grain. Fish, peccary, cricket, deer, human, before the world came into being. The actual, non- wolf, bird. All are part and parcel of the same Earth, none material spiritual world lies beyond the garden walls. It is more or less. in wilderness, in sensuous, generous magnitude, in tides Winter seems to portray the cosmic dance, the universe and volcanoes, passion and vitality, that perfection – in flux moving toward an eventual miracle of birth, the “god,” “Chaos” – exists. Within the garden it is contained, trickle of a stream that grows into a river, an infant sliding as on a small stage, visible to us, but nevertheless out from between its mother’s legs, a sapling. The Ainu, uncontrollable. Within the garden, in safety, we experi- aboriginal peoples of Japan, describe the world’s ence the ongoing mystery of creation. beginnings in terms any gardener can relate to when con- In the spring, the formless matter from which the fronting the first hints of spring: “In the beginning, the cosmos was created slowly takes shape above ground world was slush. Waters and mud were stirred together. All again. The offspring of chaos, Eros, the embodiment of was silence and cold and there was no bird in the air.” nature, harmony and creativity, composes into green, The process of conception is accomplished in many while Eros’ sibling Tartarus, the lowest region of the ways. Life springs from the limbs and blood of a dead god. underworld, cooks up another winter. It ascends from a god’s vomit or from the semen of a masturbating god. It is conceived by the copulation of Jennifer Heath masculine and feminine, and Father Sun mating with Mother Earth. It crawls – a snake, a dragon, a worm, a Further Reading spider – up from underground. It emerges from an egg at Brandon, S.G.F. Creation Legends of the Ancient Near East. the bottom of sea, or from a seed in dark, moist soil. It is London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1963. trial and error, everlasting improvisation. Gleick, James. Chaos: The Making of a New Science. New Creation accomplished, but never completed. Chaos York: Penguin, 1988. goes on, creating, re-creating, like the turn of the seasons. Graves, Robert. Greek Myths, vols. I–II. Baltimore: The weather will change and again change; the elements Penguin Books, 1955. persevere as warriors in the great primeval battle. Wind Heath, Jennifer. The Echoing Green: The Garden in Myth combats rain; ocean combats shore. Evolution, ongoing and Memory. New York: Penguin, 2000. modulation and alternation, the sacred is never static, Leach, Maria. The Beginning. New York: Funk and obeys no rules. Wagnalls, 1956. With the creation, flora and fauna establish themselves Long, Charles. Alpha: Myths of Creation. New York: and discover the systems by which they can survive. First George Brazillier, 1963. attempts are the subject of folklore worldwide – how the See also: Blavatsky, Helena; Christianity (6c) – Reforma- bear lost its tail, how the bird got wings, how mountains tion Traditions (Lutheranism and Calvinism); Christianity were formed, how corn came to the people. In all these (7e) – Creation Spirituality; Creation Myths of the Ancient tales, and in actuality, each one’s life is woven with and Near East; Creation Story in the Hebrew Bible; Creation’s dependent on others. Fate in the New Testament; Eden and Other Gardens; The garden emphasizes the contrast between the out- Findhorn Foundation/Community; New Age; Sweden- side world and the inner. We work in the garden in order to borg, Emanuel; Theosophy; Western Esotericism. immerse our souls in the great labor of creation, in order that our spirits, through our bodies, our hands and feet, can embrace soil, root, leaf, loam, flower, bark – all that is Chávez, César (1927–1993) – and the United present. To garden is be conscious of our place on Earth, Farm Workers in the cosmos, in the eye of the divine. To dance in sync with “now,” and therefore grasp and move in unison with César Estrada Chávez initiated a dynamic process of labor “always.” strikes, demonstrations, and boycott strategies that inter- The garden can only mimic that divinity and act as twined religious traditions, civil rights, and environmental accessible holy ground, which we can attend to and visit justice. His lifelong efforts to address injustices against daily to remind us of vaster powers. In the garden, it is Mexicano farm workers centered on his founding the first possible to cultivate, in shelter, a sense of place on Earth. successful farm workers’ union in U.S. history: the United Chávez, César – and the United Farm Workers 291

Farm Workers Association, known today as the United food, even after the ban on DDT led to less ecologically Farm Workers Union, AFL-CIO. damaging pesticides and the subsequent easing off by From his upbringing as a migrant farm worker, Chávez environmental groups. Aldrin, deieldin, endrin, parathion, observed labor organizing. After serving in the U.S. Navy TEPP, and other pesticides presented extreme dangers to 1944–1946, Chávez married Helen Fabula in 1946, and the farm workers despite the impression that they were relocated to the farm-worker barrio of Sal Si Puedes (Get more environmentally safe than DDT, which often meant Out If You Can) in San Jose. A pious Catholic, Chávez a more continuous and extensive application. Pesticide assisted barrio priest Fr. McDonnell, who introduced him issues have been constantly addressed in the UFW news- to the environmental philosophy of St. Francis of Assisi paper El Malcriado, and the case against pesticides grew and the Church’s ideas of union organizing; particularly into vigorous labor campaigns, such as the 1975 Agri- those inspired by the Catholic papal encyclical Rerem cultural Labor Relations Act, a legislative action to ensure Novarum, Pope Leo XIII’s doctrine on labor justice. Chávez collective bargaining, supported by then California Gov- also absorbed Ghandi’s teachings on nonviolent organ- ernor Jerry Brown. Later legislative attempts, like Califor- izing and strategies of moral jujitsu – always keeping nia’s Big Green initiative in 1990, the breadth of which one’s opponent off balance. Chávez became further influ- extended to protect redwoods and farm workers, displayed enced by Ghandi’s interpretation of the boycott to achieve the historical pattern of collaborative efforts between the nonviolent action en masse. Together, these influences UFW and environmental groups. Today pesticide issues brought the ties of spiritual, ecological, and social justice remain a priority for UFW-CIO’s campaigns, not only in beliefs, making Chávez one of the foremost historical the U.S., but also extending to many global locations figures of the environmental justice movement. where farm workers face the same hazards that Chávez In Sal Si Puedes, he met several lifetime-organizing addressed. influences like Fred Ross of the barrio-based Community Chávez must also be recognized for his ability to Service Organization (CSO). Ross’ tactics and their link to emphasize the religious significance of human suffering, Saul Alinsky’s nonviolent tenet throughout the programs sacrifice, and penance as a means for lifting the faith of sponsored by the Industrial Areas Foundation, including followers. The demonstrations, strikes, and long marches the CSO, appealed to the inexhaustible spirit for social were viewed as spiritual pilgrimages. On 16 March 1966 justice that drove Chávez. He became a vital CSO director Chávez led the most renowned of the UFWA pilgrimages by the late 1950s; and had become closely tied with his in a 25-day march covering 250 miles from Delano to most trusted career associate, the gifted labor-contract Sacramento. The event began as a UFWA support for negotiator Dolores Huerta. In 1962, Chávez resigned from Filipino workers against the Di Giorio Corporation, and the CSO, to found the first grassroots farm workers union grew into a fight for Mexicano workers with national in the United States. In 1965, nearly 150 farm worker media attention and sympathy. Imagine farm workers, delegates, agreed on the official name the National Farm clergy, and supporters led by the famous image of the Workers Association (UFWA). UFWA, the black eagle on a red background (the colors By 1968, the public had become acutely aware of the meaning Huega! or “strike” in Mexicano tradition) and danger of pesticides, particularly DDT as a result of the banners in patronage to The Basilica of The Virgin of legacy left by Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring, which decried Guadalupe: the symbol representing the Mexican religious the agrichemical industry’s destruction of species and heritage grounded with pastoral and environmental their habitats. Chávez studied the health and ecological values. To Chávez, the march was a pilgrimage and union impacts of pesticides with deep concern for the farm of socio-religious significance: “a trip made with sacrifice workers. Carson had focused mainly on the ecological and hardship as an expression of penance and of commit- destruction, and contributed a few chapters to the human ment – and often involving a petition to the patron of the impacts, naming the general public and more specifically pilgrimage for some sincerely sought benefit of body or miners, farmers, scientists, and spray-pilots as the direct soul” (Hammerback and Jensen 1998: 40). Soon after the human victims of the poisons. Chávez raised greater social March on Sacramento, when the UFWA engaged a strug- consciousness about realities of farm workers who experi- gle against Perelli-Minetti vineyards, which contracted enced the most intense harms of pesticide use. Chávez with the Teamsters as a strikebreaking strategy, Chávez drew upon the interconnection of social justice and eco- began his signature of long fasts, an expression of his logical sustainability. This was pronounced when Chávez devotion to La Causa, his life of sacrifice and penance. and the UFW joined with the California Rural Legal Chávez’s career involved many close ties to individual Assistance and the Environmental Defense Fund to ban clergy and church organizations, such as the California DDT. Although this united effort has been described as a Migrant Ministry. His actions drew dramatic response “marriage of convenience” between labor and environ- from the various churches. At times these would be con- mental groups, it was Chávez who kept the attention on troversial, as in an early experience of his in which while ecological and human impacts and residual dangers in our working closely with a Pentecostal preacher in Madera, a 292 Chinese Environmentalism Catholic priest rallied with McCarthyist fervor to have Chinese Environmentalism Chávez condemned as a Communist. However, most responses would be historical events like bridging the tradi- In recent years the number of non-governmental organ- tional gulf between the Catholic and Protestant Churches. izations (NGOs), or social organizations (shehui tuanti) Influenced by the papal encyclicals and drawn to La Causa as they are preferably called in China, has increased enor- of Mexicano workers, respectively, the Churches united in mously. Non-governmental organizations are a relatively support of the farm workers’ struggle. new phenomenon in one-party state China, where the César Chávez inspired people with the affect of a spir- all-pervasive government traditionally used to take care itual leader as much as a political one. At a time when of virtually all aspects of public and private life. The rise of Mexicanos lamented the lost Mexicanidad (“soul”), Chávez NGOs can be witnessed in several fields, but environ- embodied a humility and spirit for social justice in the mentalism represents one of the most vibrant and dynamic Mexican religious and pastoral heritage. His strategies sectors of non-governmental activity. The high interest appealed across Mexican economic classes, and he intro- among certain groups of Chinese citizens in environ- duced a new labor perspective to the civil rights move- mental protection as a field for active participation (as ment, reflecting Mexicano identity in its best light. A compared to other fields) contributes to the growth of testimony to Chávez’s personification of the lost Mexica- green NGOs. Possible explanations for citizen involvement nidad is reflected in his genuine appeal to sacrifice, in the environmental field are its alleged political inno- penance, and desire to make a world change toward social cence, the occurrence of environmentally induced health justice. On 23 April 1993, during one of these appeals risk or the large media attention for environmental topics. involving one of his many fasts, César Chávez died in his A less pragmatic explanation could be that the typical sleep. Of his many accolades for his service to human “Chinese” perception of nature, based on traditional dignity, in 1991 he received the Aguila Azteca (The Aztec religions, encourages environmental activism. Eagle), Mexico’s highest award presented to people of Mexican heritage contributing to its legacy beyond the A Chinese Perception of Nature? Mexican borders. In 1994, Chávez posthumously received Chinese religions have in common their holistic world- the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian view and sense of the cosmos as a unity. Interrelatedness honor in the United States. between humans and their environments are at a philo- sophical level especially emphasized in Daoism and Bud- Robert Melchior Figueroa dhism. Many Western scholars have studied traditional Chinese religions as potential sources for renewal of the Further Reading environmental and ecological discourse in the West. The Gottlieb, Robert. Forcing the Spring: The Transformation holistic character of Daoism and Buddhism is often of the American Environmental Movement. Washing- thought to encourage respect and care for nature. ton, D.C.: Island Press, 1993. But it can be questioned whether a holistic worldview Griswold del Castillo, Richard and Richard A. Garcia. in which nature is an intrinsic part of the wider cosmos César Chávez: A Triumph of Spirit. Norman: Uni- actually favors human respect for the environment. The versity of Oklahoma Press, 1995. Chinese have always operated with the idea of human life Hammerback, John C. and Richard J. Jensen. The as belonging to the spontaneously self-generating life Rhetorical Career of César Chávez. College Station: processes of nature, without beginning or end. According Texas A&M University Press, 1998. to Ole Bruun, this might have prevented them from assign- Kanellos, Nicolás. Hispanic Firsts: 500 Years of Extra- ing an intrinsic, independent value to nature separate ordinary Achievement. Detroit: Visible Ink Press, 1997. from its benefits to humanity. There appears to be some Levy, Jacques E. César Chávez: Autobiography of La Causa. support for this argument. Paolo Santangelo studied New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1975. literature and paintings of Ming-Qing times searching for Matthiessen, Peter. Sal Si Puedes: César Chávez and the the nature conceptions of Chinese artists. He finds two New American Revolution. New York: Random House, ways of interpreting nature: (1) as a metaphor that 1969. expresses human emotions and (2) as an opportunity for Pulido, Laura. Environmentalism and Economic Justice: aesthetic pleasure and/or religious contemplation. He Two Chicano Struggles in the Southwest. Tucson: The concludes that the Chinese (artistic) perception of nature University of Arizona Press, 1996. is characterized by a “humanization of nature,” bearing See also: Christianity (6a) – Roman Catholicism; Environ- hardly any relation to “real” nature and environment. This mental Justice and Environmental Racism; Gandhi, is also reflected in the Chinese practice of fengshui, which Mohandas; Virgin of Guadalupe. stresses that the environment should be “harmonized,” but exclusively so for the purpose of personal benefit. Great concern is expressed for the immediate nature; how to Chinese Environmentalism 293 bring it to bear positively on human fortune, whereas the involved a decades-long protest movement against a distant, the invisible or other people’s nature are not fertilizer factory in Gansu province. The second case included in Fengshui concerns. Fengshui optimizes the use involved the first confirmed protest movement against of natural powers, almost to such an extent that nature local population resettlement for the Three Gorges Dam does not only contain resources, but is a resource per se. project on the Yangzi River. Jing concludes that the interest groups in both cases operated within a traditional Environmental NGOs and Chinese Religion “cultural and symbolic life world” in which funeral The reality of resource depletion and environmental symbolism, morality tales and cosmological beliefs – such degradation is at the source of NGO-development in as the worshipping of goddesses and deities – played an China. Research into several environmental groups important role in mobilizing participants and providing (mostly located in Beijing) points out that the founders of ways for them to express dissatisfaction. In the Gansu environmental NGOs judge the negative environmental case, temples dedicated to the “fertility goddess” were side effects of human activity not only from pragmatic, reconstructed as a reaction against the factory’s threat to but also from moral and ethical points of view. However, physical health. The protesters against the Three Gorges the employed moral arguments seem not typically derived Dam Project wore traditional funeral gowns to enforce from Chinese belief systems. Also in practice, Chinese their claims. environmentalists appear not to be typically Chinese in Although religion seems to have little influence on their approach of and view on environmental issues. the environmental perception and activities of NGOs, Environmental concerns that inspire activism all over the traditional (folk) religion appears of more significance for world are equally important and evident in Chinese NGOs. less formalized environmental interest groups. An example of this non-typical Chinese framing of issues forms the appeal for an Anti-Animal Abuse Law, pub- Susan Martens lished in the August 2002 International Newsletter of “Friends of Nature,” one of China’s most renown NGOs: Further Reading Bruun, Ole and Arne Kalland. Asian Perceptions of Nature: In China domestic animals live solely to feed A Critical Approach. Nordic Institute of Asian Studies. humans. If we use them, we should at least let them Richmond: Curzon Press, 1995. lead natural lives and not torture them . . . In the late Cobb, John B. Is It Too Late? A Theology of Ecology. Bev- twentieth century most countries in the world erly Hills: Faith and Life Series, 1972. including those in Asia, Africa and Latin-America Fung, Yu-lan. A History of Chinese Philosophy. Princeton, enacted Anti-Animal Abuse Laws . . . Now it is NJ: Princeton University Press, 1952. widely believed that a civilized country should Ho, Peter. “Greening without Conflict? Environmentalism, establish humane laws for the benefit of animals; NGOs and Civil Society.” Development and Change 32 cruelly killing and destroying life is incorrect and (2001), 893–921. human’s basic responsibility is to care and promote Jing Jun. “Environmental Protest in Rural China.” In Eliz- life (Author’s translation). abeth J. Perry and Mark Selden, eds. Chinese Society: Change, Conflict and Resistance. London and New Instead of referring to traditional Chinese culture and York: Routledge, 2000. religion, global morality is drawn on to question the Kalland, Arne and Gerard Persoon. Environmental Move- treatment of animals in Chinese society. In general, it ments in Asia. Nordic Institute of Asian Studies. Rich- seems safe to conclude that China’s better-known environ- mond: Curzon Press, 1998. mental groups are not driven or inspired by typically Knup, Elizabeth. “Environmental NGOs in China: An Chinese or religiously inspired nature perceptions. Per- Overview.” China Environment Series 1 (1997), 9–15. haps this can be (partly) attributed to the problematic Redding, S. Gordon. The Spirit of Chinese Capitalism. New position of religious beliefs and practices during certain York: De Gruyter, 1990. periods of the Communist regime. Especially during the Santagelo, Paolo. “Conceptions of Nature in some Literary Cultural Revolution Chinese citizens were allowed limited Texts of Ming-Qing Times.” In Mark Elvin and Liu space to engage in religious contemplation, which might Ts’ui-jung, eds. Sediments of Time: Environment and have driven religiously inspired man-nature perceptions Society in Chinese History. Cambridge: Cambridge from the practical consciousness. University Press, 1998. It is nevertheless true that religious practices sometimes Tang, Wenfang. “Religion and Society in China and Tai- do play a role in environmental protest in China. The wan.” In Shiping Hua, ed. Chinese Political Culture social anthropologist Jun Jing, for example, describes 1989–2000. New York: M.E. Sharpe, 2000. two cases in which rural victim interest groups become See also: Chinese Traditional Concepts of Nature; Con- engaged in direct environmental protest. The first case fucianism; Confucianism and Environmental Ethics; 294 Chinese Traditional Concepts of Nature

Creatures’ Release in Chinese Buddhism; Fengshui; to this day but not those contemporary developments Yunnan Region (Southwest China and Montane Mainland influenced by Western industrial globalization. Southeast Asia). The Essentials of Chinese Religion Chinese religion focuses on family to the degree that some Chinese Traditional Concepts of Nature scholars have called it “familism.” The understanding of family exists on two levels: the nuclear family, which in Chinese culture encompasses a quarter of humanity and China would be multi-generational and include uncles and the major part of East Asia. At its heart is the oldest con- aunts; and the clan, which includes all those who under- tinuous religious tradition for which we have written stand themselves connected to the clan no matter how records, going back well over three thousand years. The distantly in the past the clan can be traced. To put it religious practices and ideology expressed in these docu- another way, the clan consists of all of those with the same ments are integral with archeological finds of ritual para- surname; and there are but a hundred surnames for the phernalia which indicate that this religious understanding billion and a quarter Chinese. Clans are patrilineal; the was already present in the Neolithic Age of East Asia, long religious life of a woman lies primarily within the home of before the development of writing. her husband’s family. On death, she will be worshipped Recent archeology indicates that Chinese civilization along with her husband on the altar in the home of her had at least two centers several thousand years ago: a son’s family. millet-based culture in the north, and a rice-based culture The primary religious ritual consists of the offering of in what is now central and southern China. The two fused food and wine to the deceased of the family, which is then slowly fused together, and China as a single cultural entity eaten by the living members of the family. This sacrificial reached its present boundaries around two thousand years ritual is, in effect, a periodic family banquet to which the ago. (The present political borders maintain those of the dead of the family are the honored guests. The primary Manchurian Empire which collapsed at the beginning locus for this ritual is in the home for the immediate family of the twentieth century and include a number of autono- and the clan temple for the immediate sub-clan founders mous regions in which Chinese culture is not the dominant and most honored of the sub-clan ancestors. The eldest of tradition.) Each region had somewhat different practices the family and clan, male and female, function as the chief surrounding the essential aspects of religion discussed priests of this religious construct. This pattern, save for below, although these differences are as yet unclear. details, has remained unchanged for several thousand But even today, there are minor variations in religious years to the present. For at least the last two thousand practices, such as grave designs, between northern and years, this was the religious pattern of all classes of southern Chinese culture. society, from the Imperial family to the lowly peasant. Early Chinese civilization, particularly in its northern Not only religion, but social and political structures and homeland, had more than frequent lack of rain to concepts were also based on the concept of family. hamper agricultural development. The wide Yellow River Ideologically, this means that the most important (Huangho) which runs though the midst of it is so named sources of the numinous; the primary spirits to whom because it is thick and turgid with a powdery, yellow soil it religious practices are addressed is the family in and of picks up at it origin in the west. Northern China is in large itself. Traditionally, as well as today, the Chinese do not part a level plain and the river has a tendency to flood in understand themselves as primarily individuals, as is in the spring. People lived along its shores and early began the modern West, but members of a social unit, particu- to build dikes, both to contain the floodwaters and for larly family and clan. Chinese do not put themselves first irrigation. Because the large amounts of soil carried by the and foremost, but put primacy on their families, and after river settled to the bottom, the river tended to fill its bed family, other social units of which they are a part. between the dikes, requiring them to be raised higher and For the last thousand years, similar offerings were also higher. Eventually the riverbed was higher than the sur- made to non-family dead who have become deified, rounding land. Thus, when the dikes broke, flooding was including Daoist and Buddhist deities. Deities are pre- massive, at one time leading to the mouth of the river dominantly ghosts who have been recognized and treated moving five hundred miles from where it was before the by humans as deities because of their demonstrated flood. China’s mythic culture heroes are those who benevolence through possessing humans. In China, both oversaw the building of the dikes. Chinese culture did not ancestral spirits and deities can be spoken to and touched understand this as conquering nature but working with it. because of their presence through spirit possession when If the dikes failed, this was due to human error, not an there is need to communicate with them. errant nature. Nature was understood as numinous and to There are also a large group of numinous entities that in be propitiated rather than controlled. This attitude toward essence are nature spirits to which sacrificial offerings are nature continues to permeate traditional Chinese culture also made. Sacrificial offerings are generally of incense, Chinese Traditional Concepts of Nature 295 wine and food, which are left in front of the images, single layer, and signifies the imperial rule over the land of whether of the deified dead or anthropomorphized nature China. spirits, long enough for the spiritual essence to be eaten by In summary, the entire cosmos, all of nature, was the deities. Afterwards, the material aspect is usually eaten understood to be numinous. The various components of by those making the offering. the cosmos were perceived to be individual deities: Sky, Earth, Sun, Moon, Stars, Planets, specific mountains and Religion and Nature rivers, and fertile Soil. All received sacrificial offerings in From 2200 years ago until 1911, China had an imperial elaborate ceremonies of which the Emperor and his con- government. The theoretical justification for the position sort functioned as the chief priests. The Emperor, at least of Emperor was that only he and his consort, symbolically once in his reign, almost always made a pilgrimage to the Father and Mother of the People, could sacrifice to Mount Tai (“Great Mountain”) to make offerings to the the ultimate cosmic parents, Sky-Earth (tiendi). This was mountain on its summit, and also directly sacrificed to because the Emperor was the Child of Sky (tienzi), for his other geographic deities. Mount Tai remains a favorite ancestors, having been the most powerful personages pilgrimage and tourist site. Government officials, repre- while alive, remain the most powerful spirits when senting the Emperor, made offerings to lesser mountains dead. Accordingly, for anyone else to sacrifice to Sky- and waters. Earth amounted to treason, as such an act was a claim The ritual sacrifices carried out by the Emperor and on the imperial prerogative. Imperial lineages tended to government officials were not essentially different from trace the clan back to a spirit progenitor, usually a nature those of the general population; they differed primarily in spirit. scale and scope. The most important nature spirit is Earth, A second ideological approach to the understanding of who is differently conceived depending on function. Some Sky-Earth, arising out of early Daoist thought, was stimu- aspects of Earth are not actually nature spirits, examples lated by the ecstatic experience of nothingness (the mys- being the Lord of Earth, once a female deity, who is now a tic, zero, void experience): Before anything exists, there is male bureaucrat in charge of the dead souls residing in nothingness (an actual experience, not a philosophical the ground, and the Lord of Place, a protecting deity of a supposition). As one returns from the ecstasy of nothing- locality. But known simply as Mama Earth, she is the Earth ness there is a “somethingness” that is at first singular, itself deified. For farming families, Earth is the generative termed the “Dao” for lack of a descriptive word. Our minds couple, Grandmother and Grandfather Earth. Their images automatically differentiate, so the perception of the Dao are found on the family altars in farmhouses and in leads to discrimination, to the one becoming many. At first shrines built on the edge of farmland. Also deified are very the one becomes two, and these two are the progenitors, old trees and unusual rocks, as well as streams, lakes and through continued division, of all that exists. With regard waterfalls. It is common to find a red cloth tied around to cosmogony, the “two” exits in dual modes. As the male- such trees or a simple container for incense at their base. female pair, Sky-Earth, they are the parents of all physical Aside from offerings to nature spirits, nature plays a manifestations; from Sky-Earth, humans receive their major role in religious practices in two further regards: bodies. As the female–male pair, Yin-Yang, they are the divination and geomancy. Again, divinatory practices in source of energy; from Yin-Yang, humans receive their life China are as old as we can trace back the culture. Origi- force (qi). nally, they seem to have been techniques to gain advice Originally, the imperial altar to Sky-Earth was a single from the clan dead, but divination took on philosophical one, but nearly five hundred years ago, the altar was div- understandings that were based on nature. For the last ided. One can still visit the imperial altars in Beijing, where three thousand years there has been a concept of tienming they are now public parks. South of the imperial palace, on (Sky-pattern). Until recently, the concept was misunder- one side of the straight road leading to it, is the Altar to stood in the West, with Sky understood as a male, anthro- Sky, a round – the symbol for Sky – altar of three layers pomorphic, quasi-monotheistic deity on the order of made of white marble. North of the palace is the Altar to YHWH; hence, tienming was interpreted as God’s com- Earth, a three-layered, large square – the symbol for Earth mands: “the Mandate of Heaven.” But the Chinese under- – made of Earth. Balancing these two altars, to the east standing of tienming is the star-pattern of the Sky, intim- and west of the palace are, respectively, the Altar to Sun ately connected to astrology-astronomy. Tienming means and the Altar to Moon. Across the thoroughfare from the the way of the cosmos, the way of nature. Humans, to be Altar to Sky are a complex of altars, including an Altar to successful in their endeavors, should attempt to attune Sky Spirits (specific constellations and planets) and an themselves to the natural order. Divination can be used to Altar to Earthly Spirits (specific mountains and rivers). To aid in determining the way the cosmos is going. Deities the east of the entrance to the palace was the Clan Temple can be appealed to for assistance in these endeavors, but of the imperial clan and to the west, the Altar to Soil and only if success fits within the natural pattern. Nothing can Grain. The latter is similar to the Altar to Earth with but a help if what is desired does not fit the natural order. 296 Chinese Traditional Concepts of Nature

A second practice relating to nature in these regards Ziran is essentially untranslatable. Literally, it means is fengshui (literally: “wind & water”) or geomancy. The that which arises out of itself. From the cosmogonic success of a family depends on the comfort and spiritual standpoint, it refers to the self-generation of the world power of the deceased members of the family. Aside from (nature), as described above, in a creation that is continu- the offerings made at funerals for the comfort of the dead, ally arising from nothingness. On the individual level, equally important is the situation of the grave with regard it means that we create ourselves from the material of to the pattern of Earth. Specialists situate graves in a com- Sky-Earth and the qi of yinyang. The term provides the plex process that takes into account direction, slopes and essential understanding of nature, that everything natural running water. A properly situated grave places the dead (including humans) is self-creating. This is a far different into a comfortable and spiritually potent situation, thus understanding of nature from that of the West, where increasing their power to assist the family through being nature is understood to be created by a monotheistic God in accord with Earth’s power. Fengshui is also used to for use by human beings. Hence, ziran is also translated as situate buildings for the same purpose, particularly large “nature.” businesses, such as modern banks. Fengshui adds a The spirit writing of the early Daoist Church was done physical harmony with nature along with the behavioral by a person in trance who was possessed by a deity. It harmony with nature made possible through divination. allowed a deity to directly communicate with humans through writing. Writing, since its inception in China, had Religio-aesthetics primarily been used as a means to communicate with the From 2500 years to approximately 1000 years ago, Chinese spirit realm. Now it was also a means for the spirit realm society underwent a transformation that led to a shift from to communicate with humans. Since the writing was by a an elite based on heredity to one based on education. A person in trance, it was done in a spontaneous fashion, high degree of literacy has been one of the traits of aristo- similar to the then-common quick writing as opposed to a cratic status as far back as we can trace Chinese civiliza- deliberate careful writing (equivalent to our informal tion (the majority of Chinese were functionally literate handwriting as opposed to formal hand printing). This long before the modern period). Different from eastern style of writing stimulated a new style of quick writing Mediterranean civilizations, there was no separate priest- based on an aesthetic of spontaneity. The writing ideally hood. The original aristocrats were not only warrior-rulers takes place without conscious thought. Being spontaneous but priests of the clan-based religion. Hence, the king and (ziran), it was one with nature (ziran) in and of itself. later emperor, with his consort, were the chief priests not This aesthetic, which linked the wielder of the brush to only of their clan, but also of China itself. Writing, from its nature itself (virtually a possession by nature rather than a inception seems to have been based on the use of brush deity), became the primary religious activity of the elite and ink, rather than a stylus, and the written language when not in office. This accorded with the dual religious never lost its pictographic roots in becoming logographic, orientation of the elite based on a distinction between rather than alphabetic. In essence, this meant that by 2000 occupation and avocation that had already been present years ago, the elite were highly educated government for several hundred years and continues into the present. officials who were not only historians and philosophers, as When in office, the elite carried out state rituals, similar to well as ritual specialists, but masters of the brush. the clan ritual practices in clan temples and family rituals When the first major Chinese empire, contemporaneous carried out in the home; and their ideology was that of with the Roman empire, collapsed eighteen hundred years rujia (the ever-changing ideology of the civil-service ago, one of the failed attempts at reform, a revolutionary, system, mistranslated as “Confucianism” in the West). communistic, religio-political movement, continued as a When out of office – whether due to vacation, retirement, purely religious organization. This was the Daoist Church, or exile – their religious practices were linked to their consisting of hereditary priests in a hierarchical system spontaneous use of the brush, based on Daoist (daojia, who performed auxiliary rituals connected with the not the Daoist Church, daojiao) ideology. These activities ancestrally focused Chinese religion for the population are called the “Three Treasures”: poetry, calligraphy and as a whole. It grew literally alongside Buddhism, then painting. Preferably, they took place in elaborate gardens, becoming domesticated in China. One of the features of and the elite surrounded themselves, when possible, with this Church was spirit (automatic) writing. This practice signs and objects of nature. arose from a number of factors coming together: spirit The focus of these ziran-oriented activities is shanshui possession present in China from the distant past, the (“mountains & waters,” usually but imprecisely translated concept of ziran (spontaneity/nature – to which we shall as “landscape”). Shanshui embodies the Dao; it is the return) of Daoist thought from at least 2400 years ago, and quintessence of nature. Mountains are the solid essence, the long experience with the writing brush. Spirit writing and rivers the fluid essence, of the Dao. As such, the sub- was the source of a religio-aesthetic that was the basis of ject matter focused the mind on the Dao, and shanshui is the Chinese cultural approach to nature thereafter. used for that purpose in Daoist and Chinese Buddhist Chinese Traditional Concepts of Nature 297 meditation practices. But shanshui is not a metaphor for mountains and waters. The focus of the garden is extra- the Dao; it is the Dao. Hence, many of China’s poet-artists ordinarily eroded rocks whose appearance captures the hiked in the mountains. essence of the fundamental characteristic of the cosmos: One well-known fourth-century poet, Xue Lingyun, change within permanency. The city of Suzhou is famed involved with early Buddhism, invented a mountain- for its gardens, which are now open to the public and hiking shoe with removable studs. He concluded a poem easily visited. with the lines: “Observing this [shanshui], the realm of The oldest Chinese text, the Yi (Changes), is a divin- humans vanishes; / In a flash of enlightenment, every- ation manual that also, with the addition of appendices, thing falls away” (Paper 1995: 169). This relationship of became a philosophical text that emphasized that the poetry, nature and mysticism, never ceased. Mao Zidung only constant in the universe is change itself. Rocks and begins a poem, “Ascending Mount Lu,” where he had his stones with water-worn holes and contours or interesting summer home and an old center for Buddhism and Daoism striations demonstrate change in permanency. Such stones until the monasteries were destroyed by Christian mis- became icons of nature in all of its religious unders- sionaries, with the lines: “Single mountain peak floats tandings. Not only did the gardens emphasize bizarre beside Great River [Yangtze]; / Briskly ascend four- rocks, so also did miniature tray landscapes, and unique hundred verdant switchbacks” (Paper 1995: 159). He ends rocks were mounted on pedestals and treated as objets the poem with references to and metaphors for ecstatic d’art. Slices of rocks exhibiting remarkable striations were religious experiences. Buddhist monasteries and Daoist framed as paintings and inlaid into furniture. Bowls of temples were built on the most scenic mountains where stones under water, to bring out their colors and vibrancy, they continue to serve as hostels for those who seek to were placed on tables. And the most intimate objects of the immerse themselves in nature, whether or not the traveler literati, the “seals” with their names, came to be made of is oriented to either of these traditions. special stones that captured the spirit of nature. Although Professional painters also focused on shanshui, but the elite lived in an urban culture, they strived for an their purpose was not to stimulate ecstatic experiences in environment that intimated nature wherever they turned, themselves while painting but to create windows into and these attitudes became pervasive among the Chinese nature for their urban, elite clients. By a thousand years as a whole. ago, the elite, given their expertise with the brush, began themselves to paint. Their favorite subject matter was Conservation and the Impact of the West shanshui, but their purpose was not to represent nature, as The earliest Chinese texts on political philosophy did the professional painters, but to express themselves understood that an economy in which all would have naturally by relying on spontaneity. This religio-aesthetic sufficiency was essential for popular support of the is expressed by a contemporary painter, Hong Shiqing, government, and that the basis of a stable economy who was commissioned by a fishing commune to create includes conservation measures. Two thousand four art from the natural shoreline rocks of an island. Hong hundred years ago, Mengzi (Mencius) was writing about quickly used his brush on large rocks, following their regulating the mesh size of nets, so that small fish would natural lines, to create images of sea creatures. These have a chance to grown to adult size, that animals should painted lines were then deepened by stone-cutters. Hong only be hunted at certain times of the year so as not to wrote of these works that he “utilizes spontaneity [ziran] interfere with reproduction, and that the taking of lumber to beautify nature [ziran],” that his “artistic creations must in wooded areas should be controlled. Mengzi and later become a single entity with great nature/spontaneity political philosophers, not usually successfully, were also [ziran]” (Paper 1995a: 191–3). Since the end of the concerned that the wealthy did not waste resources Cultural Revolution (see below), calligraphy and painting through unnecessary conspicuous consumption. They have become pastimes of ordinary people – factory work- promoted an understanding of socio-economics in ers, etc. – with government encouragement. which the public weal (gong) was the good, and private The understanding of shanshui as the manifestation of utilization of resources (si) was evil. ziran and the embodiment of the Dao was all-pervasive in Until the mid-twentieth century, Chinese farming elite Chinese culture. It not only encompassed literature tended toward very small plots intensively cultivated, and the visual artist, but music as well. The musical particularly in the wet-rice agricultural areas. The welfare instrument of the elite, the qin, was an archaic, fretless, of the farm family was dependent on these plots, so stringed instrument of thick wood with a tiny soundbox. they were carefully tended, with great respect paid to the Never an instrument of performers, it was used for per- numinous aspect of Earth. sonal meditation, and the favored musical theme was China’s population remained relatively stable until the again shanshui. Furthermore, the elite created whole introduction of indigenous American foods in the six- environments based on shanshui, gardens of all sizes teenth century by the Spanish, when, as in many places whose purpose was to create an actual atmosphere of elsewhere in the world, the human population exploded. 298 Chinese Traditional Concepts of Nature

These foods included highly nutritious ones such as corn, massive starvation, and extreme environmental degrada- which replaced millet in the north, beans (save for tion. After a few years of improvement, the attempt to soybeans which China long had), peanuts and potatoes, as end corruption in the government with the Cultural well as condiments, such as hot peppers and tomatoes. In Revolution, from the late 1960s to the late 1970s, led to a the last three and a half centuries, China’s population has collapse of all aspects of the culture. Worse, it left a genera- increased tenfold. The effects of this enormous population tion of uneducated Chinese, ill-equipped to improve in a large area with but limited arable land always subject China’s situation in the modern world, and a generation to massive flooding, combined with rapid, unregulated cut off from all cultural and religious roots. The attempt industrialization in the second half of the twentieth during the Cultural Revolution to eradicate traditional century, has been disastrous to the natural environment. Chinese religion and society simply led to a cultural abyss A second aspect of relations with the West that led and a distraught populace. Since that time, with a lessen- to serious environmental problems has been Western ing of governmental planning and the end of the attempt imperialism. Five centuries ago, China was vastly superior to quickly reform humans into a communist ideal, at first to the West in technology, living conditions, health slowly and then ever more quickly, there has been a and economics. The last, Manchurian, dynasty was one of resurgence of Chinese industry, agriculture, education, foreigners from the Chinese standpoint. As the seemingly culture, and traditional religion. inevitable dynastic decline set in after several generations, From the early 1950s, agriculture and industry were it was exacerbated by the distance between the Man- formed into larger and larger communes. As large-scale churian rulers and the Chinese government officials. industry was relatively new to China, this was not a major China rapidly weakened in every regard at a time when disruption from tradition. For agriculture, it was a dif- Europe was beginning its imperialistic expansion. By the ferent situation. In traditional China, intensive agriculture mid-nineteenth century, European and American powers led to an intimate relationship between farmers and the found it economically advantageous to push opium on land, although this often degenerated as landlords dis- the suffering population. When the Chinese government placed farmers owning their own land until socio- tried to stop the trade, Western powers forced two wars on economic collapse led to a new dynasty whose first act the Chinese. Each time China lost through the declining was usually to redistribute the land to the farmers. Large- government’s ineptitude. The resulting peace treaties gave scale agricultural communes, along with government Europeans and Americans ever increasing opportunities sponsored Soviet-style atheism, led to a distancing of to exploit China economically and territorially, with no farmers from the land. Not only did agricultural pro- consideration for the environmental damage they were duction decline, so also did the land itself, as intensive creating. As well, the treaties exempted Christian mission- care for the land in combination with treating the land aries and Chinese converts from both criminal and civil as numinous ended. (The exception is far northern laws, allowing them to run rampant over the people, China, where the introduction of large-scale use of again with no concern for tradition or the environment. tractors and combines in the wheat-producing area led to Ultimately, the Manchurian regime collapsed, leading greater efficiency.) One of the first acts of the govern- to a half-century of civil war and a massive invasion by ment after the collapse of the Cultural Revolution was Japan. to break-up the communes and redistribute the land to The Chinese Communist Party eventually won the civil the farmers. war against the corrupt Nationalist Party, which was The doubling of the population from the beginning supported by the United States. With China in ruins from of the present government in 1950 to the early 1980s a century of warfare, the new government was further gave planners pause. It was realized that continued growth handicapped by an embargo that the United States placed would make economic improvement impossible. The on China, not only with regard to its own trade, but also to human numbers would simply destroy the environment. trade with all the nations it could control. For a while, China became the first nation seriously to attempt to solve China was allied with the Soviet Union, also recovering population growth on a national scale. Indeed, the goal from the massive destruction of the Second World War. was not simply to stabilize the population, a quarter of But China, which had an indigenous understanding of the world’s, but to reduce it. Thus began the “One-Child” Communism far different from that of Stalin, eventually policy that received popular, albeit grudging, support. But broke with the Soviet Union. China was left entirely to its the one-child policy is in direct conflict with Chinese own resources to rebuild its economy and militarily resist religion, with its focus on the patrilineal family, in which the United States and the Soviet Union, with which it the continuation of the family through the male line is the fought on both its eastern and western borders. religious imperative. The one-child policy thus led to China attempted to pull itself up by its own bootstraps female infanticide or abandonment, which the govern- in the “Great Leap Forward” of the late 1950s, which ment has had great difficulty in eradicating. Changes are resulted in a major industrial and agricultural disaster, slowly taking place, such as some people intuitively Chinese Traditional Concepts of Nature 299 reconceiving the family as continuing bilaterally (des- government’s civil service system (rujia). These three so- cending either through the male or the female) given the called religions actually excluded the vast majority of one-child policy, although it is far too early to predict how Chinese religious practices, including all of the religious effective these changes will be. Without stabilizing the practices discussed above. These practices are now termed population, however, no conservation measure can have in the West “folk” or “popular” religion, implying it is any long-term effect. the religion of the uneducated masses, rather than the The aftermath of the Cultural Revolution was a shift religious practices of all classes, including the elite. from a socialist to a capitalist-type economy with few of Chinese culture, despite its geographic and demographic the controls and supports now to be found in the West size, is uniquely homogeneous, given regional variations. (where these controls have also begun to disappear with A single culture requires a single religious foundation, and globalization). The end of the American embargo has led for China, this is Chinese religion. to investment from Taiwan, Japan and the West. China understands that not only is major development necessary Jordan Paper to catch up with the West, but also its only means of competing with the West, given the history of Western Further Reading imperialism in China, is to become economically as strong Girardot, N.J., James Miller and Lui Xiaogan, eds. Daoism as the West. Such rapid economic development means and Ecology: Ways within a Cosmic Landscape. that environmental considerations are outweighed by Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2001. economic growth. The pollution created by China’s mas- Jordan, David K. Gods, Ghosts, and Ancestors: Folk sive industrialization is affecting the entire planet. On the Religion in a Taiwanese Village. Berkeley: University west coast of North America, there is frequently a dirty of California Press, 1972. haze that originates in China. Paper, Jordan. Chinese Religion Illustrated. CD-Rom. Where traditional Chinese culture continued, as on Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing, 1998. Taiwan, there is a growing environmental movement, Paper, Jordan. The Spirits Are Drunk: Comparative which recently halted the building of a nuclear electrical Approaches to Chinese Religion. Albany: State Uni- generation plant. In the industrial environment of the versity of New York Press, 1995. Mainland and the post-industrial environment of Taiwan, Paper, Jordan and Lawrence G. Thompson. The Chinese while traditional shanshui arts continue, its religious Way in Religion. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing, underpinnings are harder to find. Globalization and 1998 (2nd edn). capitalism, with the singular focus on immediate profit Paper, Jordan and Li Chuang Paper. “Chinese Religions, for its own sake, leaves no room for environmental con- Population, and the Environment.” In Harold Coward, siderations, let alone the understanding of a numinous ed. Population, Consumption, and the Environment: nature. The desacralization of nature on Mainland China Religious and Secular Responses. Albany: State Uni- is, in effect, deicide, the end of conceiving Earth as a versity of New York Press, 1995, 173–91. nurturing, female deity on whose bounty human life Smil, Vaclav. China’s Environmental Crisis: An Inquiry depends and to whom is due reverence and gifts in into the Limits of National Development. Armonk, NY: recompense for her own. Yet the resurgence of traditional M.E. Sharpe, 1993. religion has the potential to change these attitudes toward Thompson, Lawrence G. Chinese Religion: An Intro- nature, and voices trying to protect the environment are duction. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing, 1996 being increasingly heard. Hence, the relationship between (5th edn). nature and religion in China is in a state of flux. Tuan, Yi-Fu. “Discrepancies between Environmental Attitude and Behaviour: Examples from Europe A Note on Chinese Religion and China.” The Canadian Geographer 12 (1968), It is necessary to clear up a common Western misunder- 176–91. standing of religion in China. In the late sixteenth century, Tucker, Mary Evelyn and John Berthrong. Confucianism Jesuit missionaries created a trinitarian model for religion and Ecology: Seeking the Well-Being of Earth and in China flowing from a then-recent Chinese term, sanjiao Humans. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, (Three Doctrines). The term was found in the expression 2000. “the three doctrines are one”; that is, that different ways of See also: Astrology; Buddhism (various); Chinese thinking in China are harmonious and complementary. Environmentalism; Confucianism; Confucianism and The Christian missionaries instead used this term to mean Environmental Ethics; Creatures’ Release in Chinese that there are three exclusively different religions in Buddhism; Daoism; Eden and Other Gardens; Fengshui; China, with all that would mean in Christian culture: Landscapes; Martial Arts; Yunnan Region (South- Buddhism, Daoism, and “Confucianism,” the latter a west China and Montane Mainland Southeast Asia); Western fabricated religion based on the ideology of the Zhuangzi. 300 Chipko Movement Chipko Movement force in the struggle to resist commercial exploitation of the forests, sometimes going against the men in the The Chipko movement evolved in what was then the villages to save the trees. A number of commentators Uttarakhand region of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh have even described Chipko as a “feminist” movement, to fight commercial logging and deforestation in the and some see a particular association between the Mother Himalayan foothills. In Hindi “chipko” means “to cling” or Earth and the feminine principle, especially in Hindu “to embrace,” referring to the “tree-hugging” that has been thinking, but these views are described as a form of employed to keep trees from being felled. Accounts of the romanticism by some scholars who also point to the Chipko movement’s earliest protests differ, but deforesta- participation of men and children in most of the Chipko tion has a long history in the Himalayan foothills, predat- agitations. Before the Chipko movement began, women in ing the incorporation of the area into British India in the the Himalayan foothills region had campaigned against early nineteenth century. However, under the colonial alcohol consumption by their menfolk, which causes state commercial logging severely impacted the area; road severe financial and domestic problems. The anti-alcohol and railroad construction further deforested the land – the agitations were so successful that alcohol was banned in wood was used for railway sleepers, for instance – and led several Uttarakhand districts. Women’s groups have sub- to landslides, erosion, and floods that claimed many sequently formed in most of the region’s villages and serve victims and caused extensive damage. After India’s as the educational and activist core of many local eco- independence from Britain in 1947, Himalayan deforesta- logical efforts. There appear to be many concrete if tion accelerated under governmental policies that inexplicable manifestations of women’s involvement: for encouraged the extraction of natural resources on an instance, though the survival rate of saplings in govern- unprecedented level. The deforestation and consequent ment plantations was about 10 to 15 percent, in the destabilization of the hill communities have forced men to afforestation camps led by Bhatt and his followers this rate migrate to the plains to look for work. Women have had was 65 to 80 percent, and showed an appreciable increase to spend more time and travel longer distances to find following the greater involvement of women. Whether firewood, fodder, and water. women were more careful in planting the sapplings, or did In 1973, the villagers of Gopeshwar successfully so with greater love, are matters of speculation. resisted outside logging interests, partly by embracing the The Chipko movement has spread to other parts of trees the loggers were trying to cut down. Notable Gan- India, and has drawn international attention to indigen- dhian activists Sunderlal Bahuguna and Chandi Prasad ous, nonviolent resistance to powerful governmental and Bhatt, leaders of the Dashauli Gram Swarajya Sangh, were commercial forces of environmental degradation. The instrumental in organizing nonviolent resistance to log- First Citizens’ Report (1982), published by the late Anil ging that spread throughout the region. A pivotal event Aggarwal, founder of the Delhi-based Centre for Science occurred in 1974 when the men of Reni village decided to and Environment, dwelt on land, water, and forests, in a take their protest against the logging of their forest to the clear acknowledgment of how Chipko had brought these authorities. While the men were in town the loggers tried ecological issues to the fore. The world’s attention was to cut down the trees, but the women of the village, led by never preciously focused on the ecological crises afflicting 50-year-old Gaura Devi, forced the loggers to turn back. the Himalayan region. The Chipko movement is com- She is reported to have told the loggers, “This forest is like monly viewed as challenging Western notions of eco- our mother. You will have to shoot me before you can cut nomic development that destroys the natural environment it down.” Subsequent to this protest, the chief minister of and further impoverishes the poor, promoting instead the state set up an investigative committee which came to environmentally sound ideas of sustainable development the conclusion that the deforestation of the Alakananda and the empowerment and self-determination of the local valley had largely contributed to the devastating flood of people. But many who have studied the Chipko movement 1970; a few years later, another committee similarly have pondered how far the activists and villagers were declared itself in agreement with the villagers, who had inspired by the philosophical and religious traditions long held a grievance that the irregular tapping of chir of Indian thinking, and whether it is productive to think pines for resin, in contravention of the practices which of Chipko as an application of the fundamental ideas of stipulated the nature of the cuts, endangered the trees. On Hindu philosophy. There are some reports, for instance, of the recommendation of the committee, the forest depart- verses from the Bhagavadgita being recited at the agita- ment soon revoked contracts for all resin-tapping in the tions, and of the circulation of stories from the Bhagavata forests; and as the nonviolent, grassroots Chipko move- Purana, which chronicles the life of Krishna and his ment spread to other villages of the Himalayan foothills, exemplary resistance against the tyrannical exploits of the commercial felling of trees was finally banned in 1980. the king Kamsa. Some scholars find in the history of the Although men like Bahuguna and Bhatt have been Bishnois of Rajasthan, among whom the veneration for leaders of the movement, women have been the dominant plants and animals is widespread, a precedence for the Christ, Carol P. 301

Chipko movement, but the resistance to commercial Christ, Carol P. (1945–) forestry has a long history. In attempting to understand the religious basis of the Thealogian (feminized term derived from Theologian) Chipko movement, and get a different grip on the continu- Carol Christ directs courses in goddess spirituality and ing debate on whether Hindu spiritual traditions aid or sponsors pilgrimages to sites of ancient goddess-worship debilitate ecological awareness and activism, it may be in Greece. She has also held academic positions in the useful as well to distinguish briefly between the philo- United States. Christ criticizes Christian mainstream sophical views of its two most well-known advocates. traditions as too patriarchal to be reinterpreted from a Chandi Prasad Bhatt, who is active in the Alakananda feminist perspective. As an alternative, Christ constructs Valley, has argued that forest officials, contractors, and a theological perspective reclaiming ancient goddess- their local collaborators represent an ideology of devel- perspectives as a source of inspiration. Christ also criti- opment which is hostile to rural self-empowerment and cizes Western views of nature as characterized by self-reliance; he also promotes the use of alternative dichotomies that cause the oppression of nature. She technologies that hold out the promise of self-reliance, claims that modern Western culture lacks roots in a ecological stability, and humane development. Sunderlal geographical location, thus causing spiritual emptiness. Bahuguna, who works mainly in the Bhagirathi Valley, is However, in rural Greece Christ noticed a heritage of folk equally critical of commercial forestry but more resolutely religion centered on seasons and nature. These perspec- opposed to modern industrial civilization. As Rama- tives, she suggests, help to illuminate the need for alterna- chandra Guha has suggested, Bahuguna operates mainly tive rituals that celebrate the interrelatedness between in the prophetic mode, and through his marches, speeches, humans and Earth while giving thanks to the gifts of occasional writing, and public fasts he has not only nature manifested by each season. reached wide segments of the population, but resonated Christ is inspired by the findings and interpretations of with them in ways peculiar to Hindu sages. Bahuguna’s archeologist Marija Gimbutas and understands goddesses own charisma and asceticism recall to mind the non- of ancient Greek religion as reminders of more ancient violent activism of Gandhi. Though the precise Hindu gender-equal goddess religion, later deformed by patri- elements in the moral thinking and conduct of Bhatt and archy. According to Gimbutas, the figurines and symbolic Bahuguna may not always be transparent, that the move- paintings from the European Paleolithic and Neolithic ment originated in an area held as sacred by Hindus, and were centered on goddess civilization. Based on this and was led by those who drew their inspiration in part from other findings, Christ emphasizes religious ideas focused Gandhi, created some of the conditions for its success. on the goddess as giver and taker of life, symbolized by animals such as birds, bears, snakes, fish and hawks, and Elaine Craddock the female body as a central metaphor for the creative Vinay Lal powers of the Earth.

Further Reading Maria Jansdotter Banuri, Tariq and Frederique Apffel-Marglin. Who Will Save the Trees? London: Zed Books, 1993. Further Reading Guha, Ramachandra. The Unquiet Woods: Ecological Christ, Carol. Rebirth of the Goddess: Finding Meaning in Change and Peasant Resistance in the Himalaya. New Feminist Spirituality. New York: Routledge, 1997. Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1991. See also: Christianity (7d) – Feminist Theology; Ecofemi- Shiva, Vandana. Staying Alive: Women, Ecology and nism (various); Gimbutas, Marija; Goddesses – History of; Development. London: Zed Books, 1989. Wicca. Shiva, Vandana and J. Bandyopadhyay. “The Chipko Movement.” In J. Ives and D. Pitt, eds. Deforestation: Social Dynamics in Watershed and Mountain Eco- Christian Art systems. London: Routledge, 1988, 224–41. Weber, Thomas. Hugging the Trees: The History of the Since Christianity began as a sect of Judaism, the earliest Chipko Movement. New Delhi: Penguin Books, 1988. followers of Jesus of Nazareth met at the Jewish temple See also: Ananda Marga’s Tantric Neo-Humanism; Bishnoi in Jerusalem and at synagogues. Finding themselves in (Rajasthan, India); Gandhi, Mohandas; Hinduism; India; theological and ritual conflict with other worshippers at India’s Sacred Groves; Sarvodaya Shramadana Movement these sites, they began to meet in private homes, which (Sri Lanka). were not constructed or decorated as religious buildings. The first two centuries of Christian activity have thus left little distinctive art. Dating from the third century or later, most of the earliest surviving Christian painting is found 302 Christian Art in the catacombs of Rome, Italy, and is similar to tomb reflection of Christian doctrine, give each species an decorations from non-Christian sites. Christians adopted allegorical significance, and relate animals to biblical Hellenistic and Roman iconography, including visions of texts, such as John 1:29 – “Behold the Lamb of God.” pastoral calm, for depicting Christian themes, such as Medieval illuminated manuscripts also depict animal Christ as the Good Shepherd. Carvings of grape vines friendships with humans, such as the prophet Elijah fed by adorn early Christian sarcophagi as symbols of eternal life. ravens or a monk humanely removing a thorn from a The leaf covered human faces (Green Men) associated lion’s paw. Lacking a developed theory of perspective and with spiritual rebirth in the cult of the Greek god Dionysus, purposefully accentuating the size of important figures, later appear on Christian church portals as symbols of like Christ, medieval painters constructed landscapes resurrection. where humans and buildings are larger than major natural Several dominant themes in Christian art have histori- features, such as mountains. The simplified and dis- cally contemplated the meaning of nature, including: God’s proportionate representation of trees, peaks and rivers, creation of the cosmos, the golden age in Eden, Noah’s ark should not be interpreted as indifference to nature, but and the rescue of the animals, the coming era of peace in rather as a combination of pre-scientific technique and a God’s kingdom, the spiritual value of solitude in wilder- focus on the saints and biblical subjects. ness, the transience of the material world, the passage of In the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, gothic architects time and the seasons, birth and the initiation of life, resur- increased the “divine” light entering church sanctuaries by rection and renewal of humans and the universe, God’s raising the height of the walls and windows. Inspired by rule over the cosmos, and God’s continuing presence in the liberal arts, Christian artists turned to the fields and nature. Early Byzantine art, of the eastern Mediterranean forests to study form in nature. Accurate carvings of region, for example, often emphasizes God as Creator. The native flora decorate the capitals and altar screens of gothic sixth-century Church of St. Catherine at Mount Sinai in cathedrals, such as those in Rheims, France, and Naum- Egypt has thirteen beams across the ceiling of the nave berg, Germany. The “root of Jesse,” where Christ originates (central worship area), six of which bear floral or faunal from a giant twining vine or tree carrying his ancestors designs. The carvings depict such varied creatures as pea- as branches, the seven days of creation, Noah’s ark, and cocks, an antelope, ibexes, a tiger, an elephant, a camel, a Christ symbolically renewing all life by dying on a green turtle, fish, a crab and an octopus. One beam is entirely cross are frequent themes in gothic stained glass. dedicated to the Nile River, and displays both a wreath- Concentrating on perspective and fostering scientific wrapped cross and two crocodiles attempting to swallow naturalism, Renaissance painters placed religious figures oxen. Byzantine artists associated the agriculturally pro- in pastoral, or even mountainous landscapes. Giovanni ductive waters of the Nile with the gathering of the waters Bellini surrounded St. Francis in the Desert (ca. 1480) with described in Genesis. peaceful animals and a productive agricultural milieu. A Byzantine art intentionally portrayed the beauty, com- heavenly light source originating just outside the scene, plexity, and diversity of the Earth and oceans, thus it and reflecting the Christian concept of divine trans- encouraged naturalistic rather than abstract depictions cendence, illuminates the saint and unites him with the of animals and plants, while simplifying to retain the surrounding landscape. The wilderness, rather than being symbolic content of the images. During the fifth and sixth a harsh or forsaken environment, overflows with God’s centuries, natural history became a popular theme for presence. Geology, the atmosphere, and natural processes floor mosaics in ecclesiastical buildings. The mosaics fascinated Leonardo da Vinci. In his Madonna of the Rocks incorporate a great variety of living forms, ranging from (ca. 1483) and Virgin of the Rocks (1508), a painting ducks, to lions, to birds of prey, to hares. For Byzantine intended to elicit solemn meditation, he placed Jesus and Christians, even the least important of creatures reflected John the Baptist as toddlers, the Virgin Mary and an angel the mind of the Creator. in a wet, rocky grotto with stalactites and stalagmites. As Christianity spread into northern Europe, Christians Leonardo utilized the misty landscape displaying the continued earlier pagan motifs, such as the backward- cyclical processes of evaporation and condensation of looking or entwined animal figures of Celtic art. An extant water, to reflect the cycle of human emotions involved in high cross, from an early Columban monastery at Moone, prayer and intercession, and the cycle of redemption in Ireland, has a row of animals on one face, and the major human birth, death, and resurrection. figure of Christ on the arms of the cross is topped by a During and following the Renaissance and Reforma- dolphin. The Irish Book of Kells contains ornamented tion, European art diversified, and although Christian words formed of animals biting or grasping each other, patronage continued, explicitly Christian subjects became including an eagle with a mackerel in its talons. less dominant. Natural imagery, however, remained Medieval Christians constructed bestiaries, with illus- critical to theological expression. Titan’s Noli Me Tangere trations of real and imaginary animals, such as lions and (ca. 1510) sets the risen Christ in a pastoral countryside, unicorns. Bestiaries present the animal kingdom as a as he instructs Mary Magdalene not to touch him. The Christian Art 303 alignment of Christ’s body with trees and hills not only the background represents God’s transcendent and adds grace and substance to his form, it also enhances the ineffable presence. In representing Christian ideals, the message of triumph over death by fully incorporating the Hudson River Valley painters often jettisoned all human crucified one in a living landscape. Caspar David Friedrich religious artifacts, and allowed the glory of God to infuse a captures the panentheistic spirituality of German Roman- brilliant red sunset, or divine majesty to emanate from ticism in Cross on the Mountains (1808) by placing Jesus’ massive blue-green icebergs. Thomas Cole in The Oxbow, cross on a rocky pinnacle supporting scattered coniferous View from Mount Holyoke, Northhampton, Massachusetts trees and bathed in the red and gold of an intense sunset. (1836) details an actual bend in the Connecticut River and Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, a major influence on the captures both the wilderness and frontier settlement as a French Impressionists, caught the moment of divine salva- rainstorm passes overhead. To remind the viewer that God tion from earthly trials in Hagar in the Wilderness (1835). is present in this harmonious setting, Cole subtly shaped A master of landscape and light, he paralleled a desperate small openings in the forest on background hills into the Hagar and dying Ishmael with succulent desert plants, Hebrew letters for “Noah,” which also spell “Shaddi,” resisting the droughty environs. An angel, appearing like a meaning God the Provider, when turned upside down. small cloud, heralds divine provision of water in the form Not all artists producing Christian art are Christians, of a desert spring. American and English painters of the nor are all Christian works European or North American. nineteenth century utilized collections of peaceful animals Marc Chagall, who was Jewish, designed a spectacular to express Protestant millennial theology and apocalyptic series of stained glass windows (1976–1979) for a church expectations. Edward Hicks in the The Peaceable Kingdom in Mainz, Germany, including images of the creation. (several versions ca. 1840) and Junius Stearns in The Modern Japanese and Chinese Christians have adopted the Millenium (1849) depict children and domestic animals styles of Asian art to present scenes such as Christ stilling surrounded by wild animals and predators, reflecting the the tempest, with the frugal brush strokes and misty back- prophecy of Isaiah 11:6 that in God’s kingdom the lion grounds typical of Buddhist painting. Contemporary will lie down with a lamb and a child shall lead them. carver, Stanley Peters, has utilized the Pacific Northwest Photographer William Henry Jackson captured a natural Native American eagle totem, with outspread wings, to feature that appears as a cross on a mountain in Colorado portray Christ crucified on a large wooden cross. Christian in his Mountain of the Holy Cross (1873), a subject also art will continue to borrow from and influence other painted by Thomas Moran (1875). religious traditions and artistic movements as it pursues Today, many viewers too closely associate Christian art the aesthetics and spirituality of nature, and provides with Madonnas and crucifixions, and miss the Christian thoughtful reflection on the meaning of all life. intent of many compositions focusing on apparently natural or rural subjects. Peter Paul Rubens’ Landscape Susan Power Bratton with a Rainbow (1636–1637) is a panoramic view of grain fields, cattle on a road, and waterfowl in a stream backed Further Reading by a lush forest. A rainbow crowns the wispy clouds in a Anderson, William. Green Man: The Archetype of Our glowing sky. For Rubens, the peaceful and productive Oneness with the Earth. London: HarperCollins, countryside is the fruit of both proper husbandry and 1990. God’s benevolence. The rainbow is a sign of the continu- Camille, Michael. Gothic Art: Glorious Visions. New York: ing covenant between God, humanity and nature. Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1996. In the nineteenth century, the American Hudson River Fleming, William. Art & Ideas. Fort Worth: Harcourt Brace Valley School often incorporated Christian allegory in & Co., 1995. their works, and favored subjects such as Noah’s deluge Langmuir, Erika. Pocket Guides: Landscape. London: where they could represent dynamic natural processes and National Gallery of Art, 1997. God’s power in wave-washed rocks, and a storm-tossed Maguire, Henry. Earth and Ocean: The Terrestrial World in ark. Less obvious, however, is the roadside cross nestled Early Byzantine Art. University Park, PA: Pennsylva- among massive mountains and majestic tropical forest in nia State University Press, 1987. the center of Fredrick Edwin Church’s In the Heart of the Novak, Barbara. Nature and Culture: American Landscape Andes (1869). Church combines scientific accuracy in his and Painting 1825–1875. New York: Oxford Uni- carefully painted, recognizable species of tropical plants, versity Press, 1980. birds and butterflies, with equally carefully placed patches Sturgis, Henry and Hollis Clayson. Understanding of light illuminating the cross and a village church as well Painting: Themes in Art Explored and Explained. New as the icy heights of the cordillera. For Church, the scene York: Watson-Guptill Publications, 2000. captures all of God’s creation from the wet, lowland Veith, Gene. Painters of Faith: The Spiritual Landscape tropics to the freezing high latitudes. Divine light diffuses in Nineteenth-Century America. Washington, D.C.: through the landscape, and the high, snow-capped peak in Regnery Publishing, 2001. 304 Christian Camp Meetings

See also: Aesthetics of Nature and the Sacred; Archi- – all heard at once . . . Sinners falling, and shrieks tecture; Art; Bestiary; Christianity (5) – Medieval Period; and cries for mercy, awakened in the mind a lively Francis of Assisi; Green Man; Virgin of Guadalupe. apprehension of that scene when the awful sound will be heard, “Arise, ye dead, and come to judge- ment!” (Redford 1868: 365). Christian Camp Meetings The description of the camp setting as “awfully sub- Camp meetings are generally associated with the religious lime” strongly suggests that Romantic ideas were present revivalism of the nineteenth century, particularly as in addition to biblical imagery. Fitted to the American wil- manifested in frontier regions immediately west of the derness environment at places like Cane Ridge, Romantic Appalachians. They arose from two European sources. personal encounters with the sublime were combined with Both Presbyterianism in Scotland and Methodism in Eng- and mediated through the religiosity of Methodism and land developed ritual practices in which great crowds of Presbyterianism. people came from miles around and gathered for days. For Word of the Cane Ridge meeting quickly spread. Soon, Presbyterians, this took the form of huge sacramental these events were commonly attracting between three and feasts where a sense of sacred immanence was elicited. five hundred strong, with others skyrocketing to ten thou- Methodist orators proclaimed that certainty of salvation sand or more. Recognizing that camp meetings could not was experienced through a direct relationship with God. remain the haphazard affairs they had been, church leaders These practices set the stage for later American develop- began publishing guidelines for camp layouts by 1810. ments where huge groups of believers set up temporary Tents were to form a core, with streets running between residence in natural settings for purposes of worship. them. A place for general assembly was left open, and a Many Presbyterians and Methodists settled in the pulpit or speaker’s platform erected. Framing and inter- American colonies. After the American Revolutionary twined with the whole were trees. Neither in the tents nor War, itinerant preachers crossed the Appalachians and the forest alone, but only through their combined effect, Alleghenies. From their western slopes, thick forests was the environment for religious experience created. stretched to the horizon and beyond. Not surprisingly, In 1839 the Western Christian Advocate compared images of wilderness filled the religious rhetoric of circuit camp meetings to the Jewish Feast of Tabernacles. Writing riders. American forests were compared to the wilds of the nearly twenty years later, Reverend B.W. Gorham also Sinai. Experiences of Hebrews in the latter were likened to linked the Feast of Tabernacles with camp meetings. Such those of Christian believers in the former. Presbyterian and references continually linked contemporary Christian Methodist evangelicals were not alone; Baptist and camp meetings to imagery of Israelites in the Sinai wilder- Lutheran ministers were active on the frontier as well. ness. Sites by this time were becoming more permanent. One of the most active and influential preachers of all Wooden cabins replaced cloth tents. Yet, these structures was a Presbyterian named James McGready. By 1800 the were still referred to as “tents.” To protect public gather- sacramental feasts hosted by him and his colleagues were ings from inclement weather, large open-sided buildings attracting hundreds of people. Because their numbers called “tabernacles” or “arbors” were constructed. Camps exceeded the capacity of churches and barns to hold them, were transformed into villages in the forest. During the a tradition developed of holding meetings in the woods. late nineteenth and twentieth centuries some became These events were characterized by powerful emotional towns in the woods. outbursts and by the use of wilderness imagery to inten- Today, permanent encampments exist across the sify religious experience. The famous 1801 Cane Ridge United States. Although camp meetings became almost meeting in Kentucky provides an example. As one partici- completely a Methodist phenomenon by the 1840s, now pant recalled: virtually all denominations make use of such retreats. Their layout hearkens back not only to the American In consequence of so great a collection of people, it frontier and biblical wilderness rhetoric, but also to frequently happened that several preachers would European beginnings. Christian camp meetings and their be speaking at once . . . Nor were they at a loss for emphasis on direct experience of God through nature pulpits: stumps, logs, or lops of trees served as tem- remain a vital part of America’s religious fabric. porary stands from which to dispense the word of life. At night, the whole scene was awfully sublime. Joel Geffen The ranges of tents, the fires, reflecting light amidst the branches of the towering trees; the candles and Further Reading lamps illuminating the encampment; hundreds mov- Eslinger, Ellen. Citizens of Zion: The Social Origins of ing to and fro, with lights or torches, like Gideon’s Camp Meeting Revivalism. Knoxville: The University army; the preaching, praying, singing, and shouting of Tennessee Press, 1999. Christian Environmentalism in Kenya 305

Ferguson, Charles. Organizing to Beat the Devil: Method- Several Catholic parishes draw their congregations ists and the Making of America. Garden City, New from the lower income housing estates of Thika, which York: Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1971. were particularly impacted by the pollution. The Church Johnson, Charles A. The Frontier Camp Meeting. Dallas: had raised the issue with the local authorities in vain. In Southern Methodist University Press, 1955. early 1990 parishioners decided to act more decisively. Led Redford, A.H. The History of Methodism in Kentucky, by their priests (Father Gregory Macharia, Father Micheal vol. 1. Nashville: Southern Methodist Publishing Schrode, Father Ndikaru wa Teresia and Father Max House, 1868. Stater), the parishioners of St. Mulumba and Makongeni Weiss, Ellen. City in the Woods: The Life and Design of an parishes staged a peaceful procession to the industrial American Camp Meeting on Martha’s Vineyard. sites, where they held prayers between two wooden crosses Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1987. erected to demonstrate their protest. The reaction of the See also: Christianity (6c5) – Methodism (Reformation government was momentous. The President of Kenya Traditions); Scouting. (Daniel arap Moi) intervened and ordered the authorities concerned to move in and rectify the problem. An environmental committee was constituted to look for a Christian Environmentalism in Kenya solution to the problem. The KEL factory was shut down and ordered to fit its workers with protective garments and In Kenya, little exploration has been done on the relation- boots. Scrubbers were also to be installed in the exhaust ship between religious beliefs and environmental matters. system in order to minimize the toxic elements that escape Indeed, the religious significance of the environment into the air. Although other factories have continued to seems to be sidelined in official development plans and pollute the town’s environment, at least they have put strategies. In ecclesiastical circles, not much has been said measures in place to minimize the level of pollutant or written concerning the Church’s social and physical elements that find their way into the air and rivers. The involvement in environmental matters. However, there are priests, particularly Father Ndikaru wa Teresia, have cases where churches have become involved in environ- continued to crusade for a safe environment in the town. mental activism, and religion has also been part of the The second case is that of Father John Kiongo of campaigns of Professor Wangari Maathai, a well-known Limuru Parish, Kiambu, Kenya. Father Kiongo is a credible crusader on environmental matters in Kenya. In some of Catholic crusader in the battle against environmental deg- these instances influences from indigenous traditions has radation. His environmental vision is based on biblical been apparent. expositions (particularly Genesis 1:29) where humanity is The Catholic Church has been at the forefront in believed to have been commissioned to be stewards of fighting environmental degradation and particularly God’s creation on Mother Earth. To him, environmental atmospheric pollution in Kenya. This is well demonstrated negligence is due to sheer ignorance. He exhorts all by the concerted demonstrations and protests that took categories of people, particularly Christians, to conserve place in the early 1990s against environmental pollution the environment and even perfect it. Having been inspired in Thika town. Thika, one of the three most industrialized by these biblical passages, Father Kiongo established a tree urban areas in Kenya, happens also to be one of the most nursery in 1990. He bought seedlings from local people heavily polluted places in the country. Several industries and gathered samplings of indigenous trees from the local located in Thika threaten the health of residents. They forests. His aim has been to demonstrate to other people include KEL Chemical, which manufactures various that something positive can be done to salvage the chemicals including Sulphuric Acid and Sodium Super- environment. His purpose is twofold. Firstly, through his phosphate (SSP) fertilizer, several textile factories, Kenya plans to create awareness and educate fellow Christians Leather Industries, British American Tobacco, and Bulleys on the need to preserve the environment. Secondly, he Tanneries. The factories were generating atmospheric seeks to preserve the indigenous trees, which he correctly pollution, creating offensive smells, and discharging tons believes are very important to the local community in of toxic effluent into the nearby Thika River, harming areas of medicines, fuel, fencing, artistic beauty and aquatic life and endangering the lives of water consumers human and animal foodstuffs. Besides, these trees are an downstream. There was also solid waste pollution from the important component of African traditional culture and Thika Municipal garbage sites, the home to hundreds heritage, which is threatened by extinction. Christians in of stray pigs which come to feed on mounds of rotting Limuru have benefited significantly from this environ- industrial and municipal refuse. There were also poorly mental mission by Father Kiongo. Many have become disposed hospital instruments, expired drugs, syringes and conscious of the need to conserve the environment by needles. These garbage heaps draw all sorts of scavengers planting trees. His nursery has been commended highly including vultures, dogs, cattle, goats and even human by agricultural extension officers, diocesan development beings. coordinators, the forest department and heads of various 306 Christian Fellowship Church schools, who have brought students to see for them- Mugambi, Jesse Ndwiga Kanyua and Vahakangas selves. Mika, eds. Christian Theology and Environmental The third case is that of Professor Wangari Maathai, Responsibility. Nairobi: Acton Publishers, 2001. who is a household name in the area of environmental Otim, J. J. The Taproot of Environmental and Development conservation in Kenya, with particular reference to the Crisis in Africa. Nairobi: ACLCA Publishers, 1992. conservation of forests. She has used various church See also: African Religions and Nature Conservation; forums to sensitize Kenyans on the need to conserve trees Biodiversity and Religion in Equatorial Africa; Kenya as a natural heritage. She is perhaps best known as co- Greenbelt Movement. ordinator of the Green Belt Movement, which encourages people to plant trees in rows around church and school compounds and plots of farm land. Such planting of trees Christian Fellowship Church (Solomon “dresses up” these naked compounds with belts of green Islands) trees, hence the name “Green Belt.” Professor Maathai has The Christian Fellowship Church is an indigenous also led public demonstrations against the excising of Church of New Georgia in the western Solomon Islands. forests in Kenya’s limited water catchment zones. She is Beginning in the 1950s as a movement of separatism from also on record as the most important voice in the protests the Methodist Mission and led by “wayward” Methodist that effectively stopped construction of a sixty-storied pastor Silas Eto (ca. 1905–1984), the movement was con- skyscraper in Nairobi at a public utility park. Professor stituted as a separate Church in 1960, the strongly charis- Maathai was also a prominent participant in the joint matic Eto by then being known as Holy Mama (mama prayers in Nairobi in 1999, which were called by church being an affectionate term for “father” in New Georgia). leaders of all denominations to protest peacefully against With strong doctrines of communalism preached by Holy the allocation of Karura forest to private developers. The Mama, to the extent that the Church has overall control demonstrators carried twenty tree seedlings, which had over the customary lands and natural resources of several been blessed by the Catholic Archbishop, the Anglican dozen adherent villages, the CFC has maintained the dual Archbishop and the General Secretary of the National face of sectarian isolationism and fierce independence. Council of Churches of Kenya at a service held at Uhuru In the 1970s multinational giant Unilever extended Park, Nairobi. This demonstrated the concerns of the logging operations into CFC-controlled areas; meanwhile Christian community about the degradation of the forests. Australian conservationists campaigned in the area. In some of the above instances, influences from tradi- Strong opposition to logging arose, ultimately involving tional African heritage are evident. For example, Chris- CFC leadership and villages in the downfall and departure tian protests against excising of forests by certain greedy of Unilever logging from the Solomons in 1986. After the politicians echo indigenous traditions whereby nobody death of Holy Mama, his senior sons J.D. Tausinga and owned forests individually since people and animals col- I. Rove have attained key roles in national politics and in lectively belong to the forests. There was no dichotomy the spiritual continuity of the CFC, acting unpredictably between the sacred and the secular. Both religious and toward nature conservationists and loggers alike. On the political leaders were accountable to God in the way they one hand, Eto’s fusion of Melanesian custom, old-style related to his creation at large. Secondly, Christian demon- Methodism, and concern for local autonomy has kept alive strations against environmental pollution bear witness to traditional respect for the forests and seas, and newer traditional African spiritual wisdom and philosophy, beliefs about God’s creation. Such respect and a corres- which was based on the maintenance of balance between ponding environmental commitment have been reinforced humans and the environment. The collective community by Australian input from the Rainforest Action Group. good and sacredness of life provided the moral founda- On the other hand, the drive to make the Western Province tions of human rights and respect for God’s creation in count in the national Solomon Islands economy, and general. Thirdly, the ritual blessing of tree seedlings by modernist approaches to development, have pushed church leaders is a reflection of indigenous African politicians representing CFC interests into concession with rituals, festivals and celebrations that were conducted to Korean and other logging companies. CFC, having been an bless forests, rivers, shrines, land and harvests. There was a important religious voice for environmental conservation, close partnership between humanity and nature. faces hard choices in the twenty-first century.

Samson Gitau Edvard Hviding

Further Readings Further Reading Gitau, Samson. K. The Environmental Crisis: A Challenge Harwood, Frances H. “The Christian Fellowship Church: A for African Christianity. Nairobi: Acton Publishers, Revitalization Movement in Melanesia.” University of 2000. Chicago doctoral thesis. Chicago, 1971. A Christian Friend of the Earth 307

Hviding, Edvard and Tim Bayliss-Smith. Islands of pion, at the head of the National Council of Churches of Rainforest: Agroforestry, Logging and Ecotourism in Christ is welcome news. The increasing involvement of Solomon Islands. Aldershot: Ashgate, 2000. religious organizations is reflected in what some of today’s Tausinga, Job D. “Our Land, Our Choice: Development of most well-known religious leaders have said: North New Georgia.” In Ron Crocombe and Esau Tuza, eds. Independence, Dependence, Interdependence: The Faced with the widespread destruction of the First 10 Years of Solomon Islands Independence. environment, people everywhere are coming to Honiara: University of the South Pacific/Solomon understand that we cannot continue to use the Islands College of Higher Education, 1992, 55–66. goods of the Earth as we have in the past . . . The Tuza, Esau. 1977. “Silas Eto of New Georgia.” In Garry W. ecological crisis has assumed such proportions as Trompf, ed. Prophets of Melanesia. Port Moresby/ to be the concern of everyone (Pope John Paul II). Suva: Institute of Papua New Guinea Studies/Institute of Pacific Studies, University of the South Pacific, It is not right for us to destroy the world God has 1981, 65–87. given us . . . We Christians have a responsibility to take the lead in caring for the Earth (The Rev. Billy Graham). P A Christian Friend of the Earth Care of the environment constitutes a most urgent Editor’s Introduction: Dr. Brent Blackwelder, President of question for each and every human person . . . From Friends of the Earth U.S., which is part of Friends of the this, we conclude that . . . to commit a crime against Earth International, the world’s largest environmental the natural world is a sin. For humans to cause spe- advocacy network with member groups in seventy coun- cies to become extinct, to destroy the biological tries, delivered the following talk at the Marble Collegiate diversity of God’s creation, for humans to degrade Church in New York City, in February 2003. While there is the integrity of the Earth by causing changes in its certainly great religious pluralism within environmental climate, stripping the forests, or destroying wetlands groups such as the SIERRA CLUB, WILDERNESS SOCIETY, and – these are sins (Patriarch Bartholomew II, Eastern FRIENDS OF THE EARTH, (for another example from a Friends Orthodox Churches). of the Earth activist see the entry SALVADORAN REFLECTION ON RELIGION, RIGHTS, AND NATURE), leaders from such groups I want to share with you some of the verses I find most increasingly reach out to religious groups as part of their inspirational and most instructive about our duties to efforts to galvanize support for environmental causes. God’s great creation. One of my favorites is from the Blackwelder’s talk provides a synthetic example of such Sermon on the Mount where Jesus marvels at the beauty efforts. of a flower: “Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. They toil not; neither do they spin. Yet I tell you, even As the son and grandson of Episcopal ministers, I have Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these” always been moved by a spiritual concern for God’s great (Matt. 6:28–29). creation. The rampant pollution of air and water in the My central message is that we need all major religions 1960s convinced me on the first Earth Day in 1970 that today in order to halt the alarming destruction of all the great moral challenge of our time was to reverse the the Earth’s magnificent ecosystems and to begin the widespread degradation on the Earth. I began writing my challenging process of restoration and rehabilitation. The doctoral dissertation in philosophy on duties to animals, strength of environmental organizations in the U.S. and but I also linked up as a volunteer that year with Friends worldwide is not sufficient given the rapid pace of destruc- of the Earth and the League of Conservation Voters. As a tion. By looking at the Jewish and Christian under- result of that volunteering, I ended up doing environ- pinnings for environmental stewardship, we can see how mental work, helping to set up new organizations like strong this foundation is and exactly why religious American Rivers and the Environmental Policy Institute organizations can make such a difference. and to expand the effectiveness of other groups. The involvement of most denominations in environ- Religious Basis for Environmental Stewardship mental issues has increased over the past thirty years, especially during the last ten years. The National Religious The Great Creation Partnership for the Environment, headed by Paul Gorman, The duties of environmental stewardship flow first from has been a great catalyst and a great blessing, bringing the core belief that God has created the universe and, together Jewish, Protestant, and Roman Catholic efforts to second, from our duty to love our neighbor as ourselves. care for creation. Most recently, the presence of former These two fundamental tenets of our faith mean that Congressman Bob Edgar, a great environmental cham- caring about the environment is not merely an option, not 308 A Christian Friend of the Earth just one more thing on a list of socially correct behavior or the waters swarm” (Gen. 1:20). “Yonder go the ships, something we discuss about giving a “yes” or “no” to. As and Leviathan which thou didst form to sport in it” the Rev. Steve Huber of St. Columba’s Episcopal Church (Ps. 104:26). puts it: “God calls us into a relationship of loving, caring, The theme of God’s caring for all of his creation is and faithfulness. The way we fulfill our part is in our picked up in the New Testament in several places: “Are relationships to others and the rest of creation.” not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And no one of The Judeo-Christian tradition calls for strong, active them is forgotten before God?” (Luke 12:6) “And not one stewardship of creation and places special responsibility of them will fall to the ground without your Father’s will” on humans. In Genesis 2:15 we read that God put Adam in (Matt. 10:29). the Garden of Eden to “tend and keep it.” The Hebrew word Some have asked why there is not more discussion of for “tend” is shamar, which means to guard and watch environmental issues in the New Testament. Concerns over. Throughout the creation story in the first book of about environmental destruction do not appear in the New Genesis, God observes the various stages and calls them Testament in large part because the New Testament is not merely “good” but “very good.” covering a short period of time in which the fundamental Throughout the Psalms we find exaltations of the subject concerns the challenge Jesus is making to the magnificence of creation: “The Earth is the Lord’s and the Jewish authorities about the hypocrisy of the scribes and fullness thereof, the world and all that dwell in it” (Psalm Pharisees. The region was not facing ecological collapse. 24:1). Rather the key matter on the mind of Jesus was the failure of the official Jewish religious leaders of the day. Given You make springs gush forth in the valleys; They the absence of substantial specific scripture on environ- flow between the hills, giving drink to every wild mental problems in the New Testament, a good way for animal . . . By them the birds of the air have their Christians to seek guidance is to ask the question of what habitation . . . The high mountains are for the wild Jesus would do in our circumstances today. goats; the rocks are a refuge for the badgers . . . O Throughout the last 400 years much of this scripture I Lord, how manifold are your works! In wisdom have cited was avoided or downplayed by exploiters of have you made them all; the earth is full of your natural resources who seized on the King James transla- creatures. Yonder is the sea, great and wide, which tion as giving humans “dominion” over creation. George teems with things innumerable, living things both Bernard Shaw observed that the Devil can quote scripture small and great (Ps. 104:10, 18, 24, 25). to suit his own purposes, and the polluters and the greedy have certainly done that. The most glaring example used Saint Paul echoes this theme: “For in him all things were by those who try to assert that the Bible is anti- created, in heaven and on Earth, visible and invisible” environmental comes from the use of the word “domin- (Col. 1:16). ion” in Genesis. “Dominion” is a poor translation of the In the book of Job there is an eloquent summary of the Hebrew “kivshu” which, although it implies a form of wisdom and greatness of creation: control that humans certainly have over the rest of nature, is more accurately translated as “steward” and can be But ask the animals, and they will teach you, the thought of in the way a gardener has responsibility for birds of the air, and they will tell you, Ask the plants the care, the nurturing, and the survival of his garden. of the earth, and they will teach you, and the fish of Furthermore, those who cite this verse conveniently over- the sea will declare to you. Who among these does look the preceding and following verses which extol all not know that the hand of the Lord has done this? of creation. They have taken a verse which provides a In his hand is the life of every living thing and the responsibility directive and turned it into a green light for breath of every human being (Job 12:7–10). exploitation. God’s concern for all animals is manifest in The diversity of creation is celebrated in Genesis: this very story, as he says: “to every beast of the Earth and to every bird of the air and to every thing that creeps upon the Lord has made all kinds of trees grow out of the the Earth . . . I have given every green plant for food” ground, trees that were pleasing to the eye and good (Genesis 1:30). for food (Gen. 2:9). Let the waters bring forth A second example comes from those citing the verse swarms of living creatures, and let the birds fly “be fruitful and multiply” as giving humans carte-blanche above the earth across the firmament of the heavens to procreate. These individuals are in for a surprise if they (Gen. 1:20). read the preceding verses, because God first gives this blessing to all the animals – the fish, the birds, and the Writers of the Hebrew Bible were particularly impressed beasts. Thus, the blessing given to humans to flourish by the great sea monsters. “So God created the great sea is conditional upon our not impairing this very same monsters and every living creature that moves, with which blessing already given by God to other living creatures. A Christian Friend of the Earth 309

In Genesis 9 the story of Noah’s ark ends with the myself. We need to ask how our choices for energy, food, covenant being established not just between God and and transportation affect other people and God’s creation. Noah, but with all of the animals on the ark. “Behold, I Several examples of imaginative action by church groups establish my covenant with you and your descendants illustrate the potential for both individual and group after you, and with every living creature that is with you, action. the birds, the cattle, and every beast of the Earth with you, In California the Rev. Sally Bingham started a program as many as came out of the ark” (Gen. 9:8–10). We have called Episcopal Power and Light, trying to get churches here the first Endangered Species Act. The choice of how to consider purchasing their electricity from renewable we treat other living things is not optional. They are an sources of energy like wind. There is now an Interfaith integral part of the great creation. Power and Light effort underway. This is especially important in the United States because we as a country are Love Thy Neighbor the biggest emitters of global warming gases whose Pollution disproportionately impacts the poor and minor- climate altering impacts will be felt most harmfully on the ities. Around the world major exploitation of natural poor of the world. As the Rev. Bob Edgar said, “It is only resources by various oil, mining and timber transnational right that those who cause a problem be the ones who corporations has left people with ruined fisheries, polluted rectify it. It is not fair that restrictions be placed on the water and contaminated land. The whole development poor to make up for damage, past and present, caused by of the environmental justice movement draws from the the conduct of the rich.” biblical message of loving your neighbor, not poisoning I have participated with several Roman Catholic orders your neighbor. We are paying the price for heavy use of in protesting the energy policies of Exxon/Mobil which pesticides and other carcinogenic material. According for years has funded efforts to prevent action to curtail to the American Cancer Society, by 2050, some form of emission of greenhouse gases. These orders hold substan- cancer is now projected to hit one in every two men and tial amounts of stock. At one annual Exxon shareholders one in every three women, meeting I attended with them in Dallas, the Chairman and As we think of our neighbor, we must consider how our Chief Executive Officer Lee Raymond attempted a propa- actions affect all of those around us. The first biblical ganda campaign by noting that thousands of scientists example of pollution affecting a neighbor can be found in had signed a letter saying the science about global Ezekiel 34:18–19 where we read: warming was shaky. One of our group had to point out to Mr. Raymond that among his highly touted scientists were Is it not enough for you to feed on the good pasture, members of the Spice Girls and some actors from the cast but you must tread down with your feet the rest of of MASH. Raymond was embarrassed and could only reply your pasture? When you drink of the clear water, that all Exxon’s material for the meeting was supposed to must you foul the rest with your feet? And must my be peer-reviewed. sheep eat what you have trodden with your feet, and One of the most creative environmental campaigns drink what you have fouled with your feet? initiated by churches is called “What Would Jesus Drive?” Religious leaders have picketed SUV dealerships, Warnings of unwise land use can be found in the Old run full-page newspaper ads, and led protests. At a press Testament. From Isaiah we have the first message about conference in Detroit, a group of nuns parked four energy- sprawl: “Woe unto you who lay house to house and field efficient hybrid cars in a row to spell out the four-word to field until there is no room in the land” (Isaiah 5:8). question: “What Would Jesus Drive?” A slightly different translation is: “Woe betide those who Separation of urban areas from food production has add house to house and field to field, until everyone else prevented many Americans from knowing about one of is displaced, and you are left as sole inhabitants of the the greatest sources of cruelty to animals and one of the countryside.” most flagrant sources of pollution. Gigantic factory farms, Churches can provide a powerful counter to the greedy which also receive substantial government subsidy, some- exploitation of natural resources without regard to the times crowd over 1000 pigs into a building and do not consequences for those directly impacted or for future allow them to lie down. Massive amounts of manure generations who will be living with toxic dumps, degraded inevitably break loose from lagoons and kill fish. These water, and depleted fisheries. Let us next look specifically unsustainable factory farms with their horrible stench and at what churches can do. cruelty to animals are a plague of biblical proportions on rural America. What can religious organizations do about the The whole notion of caring for the land is laid out in environmental crisis? chapter 25 of Leviticus where the need for a Sabbath for Modern life separates us from the consequences of our the land is discussed. “Six years shall you sow your field actions. This is particularly true for city dwellers like and six years you shall prune your vineyard, and gather in 310 Christian Nature Writing its fruits; but in the seventh year there shall be a sabbath chance to restore and heal the Earth. David Brower, of solemn rest for the land . . .” (Lev. 25:3–4). The notion founder of Friends of the Earth, had a goal for the twenty- of caring for the land is missing in much of industrial first century of CPR for the Earth. God’s creation is like agriculture. Of course there have been plenty of individual a patient in the emergency room needing CPR – conser- farmers who have been terrible stewards of the land, vation, protection, and restoration. Christians can and but the scale of destruction and poisoning of farmland should play a critical role in providing such CPR to this by chemical-intensive industrial agriculture today is wounded Earth. immense. The industrialization of farming and the unexamined Brent Blackwelder pursuit of “cheaper” food have led to a shocking situation. In Proverbs we read: “A righteous man has regard for the See also: Brower, David; Salvadoran Reflection on life of his beast.” In Romans, Saint Paul wrote: “If your Religion, Rights, and Nature. brother is being injured by what you eat, you are no longer walking in love” (Rom. 14:15). There are many, many ways organized religion can Christian Nature Writing make a decisive difference in environmental battles. Churches need to be alert to the ways the Tax Code Does the art form known as nature writing include dis- encourages the pollution of creation and the poisoning of tinctively Christian perspectives and expressions? If our neighbors. The code offers major subsidies to coal, one means by this a literary genre that espouses Christian oil, and gas mining operations of far greater magnitude doctines about the natural world, the answer would almost than any subsidies for renewable energy or conservation. certainly be “no.” If, however, one is referring to writing Half of the states in the United States exempt pesticides that attends to and reflects upon the natural world in light from sales tax. Of special concern are the tax breaks for of Christian symbols, images and motifs, then the answer gas-guzzling sport utility vehicles (SUVs). SUVs cost the must surely be yes. Writers whose work might well be U.S. Treasury more than $10 billion because they are included within this framework include such relatively exempt from the gas-guzzler tax imposed on automobiles. early figures as Gerard Manley Hopkins, William Blake, Small business purchasers of very large SUVs are, more- John Muir, and Gilbert White. Among contemporary over, allowed to write off much of their cost in the first writers, one might include the work of such varied writers year. Would Jesus drive an SUV? as Annie Dillard, Denise Levertov, Thomas Merton, Pattiann Rogers, Norman Maclean, Barry Lopez, Terry Conclusion Tempest Williams, Czeslaw Milosz, and Wendell Berry. Religious organizations can play a decisive role in revers- While certainly not uniform in their approach to religious ing the desecration of the Earth. First, they bring a large questions, nor simply or easily identifiable as Christian and dedicated group of people into the struggle. The writers, these writers do give sustained attention to Chris- environmental movement does not have sufficient mem- tian symbols and images as part of a larger endeavor of bership and clout to win. Second, churches can provide a trying to understand the natural world and our place in it. powerful moral force and presence. The independent In doing so, they make a distinctive contribution to the moral voice is especially important because some of the more encompassing focus of spirituality that characterizes largest polluters have well-financed lobby efforts and nature writing as a whole. make large political campaign contributions. Furthermore, Incarnation is one of the motifs arising from the Chris- they have funded anti-environmental groups who carry tian tradition that informs the work of many nature out disinformation campaigns such as Exxon’s attempt to writers. Incarnation here refers to the central Christian thwart action on global warming. The disinformation mystery of God’s indwelling in human flesh in the person campaigns by major corporate polluters try to portray of Jesus Christ. The early Christian tradition quickly seized mainstream environmental organizations as selfish, upon the cosomological implications of this idea, taking caring more about animals than people, or as scientifically the incarnation of God in Jesus to mean that all matter – ignorant. When the churches participate in environmental the entire cosmos – is suffused with God’s presence and battles it is harder for the polluters and their front groups therefore holy. To experience the world through the lens to persuade the public and politicians with specious of the incarnation is to experience it sacramentally, to see arguments. living beings as infused with an inherent sacrality. In In this day and age when there is malicious propaganda Thomas Merton’s monastic journals, kept over a period of everywhere, church participation in the environmental 27 years while living at the monastery of Our Lady of struggle can provide crucial leverage and perspective, Gethsemani in Kentucky, and in occasional writings such while drawing large numbers into the debate providing as “Day of a Stranger” and “Rain and the Rhinoceros,” one moral force and clarity. This spells political clout and a encounters a body of work expressing a profound Christian Nature Writing 311 understanding of the incarnation. One sees this in his Consider Barry Lopez’s evocation of icebergs in the far lyric descriptions of the landscape surrounding his north, pages of delicate description devoted to trying to hermitage (partly influenced by his study of Zen capture the subtle and shifting color, the shape and texture Buddhism); in his sense of the redeeming character of of these massive structures. And the difficult challenge of the monastic rhythm of manual labor and monastic prayer trying to talk about the light reflecting off these giant (or et labora); and in his understanding of the monastery shards of ice, and how it affects one to stand in the (and the monastic life) as a locus of resistance against presence of such light. The struggle to notice and describe the forces of oppression and alienation, whether eco- it fully and accurately (the light itself and one’s response logical or racial or social. to the light) leads, for Lopez, to an unexpected comparison One can see a related but distinct sensibility in the work – between the light radiating off of the icebergs and the of poets Pattiann Rogers and Denise Levertov. For Rogers, light pouring through stained-glass windows in medieval a sensitive and scientifically exacting observation of the cathedrals. It would not be fair to say that Lopez, in life process of particular plants and animals (and of the making this comparison, “baptizes” the icebergs. He unfolding universe itself) informs and is informed by a respects their mysterious presence too much to allow any subtle re-reading of classic Christian ideas such as grace, such reduction of their meaning. But he does engage the sin, redemption, and incarnation, creating a fresh, original question of meaning, in particular what it means to us to and compelling “natural theology.” In Levertov’s poetry, stand in the presence of these icebergs, with the help of a especially her later work, one sees an insistent attention to tradition of art and theology and spirituality that comes the spiritual significance of attention to and “encounter” from another world entirely, that of medieval Christen- with the palpable world. Such encounters can occur, in dom. To really see anything, suggests Lopez, one must be Levertov’s work, with the wild world – a heron in a lake or prepared to risk an imaginative leap, an unexpected meta- the vision of Mt. Ranier appearing and suddenly dis- phorical association – in this case, the association between appearing behind a bank of clouds. Or it can happen in the the theology and spirituality through which medieval ordinary domestic sphere, as in that moment when you Christians expressed the wonder and beauty and magic of pick up an old kitchen knife and unexpectedly find your- light and the luminous light of icebergs. Such a rhetorical self in the presence of your mother, long dead now, move can be understood, I think, as part of a discipline of who also held and cherished this knife. Here is a profound attention and imagination aimed at cultivating a sense of poetic evocation of sacrament, the experience of ordinary mystery, of the sacred in the natural world. That Lopez physical reality transfigured, mediating and making uses Christian images and symbols to grasp the presence present a larger reality, a larger presence, spirit. of mystery in a northern landscape does nothing to limit A second motif appearing in the work of writers influ- or circumscribe the meaning of this landscape. Rather, enced by the Christian spiritual tradition is the importance it opens it up to be discovered anew. In turn, given the of cultivating attention – understood as a kind of prayer – reciprocal manner in which metaphors always work, such as a necessary spiritual practice. In the Christian tradition, a meditation on those cathedrals of ice may well lead it is the practice and discipline of prayer that helps move readers to reflect differently on the Christian spiritual the seeker from an occasional awareness of incarnational, tradition that gave rise to the medieval cathedrals. Here we sacramental reality to a more abiding state of awareness. see a process of reflection that has the potential to fire the Here prayer refers not to dialogue with a transcendent and imagination to see and encounter the natural world and disembodied being, but simple attention to the One whose the world of Spirit with new eyes – not unlike the process presence suffuses and sustains every living thing. In the of contemplative prayer described by those who stood nature writing tradition, one often encounters a quality gazing up at the light of the medieval cathedrals. of attention to the natural world that is so rich and Still, the natural world is not only light and beauty. encompassing that it seems almost indistinguishable from Nature writers and poets who have been shaped by the what Christian mystics would call deep, contemplative Christian tradition reveal an extraordinary sensitivity to prayer. Certainly the Christian spiritual tradition is not the reality of suffering and evil in the cosmos. Annie alone in asserting the importance of paying close attention Dillard’s famous description in Pilgrim at Tinker Creek of to the ordinary (nor has it always lived up to its own ideals a frog being devoured alive by a water bug is more than a in this regard). One notices a similar sensibility at work casual allusion to “nature red in tooth and claw”; it is an in the work of writers for whom Buddhism provides entrée into a sustained and harrowing inquiry into the inspiration and meaning (e.g., Gary Snyder, Gretel moral shape of the universe, into the question of God’s Ehrlich). The same could be said of indigenous writers justice. When toward the end of A River Run’s Through It, such as Linda Hogan, Simon Ortiz, and Leslie Marmon Norman Maclean asks about the meaning of his brother’s Silko. But there is in writers who draw upon Christian sudden and violent death, his love affair with Montana’s images and symbols a distinctive way of thinking about Big Black Foot River takes a turn toward a question as old the art of attention. as it is intractable: What kind of world is this, where death 312 Christian Theology and the Fall and suffering crush us with such seemingly random and intertestamental period, an era of political oppression and careless power? The work of Czeslaw Milsosz, a native internal conflict for the Jewish people which contributed of Lithuania who has long struggled with the Catholic to the apocalyptic belief in a corrupt world. In the apoca- tradition in which he was raised, echoes similar concerns lyptic Jewish text 1 Enoch (2 B.C.E.–1), a tale of angelic in his work – the undeniably sacramental beauty of the “watchers,” based on Genesis 6:1 is invoked to describe a world vying in the poet’s imagination with the darkness cosmic descent into sin. The watchers, or satans, are and sheer weight of nature (and history) upon our angels who rebel against God and literally “fall” to Earth existence, the tension between them being (finally) from heaven. They mate with women who give birth to the irresolvable. nephilim, “fallen ones,” who bring evil into the world. To see and experience the living world through the lens Enoch claims that humankind was created immortal, pure of the Christian spiritual tradition is, for writers and poets and righteous, but because of human knowledge, taught to such as these, a continuous moral, aesthetic, and spiritual them by the leader of the satans, Azazel, humanity became struggle. It is an opportunity to see the world transfigured; unrighteous and subject to death (54:6; 8:1). but it also imposes certain obligations, the most important The Jewish conceptions of fallen angels emerging of which may well be to bear the wounds of a broken but at this time hint of a Hellenistic dualism that valued still luminous cosmos. heavenly immortality over mortal earthly existence. In the Phaedrus, Plato describes immortal heavenly beings who Douglas Burton-Christie lose their wings, falling to the Earth into mortal bodies. The Christian Jew Paul blends both apocalyptic and Further Reading Platonic conceptions into his cosmic Fall based upon a Burton-Christie, Douglas. “The Sense of Place.” The Way dualism of flesh and spirit, physical and spiritual, Earth 39:1 (January 1999). and heaven. “The first man was from the Earth, a man of Burton-Christie, Douglas. “Living Between Two Worlds: dust; the second man is from heaven” (1 Cor. 15:46–47). Home, Journey and the Quest for Sacred Place.” Angli- Paul directly couples Adam’s sin with death; from the can Theological Review 79:3 (Summer 1997), 413–32. human capacity for evil stems all mortality (Rom. 5:12– Burton-Christie, Douglas. “The Literature of Nature and 21). Ultimately, the cosmos as a whole is “subject to its the Quest for the Sacred.” In W. Scott Olsen and bondage to decay” while awaiting its liberation into the Scott Cairns, eds. The Sacred Place. Salt Lake City: immortal celestial body (1 Cor. 15:35–50). University of Utah Press, 1996, 165–77. Church Father Irenaeus avoids a cosmic Fall, limiting Burton-Christie, Douglas. “Mapping the Sacred Land- Pauline sin to the human realm. Irenaeus suggests that scape: Spirituality and the Contemporary Literature nonhuman creatures continue to obey God’s will: nature of Nature.” Horizons 21:1 (Spring 1994), 22–47. retains its goodness even after the Fall. Augustine further See also: Berry, Wendell; Canadian Nature Writing; Dillard, intensifies an anthropocentric interpretation of the Fall Annie; Levertov, Denise; Lopez, Barry; Quaker Writers in that indirectly exonerates the nonhuman creation. For him, Tasmania (Australia); Williams, Terry Tempest. the creation is full of goodness and beauty which demon- strates the nature of the Creator, who is beauty itself. Human choice is the origin of the Fall. The curse blemishes Christian Theology and the Fall human life alone: suffering and death are inherited by all humans (original sin) as punishments from God. The Christian doctrine of the Fall, heavily inscribed onto Throughout rabbinic literature, the notion of any the text of Genesis, first exalts and then denigrates nature. original Fall remains only peripheral. Nor does Islam Many find the garden itself a positive image of earthly espouse original sin: the expulsion, caused by Satan’s existence: God plants Eden with an abundance of beauti- deception, was pardoned, having no ramifications for the ful trees, good food, and rivers; humans are created out of rest of humanity or the natural world. the Earth to tend to the Garden. After Adam and Eve eat By the period of the Reformation, the Christian view the forbidden fruit, however, nature becomes corrupt and of the Fall turned decisively against nature: originally humans sinful, as they are introduced to hardened labor, created by God for the service of humanity, nature became shame of their nakedness, and knowledge of their eventual cruel, ugly, and painful, after the Fall. Eden was a joyful death. The original harmony between nature, humans, and reflection of God’s blessing, for John Calvin, but after- God is broken, leaving a transcendent God, a sinful wards “the inclemency of the air, frost, thunder, unseason- humanity, and a degraded Earth in a state of mutual able rains, drought, hail or whatever is disorderly in the alienation. world are the fruits of sin” (Calvin 1948: 177). Similarly, As there is no concept of “the Fall” in the Hebrew Martin Luther asks: “And what of thorns, thistles, water, scriptures, there remains a question as to its origin. The fire, caterpillar, flies, fleas, and bedbugs? Collectively and “Fall” interpretation of Genesis first appeared during the individually, are not all of them messengers who preach to Christian Theology and the Fall 313 us concerning sin and God’s wrath?” (Luther in Kinsley Biblical scholar Lyn Bechtel explores the scriptural 1996: 112). Whereas for Luther, the despair of nature can underpinnings for such an ecological ethic. The ha- motivate us to seek redemption in Christ, for Calvin, the adama/ha-adam wordplay – “Then Yahweh God formed will of God manifests in all of nature, in each drop of rain, the Earth creature [ha-adam] from dust from the Earth so that despite the fallen aspects of nature, the glories of [ha-adam]” (Genesis 2:7) – demonstrates an “intimate God’s providence rules all things for the benefit of the relatedness” between Earth and earthling based upon saved. At the time of the Reformation, belief in the Fall the land. Originally united with the Earth, humans are also contributed to early modern attempts to discipline separated from the native ground at birth. Adults work unruly nature. Elaborating on his Calvinist upbringing, with the Earth, produce food, (2:5; 3:23) and eventually Francis Bacon claimed that science and technology can will return to union with the Earth upon death (3:19). correct nature’s falleness and regain the dominion over Bechtel argues that the Hebrew text, far from implying creation that humanity had in Eden. a doctrine of Fall, suggests an earthly transition of In the twentieth century, the Fall remained an impor- maturation through birth and death. tant theological category. In the tradition of Calvin, There are other contemporary theologies that also German Theologian Jürgen Moltmann found a perfect affirm the workings of nature, but through alternative “primordial” knowledge of God in paradise that “now only constructions of the Fall. In process theology, every level exists in rudimentary form” due to the problem of sin of reality has a degree of freedom, giving it the power to and a corrupted natural world. However, these “traces of turn away from the divine will. Nature is fallen due to the creation-in-the-beginning” anticipate the deathless and occasions in which God’s lure has been rejected. sinless perfection of the glory of the world to come. Process theologian Jay McDaniel, when thinking about Reinhold Niebuhr rejected his Lutheran tradition by how the Fall explains violence and suffering in nature, accepting death as inevitable to our status as creatures. critiques the anthropocentrism of the traditional doctrine, Evil is not in nature but results from human freedom, for as well as the assumption that violence and suffering Niebuhr. The fall of Adam and Eve symbolizes human are solely the result of disobedience to divine will. The freedom to wield both creative and destructive powers or predator–prey relationship evolved long before humans good and evil in the world. Sin arises, for Niebuhr, when emerged on our planet. There was no time in existence humankind makes destructive use of its freedom due to when the Earth was free from violence. McDaniel gives the self-centered attempts to become godlike and overcome example of a grey whale being attacked and eaten by a human finitude. group of orcas. The death of the grey whale is valuable to Christian Ethicist Max Stackhouse represents a con- the marine ecosystem, giving sustenance to the orcas and temporary strain of the reformed (namely Calvinist) other marine creatures feeding off the grey whale’s tradition, endorsing the notion of a fallen natural world body. Creatures cooperated with God’s lure, creating the harboring evil. Though creation does embody an original predatory form of sustenance, dubbed by McDaniel the goodness, all of nature, for Stackhouse, has indeed fallen “fall upward.” God lured more advance forms of life into and requires human constraint. Echoing Bacon, he argues existence and this involved a risk that creatures would that human intelligence and technology must be used to experience increased pain as they increased in opportun- cure nature’s brokenness and bring fallen nature nearer ities for enjoyment. the intent of the Creator. In contrast, eco-theologian John A human-initiated Fall, however, does seem to resonate Clateworthy condemns such attempts to “fix” nature, with scholars who liken Eden to the age of the hunters and rejecting the idea that it is “fallen,” and emphasizing that gatherers. The foraging lifestyle of hunters and gatherers science and technology have wrought too many destruc- treated nature as home and the Earth as alive and sacred. tive consequences. As there was no sense of separation from the Earth, Hence, contemporary theologians find the doctrine of foraging communities were somewhat innocent, like the Fall problematic in our age of the ecological crisis. For Adam and Eve. Agroecologist Wes Jackson finds “the Fall” Rosemary Radford Ruether, belief in a fallen nature has in the very transformation from hunting and gathering permitted neglect of the planet and rejection of our to the agricultural mode of life. Human evils such as sys- relational intimacy with plants, animals, and the Earth tematic warfare, patriarchy, slavery, and ecological ruin, through a disrespect for the death cycle of life. Brazilian arose during this era. Farming, settlements, and popula- theologian Ivone Gebara believes finitude and tragedy has tion growth rapidly displaced animal habitats, alienating and will always be a part of life on Earth. Hence, original human from nonhuman species. sin, for her, did not cause a fall into mortality. For Gebara, Korean ecofeminist, Sun Ai Lee-Park, also highlights a primal sin comes from the organized attempts of humans distinctive human role in the Fall. For her, the destruction to escape mortality and vulnerability, through the of the rainforest represents the tree of good and evil, monopolization of power over animals, the land, and other which signifies the restrictions and limitations imposed humans. upon humanity against the taking of every tree. The 314 Christianity – Eastern versus Western transgression takes place not just in deforestation, but also Niebuhr, Reinhold. Faith and History. New York: Charles by the World Bank who has been taking the Korean people Scribner’s Sons, 1949. from their land into factory production. The transgression Ruether, Rosmary Radford. “Ecofeminism: The Challenge of the tree of good and evil causes death as eco-death, says to Theology.” In Dieter T. Hessel and Rosemary Rad- Lee-Park. ford Ruether, eds. Christianity and Ecology: Seeking The concept of the Fall arises as either a human or the Well-being of Earth and Humans. Cambridge: a cosmic event, in both historical and contemporary Harvard University Press, 2000, 98–112. scholarship. The Pauline notion of “fallen creation” Smith, Jane Idleman and Yvonne Yazbeck Haddad. The reappears during the Reformation and in the contempor- Islamic Understanding of Death and Resurrection. ary reformed tradition. Recent scholarship however, also Albany: State University of New York Press, 1981. critiques the cosmic fall for encouraging estrangement Stackhouse, Max. “Introduction.” In Thomas Sieger from Earth ecosystems. Some scholars reinterpret a dis- Derr. Environmental Ethics and Christian Humanism. tinctively human “fall” from harmony with nature, others Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1996, 15. deconstruct the Fall altogether, so as to affirm natural See also: Christianity (6c1) – Reformation Traditions forms of death and suffering as integral to the process of (Lutheranism and Calvinism); Eden and Other Gardens; nature. Eden’s Ecology; The Fall; Process Philosophy.

Nicole Roskos Christianity – Eastern versus Western Further Reading Bacon, Francis. “Novum Organum.” In James Spedding, An examination of the current Eastern Orthodox literature Robert Leslie Ellis and Douglas Devon Heath, eds. on nature, ecology and the environment will show from Works. London: Longmans Green, 1870, 247. the outset a recurrent feature. This concerns the clear Bechtel, Lyn. “Genesis 2.4b–3.24: A Myth of Human demarcation between Eastern and Western Christianity Maturation.” Journal for the Study of the Old Testa- (Roman Catholic as well as Protestant) as entire religious ment 67 (1995), 10. and cultural complexes in relation to these issues. It is Calvin, John. Commentary on the Book of Genesis, vol. 1. believed that the historical development of these two parts Reverend John King, tr. Grand Rapids, MI: W.M.B. of Christendom presented certain differences in theology Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1948, ch. III.19. and ethics, which had an immediate impact upon the Clatworthy, Jonathon. “The Environmental Implications way Eastern and Western Christians began to see and to of the Doctrine of the Fall.” Ecotheology 4 (January treat nature. Given the fact that monotheistic religions 1998), 27–34. and especially (Western) Christianity have been blamed Cohon, Samuel S. “Original Sin.” In Essays in Jewish (L. White) for fostering anti-nature attitudes and for being Theology. Ohio: Hebrew Union College Press, 1987. responsible to a large extent for the contemporary eco- Kinsley, David. “Christianity as Ecologically Harmful and logical crisis, many Orthodox thinkers tried to dissociate Christianity as Ecologically Responsible.” In Roger Eastern Orthodoxy from its Western Christian Gottlieb, ed. This Sacred Earth: Religion, Nature, and counterparts. the Environment. New York: Routledge, 1996, 109. For these Orthodox, the whole problem is closely con- Lee-Park, Sun Ai, “The Forbidden Tree and the Year of nected to the rise of the Western worldview in modern the Lord.” In Rosmary Radford Ruether, ed. Women times in the wake of the Renaissance, the Reformation, the Healing Earth: Third World Women on Ecology, Scientific and Technological Revolution, the Enlighten- Feminism, and Religion. New York: Orbis, 1996, ment, and the Industrial Revolution. Western Christianity 107–17. played, albeit in many cases indirectly, an instrumental McDaniel, Jay. “The Garden of Eden, The Fall, and Life in role in the appearance of this culture, which later acquired Christ: A Christian Approach to Ecology.” In Mary almost planetary dimensions. Two main characteristics of Evelyn Tucker and John A. Grim, eds. Worldviews and this development were individualism and dualism. Indi- Ecology: Religion, Philosophy, and the Environment. vidualism saw humans as self-sufficient and static beings New York: Orbis, 1999, 76. without real communion with one another and respect for McDaniel, Jay. “Can Animal Suffering be Reconciled with the surrounding physical environment. The orientations Belief in an All-Loving God?” In Andrew Linzey and and the needs of the individual held priority in the values Dorothy Yamamoto, eds. Animals on the Agenda: system of modernity. Passing into a utilitarian and egoistic Questions About Animals for Theology and Ethics. society of self-adoration was the normal consequence Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1998, 168. of this. Furthermore, dualism provided individuals with Moltmann, Jürgen. God in Creation. Minneapolis: Fortress, several Manichean polarities that created a barrier 1993. between the spiritual and the material and between Christianity – Eastern versus Western 315 humans and nature. In this context, knowledge of nature ism. Human control of nature should not be equated with was identified with its control and subjection. Nature was its domination, but with a responsible diakonia, a service desacralized and seen as an inanimate machine working for the sake of the whole creation. This is the new ethos, according to standard laws that could be fully explored. the new stance and the new mentality, which Orthodoxy Moreover, nature was falsely considered an endless conveys to the modern materialistic global culture and source of wealth for the satisfaction of individual needs which cannot be simply codified in legal frames and and wholesale exploitation. By identifying having political programs. with possessing and controlling, and by believing in con- This Orthodox understanding of nature and solution to tinuous progress, modern humans began uncritically to the modern ecological impasse, based mostly on biblical exploit natural resources to produce and to consume at a and patristic sources, raises however the question concern- growing rate. This optimism has been largely destroyed in ing their applicability, namely the extent to which these the course of the twentieth century by various serious ideas have really influenced the attitudes of Orthodox events including the world wars and the rise of nihilism. cultures toward nature. This is because if one examines The quest for alternative worldviews and more holistic these cultures in Eastern and Southeastern Europe, one spiritualities (from the Far East) was but only a sign of the will realize – curiously enough – that environmental many deadlocks of the modern Western civilization. conscience is usually far less developed among Orthodox By contrast, Eastern Orthodoxy offered another under- than Western Christians. This means also that the above standing of human beings in relation to God and nature Orthodox ideas, apart from being too theoretical, do beyond individualism and dualism. The ontology of per- not accurately depict historical as well as contemporary sonhood, based on the loving community between the reality. Although there is enough truth in the argument three persons of the Holy Trinity, serves as a prototype for that the Western world has historically played a crucial another kind of human existence. The latter is not viewed role in the present environmental degradation, the way the in a utilitarian and individualistic way, but as a harmoni- whole issue is taken up by Orthodox thinkers is mis- ous coexistence with nature, which is the gift of God to leading. This is because they usually are apologetic toward humans. The person signifies relationship, nearness and Eastern Orthodoxy and intend to show its authenticity and unity, while the individual stands for distance, separation consequently its superiority over Western Christianity. and alienation. From this holistic perspective, humans are Thus, the existing serious discrepancy between theory and the stewards and not the masters of creation. They have to practice in this issue, along with other arguments, show take care of it, to transform it and to give it back to the the relativity of the sharp demarcation between Eastern Creator. This presupposes an eschatological understanding and Western Christianity. of nature, which is not going to be destroyed but to be transfigured. In this way, humans, as representing a Vasilios N. Makrides micro-cosmos, are an integral part of creation, which should not simply be subjected to systematic exploitation, utilitarian needs, bare materialism and consumerism. Further Reading Furthermore, nature is not an object (i.e., something Khalil, Issa J. “The Ecological Crisis: An Eastern Orthodox lying outside of and opposite to humans), which must be Perspective.” St. Vladimir’s Theological Quarterly 22 thoroughly subjected to human reasoning, power and con- (1988), 193–211. trol. Rather it should be seen as a living organism, the Limouris, Gennadios, ed. Justice, Peace and the Integrity house, in which humans live and work and which deserves of Creation: Insights from Orthodoxy. Geneva: WCC particular protection, care and reverence (cf. Gen. 2:15). Publications, 1990. Knowledge means in this context a loving and holistic Metropolitan Paulos Mar Gregorios. The Human Presence: union with nature. In order to achieve a harmonious An Orthodox View of Nature. Geneva: WCC Publica- coexistence with nature and to overcome ecological crisis, tions, 1978 (later published under the title: The Human humans have to articulate a new hierarchy of values Presence: Ecological Spirituality and the Age of the toward nature. This implies the development of a new Spirit. New York: Amity House, 1987). ethos of self-sacrifice toward nature. The latter suffers the Sherrard, Philip. The Eclipse of Man and Nature: An consequences of the original sin too, which has destroyed Enquiry into the Origins and Consequences of Modern the previous paradisiacal conditions. In the end, nature Science. West Stockbridge: Lindisfarne Press, 1987. must be transformed by humans according to the proto- Theokritoff, Elizabeth. “Orthodoxy and the Environment: type provided by Jesus Christ during his earthly life and Challenges and Opportunities of the Modern Environ- symbolized in the sacrament of the Holy Eucharist. In mental Movement.” Sourozh: A Journal of Orthodox addition, humans must develop a spirit of ecological Life and Thought 58 (1994), 13–27. asceticism by setting a new agenda of life and their real Zizioulas, John D. “Preserving God’s Creation: Three Lec- needs beyond self-centered utilitarianism and consumer- tures on Theology and Ecology.” King’s Theological 316 Christianity (1) – Introduction

Review 12:1 (1989), 1–5; idem. 12:2 (1989), 41–5; economic and other needs, without regard for the moral idem. 13:1 (1990), 1–5. claim that living “objects” are really an astonishing diver- See also: Christianity (6a) – Roman Catholicism; Christian- sity of “subjects” struggling for space and sustenance in ity (6b1) – Christian Orthodoxy; Christianity (6b2) – Greek complex interdependencies. Humankind has been viewed Orthodox. as an ecologically segregated species, designed for domin- ion – managerial mastery, including a divinely sanctioned right to exploit nature’s bounty, with the main restriction Christianity (1) – Introduction being the long-term conservation of the resource base for future generations. Indeed, Christians have commonly Christianity has been commonly characterized – indeed, believed that the Earth – in some versions, the universe – demonized – in recent decades as an anti-nature religion was created solely for “man.” Many also have argued that that has contributed to ecological indifference and deg- nature itself is “fallen,” cursed with deformities and radation. This ecological complaint against Christianity asymmetries, not merely abused by the sins of fallen has some merit, as many Christian interpreters have humanity. Consequently, some have suggested, nature acknowledged. An adequate introductory overview of should be “converted” to conform to the divine design, Christianity and nature, however, must also explore which often meant, in effect, technological transform- evidence for ecological sensitivity in Christian history, ations. These views and values have contributed directly and conclude with the prospects for the development of and indirectly to environmental negligence and abuse in ecological consciousness in this religious tradition. Christian history. The gist of the ecological complaint against Christianity On the other hand, the ecological complaint is an over- is best stated in an influential essay by cultural historian generalization. It overlooks the number and significance Lynn White, Jr., “The Historical Roots of Our Ecologic of dissenting opinions in Christian history, and under- Crisis” (Science, 1967). White argued that Christianity, “the estimates the tradition’s capacity for ecological reforma- most anthropocentric” of religions, “bears a huge burden tion. Christianity is anything but a moral monolith; it of guilt for our crisis,” and “we shall continue to have a embodies multiple strains of thought and practice, worsening ecologic crisis until we reject the axiom that often with radically different emphases. The signs of nature has no reason for existence save to serve man.” what Paul Santmire calls the “ecological motif,” emphasiz- Unlike many of his imitators, however, White was “a ing human rootedness in nature and celebrating God’s churchman” who called for a reformed Christianity. This presence in the biophysical world, are widespread. The essay not only spurred some environmentalists’ reactions varied voices for ecological sensitivity in Christian against certain alleged Christian “axioms,” but it also history are mainly minorities and are often muted and provoked ecologically oriented reexaminations of the ambivalent, but they are still present, persistent, and tradition by Christian theologians and ethicists. sometimes prominent. On the one hand, the bulk of the ecological complaint is The classical voices for Christian ecological conscious- essentially true. Throughout Christian history, in diverse ness can be heard in many forms –for instance, in prayers, places, times, and forms, the dominant theological and hymns, poetry, protests, theologies, norms, and legends. ethical strains have been oblivious or even antagonistic to They include the opposition of Puritans to cock-fighting nature, especially untamed nature (as opposed to domesti- and bear-baiting, and the resistance of medieval bishops cated nature, such as sheep and olive trees). Anthropo- and people to the destruction of ancient forests and fens. centrism and dualism have been prime features of these They also include poets such as Gerard Manley Hopkins interpretations of the faith. Often dichotomizing, rather and William Blake and theologians from Irenaeus to than integrating, the spiritual and the material, soul and H. Richard Niebuhr and Hildegard of Bingen to Joseph body, grace and nature, humanity and nature, the main Sittler. The virtues affirmed by a religion can also be eco- strains usually have devalued or disdained “the world” logically revealing. For instance, the norm of frugality, as an alien, even demonic, place, and have sought to which many modern environmentalists advocate as an transcend it for the sake of spiritual elevation and other- essential constraint on ecologically destructive prodigality worldly salvation. The biosphere has been perceived and as an essential component of sustainable lifestyles, generally as theologically and ethically trivial – the stage has been a central virtue in nearly all the Christian tribu- and scenery for the divine–human drama, which alone taries, Protestant, Catholic, and Orthodox. Some of the has redemptive significance. The focus has been almost legends of the saints – especially the warm relationships exclusively on human history, ignoring the reality that with other animals among the Desert Fathers, the Celtic human history is rooted in and continually shaped by saints, and St. Francis – also illuminate the values of the natural history. Nonhuman nature has been interpreted saints’ admirers. St. Francis can be regarded as the epitome mainly as a composite of “things” – “raw materials” or of Christian love in an ecological context, but he did not “capital assets” – that have instrumental value for human exist in a vacuum. He was the foremost of a cloud of Christianity (2) – Jesus 317 witnesses who preceded and followed him. The heroic Further Reading figures and their exploits that a people remember and Glacken, Clarence J. Traces on the Rhodian Shore: Nature celebrate are not morally irrelevant; they are indicators of and Culture in Western Thought from Ancient Times to the values and virtues to which that people aspire. the End of the Eighteenth Century. Berkeley and Los Theological affirmations also show some ecological Angeles: University of California Press, 1967. consciousness. For example, the mainstream interpreta- Merchant, Carolyn. The Death of Nature: Women, Ecology, tions of the doctrine of creation have affirmed the good- and the Scientific Revolution. San Francisco: Harper & ness of the natural order as the work of a loving God, Row, 1980. the imitation of whom requires care for the Earth. In the Nash, James A. Loving Nature: Christian Responsibility and doctrine of the incarnation, many theologians, especially Ecological Integrity. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1991. paradigmatic Orthodox interpreters such as St. John of Santmire, Paul. The Travail of Nature: The Ambiguous Eco- Damascus, recognized the sanctification of matter. In logical Promise of Christian Theology. Philadelphia: Christ, God entered into solidarity not only with humanity, Fortress Press, 1985. but also necessarily with the whole biophysical world Thomas, Keith. Man and the Natural World: A History of of which humans are representative embodiments, the the Modern Sensibility. New York: Pantheon Books, microcosm of the macrocosm. Similarly, the concept of 1983. the sacramental presence of the Spirit was understood to Wallace-Hadrill, David S. The Greek Patristic View of confer dignity on materiality, since it implied that the Nature. New York: Barnes and Noble, 1968. natural world was the holy habitat of God. The Orthodox, Williams, George H. Wilderness and Paradise in Christian prominently, and some Protestant reformers, including Thought. New York: Harper & Row, 1962. John Calvin, Martin Luther, and John Wesley, peripherally, preserved the ancient hope of deliverance from death for all creatures, thereby affirming the ultimate unity and Christianity (2) – Jesus value of all life. Indeed, the idea of resurrection has been understood as the affirmation of the body, of materiality. Since Jesus stressed the authority of the Hebrew Bible The biblical idea of dominion has been used by many in (which for Christians became the Old Testament) (Matt. the modern era as a religious rationalization for environ- 5:18), he implicitly affirmed its teachings on nature. He mental exploitation and manifest destiny, but it was inter- did not rescind the ecological ethics of the Law, although preted mainly through most of Christian history as a he was less strict about ceremonial laws. All foods are divine mandate against the tyrannical abuse of the rest of clean and do not defile a person (Mark 7:19). He touched nature and for benevolent care. Wesley and some other the sick to heal them, rejecting ceremonial uncleanness divines, for example, interpreted dominion as the medi- laws found in the Hebrew Bible (Mark 1:40–45; 5:25–34). ation of God’s blessings to otherkind. Apparently, Jesus appreciated the beauty of nature (Matt. 6:28–29) not all Christian axioms have been part of the ecological and showed respect for nature in his parables, which are problem. rich in nature imagery. Through his upbringing in Contemporary Christian environmentalists contend rural Galilee he learned about God’s care for creation by that there is no major obstacle inherent in the Christian observing fruit trees, flowers, birds and fishermen and faith to the development of ecologically sustaining the- by working as a carpenter. ologies and ethics. An ecological reformation of Christian- Jesus affirmed the scriptures teaching that God created ity is necessary and possible, they claim, by reinterpreting all things (Mark 10:6; 13:19; Matt. 19:4). The world and Christian teachings in the light of ecological wisdom and matter are not eternal (Matt. 24:21, 25:34; John 17:24). other cultural borrowings. These claims seem defensible. Nature reflects the activity of God and does not operate Moreover, Christian churches have strong precedents and independently (Matt. 5:45; 6:26–30; Luke 12:6). God is a capacities for reevaluating and reforming theologies and loving Father who sustains and cares for all creation. God ethics. Semper Reformanda – Always to Be Reformed – has gives life to all beings (John 5:17; 6:33; Luke 24:38) and been a Protestant motto, and similar ideas can be found in provides food for animals, birds and plants (Matt. 6:26– other Christian traditions. Indeed, one of the important 30; Luke 12:6). Since he loves all people, he causes the sun characteristics of contemporary Christianity is the emer- to shine and rain to fall on both righteous and wicked gence of an ecological reformation that is building firm people (Matt. 5:45; cf. Ps. 50:11; 104:14, 17). As “Lord of foundations for ecological integrity in Christian thought heaven and Earth,” God is worthy of praise and obedience and practice, as many of the Christianity-related entries in (Matt. 11:25; Luke 10:21). The resurrected Jesus has “all this encyclopedia illustrate. authority in heaven and Earth” (Matt. 28:18). Nature provides ethical lessons. God’s provision of sun James A. Nash and rain for the wicked is a model for loving our enemies (Matt. 5:44–45). Since God provides for the needs of 318 Christianity (2) – Jesus

What Would Jesus Drive? bumper sticker, to a meeting with top executives of U.S. “What Would Jesus Drive?” began as a slogan on a pro- automakers and the United Autoworkers labor union. test sign in 2001, and within two years had emerged as a The campaign included participation from the National full-fledged campaign highlighting North American Council of Churches and, interestingly, the Coalition on religious opposition to global warming, perhaps the the Environment and Jewish Life. The most significant largest and most visible Christian environmental drive boost, though, came from organizing by Evangelicals in history. for Social Action and the Evangelical Environmental In the winter of 2001, Boston-based activists centered Network. “We have confessed Christ to be our savior around the Harvard Divinity School, the Massachusetts and Lord, and for us that includes our transportation Climate Action Network, and the Coalition for Environ- choices,” said the Rev. Jim Ball, organizer of the EEN. mentally Responsible Economies (CERES) began “Most folks don’t think of transportation as a moral organizing a series of small demonstrations against the issue, but we’re called to care for kids and the poor, and proliferation of gas-guzzling sports utility vehicles filling their lungs with pollution is the opposite of caring (SUVs). On Sunday, 3 June 2001, in a driving rainstorm, for them” (The Guardian, 14 November 2002). approximately 100 protesters paraded along an “auto In a campaign discussion paper prepared by the two mile” in the Boston suburb of Lynn, led by a number of evangelical groups, an array of scripture passages were clergy. Dan Smith, associate pastor of Hancock United cited in support of the groups’ stewardship message. Church of Christ in Lexington, Massachusetts, carried a Particular attention was paid to the scientific prediction sign with the slogan “What Would Jesus Drive?” (Smith that global warming caused by American consumption and protest coordinator Bill McKibben had concocted of fossil fuels will impact most severely many of the the slogan as a play on the widespread admonition world’s poorest people, particularly those in low-lying among evangelical Christians, WWJD, or “What Would areas of the tropics. Jesus Do?”). “I hope it will at least encourage folks to Some conservative commentators attacked the think twice, and possibly pray about this decision, as campaign – one writer at Forbes.com declared that Jesus they would about many other hard choices they make,” would drive a “4×4 pickup with crew cab” in order to Smith told reporters. Noting that the parking lot of his keep his followers safe and negotiate tough Galilean suburban church was often filled with SUVs on a Sun- roads. Wags suggested that scripture indicated Jesus day morning, he added “I love the people who drive might instead favor Hondas (Acts 5:12 – “the Apostles them, but I feel we could all be better informed about were in one Accord”). But the car companies listened more the consequences of our decisions as consumers and respectfully than they had to secular environmentalists. Christians” (author’s recollection). The largest impact of the campaign may be simply Widespread media coverage, including a full-page that it marked the start of more aggressive, scripturally account in the Christian Science Monitor with the head- based environmental campaigning by North American line “What Would Jesus Drive?” and a feature on ABC Christian activists. After a decade of bureaucratic News, spread the idea in religion-and-environment resolutions from different denominations decrying circles, and soon it was appearing on handmade buttons. global warming and other environmental ills, activists (A protest in western Massachusetts later that summer, seemed finally to have hit on a slogan that captured the convened by the group Religious Witness for the Earth, public imagination and crystallized the moral choices featured signs reading “What Would Buddha Drive?”.) inherent in environmental issues. A year later, in the fall of 2002, a much larger circle of religious environmentalists embraced the slogan as Bill McKibben the centerpiece of their global warming campaign, using the catchphrase in a television organizing campaign that See also: Biblical Foundations for Stewardship; Christi- blanketed cities in four midwestern and southern states. anity (7i) – An Evangelical Perspective on Faith and The campaign began with a caravan of nuns driving Nature; Evangelical Environmental Network; Jesus hybrid electric vehicles, each carrying the slogan on a and Empire; Restoring Eden. animals and plants, humans should trust God to provide gives eternal life (John 6:25–40). The Holy Spirit is the for their material needs and reflect this in prayer for daily water that gives life (John 4:14). bread (Matt. 6:11, 25–33). Many parables utilize nature to teach spiritual truth. Jesus used nature metaphorically. The people of God Parables featuring seeds, weeds, wheat, yeast, fish and are sheep that God cares for (Mark 6:34; John 9:36, 10:15) trees teach about the kingdom of God (Mark 4; Matt. 13; and those who would destroy them are wolves (Matt. Luke 13:6–9; 21:29–30). Varied results from sowing seed 10:16; John 10:12). Jesus is the good shepherd who gives in different kinds of soils illustrate diverse responses to his life for his sheep (John 10). He is the bread that Jesus’ message (Mark 4:1–8, 13–20). Christianity (3) – New Testament 319

Jesus used natural objects to illustrate moral and spir- forming water into wine (Mark 6:34–44; 8:1–9; John 2:1– itual lessons. Bread and wine were sacramental symbols 12; 6: 1–13). Simply by speaking a word, he calmed storms of the new covenant instituted through Jesus’ redeeming (Mark 4:39–41; Matt. 8:23–27), much as God created with death on the cross (Mark 14:22–25). He made an unfruitful a word in Genesis 1. He healed numerous diseases with a fig tree wither as a visual parable of judgment on people touch or word (Matt. 4:23–24; 8:8) and raised the dead, unresponsive to God (Mark 11:14; cf. Luke 13:6–9). including a man who had been dead four days (Matt. Jesus was comfortable with the material world (Mark 9:18–25; 11:5; Luke 7:11–15, 22; John 11:38–44). 2:16), yet he was not consumed by it. One’s priority should The return of Christ will be preceded by cosmic dis- be to seek God’s kingdom (his reign and presence) and asters, including earthquakes, plagues, famine, changes in righteous character above money and material possessions the courses of astronomical bodies and the darkening of (Matt. 6:19–24, 33; 13: 22; John 6:27). Material things are the sun and moon (Matt. 24:27–30; Mark 13:24–27; Luke not evil in themselves, but the pursuit of possessions is not 21:11, 25–27). Heaven and Earth in its present form will the highest good. “What profit is there if a person gains the pass away (Matt. 5:18; 24:35). This does not imply the whole world and loses his soul?” (Mark 8:36). If a person destruction of the world, but the transition to God’s uni- trusts God and pursues God’s kingdom and righteousness versal reign over creation (Matt. 13:37–43). Although as first priority, God will provide his basic material needs Jesus does not explicitly refer to a new or transformed (Matt. 6:33). We should thank God for providing for our Earth as do some NT authors, there are hints that there will material needs (Matt. 14:19; Mark 14:23). be a perfected Earth after Jesus’ return. The righteous will All created things have worth in God’s eyes. Nature has eat and drink with Jesus in the consummated kingdom intrinsic value whether it provides human benefits (sheep, (Matt. 26:29; Luke 22:29–30). The humble will inherit the Matt. 12:11) or has little utilitarian value to humans Earth (Matt. 5:5), a broadening of the promise in the (grass, sparrows, Matt. 6:26; 10:29–31). Even rocks glorify Hebrew Scriptures that the righteous will inherit the land God (Luke 19:40). God knows what happens to sparrows of Israel (e.g., Ps. 37:11). The dead will be resurrected and provides for them (Matt. 6:26; 10:29–31). Neverthe- bodily to face eternal rewards or punishments (Luke 14:14; less humans have greater value than animals and plants John 5:21–29; 11:24–25). This implies the righteous will (Matt. 6:26, 29; 10:31; 12:12), since humans are created in enjoy some type of physical existence in the eternal age, God’s image (cf. Gen. 1:26). Jesus healed many people, but although different than the present physical life, since there is no record of his healing an animal. However, he there will be no death or need for human procreation (Luke taught the moral imperative of properly caring for animals 20:35–37). (Luke 13:15; Matt. 12:11). Several of Jesus’ teachings have indirect implications Harry A. Hahne for environmental stewardship. Leadership involves service of others, not power over others or an excuse for See also: Anarcho-Primitivism and the Bible; Biblical oppression (Mark 10:42–44). Hence human dominion Foundations for Christian Stewardship; Christianity (3) – over nature (cf. Gen. 1:26, 28) should be exercised for the New Testament; Creation Story in the Hebrew Bible; good of creation, not the selfish destruction of nature. The Creation’s Fate in the New Testament; Hebrew Bible; Jesus parable of the talents and the parable of the wise steward and Empire; Stewardship. imply the Earth is a stewardship for which humanity is accountable to God (Matt. 24:45–51; 25:14–30). The Earth belongs to God not humanity (Matt. 11:25; cf. Ps. 24:1), Christianity (3) – New Testament and humans will be judged on the condition in which they return God’s possessions (Matt. 25:27). The New Testament (NT) presupposes the Old Testament In the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus teaches his followers to pray (OT) teachings on nature and occasionally quotes OT that God’s kingdom will reign fully on Earth (Matt. 6:10; nature passages (Matt. 5:17; Acts 3:21; 7:49; 2 Pet. 3:13; Luke 11:2). Although God is Lord of heaven and Earth Heb. 1:10; 2:5–8). God created “heaven and Earth,” gives (Matt. 5:13; 11:25), human and demonic evil cause many life to all creatures and sustains creation. Nature is not to things not to be as God intended them (Matt. 4:24; 10:7– be worshipped. It witnesses to God the creator who alone 18; 12:22; Mark 3:20–27; Luke 13:16). The Lord’s Prayer is to be worshipped. Nature has value because God asks that God’s purposes be fulfilled in both physical and created it and sustains it. Jesus’ incarnation and bodily spiritual realms. resurrection show that matter is not inherently evil. Miracles show Jesus’ divine power, glory and authority The NT focuses on the reconciliation of humanity with over nature and encourage faith in Jesus (Matt. 8:23–27; God and the resulting ethical implications. Yet it also 14:22–33; Mark 2:10–11; 4:37–41; Luke 8:22–25; John promises the final redemption of the material creation. 2:1–11; 9:30–38). He performed creation miracles such as Redemption involves the reversal of the damage caused by multiplying loaves and fish to feed the hungry and trans- the human Fall on both humanity and nature. 320 Christianity (3) – New Testament

Synoptic Gospels (Matt. 2:1–11). When Jesus died on the cross, there were God created all things (Mark 10:6; 13:19; Matt. 19:4; earthquakes and some righteous dead were resurrected, 24:21; 25:34). God is Lord of heaven and Earth (Matt. affirming that Jesus is the Son of God (Matt. 27:51–54). 11:25; Luke 10:21) and the resurrected Jesus shares this The resurrection of Jesus was accompanied by an earth- authority (Matt. 28:18). God is actively involved in nature. quake (Matt. 28:2). The return of Christ will be preceded by He gives life to all, lovingly cares for animals and plants, cosmic disasters, including earthquakes, plagues, famines, and provides sun and rain to meet human needs (Matt. changes in the courses of astronomical bodies, and the 5:45; 6:26–33; Luke 12:6; 24:38). darkening of the sun and moon (Matt. 24:27–30; Mark Nature has intrinsic worth, apart from its benefits to 13:24–27). humans (Matt. 6:26; 10:29–31). The value and goodness of Jesus was resurrected with a physical body of “flesh matter is shown by the narratives of Jesus’ birth, which and bones” that could be touched, embraced and eat fish stress his physical incarnation in human flesh (Matt. 1; (Matt. 28:9; Luke 24:39–43). Yet his body was transformed Luke 1:26–38; 2:1–7; 3:21–37). Jesus used bread and wine (Mark 16:12) so it could pass through doors, disappear and as sacramental symbols of his sacrificial death (Matt. sometimes not be recognized (Luke 24:15–16, 31, 36). 26:26–28; Mark 14:22–25; Luke 22:19–20). Jesus’ resurrected body was a foretaste of the future trans- Nevertheless, some aspects of nature are not as God formed physical world and the resurrected bodies of originally intended due to the human Fall and demonic believers. Although heaven and Earth in its present form influence. Disease, death and natural disasters are nega- will pass away (Matt. 5:18; 24:35), some type of future tive aspects of nature that Jesus overcame through physical creation is implied. After Jesus’ return, God’s miracles (Matt. 4:24; 12:22; Luke 13:16). Jesus’ miracles kingdom will encompass the whole Earth (Matt. 13:37–43; show his divine power and authority over nature and cf. 6:10). The righteous will be resurrected to eternal encourage faith in him (Matt. 8:23–27; 14:22–33; Mark blessing (Matt. 26:29; Luke 14:14; 22:29–30) and will 4:37–41; Luke 8:22–25). He performed creation miracles “inherit the Earth” (Matt. 5:5). There will be physical such as multiplying loaves and fish to feed the hungry aspects to the kingdom, such as eating and drinking (Matt. (Mark 6:34–44; 8:1–9). He calmed storms by speaking a 26:29; Luke 22:29–30), but believers’ bodies will be trans- word (Mark 4:39–41; Matt. 8:23–27), much as God created formed since there will be no more death or need for by speaking (Gen. 1). Many miracles are local reversals human procreation (Luke 20:35–37). of the curse from the Fall that brought death, disease and hardship (Gen. 3:14–19). Jesus healed diseases (Matt. The Gospel of John 4:23–24; 8:8) and raised the dead (Matt. 9:18–25; 11:5; Although John’s Gospel and Epistles focus on spiritual life, Luke 7:11–15, 22). The miracles are a foretaste of the new they do not denigrate the material world. In contrast to creation, which will have perfect harmony in nature and docetic and Gnostic views, matter is part of God’s good no death or disease. The multiplication of loaves and fish creation and is not inherently evil. Jesus, the eternal Word anticipate the super-productivity of nature in the new of God, became physically incarnated in a human body creation predicted by the OT prophets (Mark 6:34–44; made of flesh (John 1:14; 1 John 4:2–3). John stresses the 8:1–9; cf. Isa. 11:6–9; 25:8; 30:23–26; 66:17–25). Jesus’ physical, human aspects of Jesus, including fatigue, tears healings and resurrections of the dead confirm his identity and hunger (John 11:33, 35, 38; 19:28). as the Messiah in fulfillment of scripture (Luke 7:18–23; Jesus was resurrected with a physical body that could Matt. 8:16–17). By touching the sick, Jesus rejected the be touched and could eat fish (John 20:17, 20–28; Jewish tradition that the diseased are ceremonially 21:9–14). Yet his body was transformed to transcend unclean (Mark 1:40–45; 5:25–34). normal human limits so he could pass through closed Jesus frequently used nature in his teachings about doors (John 20:26). Jesus’ resurrected body is a foretaste of spiritual truth. He drew ethical lessons from nature (e.g., the resurrection bodies of believers, whom Jesus will raise Matt. 5:44–45; 6:11, 25–33). He used nature parables and physically to eternal life, yet without disease or death metaphors to teach spiritual truth and to call people (John 5:28–29; 6:40; 11:24–25). This implies a physical to faith (Mark 4; 6:34; Matt. 13; 10:16; Luke 13:6–9; dimension to the eternal life of the righteous. 21:29–30). Since God providentially cares for animals, The eternal divine Word of God created all material and people should trust God for their needs (Matt. 6:25–33; spiritual things (John 1:3; 17:24). The Gospel’s prologue 14:19). Although material things are not inherently evil, (1:1–14) echoes the Genesis creation narrative, where God they should not preoccupy a person (Matt. 6:19–24, 33; created by speaking, “let there be . . .” (Gen. 1:3, 6, 9, 14, 13:22). The pursuit of God’s kingdom and righteousness is 20, 24). The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit all give life, the highest priority (Matt. 6:33). both the physical life of all beings (John 1:3–4; 5:21) and As in the OT, cosmic signs accompany significant the eternal spiritual, resurrection life of believers (John redemptive actions of God in history. A divinely appointed 5:21; 6:33, 63; 20:31). star guided the Magi to the newborn Messiah-King Nature metaphors abound in Jesus’ teachings. Jesus is Christianity (3) – New Testament 321 the bread that gives eternal life (John 6:25–40). The Holy exist to bring glory to God and Christ (Rom. 11:36; 1 Cor. Spirit is the water that gives life (John 4:14). God’s people 8:6; Col. 1:16). are sheep that Jesus tends (Mark 6:34; John 9:36; 10:15) Paul’s view of creation, nature and the material world is and those who would destroy them are wolves (Matt. Christocentric. Christ is the agent of creation, the source of 10:16; John 10:12). Jesus is the good shepherd that gives life and the sustainer of all things (1 Cor. 8:6; Col. 1:16– his life for his sheep (John 10). 17). Christ, who is the fullness of deity and existed prior Miracles demonstrate Jesus’ power, glory and deity and to creation (Col. 1:15, 17, 19), created all material and can build faith in him (John 2:1–11; 9:30–38). Miracles spiritual things (Col. 1:16). All things were created for met physical needs, such as hunger (John 2:1–11; 6:1–14), Christ (Col. 1:16) and his power “holds everything and healed diseases, such as blindness and lameness (John together” (Col. 1:17). 5:1–11; 9:1–41). Jesus overcame death by resurrecting The resurrected and ascended Christ reigns as Lord a man who had been dead four days (John 11:38–44). He over all things (1 Cor. 15:25–27; Phil. 3:21; Eph. 1:18–23) demonstrated his creative power by changing water to and is supreme above all creation (Col. 1:18). One day, all wine and multiplying bread and fish. Miracles also have created beings in heaven and Earth will acknowledge the symbolic significance: the wine points to the super- lordship of Christ (Eph. 1:10; Phil. 2:10–11). In the end, abundant productivity of nature in the new creation (John death will be destroyed and all creation will be subjected 2:1–11). The multiplied bread points to Jesus as the manna to God (1 Cor. 15:25–28). Paul expands Isaiah’s vision that that provides eternal life (John 6:31–39, 48–51). The every knee will bow to God (Isa. 45:23; 66:23) to include resurrection of Lazarus anticipates the resurrection of the the entire created order. There is no barrier between the righteous to eternal life (John 11:23–25, 43; cf. 5:28–29). material and spiritual creation, since everything is under God’s values strongly contrast with an earthly, materi- the rule of God and Christ, who sums up all things in alistic perspective. The command not to “love the world” himself (Eph. 1:10; 4:10; 1 Cor. 15:28). Paul is not negative (1 John 2:15) does not refer to the physical planet, but evil about the physical world, including the human body. moral values in rebellion against God (1 John 2:16). Refer- Through the incarnation, God’s eternal Son took on a real ences to the “world” as the planet are never negative (John physical body, while fully retaining his deity (Rom. 1:3; 17:15, 18; 21:25). More often, “world” either refers to all Phil. 2:5–8; Col. 1:19, 22; 2:9). This affirms that matter is people, whom God loves (John 3:16), or to people and not evil. Each part of nature, including plants, animals and values opposed to God (John 14:17; 15:18–19). astronomical bodies, has a unique glory consistent with God’s design (1 Cor. 15:38–41). Nothing is unclean in Acts itself, including all foods (Rom. 14:14, 20; cf. 1 Cor. 6:12). God is creator of heaven and Earth and everything in The Lord is for the body and the physical body should be them (4:24; 14:15; 17:24). God sustains nature, directs its used to honor God, since the Holy Spirit indwells Chris- operation and gives life to all creatures (14:17; 17:25, 28). tians, whose bodies belong to Christ (1 Cor. 6:13–20; Rom. Nature witnesses to the existence of God and shows that 6:13). Hence fornication, gluttony and other bodily sins only God the Creator should be worshipped (14:15–17). He dishonor Christ (1 Cor. 6:15; Phil. 3:18–19). Paul’s nega- designed Earth as a habitation for humanity and provides tive references to “the flesh” do not refer to the material human physical needs through nature (17:26). body, but to the sinful nature inherited from Adam, which God is Lord over all creation (7:49; 17:24). Christ inclines all people toward evil (Rom. 5:11–21; 7:18; Gal. ascended to heaven and reigns as Lord over all things 5:19–21). Setting one’s “mind on things above rather than (3:21). When Christ returns, all creation will be “restored” things on Earth” (Col. 3:1–2), means focusing on moral as promised in the prophets (3:20–21; cf. Isa. 11:6–9; and spiritual values rather than sinful desires (Col. 3:5–17; 65:17–25; 66:22). Nature will not be destroyed but the cf. Phil. 3:19–20). The “earthly members” that believers damage from the Fall will be removed. are to consider dead are evil desires, greed, pride, etc. (Col. 3:5–17; cf. Rom. 6:1–14; 13:14). The Apostle Paul Paul asserted that nature reveals the existence of God Although he never met Jesus during his earthly lifetime, and basic aspects of his being (Rom. 1:19–20). Reflection the Apostle Paul wrote many letters to the Churches he on nature suggests that the world was created and that was helping promote his understanding of the meaning God alone should be worshipped. There is a clear distinc- of Christianity. By so doing, he became the most influen- tion between the Creator and creatures. To worship any tial theologian of the biblical writers. His thought is rich created thing is to deny God the glory that is his due as with reflection about nature and how it fits into God’s Creator (Rom. 1:21–23). Worshipping any aspect of nature work. or images of birds, animals or humans is to give created God created all things (Rom. 1:20; 11:36; Eph. 1:4; 3:9; things the place the Creator rightfully deserves in human Col. 3:10; 1 Tim. 4:3–4). God gives life to every creature hearts (Rom. 1:21–32). Nature gods are really demons and and sustains creation (Rom. 11:36; 1 Tim. 6:13). All things should not be worshipped (Rom. 1:23, 25; 1 Cor. 8:5; 322 Christianity (3) – New Testament

10:19–22; Gal. 4:8). When anything is substituted for the rected body (Phil. 3:21; 1 Cor. 15:50–57; 2 Cor. 5:1–5). transcendent God, the basis for ethics is also undermined Like Jesus’ resurrection body, the resurrection body of (Rom. 1:24–32), Paul believed. believers will be physical, yet with a spiritual origin and Since God is to be honored above all else, the spiritual character, glorious and eternal, and not subject to death takes priority over the physical dimensions of life. Idolatry and decay (1 Cor. 15:42–44; 2 Cor. 5:2, 4; Phil. 3:21; is more than merely worshipping animal carvings. It Rom. 8:18–19). This “spiritual body” (1 Cor. 15:44) will be includes anything that becomes the supreme focus of life suitable for dwelling in a creation set free from bondage other than God (Phil. 3:19; Eph. 5:5; Col. 3:5). One should to decay (Rom. 8:21). The eternal state of believers will discipline the body (1 Cor. 9:25–27) and not be mastered not be a disembodied soul dwelling in heaven (2 Cor. 5:4). by physical desires (1 Cor. 6:12–13). Material things are The entire person will be saved, not just the soul (1 Thess. not evil, but the love of money and material things should 5:23). not consume a person, lest they replace God as the basis The present form of this world will pass away (1 Cor. of security (1 Tim. 3:3, 8; 6:9–10, 17; 2 Tim. 3:2). No food 7:31) and a new age will come (Eph. 1:21), in which or drink defiles (Rom. 14:2, 6), but preoccupation with creation will be perfected. Christian hope includes the food is imbalanced and Christian dietary freedom should deliverance of creation from bondage to corruption be exercised with consideration for others (Phil. 3:19–20; and futility (Rom. 8:20–21; cf. Gen. 3:15). The present Rom. 14:14–22; 1 Cor. 8:1–13). Sex is God’s good gift to suffering of creation is like birth pangs bringing a more be enjoyed within marriage and practiced with self- perfect world (Rom. 8:22). Nature eagerly awaits the control (Rom. 13:13; 1 Thess. 4:3–7; Gal. 5:19). The resurrection and glorification of the children of God at physical life has value, but it must be subject to the Spirit Christ’s return (Rom. 8:19), when the entire creation will since people are not merely animals dominated by bio- be set free from bondage to decay and will share in the logical drives. glorious liberty of redeemed humanity (Rom. 8:21, 23). The Fall brought significant changes to nature. Nature Although believers are a “new creation” in Christ and no longer functions as God originally intended, due to have a transformed inner character (2 Cor. 5:17; cf. Eph. human sin. Both physical and spiritual death came from 2:10; 4:24), the culmination of the new creation is Adam’s sin (Rom. 5:12–14, 17; 8:20–21; 1 Cor. 15:21–22; still future. Nature will be transformed (Rom. 8:20–21), cf. Gen. 2:17; 3:8ff.). As a result of the Fall, creation was believers’ will be resurrected to glorious, imperishable “subjected to futility” (Rom. 8:20), an allusion to the curse bodies (Rom. 8:23; 2 Cor. 5:4), and death will cease (1 Cor. on the ground and pain in childbirth (Gen. 3:16–19;). 15:20–24, 54–55). God gives the Holy Spirit to believers Nature is now in bondage to corruption, decay and death now as a guarantee of this glorious future (2 Cor. 5:5). (Rom. 8:21). Nature is not fallen, but it is a victim of Paul sees solidarity between nature and humanity. human sin. Creation groans and suffers, longing to be set Since God gave humanity dominion over the Earth (Gen. free from bondage to decay (Rom. 8:19–21). 1:26, 28), nature suffers when humanity is not rightly Through his death on the cross, Jesus conquered sin related to God and nature will be perfected when human- and death so those who believe in him will have eternal ity is redeemed. The human Fall enslaved all creation life (1 Cor. 15:22, 57; Col. 1:20–22; 2 Tim. 1:10). Yet to corruption and death (Rom. 5:12–14; 8:20). When death will not be finally vanquished from creation until the redeemed children of God are glorified at the end of Christ returns (1 Cor. 15:23–26, 53–56). Jesus took away history, nature will share in this glory (Rom 8:19, 22–23). the sting of death (1 Cor. 15:54–56), but neither nature nor redeemed humanity have yet experienced the full implica- Peter tions of Christ’s death. Through the cross, Christ will Since God is the creator of the world (1 Pet. 1:20; 2 Pet. reconcile both spiritual and material things to God (Col. 3:5), he seeks its purification and perfection. The “day of 1:20–22). The reconciliation of humanity to God is part of the Lord” will bring a “new heavens and Earth,” in which God’s larger work of reconciling all things to himself nature will be perfected and righteousness will abound (Col. 1:20–22). All things will be restored to the proper (2 Pet. 3:10–13). “The heavens will disappear with a roar, functioning that God intended (Rom. 8:19–23). the elements will be burned up and the Earth . . . will be The credibility of the Christian message rests on Jesus’ laid bare” (2 Pet. 3:10, cf. 12). There are two ways to resurrection in a physical body, not as an apparition understand this: (1) This world will be destroyed and God (1 Cor. 15:4–8, 14–17). Jesus’ resurrected body is a fore- will create a new, perfect world. (2) The present heavens taste of the redeemed creation and the resurrection bodies and Earth will be renewed, purified and perfected. Several of redeemed people (1 Cor. 15:20, 45–49; 2 Cor. 4:14; Phil. factors support the second interpretation: Burning is a 3:21). Since believers are united with Jesus’ resurrection, frequent biblical symbol of judgment and purification they too will rise from the dead (Rom. 6:5; 1 Cor. 15:21; (e.g., Matt. 13:20, 40; Luke 3:17). The passage uses similar Phil. 3:11). At Jesus’ return, God will transform the bodies destruction and re-creation language concerning the of believers into imperishable bodies like Christ’s resur- Flood (2 Pet. 3:5–7). Both the eschatological fire and the Christianity (3) – New Testament 323

Flood bring judgment on ungodly humans. In this sense (e.g., Gen. 6:5–8; Ex. 7–12; Isa. 10:16–18; Jer. 14). Since the world was “destroyed” by the Flood and a new world humanity was given dominion over nature (Gen. 1:26), was formed (vv. 5–6). Jewish apocalyptic writings also use God’s judgment on human sin affects nature. similar new Earth/age language to refer to the perfection At the climax of history, the righteous will be bodily of creation. The new creation is “new” in its moral perfec- resurrected to reign with Christ, never again to experience tion and harmonious operation. In either interpretation, death (20:5–6). After Christ’s return and the Final nature will be transformed and perfected. Judgment, God will create a new heaven and Earth (21:1). He will remove the damage caused by sin to the created Hebrews order. Although it is difficult to determine whether some God created everything (1:10; 3:3–4; 4:3; 11:3). He did not aspects of nature in the apocalyptic vision are symbolic fashion the material universe from preexisting matter (e.g., 21:1, 23), nature plays a part in the new creation. (11:3). The agent of creation was the Son of God and the There will be a new Earth with rivers, springs and fruit word of God (1:2, 10; 3:3–4; 11:3), an allusion to Genesis 1 trees with year-around productivity (21:1, 6; 22:1–2). All (cf. John 1:1–3). Jesus sustains and upholds creation by creatures will worship God (4:11; 5:13). There is some his powerful word (1:3). ambiguity about whether certain aspects of nature will be Humans are exalted above nature (8:7), although in the new creation. For example, there will be no sea materially they are part of nature. The author cites Psalm (21:1, probably symbolic), yet sea creatures will praise God 8:4–6 (which echoes Gen. 1:26, 28), to show that God (5:13). God will “make all things new” and perfect nature placed nature in subjection to humanity (Heb. 2:5–9). Yet (21:4–5). Death, disease, pain and suffering will not be a sin corrupts the human relationship with nature and part of the new order (20:14; 21:4), since the curse on makes the dominion over nature flawed and incomplete nature from the Fall will be removed (22:3). There will be a (2:8). But Jesus, the first of a new race of humans, was return to the ideal conditions of nature in the Garden of exalted and has subjected creation to himself (2:9). The Eden and redeemed humans will have unrestricted access Son of God became fully human (“flesh and blood”), yet to the tree of life and water of life (21:6; 22:1–5, 14, 17, without sin (2:14, 17; 4:15). 19). Although Hebrews emphasizes spiritual salvation in heaven (11:10, 16; 12:22–23; 13:14), it looks forward to a Harry A. Hahne redeemed nature and a restored human relationship with nature. In the “world to come” (the new Earth), the human Further Reading relationship to nature will be perfected and the ideal of Beisner, E. Calvin. Where Garden Meets Wilderness. Grand Gen 1:26, 28 and Psalm 8 will be fulfilled (2:5). In eternity, Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1997. redeemed humans will not be merely glorified spirits, but DeWitt, Calvin B., ed. The Environment and the Christian: will also have resurrected bodies (6:2; 11:35). What Can We Learn From the New Testament? Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 1991. Revelation Gibbs, John G. Creation and Redemption: A Study in God created all things in heaven, on Earth and in the sea Pauline Theology. Supplements to Novum Testamen- (4:11; 10:6). God is “Lord of the Earth” (11:4). Every tum, no. 26. Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1971. creature was made to glorify and worship God. John Gregorios, Paulis Mar. “New Testament Foundations for foresees the time when all creatures will worship God the Understanding the Creation.” In Tending the Garden: Creator and Jesus Christ. Every creature in heaven, on Essays on the Gospel and the Earth. Wesley Granberg- Earth, and in the sea will join humans and angels in Michaelson, ed. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1987, worshipping God and Christ (4:11; 5:13). The prophetic 83–92. promise that all humans will bow before God (Isa. 45:23; Meye, Robert P. “Invitation to Wonder: Toward a Theology 66:23) is expanded to include all creatures. of Nature.” In Wesley Granberg-Michaelson, ed. Tend- Nature is frequently used symbolically in the apoca- ing the Garden: Essays on the Gospel and the Earth. lyptic vision to describe Christ, God’s presence in heaven, Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1987, 30–49. extreme forms of evil, divine judgments, and the eternal Osborn, Lawrence. Guardians of Creation: Nature in blessings of the righteous (e.g., 4:5–7; 5:6; 6:1; 10; 13; Theology and the Christian Life. Leicester: Apollos, 21–22). 1993. Revelation focuses on eschatology. Due to the extreme Santmire, H. Paul. The Travail of Nature: The Ambiguous evil of people who rebel against God in the last days, Ecological Promise of Christian Theology. Philadel- God will bring judgment through disease and environ- phia: Fortress Press, 1985, 200–15. mental disasters, such as earthquakes, storms, intense Young, Richard A. Healing the Earth: A Theocentric heat, plagues and famine (16:1–21; 18:8). The OT shows a Perspective on Environmental Problems and Their similar pattern of divine judgment on sin through nature Solutions. Nashville: Broadman and Holman, 1994. 324 Christianity (4) – Early Church

See also: Anarcho-Primitivism and the Bible; Animals in created world’s goodness and value, was responding in the Bible and Qur’an; Christianity (2) – Jesus; Creation part to the work of certain Gnostic thinkers who held to a Story in the Hebrew Bible; Creation’s Fate in the New deeply pessimistic view of the created world and of the Testament; Earth Bible; The Fall; Hebrew Bible; Jesus and malevolent demiurge who was understood to be responsi- Empire. ble for having created it. According to Ireneus, the Christian doctrine of the incarnation allowed no such pessimistic view of the world. For Irenaeus, the incarnation or Christianity (4) – Early Church (Fathers and enfleshment of God in Christ meant that the entire Councils) material world had been transfigured and was a kind of sacrament through which the eyes of faith could see the The early Christian tradition expresses a profound ambiva- very light of God. In the process of affirming this truth, lence regarding the natural world. On the one hand, it Irenaeus preserved for Christians not only a sense of the affirms continuously the goodness and spiritual signifi- goodness and integrity of the created world, but also the cance of the natural world, an affirmation rooted in two goodness and integrity of God who created and sustains it. central convictions – that the world as created by God is Another kind of conversation, between Christianity and good, and that the Incarnation of God in the person of Greek philosophy, also affected how the early Christian Jesus Christ has transfigured all created matter. On the community viewed the world and God’s relationship with other hand, the early Christian tradition expresses genuine the world. For well-educated, philosophically sophisticated suspicion regarding the dangers of the wrong kind of Christians such as Clement and Origen of Alexandria, the attachment to the things of this world. At times, this sus- integration of Christianity into a Platonic philosophical picion expressed itself as a fear of, even revulsion toward framework was necessary if the Christian faith was to material reality, toward embodied existence, toward the be seen as coherent and meaningful within the Greek- cosmos as a whole. However, there were also times when speaking world of Late Antiquity. But their brilliant syn- this suspicion of the world was understood in broader, thesis also meant accepting certain aspects of Platonism’s more symbolic terms, a way of articulating the need to hierarchy of values and its de facto dualism (material resist values believed to be antithetical to the Gospel. realities, being corruptible, occupied a lower place in this Much early Christian theological reflection, as well as the hierarchy than non-material or spiritual realities, which liturgical and spiritual life of the community, was affected through their kinship with God, the supreme Spirit, were by this deep-seated sense of ambivalence toward the seen as having eternal value and significance). The result living world. was a profound and creative new articulation of Christian Early Christian theological reflection unfolded within a theology and spirituality. But it came at a cost. The highly charged climate of debate in which one’s sense of suspicion of or aversion toward the physical world that God was directly and deeply affected by one’s sense of the one often senses in these and other writers leaves one world and vice versa. Irenaeus of Lyons, for example, who uncertain about how successful they were at incorporating in the second century articulated one of the early Christian a fully incarnational Christianity into their thought-world world’s most emphatic and systematic expressions of the and practice.

Contemptus Mundi mundi) in the hopes of discovering the presence of God How did Christians come to feel suspicion, even aver- on the borders of society and who subjected their bodies sion, toward the world? Christians have always felt to severe physical privation in the hopes of reducing the slightly uneasy in the world. “Our true homeland is in sheer weight and power of matter’s power over spirit. In heaven,” claimed St. Paul. Christian eschatological its most extreme forms, such as seventeenth-century hopes ensured that at least part of a Christian’s attention Jansenism, contempt for the world became a violence would always lie beyond this world. Still, the doctrine of against the self and the world, a desperate attempt to the Incarnation – God’s enfleshment in matter in the free the spirit from the prison of its body. But in its person of Jesus – meant that at root Christians viewed more moderate forms, which can be said to characterize the world as charged with God’s presence and therefore many elements of Christian spirituality, contemptus sacred. For all this, Christians often expressed something mundi often suggested something else: a struggle to bordering on revulsion for material existence, a sense understand how, in the midst of a complex and ambigu- that the phenomenal world is so deeply flawed that the ous existence, one could discover and live in the best hope for one seeking intimacy with God is to reduce presence of the Spirit. the pull of the world on one’s soul. One sees this in the practices of Christian ascetics, who fled the world (fuga Douglas Burton-Christie Christianity (4) – Early Church 325

Augustine of Hippo (354–430), writing in Latin, largely who claimed that God is remote from the created world, accepted this Platonic dualism of matter and spirit as part Tertullian cited the Stoics who, he said, remind us “that of his understanding of Christian theology and employed God [through the logos] permeates the world in the same it to articulate two important ideas that had vast influence way as honey in the comb” (Tertullian in Colish 1990: 19). upon the subsequent Christian tradition. The first was Elsewhere, Tertullian addresses the question of how the that the spiritual life has to do primarily if not exclusively divine logos can be said to permeate the sensible world with the interior life of the human being, an idea that without losing its divinity: it is like the sun’s relations with effectively relegated the nonhuman phenomenal world to its own rays, he says, which are a portion and extension of secondary status. The second was his deeply pessimistic their source. Both analogies draw upon the idea of logos as attitude regarding human nature and the physical world a generative principle immanent in the cosmos. According (rooted, some have argued, in the influence of Manichean to Clement of Alexandria, the logos has three distinct thought and its radically pessimistic attitude toward the but related dimensions. It is utterly transcendent, being physical world), an attitude that made it difficult for him identical with the totality of the ideas or powers of God. It to affirm what for Irenaeus had been axiomatic: that the is also the principle or pattern of everything that has been world and everything in it is good. created. And it is the anima mundi, or world soul, the law This pessimism also manifested itself in Augustine’s and harmony of the universe, the power which holds it complex attitudes toward human embodiment and sexual- together and permeates it from the center to its most ity. As Peter Brown has demonstrated so clearly, this was a extreme boundaries. pessimism, or perhaps one should say ambivalence, shared Such ideas contributed significantly to the capacity of by many early Christians. Part of this ambivalence had Christians to believe in and experience God’s presence in to do with what one might describe as a failure of the the created world. Nor were such ideas limited to the imagination – an inability (from our point of view) to sphere of philosophical and theological reflection. They incorporate sexual desire fully into an understanding of a reached into nearly every aspect of Christian life and life oriented toward God. Or to use the terms that Margaret thought, including art and architecture, biblical commen- Miles employs in her creative re-reading of Augustine’s tary, mystical experience, ascetic practice, music, and Confessions, one could say that this ambivalence had poetry. In the fiat lux of the Genesis creation account and much to do with the way Christians came to understand in the luminous gold background of ancient Christian pleasure. For Augustine, the only “true pleasure,” the only and later Byzantine mosaics, logos comes to expression pleasure that lasts, is found in God. This necessitated through light. According to Irenaeus, the word that speaks casting a suspicious eye upon all desires and objects of through the cross also gestures forth across the cosmos: desire less than God. Augustine was not the first to articu- late these ideas. Nor can one lay at his feet all the worst because [Christ] is Himself the Word of God . . . who excesses of later Christian ascetic ideas and practices. in His invisible form pervades us universally in the But his brilliance in articulating a powerful but narrowly whole world, and encompasses its length and circumscribed notion of pleasure became part of the very breadth and height and depth . . . the Son of God pulse of subsequent Christian thought for centuries to was also crucified in these, imprinted in the form come, contributing to the Christian tradition’s ongoing of a cross on the universe (Irenaeus in Ladner ambivalence toward “the things of this world.” 1995: 99). The synthesis of Christian and Greek philosophical thought also contributed significantly to the Christian One finds exquisite artistic expression of this idea in community’s ability to articulate how and in what ways the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia in Ravenna. There, the God’s presence could be felt and encountered in the world, cosmic cross appears on a dark blue shallow dome in the to the development of a distinctly Christian cosmology. midst of stars arranged in concentric circles, an image Central to this Christian cosmology was the idea of the whose diminishing size toward the center gives one the logos or Word of God. The prologue of the Fourth Gospel impression of gazing into a heavenly vault. had already expressed clearly the idea that Christ the logos The same logos that sustains the cosmos rises up to had played a crucial role in the creation of the cosmos: meet us, suggested Origen of Alexandria (ca. 185–254), “When all things began, the Word already was. The Word in the most intimate depths of religious experience. For dwelt with God, and what God was, the Word was . . . Origen, one of the privileged places of such encounter was Through the Word, all things came into being” (John 1:1). the reading of scripture. Here the logos comes as an ardent Tertullian (ca. 160–225), Clement of Alexandria (ca. 150– lover who kindles within us a passionate love for the 215), and other early Christian thinkers took this idea and, world: “If a [person] can so extend his thinking as to drawing upon the Stoic’s profound sense of the logos as ponder and consider the beauty and grace of all things the very animating principle of the cosmos, developed it that have been created in the Word,” he claims, “the very into a coherent Christian cosmology. Responding to those charm of them will so smite him, the grandeur of their 326 Christianity (5) – Medieval brightness will so pierce him as with a chosen dart . . . that a commitment to a radical interiority that made it difficult he will suffer from the dart Himself a saving wound, and if not impossible to cherish the created order as spiritually will be kindled with the blessed fire of His love” (1957: 29). significant. The legacy of this problematic denial of the Here is a sensual, palpable logos, present to us, says world within early Christianity is still very much with us. Origen, much as touch, fragrance, sound, vision, and taste Any honest evaluation of the ancient Christian tradition are present to us. needs to reckon with it seriously. But we must also be Within the Christian monastic tradition, tasting and prepared to acknowledge the creative cosmological vision chewing upon the logos became a way of life. For the monks found within early Christianity. Whatever suspicions the of the Egyptian desert, the logos arose from the silence as a Christian community may have felt toward the world, it powerful and numinous presence. To ruminate, digest and also expressed a profound and enduring love for the living absorb such a word into the very marrow of one’s being cosmos and a sense that its sustaining energy was rooted was to be brought into the very presence of the Holy One. in the Word of God. Nor was the natural landscape of the desert itself an insignificant part of this process. According to Athansius’s Douglas Burton-Christie Life of Antony, the Word of God not only beckoned Antony to withdraw into the desert, but called him to a Further Reading particular place – a wild and beautiful spot in the remote Brown, Peter. The Body and Society: Men, Women, and Arabian desert known simply as “the inner mountain.” Sexual Renunciation in Early Christianity. New York: Such a powerful pull did it exert upon Antony’s imagin- Columbia University Press, 1988. ation that, upon seeing it for the first time, he “immedi- Burton-Christie, Douglas. “Words Beneath the Water: ately fell in love with the place.” The entire subsequent Logos, Cosmos and the Spirit of Place.” In Dieter Christian tradition of monastic stability, or devotion to Hessel and Rosemary Radford Ruether, eds. Christian- place, owes much to this early sense that places are alive ity and Ecology: Seeking the Well-Being of Earth and with the power of the logos, that they do indeed speak to us Humans. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2000, with a particular voice, that rumination upon the word 317–36. and the spirit of the place are integral elements in the Colish, Marcia L. The Stoic Tradition from Antiquity to larger rhythms of the spiritual life. the Early Middle Ages, vol. 2. Stoicism in Christian Still, as a whole, the early Christian tradition remained Latin Thought Through the Sixth Century. Second ambivalent toward “the world.” Early Christians clearly impression with addenda and corrigenda. Leiden: E.J. lived with a profound sense of the world’s goodness and Brill, 1990, 19. beauty and some of their most creative theological work Ladner, Gerhart B. God, Cosmos, and Humankind: The reflects the desire to understand their relationship to a God World of Early Christian Symbolism, Thomas Dunlap, who is present to them in and through the things of this tr. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1995, 99. world. Yet, they also knew themselves to be “strangers” in Lane, Belden C. The Solace of Fierce Landscapes: Exploring this world, not entirely of this world. Clearly the develop- Desert and Mountain Spirituality. New York: Oxford, ment of this sense of life in the world as a kind of exile 1998. owes much to Platonic, Manichean or Gnostic influences; Miles, Margaret. Desire and Delight: A New Reading of but at its root, it is a principle arising out of the Gospels Augustine’s Confessions. New York: Crossroad, 1992. themselves. And in that context, at least, it had more to Origen of Alexandria. The Song of Songs: Commentary do with allegiances than with a sense of the inherent evil and Homilies. R.P. Lawton, tr., ed. Westminster, MD: of the world. Jesus’s disturbing question to his followers, Newman Press, 1957, 29. “God or Mammon?” had a lasting effect upon the Christian Schaefer, Jame. “Appreciating the Beauty of the Earth.” imagination. To become a disciple of Jesus was to struggle Theological Studies 62:1 (March 2001), 23–52. with the question of to what or whom one was to give Sheldrake, Philip. Spaces for the Sacred. Baltimore: Johns one’s allegiance, to consider carefully what or whom was Hopkins University Press, 2001. deserving of that allegiance. It was to raise questions not See also: Anima Mundi – The World Soul; Jesus and so much about the inherent goodness of the world (in the Empire. sense of God’s created order) but about the problematic and deeply compromised character of existence (the order governed by “principalities and powers”). In that sense, the Christianity (5) – Medieval Christian notion of being “strangers” to this world carried within it the seeds of a healthy and necessary skepticism Medieval Christian thought has been routinely criticized regarding the ordering of power in the world. But it also for its pervasive theme of human dominance over nature. carried within it the seeds of a different and more A perceived split between nature and supernature results problematic orientation: a suspicion of created matter and in a sharp dichotomy between biophysical reality and a Christianity (5) – Medieval 327 transcendent, spiritual reality. Furthermore, the latter is manifestation in the world. In his detailed discussion of identified with the image of God in human beings, often animals, birds, and plants, he evinces an understanding of to the exclusion of the body. However, closer attention nature as a wondrous display of God’s very self. However, reveals a tragic ambivalence that begins with Augustine for him, theophany tends to be formal. Divine self- and continues in the scholastic tradition of Thomas Aqui- manifestation occurs primarily in the eternal reasons or nas. Theologians within the Eastern Christian Church, like forms of things rather than in their actual material exist- John Scotus Eriugena, wrestled with the distinction ence. Eriugena echoed Origen in seeing the physical between nature and grace to the extent that they adopted embodiment of all things as a result of human sin. Deifica- Western premises. Of course, medieval Christianity also tion was available only to the human spirit and to the ideal includes individual mystics whose piety included an essences of nonhuman things. intimate reverence for nature. Francis of Assisi (1182– Francis of Assisi’s life (1182–1226) was a celebration of 1226) will be examined as representative, although female nature’s sacredness. The divine presence in nature, includ- mystics like Hildegaard of Bingen (1098–1179) and the ing human nature, was best accessed by a life of poverty nuns of Helfta (thirteenth century) deserve to be heard as and renunciation of the self. His Canticle of the Sun called well. Despite the medieval opposition between creation on the heavenly bodies to praise the Lord. His sermon to and Creator-God, the synthesis of God, nature, and man the birds, his “little sisters,” instructed them in God’s was tenuously retained until the late Middle Ages. What abundant love. For Francis, the divine and the natural began as an expression of reverence for nature ended in worlds were not at odds; nature and scripture were one. nature’s availability for divinely ordained human Nature was infused by divine grace and the idea that the disposition. natural world could exist in isolation from God’s fecund The roots of Western medieval Christianity are found in goodness was foreign to him. For Francis himself, nature Augustine of Hippo (354–430) in North Africa. His wonder was God made visible. at the drama of the natural world was interpreted through Yet, Francis is known primarily through Bonaventure the Neoplatonic notion of divine immanence. His awe and and Dante. In their interpretations, the hierarchical over- wonder at the world’s beauty was expressed in terms of the flowing of the divine into the natural world does lead to a Greek notion of the One pouring itself out into the world. privileging of humanity. Bonaventure, especially, views Thus, God’s presence in the universe affirmed and sancti- humanity as the exemplar of nature and as alone destined fied nature rather than transcending and negating it. for reunion with God. Nonhuman creatures find their per- Augustine broke from Origen’s heresy (condemned by the fection in humanity, whose spiritual nature, alone, will Fifth Ecumenical Council in 553) that the natural world return to God. “fell” into its physical/material state by the sin of Adam Such ambiguity is continued in the scholasticism of and Eve. Indeed, Augustine writes of the beauty and grace Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) who developed Augustine’s of nonhuman things. Augustine’s understanding of nature view of nature and the divine as a united reality. Nature is was not, however, consistent. In an argument against the fulfilled by and oriented to God. God’s goodness and Pelagians, who thought that good works led to the City of abundance is manifested in the natural world. Given his God, he contradicted himself. At stake were the issues of Aristotelian background, it was no accident that Aquinas human self-sufficiency and divine omnipotence. Augus- was the author of five proofs of the existence of God from tine took the position that human nature was wounded by natural theology. Reasoning from the causality, existence, the sin of Adam and Eve, and divine intervention was motion, complexity, and design of the natural world, he required to restore right relationship with God. Addition- believed God’s existence was a rational conclusion. His ally, Augustine’s background in Manicheism (a Persian arguments expressed his conviction that only an omnipo- ascetic sect with strong dualistic tendencies) contributed tent, omniscient, good God could create such a world. to an emphasis on the salvation of the human soul alone. Nevertheless, Aquinas combined the Aristotelian premise Augustine did not posit the dichotomy of pure nature and that nature could be studied in abstraction from God with supernature, which would be prevalent in Christian the Augustinian interpretation of Christ’s incarnation as a thought. However, his concept of grace as a cure for sin cure for sin. Together, these two themes contributed to the and his concern for the human soul were enough to initi- growing distinction between nature as “pure nature” and ate this later split. the supernatural. The biophysical world was, at least in John Scotus Eriugena (ca. 810–877) combined Augus- theory, separable from the spiritual world. Later scholas- tine’s medicinal notion of grace with an otherwise Eastern tics, such as Duns Scotus (d. 1308), allowed for the possi- Christian theology. (Eastern Christianity tends to see crea- bility of the actual existence of pure nature, distinct from tion and salvation as a seamless movement, unbroken by and unfulfilled by supernature. the Fall. Dualism between nature and supernature is a The nominalist William of Ockham (1285–1349) Western problem.) Eriugena’s text The Division of Nature brought this nascent division to full bloom. Out of rever- retained the Neoplatonic concept of theophany, God’s self- ence for God’s infinite transcendence, he distinguished 328 Christianity (6a) – Roman Catholicism between God’s absolute power (potentia Dei absoluta) and Santmire, Ronald. The Travail of Nature: The Ambiguous the actual created order as willed by God (potentia Dei Ecological Promise of Christian Theology. Philadel- ordinata). Because God had the power to create anything phia: Fortress Press, 1985. and any truth he wanted, nature was no longer anchored See also: Apocalypticism in Medieval Christianity; Christi- by divine rationality. Practically speaking, this meant that anity (6a) – Roman Catholicism; Cusa, Nicholas of; Dualist knowledge was gained through observation of what was Heresies; Francis of Assisi; Hildegard of Bingen; Roman actually there; the presupposition of a harmony between Catholic Religious Orders. divine reason and the natural order was annihilated. Nature was irrevocably severed from God. For the first time, “pure” nature was seen as a completely separate reality Christianity (6a) – Roman Catholicism from the divine. With the evacuation of sacredness from nature, Thomas Bacon was able to justify human domi- With approximately one billion adherents at the turn of nance as God’s original intention for humankind. Thus, the twentieth century, Roman Catholicism is the largest medieval theology set the stage for Enlightenment figures branch of Christianity. Catholicism’s history has been like Galileo, Descartes and Newton. These thinkers con- marked by shifting emphases regarding God’s and tinued the reduction of reality to extension and its expres- humanity’s relationships to the natural world. From its sion to mathematical formulation. Human knowledge of Hebraic origins, early Christianity affirmed the goodness and approach to nature had fundamentally changed. The of all of God’s creation and understood humanity both as world only existed insofar as it was forced into quantifi- a part of the community of creation and as its very apex able categories, its meaning dependent on human action. and crown. However as Christianity spread across the Medieval wonder at the natural world contains Mediterranean world, it encountered and accommodated the seeds of the misguided justification of human domi- itself to potent Platonic and neo-Platonic philosophical nance over nature. Christian theologians like Augustine, systems emphasizing the transcendence of the spiritual Eriugena, Aquinas, and Francis of Assisi articulated the realm over the world of embodied reality. The cosmo- awe they experienced in the only concepts available to logical model of emanation pictured creation coming them: concepts of creation, hierarchy, and the classical from God’s being and goodness overflowing into a “great concept of God. The tragedy lies in that the logical chain of being,” and dominant streams of early Christian development of their thought, particularly in Ockham’s theology adopted this model. nominalism, resulted in a world devoid of sacredness and On the one hand, this world-picture affirmed the rich available for unrestrained human consumption. relationality – the chain’s “links” – between God, human- Our contemporary interaction with nature is irrevocably ity, and the rest of nature. It emphasized that humanity is shaped by a religious and cultural history so pervasive that a part of the community of creation and it affirmed that it cannot be simply jettisoned. A deeper understanding even the “lower levels of creation” are graced, precious, of medieval Christianity may allow us to understand our- sustained in being by God, and contribute in their own selves, constructively reinterpret the tradition, and face a way to the “perfection of the universe.” It affirmed an future fraught with ecological dangers. “ontology of participation” in which God alone is “neces- sary being” and all of creation is understood as sustained Nancy J. Hudson in existence by its participation in, and dependency on, God’s energy and goodness. This view helped foster across Further Reading the centuries Catholicism’s rich sacramental sensibility. Dupre, Louis. Passage to Modernity: An Essay in the On the other hand, this world-picture emphasized the Hermeneutics of Nature and Culture. New Haven: Yale hierarchical ordering of the diverse levels of being in the University Press, 1993. universe and viewed humanity as the apex of creation, Egan, Harvey, ed. An Anthology of Christian Mysticism. enjoying God’s grant of “dominion” over the rest of Collegeville: Liturgical Press, 1991. nature. Historically this stress on hierarchy supported Fox, Matthew, ed. Western Spirituality: Historical Roots, affirmations of God’s transcendence, humanity’s unique Ecumenical Routes. Notre Dame: Fides/Claretian, creation in the imago Dei, and humanity’s rights to use 1979. the rest of nature to serve its ends. Often the stress on Leiss, William. The Domination of Nature. Boston: Beacon hierarchy became so dominant that balance was lost and Press, 1972. the traditional understanding of humanity as a part of Petry, Ray C. Late Medieval Mysticism. Philadelphia: The creation became attenuated. Nonetheless, because domi- Westminster Press, 1957. nant traditions of patristic and medieval theology placed Ruether, Rosemary Radford. Gaia and God: An Eco- such a stress on God’s creation and governance of the feminist Theology of Earth Healing. New York: Harper- universe, a potent creation-centered frame for under- Collins Publishers, 1992. standing human life was retained even if the emphasis on Christianity (6a) – Roman Catholicism 329 hierarchy pulled toward the enunciation of a strong and his founding of the Franciscan Order all continue to anthropocentric ethical focus. inspire. Francis was a nature mystic who felt deeply the One can see this ambivalent construal of the natural intimacy of God’s presence throughout nature and stressed world in the flowering of Catholic theology in the humanity’s kinship with the animals, fish, and birds. He medieval period. A wide number of theologians, monks, was committed to a life of preaching and he drew on and mystics gave expression to a strong sense of God’s scripture, especially the Psalms, for vivid and concrete presence amidst the world of creation, and yet this cos- language about birds, animals, stars, and planets. He mological frame of thought was joined to a strongly hier- emphasized the close bonds between humanity and the archical view of the order of being which in turn supported rest of creation by invoking personalistic and familial a stress on the distinct role and value of the human. A wide terms of address – “Brother Sun,” “Brother Wolf,” and range of important medieval thinkers placed an emphasis “Sister Mother Earth.” The various orders that have on creation. John Scotus Eriugena (810–880), for example, branched off from the original Franciscan trunk have been translated the Pseudo-Dionysiusan corpus, and in his generally energetic in recent years in promoting eco- own work, On the Division of Nature, gave an extensive logical responsibility. Pope John Paul II in 1979 called elaboration of the Platonic world-picture. Hildegard of attention to Francis’ example by naming him the patron Bingen (1098–1179), a German Benedictine abbess, saint of ecology. integrated cosmology, creation and the incarnation, and Thomas Aquinas’ works are also read today with inter- the Celtic Saints preached extensively about God’s grace est by Catholics concerned about ecological degradation. in nature. His Summa Theologia and other works well display the Down through the centuries the Church’s monastic “chain of Being” model’s affirmations that God is manifest orders have functioned as important reminders to the throughout the order of creation and that the human and broader church community of God’s presence in nature. all other living entities participate in the common good The monastic orders stretch back to the founding of the of the universe. Thomas’ works hold unique authority in Benedictine order by Benedict of Nursia (ca. 480–547). modern Catholic thinking because Pope Leo XIII (1878– Even though monasticism is popularly associated with 1903) in his encyclical Aeterni Patris (1879) officially austerity, ascetic practices, and an other-worldly ethic, the adopted Thomism as the foundation for theological educa- monks’ typical retreat from urban centers often led them tion in Catholic seminaries, colleges and universities. to establish their monasteries in rural or wilderness areas. Likewise Leo, in his encyclical Rerum Novarum (The Con- While serfs typically did the bulk of the agricultural work dition of Labor) (1891), drew on Thomas’ understanding of required to sustain the community, the monks themselves the natural law to address the sufferings of the poor and frequently participated in agricultural labor. exploitation of working people occurring in the industrial- Indeed, Benedict’s Rule, which shaped the practices izing countries of Europe and North America. Leo con- of his and many other orders, called for integrating demned with equal vigor the unfairness and meanness of prayer and daily labor. This rhythm tended to balance unfettered capitalism and the revolutionary excesses of the other-worldly tendencies of monastic spirituality socialism’s call for the abolition of the private ownership with an inner-worldly appreciation of the gardening, of property. Leo appealed to the natural law heritage to land-clearing, forestry management and sustainable agri- argue for a “middle way” between capitalism and social- cultural practices required to sustain the communities. ism that affirmed both the priority of the common good While clearly affirming an other-worldly stance, Catholic over that of the individual and the existence of certain monasticism also has sustained a deeply respectful natural rights, like the right to own property, to join in engagement with the fields, woods, gardens, animals, and workers associations, and to receive a just wage for one’s surrounding countryside – and a sense that humanity and work. Rerum Novarum is generally credited as a major the rest of creation are partners in a common project of advance in the papal social encyclical tradition. honoring the Creator. Many Catholics continue to find Leo’s endorsement of Thomism as the Church’s inspiration in the strong affirmations of the goodness “official” theological vision encouraged a revival of inter- of the natural world now voiced by many of today’s est in Thomas’ works. While neo-Thomists have long monastic communities. focused on Thomas’ hierarchical stress of human superior- Two giants of the Medieval Church – Francis of Assisi ity over the rest of nature, increasing attention is now (ca.1181–1226) and Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) – being directed to his use of a second organizing principle deserve special attention because their life work and in his thinking, one that focuses on the “whole community writings continue to shape Catholic reflection about God’s of the universe” (Aquinas 1948: 2:996; ST, 1a, 2ae, q.91, and humanity’s relationships to the natural world. The art.1). Whereas the dominant interpretation has given a stories of Francis’ rejection of his father’s wealth and con- human-centered reading of Thomas, his writing on version to a life of poverty, of his irrepressible joy, his creation develops a second scale of value in which the charity, his preaching to birds and animals, his stigmata, individual is subservient to the good of the species, and 330 Christianity (6a) – Roman Catholicism that good is likewise held as subservient to the common the issue. After John’s death the commission recom- good of creation. God is the ultimate common good of all mended to Pope Paul VI that he end the condemnation existent entities, but the next highest good is the good of of birth control. Paul, however, sustained the traditional the universe as a whole, a good that surpasses that of any condemnation in his encyclical Humanae Vitae (On one species including the human. Thomas accepts that the Human Life) (1965) and this triggered an ongoing cont- human is uniquely created in the imago Dei, but he holds roversy. The Pope relied heavily on biologically-based, that all other creatures also bear a “likeness” of their natural law reasoning to condemn artificial birth control Creator (Aquinas 1948: 1:231; ST, 1a, q.44, art.3). Thomas as a violation of the natural end or purpose of intercourse rearticulates the neo-Platonic principle of plenitude that and to affirm that the rhythm method of natural family holds that because God is maximally good and powerful, planning is permissible because it involves no impediment God pours out God’s being into a maximally rich universe to “natural processes” and is in accord with the natural characterized by a maximal diversity of levels of being. cycles of women’s fertility. Many who rejected the Pope’s For Thomas, the diversity of species is a mark of God’s conclusion likewise came to reject the natural law method sovereign grandeur and expansive generosity. As he put it: used to reach that conclusion. They felt it reductionisti- “[T]he principal good in things themselves is the perfec- cally read ethics directly from the physical ordering of tion of the universe; which would not be, were not all biology or nature. Many liberal thinkers sought to revise grades of being found in things” (Aquinas 1948: 1:124; Catholic ethics by centering moral attention on persons ST, 1a, q.22, art.4). Increasingly these passages are being in their full relationality with other persons, not on the read as providing a theological condemnation of human physical structure of the sex act. practices that promote habitat destruction and species John Paul II become pope in 1978 and his distinctive extinction. To kill off a species is to tear the fabric of God’s personalist ethical emphases have long had a powerful creation. influence on Catholic thinking. Before his rise to the Even as Pope Leo XIII appealed to the Thomistic natural papacy he received his doctorate in philosophy and was law heritage to affirm a distinctive Catholic social ethic strongly influenced by Edmund Husserl’s and Max critical of the excesses of both capitalism and communism, Scheler’s phenomenological perspectives. While John dominant streams of Catholic thinking in the twentieth Paul II continued to appeal to the natural law tradition to century became influenced by existentialist and phenom- justify his continuation of the condemnation of birth enological currents of thought stressing humanity’s control, his main critique of birth control drew its energy unique subjectivity, freedom, and historical agency. from his phenomenological account of the human person. Many French thinkers, like Emmanuel Mounier, Jacques He held that birth control’s wrongness lies primarily in Maritain, and Etienne Gilson, and Germans, like Dietrich the intent to block the “full donation” of persons in the act von Hildebrand, gave shape to an emerging Catholic of love. Its wrongness, then, lies more in its violation of movement known as “Personalism” which centered ethical relationality between persons than in some violation reflection in the distinctive worth and unique value of the of the “order of nature.” Thus, while sharp disagreement human person. Likewise Karl Rahner, Bernard Lonergan continues between those who condemn and those who and others called for a “turn to the subject” and away from would accept birth control, many in both camps shifted Thomistic metaphysics and notions of the natural law. away from natural law reasoning and embraced a focus Lonergan called on Catholic thinkers to shift from the stressing God’s relationship to persons and their responsi- “classicist worldview” and embrace “historical minded- bilities to each other. ness.” In rejecting metaphysics and ontology, increasing With both conservatives and liberals “turning to the numbers of Catholic thinkers came to accept a sharp subject,” it is not surprising that there emerged a general dualism between humanity and the rest of nature. Many turning away from nature and creation. The heightening Catholic thinkers in recent decades meant that the “turn to of the intensity of the focus on the human often was the subject” also functioned as a turn away from nature accompanied by an attenuation of an appreciation of and the order of creation. But in falling silent about our embodied animality as members of a species depend- nature, much modern and contemporary Catholic thinking ent, like all other species, on the well-being of the Earth’s too easily accommodated itself to accepting the ruling ecosystems. Though some Catholic liberals and conserva- understanding of nature as a “thing” or a “field or tives continue to invoke the natural law tradition, they resources” that is sustained by the dominant consumptive generally see it as based in principles drawn from “human and productive practices of industrially advanced society. reason,” not some “order of nature.” In this fashion, the Pope John XXIII (1958–63) called the Second Vatican dominant view in the last three decades of the twentieth Council (1962–65) to help the Church respond more century understood the tradition as human-centered, not adequately to the “signs of the times.” Many wanted the creation-centered. Church to ease its traditional condemnation of artificial Pope John Paul II’s 25-five year pontificate, for birth control and John XXIII called a commission to study example, marked a clear progression from an early Christianity (6a) – Roman Catholicism 331 endorsement of a flat-out domination of nature, to an Paul II 1987: 52 [sec. 29]). But he failed to break out of an acceptance of a dominion ethic, and finally to an accept- anthropocentric focus and repeatedly insisted that the ance of a more ecologically informed, stewardship “goods of creation” were meant to serve the good of all of approach. Even if one wished the pace had been quick- humanity (secs. 39, 42, 76, 86). While this encyclical ened, he will be remembered as the pope who first marked an important turning point, still the Pope repeat- addressed ecological issues. Long accustomed to focusing edly depicted the natural world as a field of resources on social justice issues, the Vatican found it difficult to waiting for human transformation and use. integrate ecological sustainability into its long-standing The Pope’s fullest articulation of concern for emerging social justice agenda. While many environmentalists’ ecological threats was promulgated in January 1990 in voices have been raised in concern about rising global an address titled: “The Ecological Crisis: A Common population and its impact on ecosystems, the church Responsibility.” In it he moved from a stress on dominion hierarchy’s response was to argue that overconsumption to articulate clearly the importance of recognizing by rich societies is the key ecological problem and that strict stewardship obligations. Catholics have a “serious increased development of poorer societies is the best path obligation to care for all of creation” (Pope John Paul II toward global population stabilization. While there is 1989: 13), he stated, adding that the ecological crisis is a some merit in the Vatican’s view, still it seems that the moral issue and a “common responsibility” of all peoples. Vatican came to ecological issues with hesitation, due both He strongly condemned the overconsumption of the to its controversial position against birth control and industrialized rich societies and asserted that this is the because of the Pope’s personalist perspectives. By the primary cause of ecological degradation. early twenty-first century, the clash between the United Bishops’ Conferences in many nations built on the Nations’ population agenda and the Vatican lessened, Pope’s early steps and promulgated an array of important however, as the United Nations began to emphasize the pastoral letters on ecological concerns. Most move beyond expansion of girls’ educational opportunities and the pro- the Pope’s generally human-centered ethical perspective motion of families’ and women’s healthcare as the most and articulate a stewardship ethic rooted more deeply effective means of achieving reductions in average family in an acknowledgment of humanity’s participation in, size over time. While the Church and the United Nations dependency on, and responsibilities owed to, creation. In remained in confrontation over the latter’s encouragement 1988 the Filipino Bishops wrote an important letter that of birth control, this new approach, stressing education noted many connections between human suffering and and healthcare, was one that most in the Vatican could ecological degradation. They held that the defense of the embrace as a matter of social justice. Earth is the “ultimate pro-life issue” and called on the John Paul II’s encyclical Laborem Exercens (On Human Church to overcome its “neglect” of the “ecological crisis” Work) (1981) illustrates both his personalist philosophical (Bishops of the Philippines 1996: 317). Likewise the agenda and how it tends to polarize the human sharply American Bishops in 1991 wrote “Renewing the Earth” in from the rest of nature. He celebrated the dignity of human which they drew on the Hebrew Scriptures to remind us work, but did so by contrasting human agency and sub- that we inhabit a “sacramental universe” in which God’s jectivity over against nature’s passivity and “objectivity.” presence sustains all creation. They called on Catholics to Through work humanity “subdues” and “dominates” the acknowledge their “kinship with all that God has made” Earth and thus fulfills the mandate of Genesis. The Pope (US Catholic Conference 1996: 229). They sought to held technology as an almost unqualified “ally” in expand the traditional notion of the common good to humanity’s transformation and domination of the natural include the “planetary common good” even as they argued world. Repeatedly the nonhuman world is depicted as a that the “love of neighbor” now requires that we “extend sphere of resources. John Paul II did acknowledge, how- our love to future generations and to the flourishing of all ever, that “the heritage of nature is limited and that it is Earth’s creatures” (US Catholic Conference 1996: 239). being intolerably polluted.” But this was a passing point In addition to these magisterial calls for caring for the that failed to check his general celebration of the ongoing Earth, there are many other Catholic movements that are domination of nature (Pope John Paul II 1981: 7). focusing on the plight of creation. Most seek to engage the John Paul II’s 1987 encyclical Sollicitudo Rei Socialis medieval theological heritage and correlate its pre-modern (On Social Concern) was the first encyclical to give more sense of nature as a living community with post-modern than a mere passing reference to emerging ecological ecological thinking about nature. Even many non- problems. In this encyclical his main agenda was to call Catholics find Francis of Assisi’s life and views inspira- for the social and economic development of peoples, but tional. Additionally there is a fledgling movement he did acknowledge limits to humanity’s dominion over referred to by some as “eco-Thomism” that is exploring the Earth. He noted that we have “a certain affinity with helpful correlations between Thomas’ stress on conform- other creatures” and that we were placed “in the garden ing human action to the natural law and ecologists’ with the duty of cultivating and watching over it” (John findings that human communities must likewise conform 332 Christianity (6a) – Roman Catholicism to the limits and “laws” of the natural ecological order reverence for the sacredness of the rain, the soil, and the (see LeBlanc 1999: 293–306; and Schaefer 2001: 23–52). corn and bean crops that sustain life. Often when Catholi- Some eco-Thomists fear that the subject-centered turn in cism comes into contact with indigenous peoples, the theology and the reduction of the natural law tradition to latter’s sensitivity to nature heightens Catholic ecological claims drawn from the “order of reason” often constitute a sensibilities. The Eurocentric intellectual base of Catholi- too easy accommodation to the ruling anthropocentric cism is now engaging and being engaged by important assumptions that dominate modern Western societies. insights and sensitivities from a more culturally diverse, They seek to swim against the stream and recover a global Catholic community. natural law approach rooted in an ecological understand- Similarly Catholic feminist theology is helpfully explor- ing of “order of nature.” Eco-Thomists note that Thomas ing the interconnections between the oppression of employed the best science of his day – Aristotelianism – in women and the domination and degradation of nature. his theological analyses and suggest that his example Feminist thinkers provide a “hermeneutic of suspicion” should empower the Church to draw deeply from the best that unmasks ideological justifications for sexism and for scientific account of the world today, namely the one anthropocentric ethics, which objectify the nonhuman offered by the ecological sciences. Eco-Thomists accept natural world as having only resource value. Rosemary that the concentration on the human subject has enriched Radford Ruether has been a major Catholic feminist Catholic thinking, but they argue that any account of the leader who has long promoted an ecofeminist theological human person that misses our embodiment, our evo- vision. She has argued that Christianity contains two dis- lutionary history, and our dependency on natural eco- tinct traditions – the covenantal and the sacramental – systems – in short, any account of the person that is not that can help instill an appreciation for the sacredness ecologized – is simply inadequate. of the natural world and for our need to care for the Catholicism has long supported distinct traditions of Earth. spirituality but in the last three decades Thomas In conclusion, it must be remembered that the lived Berry, Matthew Fox, and others have sought to ground piety of Catholicism is rich in a host of embodied liturgical spirituality in a celebration of God’s presence in the and sacramental practices and that these play a big role in materiality of the natural world. “Creation-centered giving shape to the ethos and perspectives of the com- spirituality,” as their movement is dubbed, pulls mystical munity. The US Bishops’ Conference and those in other reflection from an other-worldly direction into an countries are appealing to Catholic parishes around the engagement with an ecologically sound, sacramental view world to think of ecological concerns when they develop of nature. Fox aims to draw attention to God’s “original their year-long liturgical plans. The feast days of Saints blessing” given in creation. Berry holds that contem- Francis and Isidore (the patron saint of farmers), and porary science offers us the remarkable spiritual gift of a Rogation Days, the three days before Ascension Thursday, new and inspirational creation story that vividly discloses are being identified as special occasions where parishes the grandeur, complexity and beauty of God’s gift of can help people engage theological reflection with eco- creation. For Berry, caring for the planet must become our logical concerns. In such ways ancient liturgies, feasts, generation’s top priority, our “great work” to which we are and sacramental traditions are being reshaped to offer a called. set of associations to help encourage a deeper appreciation Liberation Theology is another movement that encour- for the sacramental character of the natural world. ages Catholics to consider the ways that oppression of the Catholicism’s rituals, sacraments, and rich sacred poor tends to go hand in hand with the degradation of the calendar serve to sustain a thick sense of a “sacred cos- Earth. Liberation thinking arose in Latin America and first mos.” These practices and holy days, at their best, function focused on human oppression and on God’s liberating as channels mediating a sense of the sacred into the action in history. Over time, however, many liberationists everyday world of the believer. The sacred calendar with concluded that environmental degradation hits the poor its numerous holy days and seasonal ceremonies offer the hardest and that genuine human liberation requires regular communal reminders of a sacred history that joins social justice, sustainable development and the protection individuals into a greater intergenerational narrative. of natural ecosystems. Leonardo Boff, a Brazilian and This sense of a community across the generations is also former Franciscan, and Enrique Dussel, an Argentinian, sustained by the ancient belief in the “communion of the and others have helped many to see these linkages. saints.” These ritualized rememberings of one’s connec- Liberation thinking is being enriched too as the Church tions to past generations may well be a potent emotional begins to appreciate the popular piety and practices of the and moral resource for helping to promote greater sense laity in a wide range of cultures that draw upon their of identification with, and felt obligation toward, our indigenous cultural heritages. For example, in parts of planet’s future generations. Guatemala, Catholic ecological sensibility is being enriched by tapping into the peoples’ traditional Mayan William French Christianity (6b1) – Christian Orthodoxy 333 Further Reading Christianity (6b1) – Christian Orthodoxy Aquinas, Thomas. Summa Theologica. Notre Dame, IN: Ave Maria Press, 1948. In a historical exploration of the concept of nature in Berry, Thomas. The Great Work: Our Way into the Future. Orthodox Christianity, there are three preliminary points New York: Bell Tower, 1999. that must be made: first, the notion of the natural world as Boff, Leonardo. Cry of the Earth, Cry of the Poor. Mary- distinct from the human part of creation is in fact classical knoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1997. Greek in origin; second, the Judeo-Christian tradition does Catholic Bishops of the Philippines. “What is Happening not consider nature as something separate or subordinated to Our Beautiful Land?” Drew Christiansen, SJ. and to human creation. Thus, nature is never either “divine” Walter Grazer, eds. “And God Saw that It Was Good”: (since it is not God, but merely created by God) or “pro- Catholic Theology and the Environment. Washington, fane” (since it is always and closely connected to the D.C.: United States Catholic Conference, 1996, 309–18. creation of the human person in the image of God). Fox, Matthew. Creation Spirituality: Liberating Gifts for Finally, the brief outline that follows examines the his- the Peoples of the Earth. San Francisco: Harper, 1991. torical understanding of nature as this emerges in certain Irwin, Kevin. W. and Edmund D. Pellegrino, eds. Preserving key thinkers and certain fundamental principles of the Creation: Environmental Theology and Ethics. Orthodox Christian theology. Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University Press, 1994. An Orthodox Christian perspective on nature begins LeBlanc, Jill. “Eco-Thomism,” Environmental Ethics 21:3 with the creation of the world through the Word of God, as (1999), 293–306. described in the opening chapters of the Book of Genesis. McDonagh, Sean. The Greening of the Church. Maryknoll, Following the Judeo-Christian tradition of thought, NY: Orbis Books, 1990. Athanasius of Alexandria (d. 373) emphasized two particu- Pope John Paul II. The Ecological Crisis: A Common lar factors of the creation story in his classic treatise On Responsibility. Washington, D.C.: United States the Divine Incarnation: the creation of the world out of Catholic Conference, 1990. nothing (cf. II Macc. 7: 28) and the creation of humanity in Pope John Paul II. On Social Concern (Sollicitudo Rei the image and likeness of God (Gen. 1:26). Creation out Socialis). Washington, D.C.: United States Catholic of nothing implies the creation of the universe by an act of Conference, 1987. free will and in a movement of love. Creation of humanity Pope John Paul II. Laborem Exercens (On Human Work). in the divine image and likeness implies that we are Boston: St. Paul Editions, 1981. endowed with similar freedom but that, like the rest of Ruether, Rosemary Radford. Gaia & God: An Ecofeminist creation, we too are contingent and dependent on God. Theology of Earth Healing. New York: HarperCollins, Both concepts require careful exegesis, inasmuch as the 1992. “nihil” out of which God made the world is not considered Ryan, Maura A. and Todd David Whitmore, eds. The to be something outside of the scope of the divine Challenge of Global Stewardship: Roman Catholic energies, while the creation of Adam and Eve com- Responses. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame plements the first concept and underlines the close con- Press, 1997. nection between humanity and the natural world. John Schaefer, Jame. “Appreciating the Beauty of Earth,” Chrysostom (d. 407) describes creation as a form of Theological Studies 62:1 (2001), 23–52. doctrine. Indeed, in the mind of Anthony of Egypt (d. 356), United States Catholic Conference. “Renewing the Earth.” nature is an open book revealing the truth of God. Indeed, In Drew Christiansen, S.J., and Walter Grazer, eds. to detach oneself from matter is to cease to be human “And God Saw that It Was Good”: Catholic Theology (Gregory of Nazianzus, d. 390). and the Environment. Washington, D.C.: United States A part of the original creative plan, the Incarnation of Catholic Conference, 1996, 223–43. the Word of God is not perceived simply as a result of See also: Aquinas, Thomas; Berry, Thomas; Celtic Christi- human failure but in fact constitutes an essential and natu- anity; Christianity (7c) – Liberation Theology; Columbia ral characteristic of God. In this respect, the Incarnation River Watershed Pastoral Letter; Creation’s Fate in the is to be seen as related to the creation of the entire world New Testament; Dualism; Dualist Heresies; Fertility and and not limited to the creation of humanity. Thus, Gregory Abortion; Fox, Matthew; Francis of Assisi; Genesis of Nyssa (ca. 395) describes the mystery of Incarnation as Farm; Green Sisters Movement; Hildegard of Bingen; a normative, and not an exceptional movement in the rela- Natural Law and Natural Rights; Roman Catholic Religious tionship between God and the world. Thus Christ appears Orders; Ruether, Rosemary Radford; United Nations’ as the center and focus of all things (cf. Col. 3: 10–11), “Earth Summits”. revealing the original beauty and restoring the ultimate purpose of the world. The entire world is likened to the extended human body, believed Origen of Alexandria (d. 254); and it is especially likened to the Body of Christ. 334 Christianity (6b1) – Christian Orthodoxy

In the thought of the early Fathers, the Church as the but to cooperate with and sanctify it. The human person is Body of Christ is the experience of a new heaven and a to make connections, to draw bridges between the natural new Earth (cf. Rev. 21:1), whereby the heavenly penetrates environment and the kingdom of heaven. Leontius of and transforms the earthly. In this light, the emphasis in Cyprus (seventh century) noted the way in which we Orthodox thought has been on the “last times,” on the offer worship to God “through all creation visible and eschaton or the kingdom of God. By contrast with Western invisible,” as well as of the way “the moon and the stars theologians who underlined the significance of history glorify God through us” (Apologetic Sermon on Icons: 93). from the time of Tertullian (d. 225), Eastern theologians Although the writings of Dionysius the Areopagite (ca. have emphasized the role of the metahistorical, the eternal 500) establish a notion of hierarchy within the heavens or spiritual in the world. Thus, the world around has and the created order, he admits that “God moves outside always been appreciated in light of the heavens above; of the divine realm in an act of extreme erotic love, and the Eucharist became the criterion by which the value approaching the world burning with goodness” (On the of the natural world was determined. The “last times” Divine Names IV: 12). Human potentialities are more expressed the conviction of the early Christian Church complex and varied than even those of angelic beings; and about the lasting value of all things. The human person the implications of our actions are more manifold and stands, as it were, between two worlds – between heaven mysterious for the natural environment than we could and Earth – and serves as a microcosm and a mediator that ever imagine. One of the tasks before us as human beings seeks to manifest and reconcile the spiritual through the is to preserve the integrity but also the diversity of God’s material. creation. No one among us has the right to reduce the Created in the image and likeness of God, the human scope of God’s presence in the natural world; rather, each person is called to bless God for the entire creation as well one of us has the responsibility to embrace the breadth as to bless the entire creation in returning it to God. In this of God’s grace in every person, every animal, and every respect, human beings are performing a royal and priestly plant. function. The vocation of humanity is not to exploit The para-priestly character of the human person in nature but to transform it, not to dominate or destroy it relation to the natural environment raises the concept of

Eastern Orthodox Monasticism universal plan of salvation is achieved only through the Given its otherworldly orientation, Orthodox monasti- mediation of humans, who are themselves the union of cism might at first glance appear – at least to a con- material and spiritual elements. The human being temporary mind – as marginal, perhaps even an aberrant assumes, thus, a priestly vocation. The Orthodox view of phenomenon of minor importance to modern ecological nature is a “liturgical” one and its foremost expression concerns. The etymological origin of µοναχ or µοναχ, is found in the Eucharist. In it nature, in the form of the Greek terms used for monk or nun respectively, is bread and wine, is offered to God and is received back found in the word µνο meaning “alone,” separate from transfigured as the Body and Blood of Christ. In this way all worldly concerns in an unceasing communion with nature is humanized and humans are deified. God. The emphasis is indeed on the contemplative, Orthodox monastics from early on have sought this interior life of the individual and his/her personal harmonious relationship between humans and nature relationship with the divine, resulting in an extreme in the adoption of an ethic of self-offering and self- spiritualization of one’s own bodily existence and a total sacrifice in their effort to achieve a foretaste of paradise renunciation of the material universe as a source of on earth. Nature was not seen as fallen, but rather as temptation and evil and an obstacle to spiritual ascent. embodying the image of God. There have been indeed Yet there is almost always a tension between the ideal countless cases of early ascetics, but also of contempor- and the real in Orthodox monastic life and this can ary monks, who have developed what may be regarded especially be seen when we deal with monastic attitudes as an unusual relationship of friendship and mutual toward nature. Such attitudes can be almost perceived as understanding with wild and dangerous animals. From a form of dualism being both positive and negative at Anthony the Great in fourth-century Egypt up to the same time. Thus, on the one hand, Orthodox monas- Seraphim of Sarov in nineteenth-century Russia, the tics have exhibited a “renunciatory” attitude toward the true Orthodox saint has treated nothing as alien and world and on the other hand a “reverential” one, defend- hostile in God’s created universe. In this way he recog- ing the goodness of nature, which must be loved and nized that what was offered to him was a gift of God and restored to a new unity with God. Contrary to the ration- that one must live following God’s commandment to alistic and anthropocentric view of Western Christianity “till and look” after the Garden of Eden (Gen. 2:15). stressing the mastery of humans over nature, in Continued next page Orthodoxy this partaking of the natural cosmos in the Christianity (6b1) – Christian Orthodoxy 335

This “ecological asceticism” is also, up to a certain wood, for trade purposes in order to cover the increasing degree, apparent in the liturgical and everyday lives of spending costs of the monasteries, as these attempt to present day Orthodox monks and nuns. Their vigorous modernize their facilities. The opening of roads with no fasting and the avoidance of meat eating shows not only apparent planning for the mechanized transportation of a sparing use of resources and respect for other pilgrims has also contributed to this effect. The old creatures, but also an appreciation of the simplest of paths, which had been used to connect the monasteries foods, which help to sustain the greatest gift of all, that a few decades back and formed an integral part of the of life. Furthermore, material substances such as water, inward and outward journey of pilgrims, have nowadays oil, seeds of wheat, bread, grapes or certain plants are fallen into neglect. Pilgrims have been turned into blessed and thus purified. In this way, they become loci tourists, as Mount Athos became in the last decades a of divine strength conferring grace on the individual. fashionable place to visit among the political elite, The whole nature through purification is elevated and intellectuals, nationalists looking for the lost glory of becomes the ο κο (house) of God. Moreover, through Byzantium and agnostics searching for religious gurus. the old monastic virtues of ψιλοξεν α (hospitality) and The introduction of modern technology on Mount ψιλανθρωπ α (charity), offered both to humans and to Athos in the form of telecommunications, road net the animal kingdom, the alienation of humans from works, networks for water supply and construction work the rest of the creation is overcome. Even the monastic have forever changed both the unique flora and fauna virtue of chastity and the voluntary limit of one’s own of the locality. The disappearance of wolves and of the reproductive capabilities may be viewed as contributing variety of wild trees in favor of chestnuts for the to the resolution of the present ecological crisis. Ortho- exploitation of their produce attest to this. The ethos of dox monastic life follows a cyclical time in accordance ecological asceticism is losing more and more ground, with the rhythm of nature, since it follows the sun’s endangering also, as many argue, the state of inner cycle and alters with the seasons. Finally, Orthodox spiritual tranquility. monastic architecture embodies this ecological ethos by adjusting and not imposing to the surroundings and Eleni Sotitiu by exhibiting a variety and a creativity exceeding functionality, thus creating a mystic effect in which the Further Reading image of God is revealed in everything present. George, K.M. “Towards a Eucharistic Ecology.” In Yet, in today’s society even monastics did not manage Gennadios Limouris, ed. Justice, Peace and the to avoid the effects of modernity, particularly as they Integrity of Creation: Insights from Orthodoxy. Gen- relate to the environment. The era of Orthodox monasti- eva: WCC Publications, 1990, 45–55. cism when human beings were said to have lived in Kallistos of Diokleia. “Wolves and Monks: Life on the innocent harmony with nature tends to be a thing of the Holy Mountain Today.” Sobornost 5:2 (1983), 56–68. past. Nowhere is this more apparent than on Mount Metropolitan John (Zizioulas) of Pergamon. “Ecological Athos (Greece), the spiritual center of Orthodoxy ever Asceticism: A Cultural Revolution.” Sourozh 67 since the tenth century. The destructive effects of (February 1997), 22–5. modern day civilization may be seen in the huge Sherrard, Philip. “The Paths of Athos.” The Eastern deforestation of the Athonite peninsula resulting from Christian Review 9:1–2 (1977), 100–7. the more intensive use of the physical resources, such as See also: Bartholomew, Ecumenical Patriarch.

the iconic or symbolic dimension of the world. Creation creation in place of the Creator; we worship the Creator brings us to a vision of God; physike leads to theoria. who assumed creation for our sake” (On Holy Images IV: For Evagrius of Pontus (d. 399), the contemplation of the 4, 16). physical reality involves the recognition of God’s presence By the fourteenth century, the relationship between the in nature. Each place and each moment is a sacred space transcendent God and the immanent world was described and time; each can serve as a window into eternity. Then in terms developed by Gregory Palamas (d. 1359) who each human being can discern his or her role within articulated the earlier teaching of the Church by expound- the natural order. Then we are able to move through the ing the doctrine of the distinction between divine essence creation to the Creator, and “wherever we turn our eyes, and divine energies. The fundamental dichotomy in we shall see God’s symbol” (Ephrem the Syrian, d. 373, Judeo–Christian thought was not between matter and Hymns on Paradise XXX: 2). This does not signify the spirit, but only between the sinful and the redeemed. adoration, but only the veneration of creation. An icon Through the distinction between essence and energies in does not imply an idol. John of Damascus (d. 749), the God, the Eastern Christian Church defined the relationship champion of icons, taught that “we do not worship between God and creation by affirming that creation was 336 Christianity (6b1) – Christian Orthodoxy

Orthodox Spirituality love people; anyone who does not love trees does not In the Christian Orthodox tradition, there are three love God. particular principles that play a significant role in Liturgy is a celebration of this connection and com- understanding our role in and responsibility for the munion. When we enter this interdependence of all environment. These include icons (the way creation is persons and all things – the “cosmic liturgy,” as St. perceived), liturgy (the way creation is celebrated), and Maximus the Confessor called it – then we may under- asceticism (the way creation is treated). The beauty of the stand and resolve issues of ecology and of economy. In icon offers new insights into reality. It reveals the eternal the breadth of the liturgical worldview, we recognize dimension in everything. Icons remind us of another that the world is larger than our individual concerns. way and another world and offer a corrective to the The world ceases to be something that we observe culture that gives value only to the here and now. The objectively, and becomes something of which we are a icon articulates with theological conviction our faith part personally. in the heavenly kingdom. The icon does away with any The world in its entirety constitutes the liturgy. God is objective distance between this world and the next, praised by the trees and by the birds, glorified by the between matter and spirit, body and soul, time and stars and the moon (cf. Ps. 18:2), worshipped by the sea eternity, creation and divinity. The icon reminds us that and the sand. When we reduce religious life to our there is no double vision, no double order in creation. concerns, we forget the function of the liturgy is to It speaks in this world the language of the age to come. implore God for the renewal of the whole cosmos. Our In icons, God assumes a face, a beauty that is exceed- relationship with this world determines and defines our ing (Ps. 44:2), a “beauty that can save the world” said relationship with heaven. Dostoevsky. In Orthodox icons, faces – whether of A radical reversal of perspectives and attitudes is Christ, or of the saints in the communion of Christ – required to alter the situation. There is a price to pay are always frontal. Profile signifies sin, a rupture in for our wasting. The environmental crisis will not be communication. Faces are eternally receptive to divine solved simply by expressions of regret. Only a spirit of grace. “I see” means that “I am seen,” which in turn asceticism will lead to the rediscovery of wonder and implies that I am in communion. beauty. Unfortunately, asceticism carries with it the The entire world is in fact an icon and a point of entry baggage of dualism and denial, developed over centuries into a new reality. Everything in this world is a seed. inside and outside Christianity. Yet this is not the vision “Nothing is a vacuum in the face of God,” wrote Irenaeus of wholeness that Orthodox Christian spirituality intim- of Lyons in the second century; “everything is a sign of ates through its ascetic dimension. The connection is God” (Against Heresies IV: 21). And so in icons, rivers intimate between the human body and the environment. assume human form; the sun and the moon and the In the third century, Origen of Alexandria believed that: stars and the waters assume human faces; all acquire a “The world is like our bodies. It too is formed of many personal dimension. limbs and directed by a single soul” (On First Principles What the icon does in space and matter, the world of II: 1–3). And if the Earth is our flesh, then it is insepar- the liturgy effects in praise and time. If we are guilty of able from our destiny. relentless waste, it is because we have lost the spirit The ascetic person is free, uncontrolled by attitudes of worship. We are no longer respectful pilgrims on that abuse the world, uncompelled by ways that use the this Earth; we have been reduced to mere tourists. The world, characterized by the ability to say “enough.” Eastern Orthodox Church retains a liturgical view of the Asceticism aims at refinement, not detachment or world, proclaiming a world imbued by God and a God destruction. Its goal is moderation, never repression. It involved in this world. looks to service, not selfishness. Without asceticism, Liturgy means dynamism and creativity, not merely none of us is authentically human. ritual. The world is neither static nor eternally repro- One important example of asceticism in Orthodox duced, as the classical worldview proposed. It is move- practice is fasting. Orthodox Christians fast from dairy ment toward an end, toward a sacred goal. It is neither and meat products for almost six months, itself an effort endless nor purposeless, but relational. In an icon, every to reconcile one half of the year with other, secular time part is required for the picture to be complete. If we with the time of the kingdom. Fasting is integrating move (or remove, or destroy) one part of the picture – body and soul, remembering the hunger of others, whether a tree, or an animal, or a human being – then feeling the hunger of creation itself for restoration, the entire picture is affected. We must always think hungering for God, remembering that we live not by in terms of connections. All ecological activities are bread alone, being reconciled with one another and the measured ultimately by their effect on people, especially world. It is affirming that the material creation is neither upon the poor. Anyone who does not love trees does not under our control nor to be exploited selfishly, but to Continued next page Christianity (6b1) – Christian Orthodoxy 337

faces or icons, and the earth as the countenance of God. Chryssavgis, John. Beyond the Shattered Image: Ortho- The discipline of fasting inspires a sense of wonder, dox Perspectives on the Environment. Minneapolis: of goodness, and of godliness, enabling one to see all Light & Life Publishers, 1999. things in God, and God in all things. Metropolitan John (Zizioulas) of Pergamon. “Preserving God’s Creation: Three Lectures on Theology and John Chryssavgis Ecology.” King’s Theological Review XII (1989). Sherrard, Philip. The Eclipse of Man and Nature: An Further Reading Enquiry into the Origins and Consequences of Mod- Bishop Kallistos of Diokleia. Through the Creation to the ern Science. Lindisfarne Press, Stockbridge: 1987. Creator. London: Friends of the Centre Papers, 1997. Vasileios, Archimandrite. Ecology and Monasticism. Chryssavgis, John. Cosmic Grace, Humble Prayer. Grand Montreal: Alexander Press, 1996. Rapids: Eerdmans, 2003. charged with divine energy, that nothing was outside the Chryssavgis, John. Cosmic Grace, Humble Prayer. Grand embrace of God. Thus, the presence of God in the world Rapids: Eerdmans, 2003. is neither one of illusion (a-theistic) nor one of identifi- Chryssavgis, John. Beyond the Shattered Image: Orthodox cation (pan-theistic). Orthodox Christianity would instead Insights on the Environment. Minneapolis: Light and espouse a doctrine of pan-en-theism, regarding God as Life, 1999. embracing the world and the world as being in God. Gregorios, Paulos Mar. The Human Presence: An Orthodox In more recent centuries, Christian Orthodox theo- View of Nature. Geneva: WCC, 1978; and Christian logians have developed the concept of divine Wisdom in Literature Society, Park Town, 1980. Later published as an effort to understand and proclaim the unity of heaven The Human Presence: Ecological Spirituality and the and Earth that is most uniquely personified in Jesus Age of the Spirit, New York: Element Books Ltd, Christ as the eternal creator who assumed creation. A 1987. single blade of grass should remind us of God, says Basil Guroian, Vigen. “Ecological Ethics: An Ecclesial Event.” In of Caesarea (d. 379). And, for the ascetic tradition repre- Vigen Guroian. Ethics after Christendom: Towards an sented by John Climacus (d. 649), each animal too bears Ecclesial Christian Ethic. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, the wisdom of the Creator and testifies to God. Everything 1994. is seen to bear the seed, the sign, the reason (or logos, as Ignatius IV, Patriarch of Antioch. “Three Sermons on the Maximus the Confessor [d. 662] called it) of the divine Environment: Creation, Spirituality, Responsibility.” Logos or Word. The wisdom of God is the creative and Sourozh 38 (1989). unitive power in all things (cf. Wisdom of Solomon 9:1). John of Pergamon. “Preserving God’s Creation: Three Now within the doctrine of the creation of the world by Lectures on Theology and Ecology.” King’s Theological God, Orthodox Christianity proposes three fundamental Review XII (1989). Also in Sourozh 39–41. principles that together comprise the vision of nature: (i) Kallistos, Bishop of Diokleia. Through the Creation to the The world is good and beautiful. This means that no part of Creator. London: Friends of the Centre Papers, the natural world may be divorced from the loving care 1997. of God and the environmental concern of the Christian; (ii) Limouris, Gennadios, ed. Justice, Peace, and the Integrity The world is fallen or sinful. As a result of human failure, of Creation: Insights from Orthodoxy. Geneva: WCC the process of cosmic transformation is incalculably costly Publications, 1990. and creation “travails” in expectation of deliverance (cf. Rossi, Vincent. “Inspiration: Who Comes out of the Rom. 8: 22). Without freedom, there would be no sin. Yet, Wilderness?” GreenCross II:2 (1996). without freedom there would also be no love; finally, Sherrard, Philip. Human Image, World Image. Ipswich: (iii) The world is redeemed. This means that nothing is Golgonooza Press, 1990. intrinsically evil and everything has received the first Staniloae, Dimitru. “The World as Gift and Sacrament of fruits of transformation through the crucifixion and God’s Love.” Sobornost 5:9 (1969). resurrection of Christ. Theokritoff [Briere], Elizabeth. “Orthodoxy and the Environment.” Sourozh 58 (1994). John Chryssavgis Vasileios, Archimandrite. Ecology and Monasticism. Montreal: Alexander Press, 1996. Further Reading See also: Bartholomew, Ecumenical Patriarch; Christian- Bartholomew, Ecumenical Patriarch. “The Orthodox Faith ity – Eastern versus Western; Christianity (6b2) – Greek and the Environment.” Sourozh 62 (1995). Orthodox. 338 Christianity (6b2) – Greek Orthodox Christianity (6b2) – Greek Orthodox of Theology on the island of Halki in cooperation with the WWF, as in 1994 (“The Environment and Religious Educa- Ecological endeavors have been at the heart of Greek tion”), in 1995 (“The Environment and Ethics”), and in Orthodox activities for more than 15 years and are under- 1997 (“The Environment and Justice”). Since 1999 a special taken by various official bodies such as the Ecumenical “Halki Ecological Institute” has been active there too. Patriarchate of Constantinople and the autocephalous Further activities of RSE, which have achieved sig- Church of Greece. Given the wide attention to environ- nificant outcomes for some regions of Europe, include the mental issues on the part of many religions across the international water-based symposia on religion, science globe, such an interest is hardly surprising. The greater and the environment. These have taken place under the sensitization of the major world religions for environ- auspices of Patriarch Bartholomew with the participation mental problems was largely effected after the inter- of noted religious and political leaders and public officials, religious meeting of Assisi (26 October 1986). In these as well as scientific and environmental figures. The first endeavors, an attempt is usually made to articulate the one with the theme “Revelation and the Environment differentia specifica of the Orthodox contribution to A.D. 95–1995” took place in September 1995 aboard a environmental issues in contrast to other Christian tradi- ship on the Aegean Sea on the occasion of the 1900th tions and religions. anniversary of the writing of the Book of the Apocalypse. Beginning with the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Con- The second one entitled “The Black Sea in Crisis” was stantinople, this interest was manifested by Patriarch dedicated to the protection of the natural environment Dimitrios I (1972–1991), who intended to render this of the Black Sea and took place in September 1997 under traditional center of Orthodoxy a place of prayer for the the patronage of the European Commission on board a creation. After a relevant proposal issued by an environ- ship that carried the participants along the Black and mental congress held on the island of Patmos in Septem- the Aegean Sea. The third floating symposium entitled ber 1988, he declared in 1989 that each first day of “Danube: River of Life” took place in October 1999, again September (i.e., the beginning of the new ecclesiastical under the patronage of the European Commission, and year), should be kept as a day for the protection of the included a 2,800 kilometer voyage down the Danube from environment. In addition, the official hymnographer Passau (Germany) to the Danube Delta in Romania and the of the Church, the monk Gerasimos Mikragiannanitis Ukraine; the symposium aimed at highlighting the river’s from Mount Athos, was entrusted with the composition many problems and war damage. The fourth environ- of a service for the environment and all creation to be mental symposium entitled “The Adriatic. A Sea at Risk, celebrated always on September 1st, which he did in 1990 a Unity of Purpose” was held in June 2002, again under (published in Thessaloniki 1997). Patriarch Dimitrios the patronage of the European Commission, and focused was active in many other related endeavors, such as the on the Adriatic Sea’s environmental challenges. After organization of an inter-Orthodox conference (5–12 visiting five Adriatic countries the symposium was con- November 1991) in the “Orthodox Academy of Crete” in cluded in Venice, where Patriarch Bartholomew and Pope collaboration with the World Wildlife Fund, in which John Paul II, joined by a video link, signed an important the basic tenets of the Orthodox position toward the eco- declaration together on protecting the environment. logical crisis were articulated. It is in this Academy that an Afterwards Patriarch Bartholomew flew to Oslo, where “Institute of Ecology and Theology” was created too as a on 12 June he was awarded the Sophie Prize by the concrete response to the related initiatives of the Patri- Norwegian Sophie Foundation for his consistent efforts in archate of Constantinople. protecting nature. Patriarch Bartholomew’s campaigns for But the one who has identified himself fully with the drawing attention to environmental problems in European cause of environmental protection is his follower, waters are planned to continue in the following years, Patriarch Bartholomew I (since 1991), who rightly has including a floating symposium in 2003 on the Baltic Sea. been given the nickname “the Green Patriarch.” During his Given this wider interest in environmental issues, it is numerous visits to Greece and abroad he has almost not accidental that one eminent Greek theologian of the always exhibited publicly his ecological sensitivities. Ecumenical Patriarchate, who is also a regular participant Among his major activities was the founding of a non- and contributor to the above activities, Metropolitan of governmental organization “Religion, Science and the Pergamon Ioannis Zizioulas, has been especially active in Environment” (RSE) in 1994, based in London and in developing an Orthodox theology of the environment and Athens, which seeks to provide common ground between has been at the forefront of relevant ecological endeavors. science and religion in order to help local communities to His book κτση ω ευχαριστα: θεολογικ προσγγιση protect their environment and to raise awareness con- στο πρβληµα τη οικολογα (Creation as Eucharist: A cerning its ongoing degradation (e.g., the plight of world’s Theological Approach to the Problem of Ecology; Athens waters). Within this framework, some environmental 1992) has become a classic text and a welcome Greek summer seminars were organized at the Orthodox School contribution in this area, following the work of Russian Christianity (6b2) – Greek Orthodox 339 theologian N. Zabolotskij, who had dealt with such issues tions, Saint Modestos, celebrated on the 16th of Decem- in another context in the 1970s. ber, has been officially declared the protector of animals Analogous sensitivities for the protection of the by the Church. Finally, another service for the protection environment including lectures, meetings, conferences, of the environment has also been instituted by the publications and other activities have been demonstrated Metropolitan of Patras Nikodimos (Vallindras); following by the Church of Greece under the auspices of Arch- the decree of the Holy Synod on 10 January 1992, it is bishop Serapheim (1974–1998), especially since 1987, celebrated every September 1st. Similar interests in eco- the international year for the protection of the environ- logical issues are also exhibited by the new Archbishop ment. The same interest has been occasionally shown at Christodoulos (since 1998), and there is a special “Syn- a lower level in the various dioceses, in which several odal Committee for Divine and Political Providence and metropolitans exhibited a vivid interest in local eco- Ecology.” logical problems (e.g., on the Ionian islands for the pro- The greater involvement of the above sister Churches in tection of the longerhead sea turtle Caretta caretta). In ecological endeavors is certainly a recent phenomenon, addition, due to the demand of relevant Greek organiza- but it is not one without a precedent. The protection of the

Common Declaration on the Environment: Common of the original harmony of creation. If we examine care- Declaration of John Paul II and The Ecumenical Patriarch fully the social and environmental crisis which the His Holiness Bartholomew I world community is facing, we must conclude that we Editor’s Note: On 10 June 2002, in a video hook-up are still betraying the mandate God has given us: to be between Rome and Venice, Pope John Paul II and the stewards called to collaborate with God in watching over Orthodox Patriarch of Constantinople, Bartholomeos I, creation in holiness and wisdom. issued a landmark joint declaration on the environment. God has not abandoned the world. It is His will that It illustrated not only an intensification of environmental His design and our hope for it will be realized through concern, but also how our environmental predicaments our co-operation in restoring its original harmony. can provide a common ground for reconciliation among In our own time we are witnessing a growth of an religious groups with previously strained relations. ecological awareness which needs to be encouraged, so that it will lead to practical programmes and initiatives. We are gathered here today in the spirit of peace for the An awareness of the relationship between God and good of all human beings and for the care of creation. humankind brings a fuller sense of the importance of At this moment in history, at the beginning of the relationship between human beings and the natural the third millennium, we are saddened to see the daily environment, which is God’s creation and which God suffering of a great number of people from violence, entrusted to us to guard with wisdom and love (cf. Gen. starvation, poverty and disease. We are also concerned 1:28). about the negative consequences for humanity and for Respect for creation stems from respect for human life all creation resulting from the degradation of basic and dignity. It is on the basis of our recognition that natural resources such as water, air and land, brought the world is created by God that we can discern an about by an economic and technological progress which objective moral order within which to articulate a code does not recognize and take into account its limits. of environmental ethics. In this perspective, Christians Almighty God envisioned a world of beauty and and all other believers have a specific role to play in harmony, and He created it, making every part an proclaiming moral values and in educating people expression of His freedom, wisdom and love (cf. Gen in ecological awareness, which is none other than 1:1–25). responsibility toward self, toward others, toward At the centre of the whole of creation, He placed us, creation. human beings, with our inalienable human dignity. What is required is an act of repentance on our part Although we share many features with the rest of the and a renewed attempt to view ourselves, one another, living beings, Almighty God went further with us and and the world around us within the perspective of the gave us an immortal soul, the source of self-awareness divine design for creation. The problem is not simply and freedom, endowments that make us in His image economic and technological; it is moral and spiritual. A and likeness (cf. Gen. 1:26–31; 2:7). Marked with that solution at the economic and technological level can be resemblance, we have been placed by God in the world found only if we undergo, in the most radical way, an in order to cooperate with Him in realizing more and inner change of heart, which can lead to a change in more fully the divine purpose for creation. lifestyle and of unsustainable patterns of consumption At the beginning of history, man and woman sinned and production. A genuine conversion in Christ will by disobeying God and rejecting His design for creation. enable us to change the way we think and act. Among the results of this first sin was the destruction Continued next page 340 Christianity (6b2) – Greek Orthodox

First, we must regain humility and recognize the being of the present and future generations. It is love limits of our powers, and most importantly, the limits of for our children that will show us the path that we our knowledge and judgment. We have been making must follow into the future. decisions, taking actions and assigning values that are 4. To be humble regarding the idea of ownership and to leading us away from the world as it should be, away be open to the demands of solidarity. Our mortality from the design of God for creation, away from all that is and our weakness of judgment together warn us not essential for a healthy planet and a healthy common- to take irreversible actions with what we choose to wealth of people. A new approach and a new culture are regard as our property during our brief stay on this needed, based on the centrality of the human person earth. We have not been entrusted with unlimited within creation and inspired by environmentally ethical power over creation, we are only stewards of the behavior stemming from our triple relationship to God, common heritage. to self and to creation. Such an ethics fosters inter- 5. To acknowledge the diversity of situations and dependence and stresses the principles of universal responsibilities in the work for a better world solidarity, social justice and responsibility, in order to environment. We do not expect every person and promote a true culture of life. every institution to assume the same burden. Secondly, we must frankly admit that humankind is Everyone has a part to play, but for the demands of entitled to something better than what we see around us. justice and charity to be respected the most affluent We and, much more, our children and future generations societies must carry the greater burden, and from are entitled to a better world, a world free from degrada- them is demanded a sacrifice greater than can be tion, violence and bloodshed, a world of generosity and offered by the poor. Religions, governments and love. institutions are faced by many different situations; Thirdly, aware of the value of prayer, we must but on the basis of the principle of subsidiary all of implore God the Creator to enlighten people everywhere them can take on some tasks, some part of the shared regarding the duty to respect and carefully guard effort. creation. 6. To promote a peaceful approach to disagreement We therefore invite all men and women of good will to about how to live on this earth, about how to share it ponder the importance of the following ethical goals: and use it, about what to change and what to leave unchanged. It is not our desire to evade controversy 1. To think of the world’s children when we reflect on about the environment, for we trust in the capacity and evaluate our options for action. of human reason and the path of dialogue to reach 2. To be open to study the true values based on the agreement. We commit ourselves to respect the natural laws that sustain every human culture. views of all who disagree with us, seeking solutions 3. To use science and technology in a full and construct- through open exchange, without resorting to ive way, while recognizing that the findings of oppression and domination. science have always to be evaluated in the light of the centrality of the human person, of the common It is not too late. God’s world has incredible healing good and of the inner purpose of creation. Science powers. Within a single generation, we could steer the may help us to correct the mistakes of the past, in earth toward our children’s future. Let that generation order to enhance the spiritual and material well- start now, with God’s help and blessing.

environment has been an issue for the Church occasion- Further Reading ally in the past too (cf. an encyclical of the Church of Barker, Margaret. “Reflections on the Symposium, A Sea Greece against those burning and destroying forests in at Risk, A Unity of Purpose.” Sourozh 90 (November April 1845). While it is true that the involvement of the 2002), 22–30. Church in environmental issues has its critics, these Common Declaration by Pope John Paul II and the Ecu- endeavors perform many other functions on a domestic as menical Patriarch Bartholomew I. Sourozh 90 well as international level. The adoption of the ecological (November 2002), 19–21. cause, for example, by the Patriarchate of Constantinople Hobson, Sarah and David Mee Laurence, eds. “The Black has enhanced the Church’s broader role and reputation Sea in Crisis. Symposium II. An Encounter of Beliefs: A worldwide, as it is no longer considered to be a Single Objective (Black Sea, 20–28 September 1997).” beleaguered relic of Byzantium. Islam and Christian–Muslim Relations 10:1 (1999). Orthodoxy and the Ecological Crisis. The Ecumenical Vasilios N. Makrides Patriarchate. Gland, Switzerland: WWF International/ World Conservation Centre, 1990. Christianity (6c1) – Reformation Traditions 341

Orthodoxy and the Environment. Athens: Ekdotiki Athi- Luther and Calvin were surely very much aware of the non/Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 1992. theological traditions of the ontological and hierarchical See also: Apocalypticism in Medieval Christianity; reflection about nature that they had inherited. But these Bartholomew, Ecumenical Patriarch; Christianity – Eastern traditions were not the primary intellectual context they versus Western; Christianity (6b1) – Christian Orthodoxy; self-consciously chose for their own theological reflection Greece – Classical. about the created world. The Reformers as a matter of course regarded their own theological work primarily as interpretation of the Scriptures. And there they found, Christianity (6c1) – Reformation Traditions and gave voice to, a rich theology of nature. As they inter- (Lutheranism and Calvinism) preted the Bible afresh, moreover, they broke dramatically with the spirit–matter dualism they had inherited. The two major Protestant Reformers of the sixteenth cen- “In every part of the world, in heaven and on Earth,” tury, Martin Luther and John Calvin, inherited traditions Calvin wrote, in a typical utterance, of theological reflection about nature which were in large measure shaped by a spirit–matter dualism, the idea that [God] has written and as it were engraven the glory the material world is in some fundamental way, in itself, of his power, goodness, wisdom and eternity . . . an obstacle to the life of faith, something that the believer For the little singing birds sang of God, the animals should aspire to rise above. At the highest levels of acclaimed him, the elements feared and the moun- theological sophistication, this spirit–matter dualism had tains resounded with him, the river and springs been given expression in terms of an ontology of the threw glances toward him, the grasses and the Great Chain (Hierarchy) of Being. This was the theological flowers smiled. perspective: theologians and mystics and many other people of faith thought of the world as if they were situ- Calvin even suggests that when we contemplate the ated in a valley, contemplating a towering mountain. The wonders of God in nature “we should not merely run them goal of the spiritual life, from this perspective, is to ascend over cursorily, and, so to speak, with the fleeting glance, from this material world, higher and higher spiritually, but we should ponder them at length, turn them over in through various stages of material and spiritual being, to our mind seriously and faithfully, and recollect them God at the top, who is pure spirit. According to this per- repeatedly” (Calvin in Wendel 1963: 34). Luther had a spective, then, the question of loving nature and caring for similar view of the glories of God in the whole creation and nature would rarely, if at all, have to be taken seriously: of creation’s marvels. “If you truly understood a grain of because the whole purpose of human life would be under- wheat,” he once wrote, “you would die of wonder” (Luther, stood to be ascending above nature (the world of the flesh) Werke: 19: 496). In his Genesis commentary, Luther even to be with God – and using or even abusing nature along imagined Adam and Eve, before the fall, enjoying a com- the way was morally unproblematic. mon table with the animals. In the same spirit, both In contrast, some pre-Reformation theologians and Reformers thought theocentrically about human inter- mystics, such as Irenaeus in the second century, the mature actions with nature: God and his righteous will, they Augustine (with some ambiguities) in the fifth century, believed, set very real limits for the reaches of human and Francis of Assisi in the thirteenth century, eschewed pride and arrogance. The created world, the Reformers that kind of spirit–matter dualism in favor of a more inte- held, belonged first and foremost to the Creator. Yes, in grated vision of the world. Although they may have keeping with the teaching of the Book of Genesis, the thought of the world in terms of a Great Chain of Being, Reformers affirmed that humans were mandated by God they were variously captivated by the thought of the to exercise dominion over the Earth, but, for the Divine Goodness – or the Divine Fecundity – overflowing, Reformers, especially for Luther, that dominion was from the apex of the hierarchy to its lowest regions. They understood to be a restoration of Adam’s and Eve’s lives as took for granted the idea that an eighteenth-century caretakers or gardeners, “before the Fall,” not as a license Lutheran theologian, F.C. Oetinger, was later to champion: for exploitation. that “corporeality is the end of the ways of God.” Which is Further, both Reformers affirmed the immediacy of God to say: the purpose (the “end” in this sense) of God and the in nature. For them, God was not detached from the world, presence of God are to be discerned and encountered far above in some spiritualized heaven. On the contrary, as within the material world, not above or beyond it. This was Luther often said, God is “in, with, and under” the whole the perspective: not contemplating the world as if looking created world. For Luther, God is “with all creatures, flow- up at a towering mountain, but rather envisioning ing and pouring into them, filling all things” (Luther in the world as if one were stationed at the peak of such a Weimarer Ausgabe: 10: 143). Indeed, God is so near, mountain looking out at the vistas of the slopes and according to Luther, that if he were to withdraw his hand, valleys below and all around. the whole creation would collapse: 342 Christianity (6c1) – Reformation Traditions

The sun would not long return to its position and theologians in particular and Protestants of every walk shine in the heavens, no child would be born; no of life to be swept along by the dynamics of industrial kernel, no blade of grass, nothing at all would grow society, which were publicly predicated on the exploita- on earth or reproduce itself if God did not work tion of the Earth for the sake of human progress. forever and ever (Luther in Pelikan 1957: 26). It was a profound historical irony, then, that the Reformers’ rejection of the theme that humans are called to This view of nature as divinely given and divinely rise above nature, a theme which they had inherited with charged came to its completion, for the Reformers, in their the spirit–matter dualism of the Great Chain of Being teachings about “last things” (eschatology). Both theo- ontology, was contradicted by many of their own theo- logians strongly emphasized the traditional Christian logical heirs. “Humans rising above nature” was to become teaching about the resurrection of the body. Both also, one of the central themes of nineteenth- and early twen- Luther perhaps most vividly, projected a view of the end of tieth-century Protestant theology, above all through the the world as a cosmic consummation, the coming of the influence of the nineteenth-century theologian, Albrecht “new heavens and new Earth” announced in biblical Ritschl. The theme was given new life in the middle of the traditions. Nature itself, the Reformers believed, would be twentieth century by the Protestant New Testament “saved” and consummated at the very end. Then, they scholar, Rudolf Bultmann, whose existentialist inter- believed, with the Apostle Paul, God would be “all in all” pretation of Christianity presupposed a view of nature as a (1 Corinthians 15:28). mechanistic, “objective” world, which, Bultmann believed, In retrospect, Luther and Calvin can thus be seen to be those who chose “authentic existence” should rise above. champions of the idea of the overflowing goodness, the Even the great Karl Barth, said to be the Thomas Aquinas fecundity, of God. The Reformers rejected the theme that of the Protestant tradition, whose works dominated the way to find God is to rise above nature. For them, in Protestant theological discussions in the middle of the this sense, “corporeality is the end of the ways of God.” twentieth century, refused to develop a theology of nature God is always to be encountered, when he is encountered, and, along the way, almost by default, set forth ideas immanent in the material world. about nature in instrumental terms that posed no real Fatefully, however, the issues that preoccupied Luther challenge to the ideas of rising above nature espoused by and Calvin had to do not with God and nature, but much thinkers like Ritschl and Bultmann. more so with God and human salvation. Their theologies, This whole situation began to change in the second half accordingly, took on a kind of anthropocentric character, of the twentieth century. A number of theologians writing by way of emphasis. “Justification by grace through faith in the tradition of Luther and Calvin began to take issue alone” was the theological teaching that most occupied with the whole direction that Protestant thought about their attention. Furthermore, presupposing his own idea of nature had taken in the nineteenth and early twentieth the justified Christian’s life of active sanctification, Calvin centuries. Paul Tillich reached deeply into what for him accented the responsibility of Christians to change the was the nature-mysticism of Martin Luther, in order to world for the better. In Calvin’s thought, accordingly, the reaffirm nature as a theological theme in its own right and theme of human dominion over the Earth tended to lose nature itself as having sacramental value. In a stirring the contemplative character it had for earlier theologians address to the World Council of Churches meeting in New who had celebrated the overflowing goodness of God and Delhi in 1961, Joseph Sittler called the attention of take on, instead, more active, interventionist meanings. the churches of the world to the “cosmic redemption” The theological heirs of Luther and Calvin, especially in theology of St. Paul and pleaded that the theology of grace the nineteenth century and thereafter, took the Reformers’ that was so critically important for the theologies of measured anthropocentrism as a given, but tended to Luther and Calvin be extended to comprehend, and no abandon the Reformers’ rich teaching about God and the longer exclude, the world of nature. natural world. As a result, Protestant theology after Luther Presupposing such trends and drawing still more and Calvin tended to become much more exclusively deeply on newly discerned ecological teachings of the anthropocentric. There were many reasons for this marked Bible, Jürgen Moltmann projected a grand theological shift of emphasis, not the least of them being the rise of schema of cosmic, as well as historical, redemption, Newtonian mechanistic science and Darwinian evolution- predicated on a new and compelling appreciation for ary science, and the felt need by many post-Reformation biblical eschatology. Moltmann developed a “theology of theologians to root religious faith in the intangible human hope” that claimed liberation not just for humans, above spirit or human subjectivity, so as to leave the objective all the poor and the oppressed, but also for all the creatures world of nature, as it were, to the natural scientists, and of nature. He also developed a new and deeper understand- also to protect faith from the attacks of some scientists and ing of God’s immanence in the whole created world – in scientifically informed philosophers. This anthropocentric nature, as well as in spirit – than many of his nineteenth- dynamic also made it easy – intended or not – for both and early twentieth-century theological forebears had Christianity (6c1) – Reformation Traditions 343 done, reminiscent of the sensibilities for nature that the to humankind’s status before God and, later, on the Reformers took for granted. In this sense, Moltmann’s theoretical relationship between faith and the natural thought represents a decisive rejection of the hierarchical sciences. spirit–matter dualism that dominated much of the theology This is not to say that all Protestant theologians in the inherited by the Reformers and much of the theology second half of the twentieth century were committed to espoused by the heirs of the Reformers in the nineteenth the projection of new and imaginative theologies of and early twentieth centuries. nature, sensitive to the issues of justice for all creatures. Moltmann also went beyond the teaching of the Numerous Protestant thinkers in that era were preoccupied Reformers, whose thought had been anthropocentric in with other issues. Some, following Karl Barth, viewed any emphasis. Moltmann developed a theology of “cosmic kind of interest in the theology of nature with suspicion. redemption” through Christ and a theology of the creative Still, in many thoroughgoing ways, by the beginning of Spirit of God that integrated and extended the Reformers’ the twenty-first century, the tradition of Luther and rich apperceptions of nature, precisely in terms of a com- Calvin, which had begun with a rich theology of nature of prehensive, cosmic theology of grace, a theological theme its own, had been expanded and deepened. It had become which, for the Reformers, had been mainly focused on a profoundly ecological tradition, shaped by concerns issues relating to human salvation. Moltmann likewise both for human liberation and for the liberation of the transvalued post-Reformation teaching about human whole creation. dominion over nature, which presupposed the theme of human mastery, even domination. Instead, Moltmann H. Paul Santmire espoused a theology of the integrity and the rights of nature. Further Reading But Moltmann’s was by no means the only Protestant Bakken, Peter W., et al., eds. Ecology, Justice, and Christian voice to address the theology of nature positively and Faith: A Critical Guide to the Literature. Bibliographies creatively in the wake of the pioneering work of Tillich and Indexes in Religious Studies, no. 36. Westport, CT: and Sittler. John Cobb, a thinker deeply influenced by the Greenwood Press, 1995. process philosophy of Alfred North Whitehead, focused Bouma-Prediger, Steven. The Greening of Theology: much of his innovative theological writings on the global The Ecological Models of Rosemary Radford Ruether, environmental crisis, which by the end of the twentieth Joseph Sittler, and Jürgen Moltmann. Atlanta: century had been widely recognized by theologians as well Scholars Press, 1995. as by scholars in other fields to be the challenge of the Cobb, John. Is It Too Late? A Theology of Ecology. Denton, future. Protestant theologians such as H. Paul Santmire TX: Environmental Ethics Books, 1995 (rev. edn). and James Nash also studied the historical and ethical Fowler, Robert Booth. The Greening of Protestant Thought. dimensions of the crisis. In addition, a wide variety of Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, Protestant Old and New Testament scholars began to 1995. explore the theology of creation espoused by biblical Hessel, Dieter and Larry Rasmussen, eds. Earth Habitat: traditions in new and suggestive ways. Further, the Eco-Justice and the Church’s Response. Minneapolis: critique of the hierarchical ontology of the Great Chain of Fortress Press, 2001. Being imagery was voiced with increasing poignancy and McFague, Sallie. Life Abundant: Rethinking Theology and power by feminist theologians such as Sallie McFague. Economy for a Planet in Peril. Minneapolis: Fortress Building, in part, on the sacramental insights of Luther, Press, 2001. McFague, for one, argued that the whole creation is the McFague, Sallie. The Body of God: An Ecological Theology. “Body of God,” that the love of nature is in fact, in this Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1993. sense, the love of God. Global ecological and ethical Moltmann, Jürgen. The Way of Jesus Christ: Christology concerns were addressed imaginatively, as well, by Larry in Messianic Dimensions. Margaret Kohl, tr. San Rasmussen, whose work reflected the growing interests in Francisco: HarperCollins, 1990. cultural diversity and religious pluralism that emerged in Nash, James A. Loving Nature: Ecological Integrity and some strains of Protestant thought toward the end of the Christian Responsibility. Nashville: Abingdon, in twentieth century. cooperation with the Churches’ Center for Theology Alongside of and integrated with their theologies, all and Public Policy, Washington, D.C., 1991. these late twentieth-century thinkers also took for granted Pelikan, Jaroslav, ed. Sermons on the Gospel of John the same kind of passion for social justice that had been (Chapters 1–4). In Luther’s Works, vol. 22. St. Louis: voiced most prominently by Moltmann. This ethical Concordia Publishing House, 1957. accent on nature represented a relatively new develop- Santmire, H. Paul. Nature Reborn: The Ecological and ment in the unfolding of the Reformation tradition, whose Cosmic Promise of Christian Theology. Minneapolis: concerns had hitherto focused mainly on issues pertaining Augsburg Fortress, 2000. 344 Christianity (6c2) – Calvin, John

Santmire, H. Paul. The Travail of Nature: The Ambiguous central to the concern of the early Reformers, the distinc- Ecological Promise of Christian Theology. tive theocentric matrix of the Reformed tradition shaped Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress, 1985. a common ethos in understandings of nature that emerged Rasmussen, Larry L. Earth Community: Earth Ethics. within it. This ethos had four main features. First, an Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1996. emphasis on the unique glory of God and hence on the Sittler, Joseph. “Called to Unity.” Ecumenical Review 14 distinction between Creator and creature. Second, an (January 1962), 177–87. emphasis on the pervasive sovereignty of God and hence Tillich, Paul. “Nature and Sacrament.” In The Protestant an attempt to bring God and creation into as close a Era. James Luther Adams, tr. Chicago: University of proximity as possible. Third, an emphasis that the purpose Chicago Press, 1948. of creation is the glory of God and hence that nature, in Wendel, François. Calvin: the Origin and Development of diverse ways, demonstrates the character of God. Fourth, His Thought. Philip Mamet, tr. New York: Harper & an emphasis on the vocation of human beings to glorify Row, 1963. God in all areas of life leading to an activist and world See also: Christianity (6c2) – Calvin, John and the Reformed transformative spirituality. Tradition; Eden and Other Gardens; Fall, The; Francis of Many of the diverse features of the tradition have roots Assisi; McFague, Sallie; World Council of Churches and in John Calvin’s interpretation of creation. For Calvin Ecumenical Thought. the act of creation was the free and gracious act of the triune God who desired to give existence and life to the created universe. While humanity is the focus of God’s Christianity (6c2) – Calvin, John (1509– creative and providential activity, God exercises a fatherly 1564) and the Reformed Tradition care over all creatures. As a consequence the entire creation bears witness to God’s goodness and power, The core concern of the Protestant Reformation was becoming a magnificent theater that displays the glory of salvation for human beings. While “nature” was not God.

The Reformed Tradition in its Own Words crazy men talk nonsense about all things being full of gods, and even the very stones being gods, John Calvin but that by the wonderful activity and instigation In Calvin’s theology of creation, nature’s continued of His Spirit God preserves all that He has created existence, vitality and life is a product of God’s constant out of nothing (1966: 119–20). activity and in particular the work of the Spirit. In his summary of Christian theology, The Institutes of the As a consequence of this understanding of God’s Christian Religion, he thus argues: activity in creation, Calvin portrays nature as demon- strating the character and glory of God. He thus com- [I]t is the Spirit who, every where diffused, sus- ments on Psalm 104:1, tains all things, causes them to grow, and quick- ens them in heaven and on earth. Because he is . . . although God is invisible, yet his glory is con- circumscribed by no limits, he is excepted from spicuous enough. In respect of his essence God the category of creatures; but in transfusing into undoubtedly dwells in light that is inaccessible; all things his energy, and breathing into them but as he irradiates the whole world by his essence, life and movement (1960: 138). splendour, this is the garment in which He who is hidden in himself, appears in a manner visible to In a similar manner he comments on Acts 17:28, us . . . That we may enjoy the sight of Him, He stating: must come forth to view with His clothing; that is to say, we must cast our eyes upon the very fabric God Himself distinguishes Himself from all of the world, in which he wishes to be seen by us creatures so that we may realize that strictly (1949: 145). speaking He alone is, and that we truly subsist in Him, seeing that He quickens and sustains us by A similar thought is expressed in his “Preface to His Spirit. For the power of the Spirit is diffused Olivétan’s New Testament.” through all parts of the world, to keep them in their place; and to supply the energy to heaven [God] has raised everywhere, in all places and in and earth which we see, and also movement to all things his ensigns and emblems, under blazons living creatures. This does not mean the way that so clear and intelligible that no one can pretend Continued next page Christianity (6c2) – Calvin, John 345

The created order, by virtue of its creaturehood, is in his insistence that Jesus Christ retained his authentic inherently precarious. The Fall intensifies this precarious humanity after the ascension. Creation maintained its character. Creation is thus always on the point of descend- genuine creaturehood even when it was brought into as ing into chaos. The continued existence, order and beauty close as possible proximity with deity. of creation are the product of God’s constant activity in Calvin never resolved the tension between the proxi- sustaining creation and restraining evil. As the natural mity and the distinction between God and creation. He order is the consequence of God’s constant activity, it is emphasized one or the other depending on the context. thus “the clothes” in which God appears. Human beings He posited a Trinitarian and pneumatological theology (a were created with the ability to perceive God through branch of theology that deals with the Holy Spirit) in creation; this ability has been removed by sin but could be which the Spirit is understood as the creative source of life restored by regeneration. Christians are called to exercise and energy in the universe. This has the potential of all their senses in contemplating creation not only to addressing this tension, but it remained undeveloped in apprehend the character of God revealed through it but Calvin’s theology. also to contemplate its intricacies and beauty. Nature thus God created the Earth for the good of human beings becomes a meeting place between God and humanity. and it is to be received by them with thanksgiving. As such Calvin emphasized the presence and activity of God to human beings are to act as good stewards of creation, such an extent that he struggled to define the role of caring for it, treating otherkind with justice and adopting secondary causation, yet he equally emphasized that a frugal lifestyle. Human sin is the ungrateful rejection creation was not in any sense divine. In order to guard the of God that has brought catastrophe to the created order. unique glory of God and to reject all idolatry the distinc- Salvation is God’s action to restore creation to its original tion between Creator and creature must be maintained. purpose through the transformation of human beings. His theology thus rejected any divinization of creation and Regenerate human beings are called to act to advance this emphasized its integrity as creation. This is exemplified restoration by working for the reformation of all of life.

ignorance is not knowing such a Sovereign Lord, God’s constant activity in the universe is an expres- who has amply exalted his magnificence; who has sion of God’s love for creation; he thus comments on in all parts of the world, in heaven and on Earth Psalm 104:16 that “no part of the world is forgotten by written and as it were engraved the glory of his [God], who is the best of fathers, and . . . no creature is power, goodness, wisdom and eternity . . . For the excluded from his care” (1949: 160). little birds that sing, sing of God: the beasts clam- Human beings are called to express a similar concern our for him; the elements dread him; the moun- for God’s creation; commenting on Genesis 2:15 he tains echo him; the fountains and flowing waters states: cast their glances at him; and the grain and flowers laugh before him (1958: 59–60). . . . the custody of the Garden was given to Adam, to show that we posses the things which God has This characteristic of creation means that nature can committed to our hands, on the condition, that become a meeting place between God and humanity. being content with a frugal and modest use of Calvin thus states: “[T]he skillful ordering of the universe them, we should take care of what shall remain. is for us a sort of mirror in which we can contemplate Let him who possesses a field so partake of its God, who otherwise is invisible” (1960: 52–3). yearly fruits, that he may not suffer the ground It thus places humanity under an obligation to to be injured by his negligence; but let him appreciate the wonders of nature; thus in summarizing endeavour to hand it down to posterity as he the significance of the account of creation in Genesis, received it, or even better cultivated. Let him so Calvin argues: feed on its fruits, that he neither dissipates it by luxury, nor permits it to be marred or ruined by We see indeed, the world with our eyes, we tread neglect. Moreover, that this economy, and this the Earth with our feet, we touch the innumerable diligence, with respect to the good things which kinds of God’s works with our hands, we inhale a God has given us to enjoy, may flourish among sweet and pleasant fragrance from herbs and us; let every one regard himself as the steward flowers, we enjoy boundless benefits, but in these of God in all things he possesses. Then he will very things of which we attain some knowledge, neither conduct himself dissolutely, nor corruptly there dwells such an immensity of divine power, by abusing those things which God requires to be goodness and wisdom, as absorbs all our senses preserved (1948: 125). (1948: 57). Continued next page 346 Christianity (6c2) – Calvin, John

The eschatological redemption of humanity will result in positional and occasional ontology, which opened the way the cleansing and restoration of creation. In this renewed for a more dynamic understanding of the relationship creation, God will indwell all creatures and not only between God and creation. Edwards rejected an under- humanity. standing of reality as composed of substances; he pro- The debates of post-Reformation Reformed scholasti- posed instead that reality is composed of law-like disposi- cism placed an even greater focus on the salvation of tions or habits which are actualized in response to divine humanity and neglected the nonhuman creation. To the activity, hence reality is dynamic. Further, for Edwards, extent that the subject was addressed, most of Calvin’s habits are inherently relational. Hence, an entity is what it emphases were followed. The only changes were in is by virtue of its relationships. Furthermore, for Edwards, attempts to give greater precision to the understanding of creation is radically dependent on God, who is constantly the relationship between first and secondary causation. creating it out of nothing. Central to Edwards’ understand- The concept of the eschatological redemption of the Earth ing of God was God’s disposition to communicate Godself. became a subject of debate with some theologians reject- This disposition was fully actualized in the relationship ing the idea. Calvin’s incipient Trinitarian approach to between the persons of the Trinity among themselves. Yet creation was neglected. it is further actualized outside the Trinity in the creation of The American revivalist and theologian Jonathan the universe, which is a finite repetition of the divine Edwards (1703–1758) provided the first significant being. Edwards argued that beauty is constituted by development after Calvin in the understanding of nature relationships, hence God as Trinity is the ultimately beau- as he attempted to relate Reformed scholasticism to tiful one. As creation is the repetition of divine being, developments in science and the experiences of the Great its beauty is a reflection of God’s beauty. Regeneration Awakening. Edwards had a deep appreciation for the enables humans to perceive the natural world in a new natural world. This was combined with his relational, dis- manner. It is now perceived in relationship to God and

Jonathan Edwards inward hidden principle works upward and out- In his delightful observations of a spider Edwards praises ward . . . And what is this quickening and animat- the “exuberant goodness of the Creator, who hath not ing principle but the Holy Spirit? (1975: 25–26). only provided for all the necessities, but also the pleasure and recreation of all sorts of creatures, even the David N. Field insects” (1980: 161). Further Reading Abraham Kuyper Calvin, John. The Acts of the Apostles 14–28. J. Fraser, In his discussion of the Spirit’s role in creation Abraham tr. In Calvin’s Commentaries. D. W. Torrance and Kuyper argues that: T. F. Torrance, eds. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1966. Calvin, John. The Institutes of the Christian Religion. God’s glory in creation appears in various degrees Library of Christian Classics, vol. 20–21. J.T. and ways. An insect and a star, the mildew on McNeil, ed. F.L. Battles, tr. Philadelphia: Westmin- the wall and the cedar in Lebanon, a common ster, 1960. labourer and a man like Augustine, are all Calvin, John. Calvin’s Commentaries. The Library of creatures of God; yet how dissimilar they are and Christian Classics, vol. 23. J. Haroutunian and how varied their ways of glorifying God (1975: L.P. Smith, tr. London: SCM, 1958. 23). Calvin, John. Commentary on the Book of Psalms, vol. 4. J. Anderson, tr. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1949. For Kuyper, the Spirit gives dynamism and life to the Calvin, John. Commentaries on the First Book of Moses universe, he thus comments, Called Genesis, vol. 1. J. King, tr. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1948. We observe . . . in the host of heaven a life Edwards, Jonathan. “Of Insects.” In Scientific and Philo- material, outward, tangible which in thought we sophical Writings: The “Spider” Papers, “Natural never associate with the Holy Spirit. But, however Philosophy,” “The Mind,” Short Scientific and weak and impalpable, the visible and tangible has Philosophical Papers. Works of Jonathan Edwards, an invisible background. How intangible are the vol. 6. Wallace E. Anderson, ed. New Haven: Yale forces of nature, how full of majesty the forces of University Press, 1980. magnetism! But life underlies all. Even through Kuyper, Abraham. The Work of the Holy Spirit. Henri de the apparently dead trunk sighs the imperceptible Vries, tr. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1975. breath. From the unfathomable depths of all an Christianity (6c2) – Calvin, John 347 hence in its true beauty as providing images of divine Nature played a minor role in Karl Barth’s (1886–1968) realities. Here again nature becomes the meeting place renewal of the Reformed tradition. In response to the between God and regenerate human beings. The new per- role played by nature in theological liberalism and in ception of creation in relation to God provides new theological support of Nazism, Barth rejected the idea insights into God’s concern for creation, so that Edwards of natural revelation or of a natural point of contact can argue that God is even concerned about the enjoyment between humanity and God. While his doctrine of creation experienced by spiders! Yet paradoxically Edwards argued emphasized that creation was a product of the intra- that the eschatological destiny of the Earth would be Trinitarian relationship between the Father and the Son destruction and God would bring about out a new, and the co-creaturehood of human beings with otherkind, radically reconstructed creation. the focus was almost exclusively on humanity which was The German theologian Friedrich D.E. Schleiermacher’s elect in Christ. The nonhuman creation was merely the (1768–1834) reworking of the Reformed tradition in the stage for the drama of salvation enacted by God and the aftermath of the Enlightenment, and under the influence human creature. of Romanticism, brought a greater identification of God The second half of the twentieth century produced a with nature. He so emphasized that God was the cause number of Reformed perspectives on nature that used a of all things that the distinction between Creator and Trinitarian perspective to respond to the corrosive forces creature almost disappeared. Schleiermacher argued that of modernity. The German theologian Jürgen Moltmann God is experienced as the infinite unity that underlies and integrated ecological themes into all the interdependent brings wholeness to the diversity of finite things. Thus dimensions of his theology thus portraying ecological the sense of absolute dependence on God, which was for concern as integral to Christianity. Among his contribu- Schleiermacher the essence of religion, is no different from tions is a Trinitarian panentheism in which God indwells the sense of the determination of all things by nature. the world and the world indwells God. In this model the Nature in turn provides numerous diverse stimulations to Spirit is the source of individualization and life as the sense of absolute dependence. the indwelling presence of God. At present, creation After Schleiermacher the Dutch neo-Calvinist theolog- experiences finitude and suffering but its destiny is to be ians Abraham Kuyper (1837–1920) and Herman Bavinck transformed into a radically new creation that will be the (1854–1921) returned to and developed Calvin’s incipient home of God. This understanding is interrelated with his Trinitarian approach to creation. The origin of creation is rejection of the traditional notion that humanity is the from the Father, the Son arranges and specializes creation, crown of creation for which Earth and heaven were and the Spirit perfects, individualizes, energizes and gives brought into being. In contrast he argued that creation life to creation. This Trinitarian perspective forms the basis was brought into being for the glory of and indwelling by of an organic rather than a mechanistic understanding of God. He thus interprets the first creation story in Genesis nature. As with Calvin, the neo-Calvinists argued that the as portraying the Sabbath, which prefigures the eschato- present creation has been broken and distorted by the Fall logical indwelling of God with creation, and not human and will be renewed and restored at the return of Christ. beings as the crown of creation. While they emphasized the continuity between creation The British theologian Colin Gunton has also developed and new creation, this was not understood as a mere return a Trinitarian perspective on creation in response to to paradise but as a transformation of creation into some- modernity’s monistic and homogenizing tendencies that thing far more wondrous. In the mid-twentieth century have resulted in the modification, exploitation and deg- Gerrit C. Berkouwer followed Kuyper and Bavinck in radation of Earth. He argued that this is a consequence rejecting creation-negating theologies. He proposed a of a portrait of humanity based on an inversion of the holistic anthropology that rejected the division of human traditional monistic and despotic portrait of God. The beings into two distinct parts, soul and body, and further neglect of creation in Christian theology is a consequence argued that the doctrines of the resurrection of the dead of such monistic understanding. In contrast he argued for and the new heaven and new Earth were to be interpreted a Trinitarian understanding of God and creation in which as affirmations of the body and earthly life. Some follow- the Spirit is the source of the diversity of creation and its ers of Kuyper and Bavinck developed a creation-centered interdependence, yet in such a way that the distinction philosophy, theology and ethics in which ethical norms between Creator and creature is preserved. Gunton has em- could be derived from an examination of nature through phasized the continuity between creation and new crea- the spectacles of scripture. Christians were called to a stew- tion and argued that the Spirit acts as an Other who draws ardship of all spheres of life in order to transform them in creation to its eschatological transformation. The relation- accordance with these creational norms. This creation- ship between humanity and other creatures must arise out centered theology has provided an important basis for the of a respect for their Spirit-derived diversity, particularity, development of an ethic of care toward creation by some interdependence and their eschatological destiny. neo-Calvinists and conservative evangelicals. Wesley Granberg-Michaelson, an American Reformed 348 Christianity (6c3) – Anabaptist/Mennonite Traditions church leader, theologian and former World Council of degrees affirmed that God cares for all creation, that the Churches staff person has made a significant contribution exploitation and degradation of creation is a form of sin, to mobilizing churches and Christians in the struggle for that humanity has a responsibility to care for creation, and eco-justice and to ecumenical theological reflection on that salvation embraces the nonhuman creation. ecological issues. In focusing his theology on the struggle for eco-justice he has brought to the foreground the idea David N. Field of God’s concern for all creation that is implicit within the Reformed tradition. He has rejected the traditional Further Reading doctrine of creatio ex nihilo (creation out of nothing) as Barth, Karl. Church Dogmatics, vol. 3 part 1, The Doctrine overemphasizing the distinction between God and cre- of Creation. J.W. Edwards, O. Bussey and H. Knight, trs. ation and proposed that it be replaced by an emphasis on G.W. Bromiley and T.F. Torrance, eds. Edinburgh: God as the source of creation and creation as an expres- T. & T. Clark, 1958. sion of the life of God. He has also rejected the idea of Bavinck, Herman. In the Beginning: The Foundations of creation as “fallen” arguing instead that death and the Creation Theology. John Vriend, tr. John Bolt, ed. predator-prey relationships are part of God’s purpose for Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1999. creation. However the nonhuman creation is affected by Granberg-Michaelson, Wesley. A Worldly Spirituality: The human sin. God’s purpose for creation is its comprehen- Call to Redeem Life on Earth. New York: Harper & Row, sive well-being (designated by the Hebrew word shalom); 1984. human sin breaks the relationship between God, humanity Gunton, Colin E. The Triune Creator: A Historical and and the nonhuman creation, resulting in oppression of Systematic Study. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1998. humanity and the exploitation of nonhuman creation. Gunton, Colin E. The One the Three and the Many: God, Hence, rebellion against God, social injustice and eco- Creation and the Culture of Modernity. Cambridge: logical destruction are dynamically and reciprocally Cambridge University Press, 1993. related. Salvation in Christ restores these relationships and Gustafson, James M. A Sense of the Divine: The Natural hence the struggle for eco-justice is central to the identity Environment from a Theocentric Perspective. and mission of the Church. Cleveland: Pilgrim, 1994. The American ethicist James M. Gustafson has pro- Lee, Sang Hyun. The Philosophical Theology of Jonathan posed an alternative retrieval of the Reformed tradition by Edwards. Princeton: Princeton University Press, relating its theocentric dimension, contemporary scientific 1989. portraits of the universe and an understanding that the Moltmann, Jürgen. God in Creation: An Ecological knowledge of God is mediated through our experience of Doctrine of Creation. Margaret Kohl, tr. London: SCM, reality, including nature. God is the powerful Other whose 1981. ordering activity can be perceived in the complex inter- Santmire, H. Paul. The Travail of Nature: The Ambiguous dependencies of the natural world. Gustafson rejects any Ecological Promise of Christian Theology. Philadel- concept of God’s ordering the universe for the good of phia: Fortress Press, 1985. humanity or for that matter the good of any other Schreiner, Susan E. The Theatre of the Divine Glory: Nature creature. Humanity is just one species among many others and the Natural Order in the Thought of John Calvin. that participates in nature. God’s ordering of nature makes Durham: Labyrinth, 1991. human good possible but does not ensure it, which See also: Afrikaner Theology; Christianity (6c1) – provides both limitations to and opportunities for the Reformation Traditions (Lutheranism and Calvinism). exercise for human activity. Human beings are called to responsible action based on a respectful contemplation of the complexities of nature that arise from a sense of awe Christianity (6c3) – Anabaptist/Mennonite before God who has ordered it. Traditions (Reformation Traditions) Historic Reformed confessions of faith have been anthropocentric with little if any reference to the non- The Anabaptist/Mennonite tradition, the “left wing” of human creation. Some recent confessions, notably The the Reformation (ca. 1525), protested the conflation of New Confession of the Presbyterian Church in the Republic the Church and state (i.e., the “corpus Christianum”), of Korea (1972), The Confession of Faith of the Pres- rejected the late medieval church’s sacramentalism, and byterian and Reformed Church in Cuba (1977), The Song resisted coercion in matters of faith and practice. It has of Hope of the Reformed Church in America (1974), A emphasized the ethical dimensions of the Christian Faith, Declaration of Faith of the Presbyterian Church of the USA obedience to Christ, strict congregationalism and rejection (1976), The Confession of 1967 of the United Presbyterian of hierarchical authority structures. Church in the USA and A Brief Statement of Faith of The relationship of Anabaptist/Mennonites to nature the Presbyterian Church (USA) (1991), have to varying has been very intense. Violent persecution by Roman Christianity (6c3) – Anabaptist/Mennonite Traditions 349

Catholic and Protestant “state churches” forced the In the place of the “sacramental theology” which Anabaptists to develop a unique theological and cultural included the “created order,” influenced considerably by ethos. They settled in isolated areas and introduced the “Chain of Being” philosophy in the late medieval innovative farming and conservation practices. Their church thinking, early Anabaptists preached the “new formal theology of nature and creation remained creation” and accepted an implicit philosophy and undeveloped, but nevertheless they worked out their theology that moved the creation to a more peripheral understandings of Christian existence in the world based status in practice. Placing highest importance on the on their fundamental theological starting point, the nature “new creation,” Mennonites tended to downplay the of Christ’s “new creation” in the midst of the old. “fallen creation” as insignificant in God’s redemptive plan.

David Kline on Amish Agriculture I rent my garment and my mantle, and plucked off David Kline is an Amish farmer in Holmes County, Ohio. the hair of my head and my beard and sat down He and his family run a diversified family farm – the astonied [amazed, astonished]” (Kline 1990: 127). same farm he was born on. Kline writes regularly for the Amish magazine Family Life, and his essays from Kline also reflects on the contribution made by tradi- that publication have been collected in two books, Great tional Amish agriculture to both human and natural Possessions: An Amish Farmer’s Journal and Scratching communities, and the contrast between this way of life the Woodchuck: Nature on an Amish Farm. He writes and that of most North Americans. He “began to realize about the plants and animals he encounters on his land what community is really all about,” he writes, when he and in his neighborhood, about agricultural and natural moved to the city to start his conscientious objector cycles, and about Amish community and family life. service during the Vietnam War. (The Amish, like most Anabaptists, are committed pacifists.) After finishing his What are the lessons, if any . . . to be learned from term of service, our way of farming? Is it a way of farming that preserves the soil, the water, the air, the wildlife, I returned to a community that choose to work the families that work the land, and the surround- with their hands, believing manual labor is close ing communities? In other words, are we proper to godliness. A community where technology is caretakers or stewards of God’s Creation? Are we restricted and “book learning” is frowned upon. in harmony with God and nature? Where even the hymns are passed on without the To write about Amish agriculture is to write notes being written down. In this culture, you about traditional agriculture, and agriculture dat- learn from a master. There is always someone ing back to eighteenth-century Europe, handed who possesses the arts and skills you need (Kline down from generation to generation and yet with 1997: 194–5). innovations and improvements constantly added along the way. The Amish are not necessarily In this community, labor is supplied by draft animals against modern technology. We have simply and humans, children working alongside parents, chosen not to be controlled by it (Kline 1990: xv). neighbors along neighbors. This makes it possible not only to make a living with a minimal amount of Much of Kline’s work celebrates the details he notices machinery and fossil fuel but also to work, on many while plowing with a team of horses or walking his occasions, “beyond the grips of the money economy” orchard or woodlot. He is a keen observer and passionate (Kline 1997: 204). In his writing, Kline offers a gentle, celebrator of the intricacy and beauty of the natural religiously grounded critique of many aspects of world. industrial agriculture and society, while celebrating a thriving, yet largely hidden, alternative society. It is amazing that the huge green cecropia larva on our apple tree, with its many segments and Anna Peterson legs, could spin itself inside a cocoon, and while doing so already begin to shrink in size – to Further Reading reappear ten months later, without having eaten a Kline, David. Scratching the Woodchuck: Nature on an bite, a fully developed insect with three segments Amish Farm. Athens and London: University of and three pairs of legs, one of the most beautiful Georgia Press, 1997. creatures in God’s Creation. I can’t comprehend a Kline, David. Great Possessions: An Amish Farmer’s change so complex and so complete. When I think Journal. San Francisco: North Point Press, 1990. of it I feel like Ezra: “And when I heard this thing, See also: Berry, Wendell; Jackson, S. Wesley “Wes.” 350 Christianity (6c3) – Anabaptist/Mennonite Traditions

The Anabaptists developed an ethical dualism of the paganism or pantheism (i.e., the worship of the created “two kingdoms”: the “fallen kingdom of this world,” com- rather than the Creator [Paul in Romans]). prised of rebellious human beings and structures, and The Mennonite theological reflection on nature has God’s kingdom, composed of those who lived under God’s been minimal. Nature was seen as a practical requisite for rule in the “new Kingdom.” The Mennonites have been less humans, which provided the basis for building the king- clear, however, about nature’s place (GOOD) as part of dom of God, who would glorify and honor him. Ironically, God’s creation and the coming “Kingdom of our Lord.” however, most if not all of the confessions begin with Some early Anabaptist leaders understood nature as part God’s first acts in the creation. of God’s cosmic plans, but later Mennonites tended to The Mennonite active relation to ecology is complex. include nature in the fallen and rebellious kingdom, The earlier European Mennonites and the Old Orders (e.g., viewing it as in need of redemption. This derived partly Amish and Old Order Mennonites), who retain an agrarian from the classical medieval church, which, in turn, was life, have remained close to the land and view it almost derived from the Apostle Paul in Romans 8:11–23, and as sacred. Hence agricultural attitudes and practices are other of his epistles. oriented to enriching the soil and conserving and preserv- Four theological emphases have, however, kept ing natural resources, in order to guarantee future life in Anabaptist/Mennonites tied to the created order. First they its fullness. believed that Jesus of Nazareth was truly and fully human But as Mennonites became more acculturated into yet God’s true son; thus, through Christ, God was eternally the economic and social mainstream, farming practices joined with creation. Creation is not, therefore, to be began to reflect more the “extractive” modes of con- rejected or ignored, but included in the purposes of God. temporary agri-business. Research has shown that even Second, as Jesus by God’s grace lived the existential the “Plain Peoples” were more extractive than restorative realities of first-century Palestinian culture, so also do in their practices. In the non-agricultural economic his followers of every age recapitulate by faith and the sphere, as Mennonites modernized, beginning with character of their discipleship, his life, death, resurrection. Dutch Mennonite commercial corporations already in the Third, they believed that in the mystery of God’s provi- early eighteenth century, they became hardly different dence, God was somehow present in all things including form the prevailing commercial/free market capitalistic the movements of nature and moral life. Fourth, God’s society. redeeming grace is experienced most fully when it is But significantly, because of increasing pollution and embodied in sacrificial love through peace and justice for the environmental movement, the Mennonite community all God’s creation. has begun to become aware of nature, and has begun Nevertheless, the Mennonite view of nature developed to promote awareness and action in response, including ambiguously – “The problem was that the ‘rebellious petitions to governmental entities. A “theology of nature” world’ and the natural nonhuman world were not is beginning to emerge. conceptually or existentially separated, and thus, in the The most promising channel by which Mennonites process, nonhuman creation became identified with the will increase their commitments to and leadership in evil in the world from which the pure were to abstain” the environmental movement will be via its historical (Ackley-Bean in Redekop 2000: 184). The Mennonite commitment to nonviolence, peace and justice, which tradition was thus not equipped to see nature as part of the by implication includes nonviolence to nature. creation that God cared for and loved. Consequently, the Although this has been almost totally undeveloped, its positive role that nature would play in the redemption of awakening is illustrated by Walter Klaassen’s, “Pacifism, creation and humankind has only recently being explored, Nonviolence and the Peaceful Reign of God,” which and human responsibility for the care of nature as a maintains requisite for human redemption has not been fully developed. The visions of the “peaceful reign of God” in Isaiah Nature, defined as the totality of material reality, 11; Romans 8 and Revelation 21 and 22 offer a lot including the terrestrial universe and planet Earth, there- of specific details: peace within the animal kingdom, fore has had relatively little influence on Mennonite the total absence of injury and destruction [to theology and philosophy. Nature (biblically defined as “the nature]; [and] the liberation of the creation from Creation”) would be redeemed at the day of the Resurrec- entropy (in Redekop 2000: 148). tion and Last Judgment, as would the human race. More recently, especially due to influence by evangelical/ The increasing activity of the Mennonite community fundamentalist theology, the theological significance of in promoting nonviolence, peace and justice will increas- nature has declined. Moreover, focusing on nature came to ingly include nature. Mennonites increasingly realize that be associated with the mysticism of the Catholic tradition nonviolence, peace and justice cannot ignore nature, (Martin), with secularization, or even worse, with because in some ways it is the foundation or basis of all Christianity (6c4) – Anglicanism 351 other levels of reality. It may be here that Mennonites will Hooker’s reading of natural law, which relates to Catholic make their greatest future contribution. texts, as well as to Protestant reformers’ Paul-centered reading of natural law, portrays reason as a resource and Calvin Redekop tool of nature that allows humans to discern the law of God in creation. God’s wisdom is visible in the laws of Further Reading nature and in the doings of natural agents (Hooker 1907: Bender, Harold S. “Farming and Settlement.” Mennonite Book I, VIII). Hooker’s continuity with the Catholic natural Encyclopedia II. Hillsboro, KS: Mennonite Brethren law tradition was controversial in his time and he was Publishing House, 1955–1990, 303–6. accused of promoting “Romishe doctrine” in conflict with Finger, Tom. “Kingdom of God.” Mennonite Encyclopedia the Thirty-Nine-Articles. V. Hillsboro, KS: Mennonite Brethren Publishing During the early colonization of the so-called “new House, 1955–1990, 490–1. world,” a number of Anglican clergy developed a rhetoric Formigari, Lia. “Chain of Being.” Dictionary of the History that supplied colonialists with a theology that justified the of Ideas: Studies of Selected Pivotal Ideas, vol. 1. New appropriation, use, and ecological invasion of the colo- York: Scribner’s, 1973, 325–35. nized lands, animals and plants. Thus Anglican divines such Martin, Dennis. “Theology of Creation.” Mennonite as geographer Richard Hakluyt, Samuel Purchas and poet Encyclopedia V. Hillsboro, KS: Mennonite Brethren John Donne justified the disruption of ecological systems Publishing House, 1955–1990, 210–11. by appealing to a divine plan of salvation, arguing that Redekop, Calvin. Creation and Environment: An Ana- colonization would hasten the coming of the kingdom. baptist Perspective on a Sustainable World. Baltimore: Hakluyt’s promotion campaign of English settlements Johns Hopkins University Press, 2000. along with Purchas’ rhetoric helped establish myths of Redekop, Calvin, Victor A. Krahn and Samuel J. Steiner. superiority that served to create habits and thought struc- Anabaptist Faith and Economics. Lanham, MD: Uni- tures of exploitation perceived as salvation through the versity Press of America, 1994. spread of a superior culture and (Protestant) faith. The Zerbe, Gordon. “The Kingdom of God and Stewardship contemporary Anglican Communion is an ecclesial struc- of Creation.” In Calvin DeWitt, ed. The Environment ture that has grown with the expansion of British and U.S. and the Christian: What does the New Testament Say? cultural and economic imperialism. Notions of cultural Grand Rapids: Baker, 1991. and religious superiority over and against colonized See also: Berry, Wendell; Christianity (6c1) – Reformation peoples and nature pervade colonial British literature. Traditions (Lutheranism and Calvinism). At the same time, there are clergy, missionaries, theo- logians and poets whose writings represent early sources of emerging modern as well as contemporary environ- Christianity (6c4) – Anglicanism mental concerns. Thus the Anglican divines and meta- physical poets Thomas Traherne, John Donne, George The late twentieth century saw an increasing fascination Herbert, Henry Vaughan and Nicholas Ferrer continued to with Irish and Hebridic Celtic Christianity among see (paradisical) nature as a location of divine revelation Anglicans, a trend that rekindled the memory of that and provided sources for later British romantic writers, Irish tradition’s merging of lore, locale and nature with who merged theological and spiritual quests with explora- Christian elements. The Celtic Christian tradition tions of nature. Strong imagery is also used to read into employed numerous natural images for theological con- nature the state of human “fallenness” and impermanence. cepts, such as the shamrock as an image of the Trinity. The British Romantic poets, though their writings hailed Irish traditions, such as those of St. Patrick, St. Columba, relatively cultured and managed picturesque British and St. Brigid have been claimed as sources and park landscapes rather than the remaining wilderness of inspiration for Anglican spiritualities and theologies, colonized lands, can be seen as early antecedents of specifically as a resource for ecological spirituality. These contemporary environmental movements. Whereas for texts emphasize kinship with nature, creaturehood, and the mystical poets nature was symbolic of divine forces expose belief in a sacramental universe. Other Hebridic beyond the human world, in romantic writers such as traditions with significant naturalistic theological imagery Blake, Wordsworth and Coleridge nature inhabits space in include Julian of Norwich’s writing. Over time, the forest the poetic imagination no longer as consistently expres- as the counterpiece of city, town and village lodged itself sive of orthodox theological sentiment. The Romantic into much of poetic and pious imagination, revived and poets also critiqued Enlightenment efforts to master recontextualized continually. nature, searching for a symbiosis of mind and nature The concept and position of nature is distinct in English that challenges the mercantilism and commercialism reformation thought. For Richard Hooker, nature is the of Western societies. Denise Levertov and others have voice of God, an instrument and teacher of humans. continued in this tradition of Anglican natural poetry. 352 Christianity (6c5) – Methodism

The growth of the environmental movements in the often to the neglect or even despising of the body and all late twentieth century is manifested, among others, in things material. the Episcopal Church, USA, whose Episcopal Ecological Given this inheritance, it is noteworthy that in his Network, a subdivision of the Episcopal Church’s Peace sermons and other writings John Wesley moved toward and Justice Ministries Office, was designed to help the affirmations of the goodness of creation and bodily Church’s grassroots groups preserve the sanctity of existence, God’s radically immanent presence in the creation. Local centers are the Cathedral Church of St. world, and the inherent value of all living things. In John the Divine in New York City and Grace Cathedral in his five-volume natural philosophy, A Survey of the Wis- San Francisco. St. John the Divine emphasizes environ- dom of God in the Creation – admittedly inspired (probably mental stewardship, celebrating annual Gaia masses and to the point of what today would be considered St. Francis Day celebrations. St. John also headquarters plagiarism) by the work of German philosopher Johann the National Religious Partnership for the Environment Franz Budde (1667–1729) – Wesley marveled at the (NRPE). San Francisco’s Grace Cathedral houses Episcopal intricate beauty and complexity of our world, arguing Power and Light and The Regeneration Project, helping that “by thus acquainting and familiarizing ourselves churches to use renewable energy sources. As the with the works of nature, we become as it were a member Anglican community increasingly begins to listen to of her family, a participant in her felicities.” On the Anglican voices from former colonies, the environmental other hand, remaining ignorant of the vast world around and economic destruction of the Anglican colonial past us is to be “strangers and sojourners,” “unknowing and will have to be constructively addressed. unknown” within our very home (Wesley 1823: vol. 1, viii). Marion Grau Wesley also became increasingly convinced that God’s saving work through Jesus Christ was of a holistic and Further Reading even cosmic nature. For him, salvation truly was a process Coupe, Laurence, ed. The Green Studies Reader: From of salving or healing of all dimensions and relations in Romanticism to Ecocriticism. London: Routledge, human existence, and indeed of all creation. The most 2000. dramatic expression of this idea is undoubtedly his 1782 Hooker, Richard. Of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity. sermon “The General Deliverance,” a literary piece widely (Imprint) London: J.M. Dent; New York: E.P. Dutton, cited in contemporary ecotheological writings. In this 1907. sermon, based on Paul’s vision of a redeemed and liberated Low, Mary. Celtic Christianity and Nature: Early Irish and creation in Romans 8:19–22, Wesley pressed the following Hebridean Traditions. Edinburgh: Polygon, 1999. themes: 1) that the love and compassion of God extend to Merchant, Carolyn. Ecological Revolutions: Nature, each and every sentient creature; 2) that the suffering of Gender and Science in New England. Chapel Hill: all creatures, including of course that inflicted by human University of North Carolina Press, 1989. beings, matters to their Creator, who “will make them large See also: Cathedral of St. John the Divine; Celtic Christian- amends” in the world to come; 3) that all creatures there- ity; Gaian Mass; Levertov, Denise. fore will somehow participate in a general resurrection from the dead; and 4) that these considerations should “enlarge our hearts towards those poor creatures” (Wesley Christianity (6c5) – Methodism 1984: vol. 2, 449) such that human beings might more adequately and authentically reflect God’s infinite love The Methodist tradition traces its roots to the preaching, toward all of creation. hymnody and small-group organizational ministry of Wesley’s vision of a salved world – a world being pro- brothers John (1703–1791) and Charles (1707–1788) gressively healed by the love of God through Jesus Christ Wesley, both of whom remained dedicated to the Church in the sanctifying power of the Holy Spirit – had several of England throughout their lives. The Methodist move- practical implications. In his evangelistic travels he ment, then, was intended by the Wesleys to serve as a gathered local remedies for common ailments and ill- source of renewal within Anglicanism and beyond to other nesses, publishing Primitive Physick: An Easy and Natural Christian bodies. Method for Curing Most Diseases in 1747. Virtually all of The Wesleys’ social location within eighteenth-century nearly 300 “cures” in this collection would qualify today Anglicanism makes it unsurprising that they tended as homeopathic. The quaint little volume also recom- uncritically to inherit medieval notions of spirit–matter mended a vegetarian diet, and evidence suggests that dualism and a “great chain of being” in which the human Wesley himself adopted vegetarianism at roughly the same being, as a composite of body and soul, occupies the time Primitive Physick was published. He also followed middle place. In this traditional body–soul dualism, the with interest Benjamin Franklin’s experiments in elec- soul has inevitably received almost all of the attention, tricity, and even fashioned a rudimentary electro-shock Christianity (6c5) – Methodism 353 therapy instrument for the benefit of others and himself. ecosystems, and working together with God for the benefit Wesley clearly was interested not only in the future not only of human beings but of all other creatures as healing of God’s creation, but in the healing properties of well” (Cobb 1995: 53). nature in the present. Similarly, Methodist theologians such as James Nash, Meanwhile, John Wesley’s brother Charles was creating Jay McDaniel and Theodore Runyon have argued that a body of hymns by which to guide Methodists in their attentiveness to John Wesley’s vision for a new creation, worship, for both Wesleys took seriously the educational centered in the universal love of God, has potent implica- and formative role of hymnody. One of Charles Wesley’s tions for contemporary eco-theology and practices. most remarkable hymns is a celebration of the intimate Nash’s and McDaniel’s references to Wesley have tended relation between God and all creatures. One of its verses, to be piecemeal, drawing mostly on the sermon discussed for instance, reads: above, “The General Deliverance.” Runyon, however, in his 1998 work The New Creation: John Wesley’s Theology Thou art the Universal Soul, Today has offered a thorough portrait of Wesley’s preach- The Plastick Power that fills the whole, ing and ministry that readily undergirds responsible And governs Earth, Air, Sea and Sky, ecological practices. According to Runyon, Wesley under- The Creatures all Thy Breath receive, stood the biblical teaching that human beings are created And who by Thy Inspiring live, in God’s image to imply a responsibility to care for God’s Without Thy Inspiration die (in Lodahl 2004: 15). creation, to re-present to the world the compassion and love of the Creator. “Thus,” Runyon comments, “humanity The Methodist movement after the Wesleys, however, is the image of God insofar as the benevolence of God is tended not to sing such songs nor to follow very near reflected in human actions toward the rest of creation” the Wesley brothers’ willingness to describe God as “the (Runyon 1998: 17). soul of the universe.” The Wesleys’ theological heirs of It was this impetus toward a new creation “renewed in the nineteenth century were embroiled largely in debates love” (to borrow a favorite phrase of John Wesley) – a with Calvinists over the issue of the role of human renewal made possible as human beings are restored agency in the process of salvation, and thus rarely moved through Christ toward becoming responsible bearers of beyond anthropocentric concerns. That situation did not God’s image as “pure, unbounded love” (in the hymnic improve – and may have worsened – with the ascendancy phrase of Charles Wesley) – that undoubtedly moved the of personalism as the predominant school of philosophy United Methodist Church’s Council of Bishops to issue in Methodist higher education and religious instruction their 1986 joint statement, In Defense of Creation: The in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Nuclear Crisis and a Just Peace. Written in the face of the Promulgated especially at Boston University and the imminent danger of the destruction of much, if not all, of University of Southern California, both Methodist the life on planet Earth by nuclear war, the pastoral letter institutions, but widely influential in most Methodist charged United Methodists circles during the era, this philosophy found ultimate reality and value in the ontological category of “person.” to become evangelists of shalom, making the ways This was a category in which God and human beings of Jesus the model of discipleship, embracing all shared – as opposed to, and in distinction from, neighbors near and far, all friends and enemies, and everything else in reality. Nothing else but “person,” in becoming defenders of God’s good creation, and to fact, was deemed to be ultimately real. Nature was pray without ceasing for peace in our time. seriously devalued if not entirely ignored, and pers- onalistic reflection upon human existence assumed a Such counsel is true to Charles Wesley’s hymnic prayer distancing from, and generally a triumph over, the world that God might be: Pleased to restore the ruined Race, of nature. / And new-create a World of Grace. / In all the Image of Only with the ascendancy of the ecological crisis did Thy Love (Wesley in Lodahl 2004: 15). Methodist theological reflection begin seriously to turn toward the world. United Methodist minister and teacher Michael Lodahl John B. Cobb, Jr., raised the question in 1972 with Is It Too Late? A Theology of Ecology, but did not offer an explicitly Further Reading Wesleyan answer. Indeed, it was not until 1995 that Cobb, Cobb, Jr., John B. Grace and Responsibility: A Wesleyan in Grace and Responsibility: A Wesleyan Theology for Theology for Today. Nashville: Abingdon Press, Today, consciously drew upon his Methodist heritage to 1995. reflect upon ecological issues. He argued persuasively that Lodahl, Michael. God of Nature and of Grace: Reading the “Wesley’s teaching . . . calls for respect for all creatures, World in a Wesleyan Way. Nashville: Kingswood recognition of the importance of biodiversity and complex Books, 2004. 354 Christianity (7a) – Theology and Ecology

McDaniel, Jay. Of God and Pelicans: A Theology of intrinsic value to all creatures and the intricate natural Reverence for Life. Louisville: Westminster/John Knox systems to which they belong. Some see human beings as Press, 1989. no more special than other creatures; their main ethical Nash, James. Loving Nature: Ecological Integrity and challenge is to fit in (e.g., Elizabeth Dodson Gray). Others Christian Responsibility. Nashville: Abingdon Press, continue to affirm the traditional tenet of Christian 1991. anthropology that human beings are created in the image Runyon, Theodore. The New Creation: John Wesley’s of God, with unique gifts of reason and will and matching Theology Today. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1998. responsibilities toward the rest of creation. This main- Wesley, John. The Works of John Wesley. Nashville: stream view implies an ethic based on the agent as steward Abingdon Press, 1984. or co-creator (e.g., Thomas Sieger Derr, Pope John Paul II). Wesley, John. A Survey of the Wisdom of God in Creation; (3) The Fall. While all eco-theologians are acutely Or, a Compendium of Natural Philosophy. Third Amer- aware of the imperfections of a world riddled with ican edn. 2 vols. New York: N. Bangs and T. Mason, environmental and social problems, not all attribute these 1823. to the fundamental distortion of the original goodness of See also: Christianity (7f) – Process Theology; Cobb, John creation through a combination of evil powers and human (and adjacent), The Making of an Earthist Christian; Nat- transgression. Critics of the traditional doctrine of the Fall ural Law and Natural Rights. note that the concept is neither biblical nor consistent with an ecological appreciation for the necessary functions of disturbance, death, and decay (e.g., Anne Primavesi). Christianity (7a) – Theology and Ecology Other eco-theologians continue to affirm the doctrine, (Contemporary Introduction) noting its potential to uncover the full depth of structural evil and human pride, as well as the pervasiveness of The systematic effort by modern Christian theologians to the resulting alienation between people and nature (e.g., review traditional doctrines in light of a growing eco- Steven Bouma-Prediger). logical awareness has been called environmental theology (4) The Covenant. A main theme in Christian eco- or eco-theology. Such ecological revisioning involves theology is God’s promise that the entire creation will be Christian teachings about (1) God, (2) Creation, (3) the liberated from its environmental and social suffering. Fall, (4) the Covenant, (5) Christ, (6) the Church, and (7) Inspired by biblical covenant traditions (e.g., Gen. 9:8–17; Eschatology. Ex. 20:1–17), this promise provides a basis for hope amidst (1) God. Since the fourth century, Christians have held widespread destruction. In response, the faithful are that their God is a Trinity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. expected to uphold newly interpreted covenant obliga- At a general level, eco-theologians affirm the relational tions. For example, they should not steal from future aspect of this model of God, noting that it fits well with an generations (sustainability; cf. Ex. 20:15), nor covet ecological worldview’s emphasis on interconnectedness unnecessary material goods (sufficiency; cf. Ex. 20:17). (e.g., Jürgen Moltmann). They also affirm the traditional Also, as in the ancient Sabbath tradition, they should emphasis on the Trinity’s creative, redeeming, and sustain- respect land, animals, and people by allowing them to ing relationship with the world. However, eco-theologians recover from intensive production (cf. Deut. 5:12–15; typically recast several specific attributes of the Persons Lev. 25:1–7). in the Trinity. Instead of the traditional emphasis on the (5) Christ. Ultimately, however, liberation does not transcendence and omnipotence of the Father, eco- come through human obedience but through divine grace. theologians propose a greater appreciation for immanence Eco-theologians discern grace in the Incarnation through and divine invitation, which suggests the appropriateness which God chose to participate in the world’s struggles. of the metaphor of Mother (e.g., Sallie McFague). This act of solidarity is evidenced in the life and teachings Similarly, they look beyond the anthropocentric signifi- of Jesus of Nazareth, whose inclusive concern for the cance of the Son as the divine link with humankind to his poor, the sick, and the outcast is interpreted as a model for universal connection (as Logos) with creation as a whole. ecojustice (or, in the language of process theology, as a The Holy Spirit is often interpreted as the inspirational persuasive expression of divine love, beckoning us to source behind an ethic of hope as well as nature-centered respond in kind with compassion for humanity and spirituality. nature). Similarly, eco-theologians highlight the signifi- (2) Creation. Without exception, eco-theologians con- cance of Jesus’ death on the cross as the ultimate act of tinue to affirm the traditional divine attribute of goodness self-sacrifice for a broken creation. In the resurrected and its reflection in the fundamental goodness of the Christ, they see a symbol of the life to come, in which all world, which they variously interpret as the work or creation will have a share (e.g., Sallie McFague). Finally, the body of God. Eco-theologians especially appreciate mystically oriented eco-theologians point out that the the diversity and complexity of this world, attributing ancient “cosmic Christ” tradition helps us to see how Christianity (7b) – Political Theology 355 the creative love of Christ fills the entire universe and McFague, Sallie. The Body of God: An Ecological Theology. becomes manifest in human compassion (e.g., Matthew Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1993. Fox). Moltmann, Jürgen. God in Creation: A New Theology of (6) The Church. Until the promised end time, the Creation and the Spirit of God. Margaret Kohl, tr. San Christian community is called to live fully in the world, yet Francisco: Harper & Row, 1985. without selling out to its destructive ways. In doing so, the Primavesi, Anne. From Apocalypse to Genesis: Ecology, Church is assisted by the Holy Spirit. Eco-theologians have Feminism, and Christianity. Minneapolis: Fortress recast the traditional “gifts of the Spirit”: proclamation Press, 1991. (kerygma) spreads the message of hope amidst environ- Santmire, Paul. The Travail of Nature: The Ambiguous Eco- mental destruction; celebration (leitourgia) rejoices in the logical Promise of Christian Theology. Philadelphia: material gifts of creation, such as water and bread, and in Fortress Press, 1985. sharing these according to need; service (diakonia) See also: Altner, Günter; Boff, Leonardo; Christianity includes attending to the cries of the nonhuman world; (7e) – Creation Spirituality; Fall, The; McFague, Sallie; and participation (koinonia) implies a simple, needs-based Moltmann, Jürgen; Ruether, Rosemary Radford. communal life. (7) Eschatology. Rather than interpret the current environmental crisis as part of a series of predicted apoca- SP Christianity (7b) – Political Theology lyptic events that will inaugurate the end of the world, eco-theologians typically say that the world is groaning The new “political theology” grew up in Germany after in travail as it awaits its liberation from pain and the Second World War. The shock of Auschwitz, and the suffering (cf. Rom. 8:22). Many eco-theologians express shock too at the failure of the churches during the Hitler the strong hope that this final transformation will usher in dictatorship, made resolute political responsibility on the a kingdom (or “kindom”) of justice and peace in which all part of Christians a necessity. In modern society religion of creation will participate, fulfilling the prophetic may be “a private affair,” but the Christian faith is not a vision that the wolf and the lamb will eat together (cf. private matter. For Christ’s sake, Christians take the part Isaiah 11:6). Some, however, find hope in the very end- of the humiliated and the oppressed, and set themselves lessness and chaotic processes that mark our universe against the perpetrators of violence. Christians are critical (e.g., Catherine Keller). of political religions and ideologies of power, because In short, increasing awareness of the contemporary they live in remembrance of the crucified Christ and, in a ecological crisis has precipitated many new trends in culture of forgetfulness, keep alive the recollection of Christian theology. Eco-theology promises to remain an suffering. Political theology is also called public theology, area of creative theological reconstruction in years to because it raises a critical voice in society’s public ques- come. tions, and does not confine itself to the churches. When liberation theology came into being in Latin America, Louke van Wensveen political theology in Europe joined forces with it, because “the preferential option for the poor” and hope for the Further Reading kingdom of God in the world were common to them both. Boff, Leonardo. Cry of the Earth, Cry of the Poor. Philip In 1972 the first report of the Club of Rome on the Berryman, tr. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1997. condition of nature appeared. With this date, awareness Bouma-Prediger, Steven. For the Beauty of the Earth: A of the ecological crises began to penetrate public con- Christian Vision for Creation Care. Grand Rapids: sciousness. For political theology and liberation theology, Baker, 2001. tormented nature became theology’s third subject, side Fox, Matthew. The Coming of the Cosmic Christ. San by side with politically humiliated and economically Francisco: HarperCollins, 1988. exploited men and women. The ecological crisis is a crisis Gray, Elizabeth Dodson. Green Paradise Lost. Wellesley, of modern scientific and technological civilization as a MA: Roundtable Press, 1982. whole; it is not confined to the foundations of that civili- Hall, Douglas John. Imaging God: Dominion as Steward- zation’s natural life. It denotes not only a moral crisis of ship. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1986. humanity but a religious crisis too. The ecological theology Haught, John F. The Promise of Nature: Ecology and which is developing is an attempt to find a new cosmic Cosmic Purpose. New York: Paulist Press, 1993. mysticism, in which God is reverenced in nature and Keller, Catherine. Apocalypse Now and Then: A Feminist nature in God. This theology is critical of the modern Guide to the End of the World. Boston: Beacon Press, culture of rule over nature, and strives for a community of 1996. culture and nature which will be viable and sustainable. McDonagh, Sean. To Care for the Earth: A Call to a New It tries to achieve a caring environmental policy and, Theology. Santa Fe: Bear and Company, 1986. not least, attempts to liberate nature from inhumane 356 Christianity (7b) – Political Theology oppression. Political theology began with talk about God “a parable of God”; still others read nature as “the book of in the face of a catastrophe in the political world; it now God’s Wisdom,” and from this idea arrive at a new natural directs its talk about God toward the ecological crisis of theology. The reverence for life which Albert Schweitzer the modern world. talked about is caught up into reverence for God. The modern culture of rule and the ecological crises Reverence for God also embraces reverence for the divine which are the result arose from Christianity in its Western presence in all created beings. All natural things have a form. So is the Christian faith itself a factor in this crisis? transcendent inner side. Because of that inner side, our Four points are discussed in this context: experiences of them can become experiences of God: God 1) The biblical destiny laid upon human beings to awaits us in all things. “subdue the Earth” (Gen. 1.28) is made responsible for the 2. Together with the perception or recognition of boundlessness of the human will for power. nature as creation in the Trinitarian framework of the doc- 2) The biblical destiny laid upon human beings to be trine of God, a new cosmic Christology has also developed. the image of God (Gen. 1.26) sets them apart from all other In the ancient world, human beings were dependent on creatures and above the earthly community of creation. uncomprehended forces or powers of nature; and so at Whereas in other beings only “traces of God” can be that time the theme of cosmic Christology was “Christ and detected, the human being is supposed to be God’s “image” the powers.” In the postmodern world, with the spreading and his representative on Earth. So human beings are not destruction of nature by human beings, the theme of cos- just part of nature; they are set apart as persons with mic Christology is “Christ and the cosmic catastrophe.” unique dignity. According to modern interpretation, this Modern theology had reduced salvation to the salvation dignity lies in their quality as determining subjects: only of human beings, and in human beings to the salvation of human beings are the subjects of understanding and will – the soul. This led to the neglect both of the human body all other created beings can be made their objects. With and of nature. But if Jesus is the divine Savior, his saving this, the subjugation of nature and the instrumentalization and healing power reaches as far as the bounds of God’s of their own bodies are laid in the hands of men and creation. According to the Epistles to the Ephesians women. and Colossians, “all things on heaven and Earth” are there- 3) Both these biblical destinies have contributed to the fore reconciled in him. In him creation also finds its total anthropocentricism of Western and modern civiliza- deliverance – the creation which Paul describes in the tion. This anthropocentricism drove out the cosmocen- Epistle to the Romans (8.19ff.) as “groaning” under the tricism of the ancient world. And today the Asian and burden of transience and unfreedom. For the Church of African ordering of human culture into the wisdom of Christ, this means a cosmic orientation. The Church repre- nature is also falling victim to this Western culture of sents the whole cosmos before God, and represents God domination. before the whole cosmos. The destructions of nature on 4) The most enduring influence of all was exerted by Earth are therefore the Church’s sufferings too. The Jewish and Christian monotheism: God is the transcendent Church’s hope is also the hope of the world for the new Creator and Lord of the world; the world is robbed of all creation of all things into their enduring form (Rev. 21.4– divine mystery, and nature is stripped of its magic and 5). The apocryphal Gospel of Thomas lets Christ say: “I am secularized. In Western culture, the divine is seen in the the universe. The universe has come from me. The universe spiritual not the material, in the soul not the body and, not returns to me again. Cleave a piece of wood: I am there. least, on the side of the male not the female. Lift up a stone: you will find me” (Logion: 77). If it is these ideas in the Christian tradition which are 3. With this, the position of the human being in the responsible for the degradation of nature, it is here that the cosmos changes too. A non-anthropocentric anthropology necessary reformation must begin. becomes necessary. The turn to anthropology in the 1. Modern monotheism has stressed God’s trans- modern world was the result of a cosmology gone wrong cendence and suppressed his immanence. But according and a surrendered theology: people no longer found any to the biblical idea, God is present through his Spirit and meaning in the cosmos, and God was held to be a projec- his Wisdom in all created things. It is the Trinitarian tion of the human imagination. Consequently human idea of God which is alone able to bind together God’s beings have to construct their world for themselves. The transcendence and his immanence. God the Father, the technosphere replaces the biosphere, and the human being Son, and the Spirit live with each other and in each becomes the Lord and God of the world. other in a unique community (perichoresis); and in an This provokes the fateful question: is the modern world analogous way God is present in creation, and creation in inescapably the end of nature, or do we have to adapt the God. This divine fellowship fills the world. “No creature is human world to the living conditions of the Earth? Are so far from God as not to have him within itself,” said we rebuilding the planet into a huge spaceship for the Thomas Aquinas. Some people talk about “the sacramental existence of genetically adapted men and women, or do presence of God in nature”; other people say that nature is we find our place and our role in the nature of the Earth as Christianity (7c) – Liberation Theology 357 it is? Logically speaking, every anthropocentric anthro- Human Rights, so that it becomes a declaration of the pology founders on the simple fact that nature was there rights of future generations and the rights of nature before human beings, and will still be there after the (Vischer 1990). Today crimes against humanity can be human race has disappeared; for human beings are a late brought before international courts of justice, and in the product in the evolution of life, and their era in the cosmos same way crimes against nature must also one day be is certainly limited. Consequently the human race with its indictable in these courts. civilizations must adapt to the living conditions of nature if it is to survive – and this is true for modern and post- Jürgen Moltmann; translated by Margaret Kohl modern civilization too. If the human being is not the center and measure of all things, then it is wrong to talk Further Reading about nature as “our environment” and Earth as “our Bergmann, S. Geist, der Natur befreit. Die trinitarische planetary home.” Nature is an interwoven fabric of many Kosmologie Gregor von Nazianz im Horizont einer living spaces for many different living things, which ökologischen Theologie der Efreiung. Mainz: human beings have to respect if they want to survive in Grünewald Verlag, 1995 (Forthcoming English transla- the community of creation. tion: Nature Set Free. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, A fundamental idea of ecological politics is that this expected 2004). community of creation should be seen as a community Gutiérrez, Gustavo. Theology of Liberation. C. Inda and under law. According to biblical tradition, God makes the J. Eagleson, trs. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 1971; London: covenant with Noah so that the Earth may survive “with SCM Press, 1971 (rev. edn, 1988). you and your descendants after you, and with every living Metz, Jonannes. Theology of the World. New York: creature” (Gen. 9.9–10). Human rights, the rights of future Seabury, 1969. generations, and the rights of nature belong together in a Moltmann, Jürgen. Politische Theologie – Politische Ethik. single covenant. So “every living creature” is a partner in Munich: Kaiser Verlag, 1984. (Some of these essays the covenant together with human beings, and has its own are translated in: J. Moltmann. On Human Dignity: dignity and its own rights. According to this federalist Political Theology and Ethics. M. Douglas Meeks, ed. view of nature, animals are the “fellow creatures” of Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1984). human beings, and this is the way they are defined in the Ruether, Rosemary Radford. Gaia and God. Maryknoll, NY: German Animal Protection Act of 18 August 1986. Orbis, 1993. According to biblical tradition, the sabbath laws apply to Vischer, Lukas. “Rights of Future Generations – Rights of human beings and animals (Ex. 20.10), and to the land too Nature.” Studies from the World Alliance of Reformed (Leviticus 25). Earth also has the right “to celebrate its Churches 19 (Geneva, 1990). great sabbath to the Lord” every seven years, and in that See also: Boff, Leonardo; Christianity (7c) – Liberation year is to be free of human exploitation. Following this Theology; Earth Charter; Fall, The; Moltmann, Jürgen. ancient Hebrew ecological policy, we today need to inte- grate the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights of 1948 and the Covenants on Human Rights of 1966 with Christianity (7c) – Liberation Theology the World Charter for Nature of 28 October 1982. Every declaration on human rights begins with a recognition of Liberation theology emerged in Latin America during the human dignity. Is this dignity unique or – as the preamble late 1960s as a theological and religious movement among to the Charter for Nature says – are human beings “part Roman Catholic clergy and laypeople. The following of nature?” Politicians who follow the declarations on decades saw the swift spread of its method among both human rights want to classify the protection of nature Roman Catholic as well as Protestant Churches, especially under the heading of individual human rights: human in less affluent, southern hemisphere countries. These beings have a right to an unharmed “environment” just as diverse practitioners were attracted by the specific they have a right to freedom from bodily harm. Nature is approach and method of liberation theology, which can be to be protected for the sake of human beings. In contrast, defined as nondualistic, biblical-based praxis rooted in the the Charter for Nature says: “Every form of life is unique, experience of the poor. This theology was consciously warranting respect regardless of its worth to man. . .” (U.N. developed in reaction to traditional European theology World Charter for Nature: Annex). It is only when human that focused on intellectual challenges to religion and rights are based on the dignity of all created things, not both spiritualized the Gospel and romanticized poverty. solely on the dignity of human beings, that they lose their The term liberation is drawn directly from the record of anthropocentric character, which is hostile to nature, and Jesus’ first sermon in Luke 4:18–21, where the text states minister to our common life. We need a legal framework that Jesus had come “to liberate those who are oppressed.” for the community of all living things on Earth. There are Here the text recounts acts of salvation that encompass proposals for enlarging the Universal Declaration of both the spiritual and the material dimensions of existence. 358 Christianity (7c) – Liberation Theology

This new theological movement found its manifesto in Theology of Hope (1964) became widely influential. the book Theology of Liberation by the Peruvian Roman While liberation theologians drew on political theology’s Catholic theologian Gustavo Gutiérrez. In this book emphases on the social and material dimensions of Gutiérrez focused on trends emerging both from Latin spirituality, they criticized it for its critique of the present American socio-political realities and from the experi- that did not offer concrete political alternatives. They ences of Church renewal initiated and theologically legit- pointed out that without specific political choices, imated through the Second Vatican Council (such as the political theology remained as abstract and theoretical as renewal in Catholic biblical studies), and the Episcopal the Western European Church situation it criticized. There- Conference of Latin America (CELAM). This new approach fore liberation theology claimed to make not only an to theology was spread by Roman Catholic theologians option for the poor but also one for socialism and socialist including Hugo Assmann, Leonardo Boff, Clodovis Boff, political platforms as approaches most likely to offer just- José Comblin, Virgil Elizondo, Ignacio Ellacuría, Francis ice in the social and economic realms. This focus on the Hinkelammert, João Alberto Libânio (Frei Betto), and Jung economic and political dimensions, and the centrality of Mo Sung, and the Protestants José Míguez Bonino and Marxist social analysis, was to change over the next Rubem Alves. two decades. First, liberation theologians recognized that Liberation theologies stress the example of Jesus going traditional Marxist analysis had failed to recognize other first to the poor and oppressed and emphasize doing forms of oppression outside of the economic and political, theology in specific social, political, and economic con- such as sexism, racism, and that of nature. Second, the texts, contrasting this approach with theologies that dramatic collapse of existent socialism in 1989–1991 (and prioritize the formulation of abstract doctrine. The with it the Cold War) threw the political left into crisis, methodological priority on the poor was, liberation given the collapse of practical socialist alternatives. theologians claimed, what both the example of Jesus in Consequently, by the early 1990s the concept of liber- the Gospels and the Latin American Bishops Conference ation as only a historical, social and political process had (CELAM) insisted upon at its meetings in Medellín, been reconceptualized as part of a broader paradigm that Colombia in 1968 and Puebla, Mexico in 1979. At Puebla included liberation not only from material poverty, but this priority was called the “(preferential) option for the also from all forms of discrimination. The close involve- poor.” The basic theological method was provided by the ment that these theologians had with the urban and rural three-step practical prescription developed by the Belgian poor brought to the fore the environmental degradation Joseph Cardijn (who later became cardinal), in Catholic caused by poverty and the consequent effects on all Action, and was summed up in the slogan “see, judge, act.” humans and living beings. This experience led liberation The Brazilian theologian Clodovis Boff transformed these theologians to recognize not only the similarities between terms into liberation theology’s three methodological the poor and nature, but also the interdependence of both phases of the “social analytical,” the “hermeneutical” and and the necessity of common action. The issue of mass the “practical-pastoral” mediations, respectively. The poverty thus became not only a political and religious first mediation is probably the most striking, in that it issue but also a pressing ecological issue. The importance proposed to use not the traditional theological partner of of ecology in Latin America and the prominent role of philosophy, but rather the social sciences, and in particular religion and voluntary associations were highlighted in Marxist sociology. It was thought that this social science 1992 when Rio de Janeiro hosted the United Nations better described the actual material condition of the poor Conference on the Environment and Development. under capitalist economies in the Third World. After Ernst Haeckel in 1866 coined ecology as “the study of analyzing the actual sociological condition of the poor, the the interdependence and interaction of living organisms scriptures would be examined, their message interpreted (animals and plants) and their environment (inanimate in the light of the current situation, and then applied. matter).” This definition refers not just to nature and Liberation theologies’ stress on the social, economic humans, but also to varying levels of human and non- and political dimensions of religion reflect the influences human interactions. To put this even more concisely, of European political theology on its first articulators, Leonardo Boff, who draws on Haeckel’s work, states Gutierrez and Leonardo Boff, both of whom completed “everything that exists, co-exists.” At the human level, graduate work in Germany. Political theology emerged this “nature of things” calls us from narrow disciplinary roughly a decade earlier than liberation theology, in foci to interdisciplinary study, from a narrow class-based post-World-War II Europe, and reflecting that situation, politics to those based on alliances. Such an approach stressed the public nature and political relevance of comes from an awareness of the interconnectedness of all religion. Hope for a better future became a central feature things, as Boff states, “ecology has to do with relations, of both the Catholic theologian Johan Baptist Metz and interaction, and dialogue of all living creatures . . . among the Protestant theologian Jürgen Moltmann, whose themselves and with all that exists” (Boff 1995: 8). This respective works Theology of the World (1967) and awareness is expressed in diverse ways by differing Christianity (7c) – Liberation Theology 359 liberation theologians: Leonardo Boff, drawing on the holistic perspective already described, he links ecology work of Haeckel and Jan Smuts, speaks of a “holism,” and and global consciousness and proceeds to argue for a new José Ramos Regidor of a “profound ethical ecology.” society that assumes the worth of every person and being. Liberation theologians and ecologists emphasize the Participatory democracy as a universal value is the only ethical, political, and social dimensions of the ecological polity that can ensure such rights and participation. Such crisis. In much of Latin America, this recognition has a polity ensures that the material and social rights of the provided a point of contact for alliances between civil poor and of the ecological systems are addressed. Without servants unions, workers unions, religious groups, human this, environmental balance is not possible. Boff thus rights organizations, student groups, minority groups, widens the scope of the “option for the poor” to include the feminist and women’s organizations, and indigenous environment. Humans need to recognize, he notes, that groups. As ecology is a shared concern of all people, it they are a center, not the center of creation, which com- can serve as a bridge between activists from many groups prises many living beings with diverse ends. Humans then and regions. have an ethical responsibility to recognize that they are a Perhaps not surprisingly, since Brazil comprises over part of a greater whole, a recognition that in turn implies half of the South American landmass and includes the the reciprocity and complementarity that exists among all Amazon basin and rainforest, the most significant work things. Boff’s conception thus expands liberation theolo- on liberation theology and ecology has come from gy’s utopian social vision through a profoundly holistic Brazilian theologians, the (ex-) Franciscan Leonardo Boff conception of the interrelatedness of all being. Finally, and the ecofeminist Ivone Gebara. This is not to diminish spirituality for Boff is that attitude which places life at the the significant work done by other Brazilian theologians center and defends and promotes life against reductionism such as José Comblin, by others on the continent such and death in all its forms. as the Uruguyan Eduardo Gudynas of the Franciscan The writings of Ivone Gebara, the Brazilian feminist Institute in Montevideo, by José Ramos Regidor in Italy, or theologian, arise out of her experiences with people in the by others in Africa or Asia. However they generally follow more rural and underdeveloped Northern states of Brazil. these Brazilian theologians. She argues that while liberation theology has certainly As early as 1976, Leonardo Boff applied the political raised the critical question of how God is understood in the interpretation of liberation to the ecological issue in an midst of human poverty and misery, it has failed to article relating Franciscan spirituality to the ecological address the patriarchal presuppositions upon which much crisis. In this article Boff declared that humans are faced of Roman Catholicism rests. Drawing on the works of with the choice of relating to things as “over things” or as numerous Latin and North American writers, including being “with things.” In choosing the latter option he Thomas Berry and Sallie McFague, Gebara questions argued for a unitive and relational mysticism with all liberation theologians almost exclusive focus on justice things, based on an Augustinian relational model of the and economic issues, which fails to recognize the links Trinity or Christian concept of God. By the 1990s, Boff between patriarchy and oppression, between the condi- sought, in a series of works on ecology, “to connect the cry tions of the environment and the poor. She seeks to widen of the oppressed with the cry of the Earth” (Boff 1997: xi). the scope of liberation theology’s conception of the poor, In his understanding, an ecological liberation theology and to draw new connections to traditional theological is a multi-dimensioned project, including the Western doctrines such as the Trinity. In a move similar to Boff’s, technological, political and social projects (in liberal or she argues for a broader concept of life, for a holistic socialist forms), related in turn to the ethical, intellectual paradigm that includes her ecofeminist principles. and spiritual dimensions. His work, outside of the theo- Liberation thus includes a commitment to ending poverty logical, draws upon two major streams of thought. One as well as patriarchy. The ending of economic poverty, she is the evolutionary biology of Ernst Haeckel, whose argues, should go together with restored gender and social definition of “ecological” Boff utilizes. The other is the relations and the ending of ecological degradation. Gebara concept of holism, coined by the South African statesman views liberated humans as the agents of such transform- and philosopher, General Jan Christian Smuts. According ation, not as the masters of Earth, but rather as the Earth’s to Boff, the science of ecology is the recognition that conscious reflection upon itself. This self-consciousness is humanity is part of the intricate web of life, and that men then related to Gebara’s study of the Trinity. She under- and women are its custodians and so responsible for the stands this doctrine as the Christian way of describing ongoing evolution of all life. the interconnectedness, communion and diversity evident Boff’s approach is described fully in his 1995 work in all life. The distortions of such relations are evident in entitled Ecology and Liberation. He relates ecology, defined poverty, ecological degradation, and violence. as “the art of relations and of related things,” to the Although liberation theology did not begin with an eco- Christian understanding of God as Trinitarian, understood logical concern for the Earth, later works (as exemplified thus as the paradigm of the relational. Adopting the by those of Leonardo Boff and Ivone Gebara) recognize the 360 Christianity (7d) – Feminist Theology basic interrelatedness of all reality. They thus call for a Christianity (7d) – Feminist Theology holistic paradigm that includes all the projects and dimen- sions of life. In addition, Boff has democratized the eco- In her seminal work Sexism and God-Talk: Toward a logical question and argues for a planetary ecological and Feminist Theology (1983) Rosemary Radford Ruether social democracy that comes with a salutary warning to defines the critical principle of feminist theology: critically evaluate the ecological effects of the process of globalization. This holistic and relational paradigm Theologically speaking, whatever diminishes or advocated by many liberation theologians, while power- denies the full humanity of women must be pre- ful, can only succeed by avoiding the nostalgic search for sumed not to reflect the divine or an authentic community that cannot exist (at least in traditional forms) relation to the divine, or to reflect the authentic in the social conditions of late modernity. The (paradox or nature of things, or to be the message or work of an tragedy) of modernity is that precisely the advance of authentic redeemer or a community of redemption globalization is destroying those very links that make for . . . what does promote the full humanity of women holism and a viable planetary ecology for the future. In is of the Holy, it does reflect true relation to the their attempt to situate the ecological issue within the con- divine, it is the true nature of things, the authentic text of the poor, liberation theologies indicate the mutual message of redemption and the mission of redemp- interactions between the social systems and the ecological tive community (1983: 19). systems, and since we cannot separate social justice from ecological justice, we must continue as human beings, She continues by connecting feminist ideas with all related to all other life, to be the voice for the voiceless. other forms of chauvinism, including humanocentrism or “the making of humans the norm” (1983: 20). Feminist Iain S. Maclean theology connects all power structures to each other and to the various degradations of culture and nature. Its roots Further Reading are both ancient and recent. Boff, Leonardo. Cry of the Earth, Cry of the Poor. Mary- From the late nineteenth century through the begin- knoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1997. ning of the twenty-first century, feminist theologies Boff, Leonardo. Ecology & Liberation: A New Paradigm. addressed predominantly patriarchal Christian traditions. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1995. Reformist, revolutionary, radical, liberation, “third world,” Figueira, Ricardo Rezende. Rio Maria: Song of the Earth. and ecological feminist theologies, to name but a few, Madeleine Adriance, tr. and ed. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis challenge androcentric norms of Christian belief and insti- Books, 1994. tutional structure from myriad perspectives. Language, Gebara, Ivone. “The Trinity and Human Experience.” In liturgy, hierarchical establishments, hermeneutics, trans- Women Healing Earth: Third World Women on lations of sacred texts, composition of communities and Ecology, Feminism, and Religion. Rosemary Radford re-telling of histories (sometimes called “herstories” by Ruether, ed. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1996, 13–23. feminist theologians) all comprise significant parts of the Gebara, Ivone. Mary, Mother of God, Mother of the Poor. range of feminist theologies. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1989. While particular glimpses of feminist ideas emerged Gutiérrez, Gustavo. Theology of Liberation. Mayknoll, NY: throughout Christian history, it is anachronistic to apply Orbis Books, 1973. the term feminist to these concepts from a twenty-first- Maclean, Iain S. Opting for Democracy: Liberation century perspective. Nonetheless, the roots of feminist Theologians, the Catholic Church and the Struggle for thought provide a foundation for its eventual emergence Democracy in Brazil. New York: Peter Lang, 1999. in the nineteenth century since much feminist thought Moltmann, Jürgen. Creating a Just Future: The Politics of reacts to and rethinks these roots. Peace and the Ethics of Creation in a Threatened World. Such a sketch usually begins with the creation texts in London: SCM Press, 1989. Genesis 1–3, texts adopted from Jewish traditions by Moltmann, Jürgen. Theology of Hope: On the Ground and emergent Christianities. Interpretations of these texts the Implications of a Christian Eschatology. James W. have yielded different perspectives, but the figure of Eve Leitch, tr. London: SCM Press, 1967. (Genesis 2) is blamed by patriarchal Christianity for the See also: Berry, Thomas; Brazil and Contemporary Christi- fall of humanity (and for all of creation, other-than- anity; Christianity (7b) – Political Theology; Christianity humans included) out of a state of paradise and into a (7d) – Feminist Theology; Con-spirando Women’s Collect- state of sin. She grew to symbolize the assumed weak ive (Santiago, Chile); Dualism; Gebara, Ivone; Haeckel, and sinful state of females. In addition to the centrality Ernst; McFague, Sallie; Roman Catholicism in Latin of Eve for feminist theological discussion, the Genesis America; Salvadoran Reflection on Religion, Rights, and creation stories have been interpreted as foundational Nature; Smuts, Jan Christian. for human (primarily male) dominance over the rest of Christianity (7d) – Feminist Theology 361 the natural world. This aspect figured prominently as in prominence. Mary Daly, Delores Williams, Rosemary feminist and ecofeminist thought developed in the Radford Ruether, Sallie McFague and Ada Maria Isasi-Diaz twentieth century. are among the most influential feminist theologians to Though evidence from the early Jesus movement points nurture, publish and distribute their ideas to Christian to the potential empowerment of women, and several early communities worldwide. Christian forms suggest that women held prominent Daly, raised in the Catholic tradition, earned doctorate roles as teachers or healers, within the first generations of degrees in theology and in philosophy. In The Church and Christianity the place of women is problematized. As the Second Sex (1968), she analyzed the marginalized Christianity became the dominant religion of the Roman position of women throughout the history of Christianity. Empire, the Church established exclusively male, priestly Though she retained her teaching position, with tenure, hierarchies. Simultaneously the Church carefully replaced at a Jesuit institution, Daly decided that Christianity was pre-Christian, nature-based pagan traditions, sometimes irredeemable for women and called for the women’s led by women, with the new orthodox, state-sanctioned, movement to be anti-Church. In her 1973 publication male-dominated Christianity. Beyond God the Father, Daly stated “that if God is male, Still, throughout the Middle Ages various female then the male is God” (1973: 19). In her later theological mystics proposed alternative theological ideas, some with works, including Gyn/Ecology (1978) and Quintessence more success than others. For example, Hildegard of (1998), Daly directly connected female-centered reality Bingen (1098–1179) wrote complex theological, medical, with nature and the goddess. and liturgical texts, while simultaneously leading a Ruether confronted language and its connections to religious order and preaching throughout Europe. Her myriad other issues in Sexism and God-Talk: focus on the “greening” power of God suggests the roots of Christian ecofeminism. This emotional hostility has deep roots in the Judeo- One of the primary examples of the increasing hostility Christian formation of the normative image of tran- of patriarchal Christianity to both women and to nature is scendent ego in the male God image. The underside the Malleus Maleficarum (an inquisitional manual pub- of this transcendent male ego is the conquest of lished in the late fifteenth century) and the witch trials nature, imaged as the conquest and transcendence that hailed from it. Women, particularly those who were of the Mother (1983: 47). traditional nature healers and midwives, were the primary target of the witch hunts in Northern Europe. Women’s bodies, considered more susceptible to evil, and women’s If the primary language used for the divine is masculine herbal healing practices, considered the work of the devil, and hierarchical (king, lord, almighty, father), then the were marked for destruction. norm for individuals and the goal of human culture also Eventually Christian sects emerged that provided becomes masculine and hierarchical. Ruether continued empowering space for women. In the seventeenth century this ecofeminist theological discussion in her book Gaia the Society of Friends, or Quakers, formed. Women such as and God (1992). Here she focused on both historical Margaret Fell and Rebecca Travers were among the early analysis of “western” religions and their impact on the leaders. They wrote theological tracts, served as preachers human/nature relationship, and on the possible integra- and missionaries, and reinterpreted biblical texts. The tion of Gaia and God, even in a Christian belief structure. earliest “feminists” came from Quaker and abolitionist According to Ruether, a religious transformation that connections in the nineteenth century. Sarah and Angelica recaptures biophilic mutuality is essential if the biosphere Grimke, along with Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady is to survive. Stanton, are often hailed as the first Christian feminists. In Womanist theology expanded the definition of inter- the 1890s Stanton, along with a team of female scholars, locking systems of oppression, critiquing the predomin- composed The Woman’s Bible. This text, among the most antly white feminist movement for its lack of expressions historically critical of its time, rewrote the Christian Bible of racism and classism. Williams, a leading womanist and deleting any sections that denied the full humanity of author of Sisters in the Wilderness: The Challenge of women. These religious thinkers comprise part of the “first Womanist God-Talk (1993), analyzed these various wave” of the feminist movement. oppressions, including a discussion of the biblical figure The second half of the twentieth century, and “second Hagar whose experiences she found parallel to women of wave” feminism, witnessed an explosion of Christian color. She also challenged the concept of the “surrogacy” feminist theologies. First in North America and Northern role interpreted onto the figure of Jesus. Williams Europe, then in Africa, South America and the Pacific Rim, questioned the role of a “surrogate” (Jesus) to carry the feminist theologians challenged, reformed and trans- burden of sins when systems of forced “surrogacy” abused formed Christian theology, liturgy, ethics, structure, and black women for centuries (as nannies, surrogate sex community. By the 1960s feminist theologians increased partners, etc. . . .). Her theological ideas extended to issues 362 Christianity (7d) – Feminist Theology of ecological justice when she reinterpreted the figure of and patriarchal hierarchical organization, all come into Jesus from a womanist perspective: question. Feminists respond and recreate Christian the- ology in myriad ways including: an elevation of bodies Jesus conquers the sin of temptation in the wilder- (human and other-than-human) and of life on Earth ness (Matt. 4:1–11) by resistance – by resisting the rather than an elevation of souls and afterlife; a radical temptation to value the material over the spiritual; egalitarianism for all of life; new language for the divine by resisting death; by resisting the greedy urge of and for humanity; eschatological visions that assume monopolistic ownership. Jesus therefore conquered ecological justice, but without assuming violence and sin in life, not in death (Williams 1993b: 12). destruction. Because of their continuing inquiry into all systems of domination, feminist theologians necessarily The call of womanists to take all bodies seriously, address human abuse of the Earth. Such destruction including the body of Earth, is a powerful one. denies life to all, but particularly to those who are already Voices from Hispanic, Asian and African communities most oppressed. These radical new ways of envisioning – many of whom are postmodernist and postcolonial Christianity comprise feminist theologies in the twenty- feminists – reject the universals that white feminists often first century, linking Christian theologians with a pluralist, articulate and embrace. Related to the liberation theol- feminist religious dialogue. ogies of their various communities, these theologians added a feminist perspective, thus reshaping liberation theol- Laura Hobgood-Oster ogies. For example, Isasi-Diaz worked with other Hispanic theologians to develop mujerista perspectives. In her book Further Reading En La Lucha: Elaborating a Mujerista Theology (1993), Daly, Mary. Quintessence . . . Realizing the Archaic Future: Isasi-Diaz focused on the communal method of Hispanic A Radical Elemental Feminist Manifesto. Boston: feminist theological praxis. Beacon, 1998. Finally, Christian ecofeminist theologians, such as Daly, Mary. Gyn/ecology: The Metaethics of Radical McFague, have brought environmental concerns even Feminism. Boston: Beacon, 1978. more to the forefront of feminist theology. New areas of Daly, Mary. Beyond God the Father: Toward a Philosophy exploration, such as apocalypticism in Christianity and its of Women’s Liberation. Boston: Beacon, 1973. impact on ecological worldviews, have formed a central Isasi-Diaz, Ada Maria. En La Lucha: Elaborating a component of ecofeminist theology. Catherine Keller, for Mujerista Theology. Minneapolis: Fortress, 1993. example, has pondered why apocalyptic thought figures Keller, Catherine. Apocalypse Now and Then: A Feminist so centrally in both Christianity and radical environ- Guide to the End of the World. Boston: Beacon mental movements. She contends that apocalypticism, 1996. with its inherent violence and binary characterization of Kramer, Henrich and Jacob Sprenger. The Malleus reality, is a central feature of patriarchal systems: Maleficarum. London: Pushkin Press, 1948. McFague, Sallie. The Body of God: An Ecological Theology. The dispirited readily turn to apocalypse, seeking Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress, 1993. vitality amidst the violence; the complex demands Ruether, Rosemary Radford. Gaia and God: An Eco- of the present flee before the single, deafening feminist Theology of Earth Healing. San Francisco, CA: word; smoke and fire fill the screen, and beasts strip HarperSanFrancisco, 1992. the great whore. Wherever overtly apocalyptic hope Ruether, Rosemary Radford. Sexism and God-Talk: Toward has been literalized it has been proven wrong; the a Feminist Theology. Boston: Beacon, 1983. normative hope, however, cannot be falsified. It Williams, Delores. Sisters in the Wilderness: The Challenge can be named: hope for mutual respect in proximate of Womanist God-Talk. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, and in political relations, for justice and mercy upon 1993a. the land and within the city, for transnational, trans- Williams, Delores. “Black Women’s Surrogacy Experi- species healing and renewal (Keller 1996: 308, her ence.” In Paula M. Cooey, et al., eds. After Patriarchy: italics). Feminist Transformations of the World Religions. Maryknoll: Orbis, 1993b. Keller and other feminist eco-theologians have been See also: Christianity (7g) – Womanism; Con-spirando arguing for a rethinking of future possibilities away from Women’s Collective (Santiago, Chile); Ecofeminism; Daly, apocalyptic trends. Mary; Fall, The; Feminist Spirituality Movement; Gaia; As feminist theologies continue developing, a this- Gebara, Ivone; Genesis Farm; Hebrew Bible; Hildegard of worldly emphasis on justice, creation, bodies and diverse Bingen; Liberation Theology; McFague, Sallie; Ruether, positions is emerging. Christianity’s foci on the cross and Rosemary Radford. suffering, on afterlife and apocalypse, on Jesus’ maleness Christianity (7e) – Creation Spirituality 363 Christianity (7e) – Creation Spirituality Spirituality: cosmology, feminism, liberation, compassion, prophecy, creativity, and community. Coursework includes Creation Spirituality is where Christian mysticism meets workshops on liturgical renewal, including experi- global indigenous traditions, social justice, the “new ments with the genre of “techno cosmic masses.” These science,” feminism, and environmental commitment and masses, which combine body-active worship with rave concern. Situated at the heart of the contemporary “green- music, video screens, and various forms of technological ing of religion” phenomenon, the Creation Spirituality art, are more often than not dedicated to Earth-honoring movement aims to reinvigorate Western religious tradi- themes, the most repeated mass being one dedicated to tions through a spiritual consciousness keenly attuned to “Gaia Our Mother” (1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2002). In the the cosmic and earthly created order. Most clearly articu- period between 1996 and 2003, other mass themes have lated by its founding father, former Roman Catholic priest included topics such as: “The Sacred Cosmos,” “Hildegard and current Episcopal priest Matthew Fox, Creation of Bingen,” “Kinship with Animals,” “Celebrating Spirituality embraces all of creation as “original blessing” Nature’s Power,” “Resurrecting the Green Man,” “All Our (as opposed to original sin) and emphasizes a worldview Relations,” and “Cosmogenesis.” These experimental that conceives of the divine in all things (panentheism) masses can be placed within the context of the broader and all things in the divine. In the tradition of Thomas dynamics of ongoing “green liturgical renewal” across Aquinas, Creation Spirituality sees God’s revelation as a variety of religious communities in North America present both in the Bible and inscribed into the natural (Jewish, Catholic, Protestant, and Buddhist). world. In response to Fox’s work promoting Creation Matthew Fox argues that the tradition of Creation Spirituality, the Vatican silenced him from teaching or Spirituality (sometimes referred to as “creation-centered writing during the period of 1988 to 1989. In 1993, Fox spirituality”) can be found in the ancient Wisdom was formally dismissed from the Dominican order and traditions, in the Earth-based traditions of indigenous stripped of the priestly right to perform the sacraments cultures, but also in the stories of the biblical prophets and (although he still technically remained a priest). In 1994, of Jesus (whom Fox recasts as the “Cosmic Christ”). A rich Fox joined the Episcopal Church and was ordained as an tradition of creation-centered consciousness, according Episcopal priest, a decision that was devastating to some to Fox, can also be found in the “green theologies” of the of Fox’s Catholic supporters who felt abandoned in their great medieval “Rhineland” Christian mystics – figures efforts to reform the Church from within. such as Hildegard of Bingen (1098–1179), Julian of Matthew Fox’s struggles with institutional authority Norwich (ca. 1342–1415), Mechtild of Magdeburg (1210– and orthodoxy points to the complicated challenges 1280), and Meister Eckhart (ca.1260–1327). The work of faced by those engaged in the work of “greening” religion. these four mystics, says Fox, is steeped in an ecological Many of those who are committed to remaining firmly consciousness that communicates six key points: 1) the within their religious institutions face a delicate balance goodness or blessing of creation, 2) the goodness or between pressing for an increased degree of ecological blessing of the Earth itself (including human bodiliness), consciousness and confronting accusations of “heresy.” 3) cosmic consciousness, 4) a theology of panentheism, 5) Developing ways to negotiate this balance without being the motherhood of God, and 6) compassion understood as ousted from one’s religious community or without interdependence and justice making. severing institutional ties can be a tricky challenge, to say Fox founded the Institute of Culture and Creation the least – one that reformers will continue to deal with Spirituality (ICCS) at Chicago’s Mundelein College in in various degrees as ecological spirituality, green 1977, where (with others) he increasingly explored the liturgical innovations, ideals of “creation care” and of spiritual implications of contemporary scientific under- “stewardship” become more deeply embedded in the standings of evolution and cosmic origins. No longer religious landscape. sworn enemies, religion and science became for Fox inter- twined sources of mysticism and revelation. In 1983, Fox Sarah McFarland Taylor moved the Institute to Holy Names College in Oakland, California, where ICCS would be able to draw upon the Further Reading booming science and technology community in the Bay Fox, Mathew. Confessions: The Making of a Postdenomina- Area for programming resources and faculty. In the mid– tional Priest. San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1990s, Fox transformed the ICCS into the “University 1996. of Creation Spirituality” (UCS), a master’s degree and Fox, Mathew. Wrestling with the Prophets: Essays on doctorate-granting institution independent of Holy Names Creation Spirituality and Everyday Life. San Franciso: College. HarperSanFrancisco, 1995. Curriculum at UCS places a strong emphasis on Fox, Mathew. Original Blessing. Santa Fe: Bear and what Fox identifies as the seven principles of Creation Company Publishing, 1984. 364 Christianity (7f ) – Process Theology

See also: Christianity (6a) – Roman Catholicism; Fox, subject for itself not just an object for others, such that Matthew; Gaia; Genesis Farm; Green Man; Hildegard of the living being has intrinsic value and some capacity Bingen; Pantheism. for experiencing its environment (consciously or unconsciously) from its own unique point of view. Here the word “living” includes God (see below) and carbon- Christianity (7f) – Process Theology based forms of life such as single-celled organisms and animals. “Living” more generally means any being of any “Process theology” is a name for various theological per- sort that has subjectivity of any kind, on the basis of which spectives that have been developed by many different it can take into account its surrounding environment in a philosophers and theologians since the mid-twentieth conscious or non-conscious way, creatively responding in century. Most process theologians are Western and Chris- novel ways. When combined with Whitehead’s view that tian, but some are Jewish, Buddhist, Hindu, and Muslim. nature includes many planes of existence, not just the Their commonality lies in a common indebtedness to the three-dimensional plane of space as evident to the vision, cosmology of the late philosopher and mathematician, this understanding of “living” opens up the possibility, Alfred North Whitehead, whose vision of the universe as characteristic of many indigenous societies, that there are an interconnected and evolving whole, of which humans forms of actuality (spirits, living ancestors) that are part of are a part, provides a framework for articulating their the larger ecology of a community. It also opens up the distinctively religious perspectives. possibility, emphasized by empirical studies in para- Among Christian process theologians, the most influen- psychology, that the human self (and perhaps other forms tial is John B. Cobb, Jr., whose Whitehead-influenced of life) undertake a continuing journey after death, which understanding of Christianity led him to become one of likewise widens a sense of “ecology” in a way that the first Christians in the United States to call for an resembles Chinese emphases on an ecological trinity of ecologically-minded Christianity that emphasizes the heaven–Earth–human relations. intrinsic value of all living beings, the relational character Two Kinds of Wholes. The fourth idea is the view that of all existence, and the necessity for Christians and others inorganic materials – mountains, for example – are aggre- to embrace a holistic ecological ethic. Numerous students gate expressions of subatomic forms of energy that are, and colleagues of Cobb’s, including David Ray Griffin, if not living in a biological sense, then at least possessive Marjorie Suchocki, Charles Birch, Mary Elizabeth Moore, of some capacity for non-conscious prehending of their and Jay McDaniel have learned from and amplified Cobb’s immediate environments. The idea that all actual entities seminal approach. have capacities for taking into account their environ- Process theology approaches connections between ments, either consciously or non-consciously, is called religion and nature at three levels: theology, social ethics, pan-experientialism or pan-psychism. In order to avoid and spirituality. the idea that this implies that macroscopic entities (rocks, for example) are experiencing subjects in their own right, Theology process theologians draw a distinction between two kinds At the level of theology, process theology advocates of natural wholes: wholes that have unified subjectivity twelve ideas concerning religion and nature, many of on the basis of which they have reality for themselves which bear affinities with Asian and indigenous religious (living cells, animals) and wholes that are aggregate- points of view, even as they have been used by members of expressions of energetic phenomena with non-conscious Abrahamic faiths, especially Christians, to interpret core prehending capacities, but that lack unified subjectivity Christian teachings. (rocks). Nature as Creative. The first is that nature itself, as Interconnectedness. The fifth idea is that all living understood through evolutionary biology and quantum beings have their existence and identities in relation to, theory as well as many forms of religious experience, is not apart from, all other living beings, which means that a continuously creative process, with galactic as well as the very identity of a living being, including each plant terrestrial dimensions, of which humans are an integral and animal, is partly determined by the material and cul- part. tural environment in which it is situated. Process theology Nature as Visible and Invisible. The second is that goes further, in a sense reminiscent of Buddhism, to say nature includes invisible as well as visible dimensions, as that each entity is “present in” every other entity, such exemplified in feelings and other conscious states of that interconnectedness implies inter-being or inter- mammals (invisible) and the human brain (visible), and containment. This means that all entities are thoroughly that both of these dimensions are expressions of the same ecological in nature, and that human beings are them- kind of creative energy and in this sense “natural.” selves ecological in being persons-in-community, not Intrinsic Value and Pan-Experientialism. The third idea persons-in-isolation. In a process context, “community” is that each living being on Earth (and anywhere else) is a includes the entire web of life in which a human (or other Christianity (7f) – Process Theology 365 living being) is nested. The means that respect for the depends on decisions made in the present by human intrinsic value of individual living beings cannot be beings and other living beings, moment by moment. separated from considerations of the instrumental value, positive or negative, that these beings have for others in Social Ethics their biotic communities. All twelve ideas have implications for social ethics. The Teleology. The sixth idea is that the universe as a whole, idea that all living beings have intrinsic value entails over vast periods of time, has evolved toward heightened the view that humans have moral obligations to other degrees of intrinsic value, which are equated with height- creatures – animals, for example – under human domesti- ened capacities for richness of experience, as evident in cation and in the wild. It simultaneously means that eco- the capacities of animals (humans included) to respond to nomic institutions and policies ought to take as their aim new situations in unpredictable and creative ways, experi- the promotion of human well-being in an ecologically encing both the joys and sorrows of mortal existence. responsible context, rather than economic growth for its God in Nature. The seventh idea is that the whole of own sake, and that human communities reach fruition nature is embraced by a divine reality – a One-embracing- when they live in fruitful cooperation with other forms of many variously named God, Allah, Amida, Heaven – who life and natural systems, and when they are limited in is influential throughout nature in a continuous way as scope, making space for the habitats of other living beings. an indwelling lure toward satisfactory survival within This does not imply that any living being, including even individual living beings, and as a more generalized lure human beings, have absolute rights to life; but it does toward new forms of order and novelty within evolution imply that respect and care for the community of life (to as a whole. borrow language from the Earth Charter) is the defining Non-Supernaturalism. The eighth idea is that this characteristic of healthy human community. The idea that divine lure does not interrupt the causal operations of there are degrees of intrinsic value entails the view that it nature as understood in physics and chemistry, which is more morally problematic to inflict violence on a gazelle means, among other things, that it is best understood as than to take the life of a bacterium, even though both the ultra-natural rather than super-natural. This leads some gazelle and the bacterium possess subjectivity. The idea process theologians to speak of process theology as a form that God is enriched by biological diversity, and harmed of naturalistic theism. by violence against creation, means that ethical relations Divine Empathy. The ninth idea is that the One- with nonhuman forms of life cannot be separated from embracing-many is not only influential throughout nature faithful relations to God. And the idea that humans are in a non-coercive way, but also acted upon by nature in a co-creative with God means that the very will of God, continuous way, such that it empathically shares in the that nature itself flourish in its fullness, depends for its experiences of all forms of existence and in the joys and realization on human responsiveness. sufferings of all living beings. Tragedy in God. The tenth idea is that, by virtue of this Spirituality empathy, the One-embracing-many is enriched not only Process theology recognizes that religious life is more than by the experiences of individual living beings, but also theology and ethics; understanding and moral behavior. by the diverse kinds of lives that inhabit the planet, such It includes prayerful states of awareness that are sensitive that an unnecessary depletion of biological diversity is a to the intrinsic value of each living being; forms of ritual tragedy, not only for the Earth, but also for the divine life that help awaken people to the mystery and grandeur itself. of landscapes, waterways, and galactic vistas; inner Sin as Unnecessary Violence against Creation. The journeys toward integration between consciousness eleventh idea is that, because nature is itself creative at and the energies and archetypes that well within the all levels, there are things that happen in evolution unconscious, some of which are encoded within human itself, and in human interactions with other living genes; and humble acknowledgment that humans are beings and forms of existence, that are tragic, even for small but included in larger wholes that far transcend their God. This leads process theologians to define sin as finite concerns. In process theology, all of these forms of unnecessary violence against creation, from which even spirituality are natural and part of nature understood in God suffers. general terms. Co-creativity. The twelfth idea is that human beings, Moreover, the philosophy of Whitehead is open to the as creatures among creatures can help prevent these possibility that there can be forms of empathic connection, tragedies by cooperating with the divine lure toward the not only between humans and other humans, but between fullness of life, and that this kind of response is their true humans and nonhuman forms of life; and that the very vocation in life. In process theology the whole of nature journey toward peaceable selfhood, toward which all is historical or evolutionary, and the future is not pre- living beings strive in their own unique ways, may well ordained, not even by God. What happens in the future continue after death, until wholeness is realized. Should 366 Christianity (7f ) – Process Theology such connections and continuation prove to be true, they, beings, nevertheless prefer to think of this sharing as too, would be part of nature broadly understood. something that God chooses to do, as if God could choose Finally and importantly, from a process perspective it is otherwise. Process theology proposes by contrast that wrong to think that spirituality as such begins with human even God is an exemplification of metaphysical principles, beings. Each living being has its own unique relationship one of which is the ecological principle that, to be actual at to God, and all living beings, indeed the whole of the all, one must be affected by other realities and partly com- cosmos, are embraced within the larger and divine whole. posed of other realities. Thus process theology speaks of How other living beings experience this embrace is a the universe as the very body of God. This means, not only mystery to humans. But that they are part of this embrace that God must dwell in relation to a universe in order to is central to process theology. Spirituality begins, not with be fully divine, but also that divine power is limited by the formal belief or even with social ethics, but with non- power of the universe itself, such that it cannot be uni- verbal attunements to the divine embrace. This embrace lateral or one-sided. Classical theists often criticize process takes the form of an indwelling call to survive with theology for offering a view of God that denies omnipo- satisfaction relative to the situation at hand. For many tence in the classical sense; and process theologians creatures in nature, humans much included, the simple respond that, only through such a denial, can theists make desire to survive with satisfaction, even amid sometimes sense of the unnecessary violence in creation, and also the insurmountable odds, is a form of spirituality. goodness and beauty of creation, so much of which results from the creativity of the universe itself, as inspired but Criticisms and Responses not manipulated by the divine lure. Among Christian and Process theology is not without its critics, all of whom Jewish process theologians, it is as important to recognize raise important questions for the process perspective. that the intrinsic value of all living beings, while appreci- Three kinds of criticism are illustrative. ated by God, is not reducible to God. This respect for First, inasmuch as process theology speaks of degrees otherness – even on God’s part – is a key feature of process of intrinsic value in accordance with degrees of sentience, theology. some environmental thinkers argue that this approach privileges sentient beings, perhaps especially those with Jay McDaniel a highly developed nervous system, over ostensibly insentient beings, such as mountains and water. Indeed, Further Reading process theology offers what might best be called a bio- Birch, L. Charles and John B. Cobb, Jr. The Liberation of centric approach over a geocentric approach, proposing Life: From the Cell to the Community. Cambridge: that while ostensibly inorganic realities do indeed contain Cambridge University Press, 1981; Denton, TX: intrinsic value, their value is best understood in terms of Environmental Ethics Books, 1990. their instrumental value to living beings. Cobb, John B., Jr. Is It Too Late? A Theology of Ecology. Second, inasmuch as process theology is open to the New York: Bruce Publishing Co., 1972; Denton, TX: possibility of continued existence for all living beings Environmental Ethics Books, 1995 (rev. edn). after death, it opens up, but fails to answer, the difficult Grange, Joseph. Nature: An Environmental Cosmology. question of whether, in a journey toward peaceable self- Albany: SUNY, 1977. hood, impulses toward predation, which seem natural and Griffin, David Ray. “Whitehead’s Deeply Ecological necessary in life on Earth, would be transcended. This Worldview.” In Worldviews and Ecology: Religion, seemingly speculative question bears upon the deeper Philosophy, and the Environment. Maryknoll, NY: question of whether predator–prey relations on Earth Orbis Books, 1994, 190–206. are unambiguously good, as some deep ecologists might Haught, John. The Promise of Nature: Ecology and Cosmic suggest, or whether or not they contain an element of Purpose. New York: Paulist Press, 1993. tragedy as well, as process theologians aver. In the latter Howell, Nancy. A Feminist Cosmology: Ecology, Solidarity, respect process theology has sympathy with classical and Metaphysics. Amherst, NY: Humanity Books, 2000. traditions, ranging from Jainism to Judaism, that see McDaniel, Jay. With Roots and Wings: Christianity in an something tragic in the more violent dimensions of nature. Age of Ecology and Dialogue. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Whereas some environmentally oriented traditions see the Books, 1995. evolutionary unfolding of creation as divine will, process Moore, Mary Elizabeth. Ministering with the Earth. St. theology sees this unfolding as partly the result of divine Louis, MO: Chalice Press, 1998. influence and partly the result of nature’s own creativity, Palmer, Clare. Environmental Ethics and Process Thinking. which itself can unfold in ways both beautiful and tragic. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1998. Third, and finally, classical theists in the Abrahamic Suchocki, Marjorie Hewitt. “Earthsong, Godsong: traditions, while appreciating the process image of God as Women’s Spirituality.” Theology Today 45:4 (January one who shares in the joys and sufferings of all living 1989), 392–402. Christianity (7g) – Womanism 367

See also: Cobb, John; Deep Ecology; Earth Charter; “led to the destruction of natural processes in nature” Environmental Ethics; Process Philosophy; Whitehead, (Williams 1993: 26). Williams analyzes assaults upon Alfred North. nature, the human spirit, and the divine spirit, describing the “defilement of nature’s body and of black women’s bodies,” particularly of workers in industry, as sin Christianity (7g) – Womanism (Williams 1993: 29). She examines the correlation between disrespect for the peoples of the Earth, particu- The African-American novelist Alice Walker defined the larly African bodies, and disrespect for the Earth. Shamara term womanist in 1983 as a black feminist or feminist of Shantu Riley, a political scientist, writes on “The Politics of color. The term is derived from the black folk expression, Emergent Afrocentric Ecowomanism,” observing that “You’re acting womanish,” as in “grown up” and “in “womanism and ecology have a common theoretical charge.” It is “the opposite of girlish.” A womanist desires approach in that both see all parts of a matrix as healing and wholeness for entire communities, male and having equal value” (Riley 1993: 194). “There is no use in female. A womanist is not heterosexist but loves men and womanists advocating liberation politics,” she writes, “if women, sexually and non-sexually. She loves food, the the planet cannot support people’s liberated lives” (Riley moon, and roundness. She loves the Spirit. A womanist is 1993: 194). It is “equally useless to advocate saving the connected to creation and to her own body, loving the folk planet without addressing” social issues that determine and herself, regardless. She describes the colored race as a human structural relations (Riley 1993: 194). To advocate flower garden with every color in it. both sets of concerns is necessary for survival. Riley For Walker, a womanist is to feminist as purple to employs West African traditional spiritual principles in lavender. This analogy contrasts black women’s social- her analysis alongside black feminist theory, historical historical experience of struggling for freedom of entire analysis, and environmental studies resources from Black communities around interlocking issues of oppression women’s organizations. with the activism of those feminists who focus on sexism Emilie Townes is a theo-ethicist who examines the as a single issue. It is a reference to differences in women’s importance of loving black women’s bodies and all bodies experience of oppression as struggles against racism, in relation to the environment. Considering Robert classism, colorism and heterosexism further complicate Bullard’s sociological study of environmental racism in struggles against sexism. Walker’s analogy extends a relation to Toni Morrison’s novel Beloved, Townes engages challenge to white feminists to recognize interlocking in social-ethical analysis of the environmental crises that systems of oppression, even as it recognizes that purple poor black people in rural, particularly Southern, com- and lavender are shades of difference belonging to the munities face in the United States. In these streams Karen same family. Baker-Fletcher has provided a collection of prose essays, Black feminist scholars in religion and in other aca- poems and meditations on environmental justice and demic disciplines quickly identified with the term environmental racism. Her work is grounded in a creation “womanist.” Part of its appeal is that there is no qualifier spirituality that considers what it means to be created as before “feminist.” The term honors black women’s experi- dust and spirit, resisting violence with the rest of creation, ence as freedom fighters who are women and black in one in a world fraught with environmental abuse. body. This is a proactive response to unrealistic demands that black women choose either black liberation or Karen Baker-Fletcher women’s liberation. Walker’s definition of “womanist” alludes to Harriet Tubman’s commitment to freeing her Further Reading mother and more than 300 other slaves. Tubman was an Baker-Fletcher, Karen. Sisters of Dust, Sisters of Spirit: abolitionist and a feminist. Some writer-activists, like Womanist Wordings on God and Creation. Audre Lorde and Bell Hooks chose to retain the term Minneapolis: Fortress, 1998. “black feminist” to emphasize solidarity with other Riley, Shamara Shantu. “Ecology is a Sistah’s Issue Too: feminists. Others employ the terms interchangeably. The Politics of Emergent Afrocentric Ecowomanism.” Womanists reference a variety of historical black women In Carol Adams, ed. Ecofeminism and the Sacred. New in their definitions. Walker refers to black Shaker leaders York: Continuum, 1993, 191–204. Rebecca Cox Jackson and Rebecca Perot. Jacquelyn Smith, Chandra Taylor. “Earthling Embodiment: The Grant, a systematic theologian, turns to the narrative of Ecological Dimensions of the Spirituality of Alice Sojourner Truth. Truth is famous for her sermon, “When I Walker.” Paper presented at American Academy of Found Jesus,” and for her “Arn’t I a Woman” speech. Religion Annual Meeting, 23 November 1997. Delores Williams, a womanist theologian of culture, Townes, Emilie M. In a Blaze of Glory: Womanist Spiritual- offers social-historical analysis of the “violation and ity as Social Witness. Nashville: Abingdon, 1994, exploitation of the land and of women’s bodies” which has 55–6. 368 Christianity (7h) – Natural Theology

Walker, Alice. In Search of Our Mothers’ Gardens. New this category are the “Bridgewater Treatises” (1831), a York: Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich, 1983, xi–xii. series of eight treatises authored by prominent British Williams, Delores S. “Sin, Nature, and Black Women’s scientists, and, earlier, Linnaeus’ essay “The Oeconomy of Bodies.” In Carol Adams, ed. Ecofeminism and the Nature” (1749), which gave its European and American Sacred. New York: Continuum, 1993, 24–9. audience an early picture of hydrological cycles and See also: Christianity (7d) – Feminist Theology; Environ- ecological niches. While intended as a scientific treatise, mental Justice and Environmental Racism; Walker, Alice. Linnaeus’ work set out also to illuminate the essential orderliness of the natural world and to reason from such order the intelligence and perfection of the divine Creator. Christianity (7h) – Natural Theology At the same time, it established the scientific groundwork for what would later become the field of “ecology” as Natural theology in its most general sense refers to the it was coined by Ernest Haeckel in 1866. In contrast to study of God and God’s attributes as these can be inter- Linnaeus, Ray and Paley saw themselves primarily as theo- preted from the study of God’s “works.” Natural theology logians, but they encouraged the study of nature as a way emerges from the medieval theological distinction to map the mind of God. between “nature” and “revelation” (including revealed As a field of study in the emerging Enlightenment, scripture) as the two primary means of knowledge of the natural theology demonstrated the extent to which the divine. In Catholic thought, this distinction is preserved intellectual preoccupations of scientists and theologians in the “natural law” tradition, which is understood to were deeply intertwined. At the same time, however, the be complementary to, but not to be separate from, the increasing popularity of natural theology also anticipated tradition of revelation. the development of secular science and secularization Natural theology in its fundamental sense does not ori- more broadly, by encouraging the rational study of natural ginally refer to theology “about” the physical world, but laws and by employing metaphors of nature as a mecha- rather, to the epistemological distinction between what nized system. Such dominant metaphors and approaches may be known through revelation (in the Bible or through to study would later be perpetuated by scientists without divine miracles) and what may be known through reference to a Divine Intelligence as the creator of such “natural” means (the application of human reason). But orderly systems. because human reason is directed toward the physical The ecological legacies of natural theology are also world, as well as toward human nature, and because complex and mixed. On the one hand, Ray’s and Paley’s investigating the physical world and the human self are work encouraged the close study and appreciation of both means of gaining further knowledge of the divine, nature as a significant aspect of the cultivation of a “natural theology” has often come to refer not only to the virtuous Christian life. Such encouragement also included way of knowing (using the “natural” faculty of human an emphasis on human humility with respect to other reason), but also to one of the primary objects of inquiry wonders of God’s creation. The importance of studying (the natural, physical world). nature as an aspect of a responsible Christian life has In the Euro-American context in which it developed, been emphasized by contemporary ecologically oriented natural theology came to be understood to be a scholarly theologians such as Sallie McFague and James Nash. discipline of its own (this was resisted by Catholics and Sallie McFague’s theological work, for instance, some Protestants in earlier periods, in part out of concern emphasizes the importance of attentiveness toward that natural theology could lead to the rejection of revela- nature and argues that learning about natural theology tion, or worse, to skepticism and atheism). With roots can return Christians to an ancient theological tradition in earlier centuries, natural theology flourished in the in which nature played an important role in Christian seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, particularly with spirituality. While emphasizing natural theology in its the publication of John Ray’s The Wisdom of God Mani- medieval forms (rather than in Enlightenment, more fested in the Works of Creation (1691), William Derham’s mechanistic, articulations) McFague sees natural theology Physico-Theology (1713), and, later, Archbishop William as an important counterbalance to the anthropocentric Paley’s popularization of Ray’s and Derham’s work in his aspects of the Christian tradition. Natural Theology (1802). More broadly, the importance of James Nash argues that the natural law tradition (of natural theology in demonstrating the “reasonableness” of which natural theology is a part) has been focused his- Christianity was elaborated and popularized in the essays torically – and ironically – on human nature, but now must of John Locke. These works all sought to illustrate the be extended to include nonhuman nature as a source of intelligence, wisdom and beneficence of God through a moral insight and guidance. He suggests that the natural close analysis of the systematic workings and perfectly law tradition of “following nature” can be used effectively ordered beauty of the natural world. today when “ecosytemic compatibility” is used as a norm Among scientific works that might also be included in from which to derive ethics. Christianity (7i) – An Evangelical Perspective 369

Similarly, the call for humility and a check of See also: Book of Nature; Deism; Haeckel, Ernst; McFague, human control of nature has been articulated, not Sallie; Natural Law and Natural Rights. only by Nash and McFague, but also by Dieter Hessel, Rosemary Ruether, Calvin DeWitt, Gordon Kaufman, Larry Rasmussen and Drew Christiansen, as well as SP Christianity (7i) – An Evangelical philosophers, Holmes Rolston, III and Paul Taylor. Perspective on Faith and Nature Whether intentionally or otherwise, these authors have drawn on the natural theology tradition, albeit with less Evangelicalism is a branch of Protestant Christianity that of a sense of Enlightenment optimism than we find in holds that the Bible and its 66 canonical books are vital for earlier periods. Changes in our scientific knowledge have faith and practice and the authoritative source for defining also contributed to skepticism with respect to the fixed how rightly to live on Earth. Its adherents believe that “laws of nature” and the need to make more modest the good news of the Bible should not be selfishly kept, claims. but proclaimed, this reflecting the Greek derivation of The legacy of natural theology, then, includes an “evangelical,” from eu (true) and angelis (a messenger, appreciation of nature as a means of knowing the divine or bearer of news). This news is good and it is good for and a commitment to studying nature that goes beyond every creature. It is good because it brings restoration and the pursuit of knowledge for knowledge’s sake. While the reconciliation of all things, countering and undoing link between natural theology and Christian theology is human-wrought degradation. The reach of this gospel is as not always direct – and sometimes the term “natural great as is human-wrought degradation; its blessings flow theology” is used without a sense of its philosophical “far as the curse is found.” The restorative reach of the history – there remain important family resemblances second Adam (Jesus Christ) is as great as the damaging between this older theological tradition and contemporary reach of the first Adam, evangelicals believe. ecological theology. At the heart of the good news proclaimed in evan- On the other hand, with the increasing use of techno- gelicalism is salvation. Salvation is a saving from logical metaphors for the physical world (nature as a clock degradation offered to those who are willing to follow in or a system of gears) and the corresponding confidence in the footsteps of Jesus as savior and reconciler. Those who human reason as a divinely provided key to “unlock” believe this good news bring joyful service to humanity, to nature’s secrets, natural theology also has played a role in every creature, and to all creation. It is service that works the cultural development of Enlightenment models of the to fulfill the eager expectation of the whole creation for domination and mastery of nature for human use. To the the coming of God’s children. Evangelicals – the bringers extent that the Enlightenment fostered skepticism with of good news in the footsteps of Jesus – are honest in respect to religion and a human sense of mastery over describing the way things really are, are visionary toward nature that was soon to be articulated in the rise of tech- the way things ought to be, and are followers who bring nology and industrialism, natural theology, ironically per- food and the means of its production to the hungry, heal haps, has played an intellectual role in utilitarian readings the sick and bring the means of healing, and work to of nature and, to a certain extent, has indirectly influenced restore degraded aspects of creation, engaging with others destructive practices. In contemporary ecological theol- to reconcile all things. While evangelicalism usually is ogies today, however, the potentially problematic legacies associated with specific churches and denominations, of natural theology are largely muted and the natural evangelicals can be found in nearly every Christian theology tradition is often being rehabilitated for eco- denomination. logical use. A distinctive feature of evangelicalism is that it dis- trusts human authority and societal hierarchy. This Rebecca Kneale Gould distrust is reflected in its congregations and institutional polity, with many congregations operating as independent Further Reading entities, others loosely organized in associations, and Byrne, Peter. Natural Religion and the Nature of Religion. some joined together in denominations with very limited New York: Routledge, 1989. hierarchy. Many in the United States are associated with Dillenberger, John. Protestant Thought and Natural the National Association of Evangelicals, but not all. Science. Notre Dame, IN: Notre Dame University Press, In evangelicalism there is no “word from above” from 1988 (2nd edn). prelates or pontiffs. Instead there is the Word – the Bible. Merchant, Carolyn. The Death of Nature. San Francisco: Consequently evangelicals engage in serious and con- Harper & Row, 1980. tinuing Bible study, individually and in fellowship with Worster, Donald. Nature’s Economy. Cambridge: others, to discover biblical teachings and apply them to Cambridge University Press, 1985 (2nd edn); San their lives, society and the rest of creation. This fear of Francisco: Sierra Club, 1977. earthly authority sometimes is associated with limited 370 Christianity (7i) – An Evangelical Perspective knowledge of the Bible, science, and society, including power and divinity, as the apostle Paul says (Romans little awareness of biblical teachings on environmental 1:20) . . . Second, He makes Himself more clearly stewardship or of environmental degradation. With grow- and fully known to us by his Holy and divine Word, ing knowledge on various topics, however, evangelicals that is to say, as far as is necessary for us to know in are a powerful influence. They are assisted in gaining this life, to His glory and our salvation. knowledge by publications such as Christianity Today, and by numerous evangelical colleges, universities, and The consequences of learning both from the Word seminaries that convey knowledge through professional and the world means that an evangelical perspective on and popular writing, preparing pastors and teachers, and locating a city and its churches on the flood plain of a river educating social, scientific, medical, legal, business, and is one that does not expect God to alter creation to prevent environmental professionals. Some sixty of these colleges flooding. Neither does this mean that consuming carcino- and universities gain depth in study of creation and Chris- gens will bring God to render these chemicals powerless. tian environmental stewardship through partnership with At base in evangelicalism, knowledge of God’s word must the Au Sable Institute. They also are provided numerous be accompanied by knowledge of God’s world. Knowledge opportunities to practice their faith worldwide through of the Bible must be accompanied by knowledge of Christian organizations and agencies dedicated to medical creation. services, disaster relief, development work, food produc- At evangelicalism’s heart is the Bible. And at the heart tion, environmental restoration, and holistic ministries. of the Bible are Jesus’ teachings to do God’s will on Earth – These organizations have formed the Association of how rightly to live on Earth based upon a love and respect Evangelical Relief and Development Organizations for God’s will. Its aim is to follow Jesus with a passion to (AERDO) to aid in this work, and organizations engaged live rightly in the world and spread right living. Such in environmental stewardship are networked through passion, of course, is not confined to evangelicalism, nor the Evangelical Environmental Network (EEN) from even to Christianity generally. The Jewish scholar, Joseph which came a successful effort in 1996 to prevent the Klausner, shows for example, that Judaism also seeks to U.S. Congress from weakening the Endangered Species Act live rightly in the world out of a sense of God’s calling to and a highly regarded “Evangelical Declaration on the do so. And he describes Jesus as heir of the Jewish vision Care of Creation” that is the subject of an important book of God’s plan for the salvation of people and creation, edited by Professor R.J. Berry of the U.K.’s John Ray thereby saying that Jesus is in the lineage of David, a Inititative. product of Jewish faith and culture. In the evangelical Evangelicalism’s commitment to taking the Bible ser- view, Jesus does not oppose the Bible and Jewish Law. iously has important implications for its contributions to Instead, Jesus comes to fulfill this Law. And as a fulfiller understanding God, abundant human life, and the caring of the Law, Jesus is central to evangelicalism, with this of creation. Since evangelicals measure their faith and having a profound significance for the relationship of practice against biblical standards and believe in continu- evangelicals to creation, to Christianity, to Judaism, and to ous adjustment, correction and conversion in response to the faiths of other peoples. wherever they fall short of biblical requirements, they are The primacy of scripture for evangelicals needs to be a potentially powerful force in addressing care for creation seen in light of the belief that without the testimony of the and environmental degradation. Contrary to what one Bible and its being put into practice, human beings will might first expect, their adherence to the centrality of the exercise their capacity to destroy the Earth. Evangelicals Bible, often identified with the phrase sola Scriptura, take seriously God’s judgment and particularly the Last does not close the window on learning from society and Judgment described in the book of Revelation, including creation. On the contrary, it is the open window through the proclamation given at the sounding of the last which the world and God’s creation are seen. This window, trumpet, “The time has come for . . . destroying those who on the “book of God’s creation,” produces what sometimes destroy the Earth” (Rev. 11:18). Followers of Jesus, taking is called a “two books theology” – one that reveals God seriously this proclamation, are committed to turn away both through the Bible and creation. As one expression of from participating in Earth’s destruction, and they are this, the Belgic Confession states “By What Means God deeply concerned that others do the same, for their own is Made Known to Us” in Article II: We know God by two salvation. Putting this positively, they would work to means – direct the attention of any and all who would listen to Matt. 6:33: “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and these First, by the Creation, preservation, and government other things will be added unto you.” In evangelical and of the universe; which is before our eyes as a most biblical perspective, “Looking out for number one,” is not elegant book, wherein all creatures, great and small, seeking oneself. Instead it is “Looking out for Number are as so many characters leading us to see clearly One,” namely God – who created the heavens and the the invisible things of God, even his everlasting Earth through Jesus Christ, by whom also the whole Christianity (8) – Ecumenical Movement 371 creation is held together with integrity and through whom Vancouver, Canada. Delegates voted for the engagement the whole creation is reconciled to God (Col. 1:15–20). of WCC member churches “in a conciliar process of mutual commitment to justice, peace, and the integrity of Calvin B. DeWitt creation” (JPIC). “Conciliar process” signaled the desire for a widespread, decentralized process in which resisting Further Reading social and ecological degradation was regarded as a matter Berry, R.J., ed. The Care of Creation: Focusing Concern and integral to Christian faith itself. The moral and confes- Action. Leicester, England: Inter-Varsity Press, 2000. sional tasks were seen as one. Both the Lutheran World Includes the “Evangelical Declaration on the Care of Federation, in 1977, and the World Alliance of Reformed Creation.” Churches, in 1982, had declared resistance to the social Between Heaven and Earth: The Plight of the Chesapeake policy of apartheid as a fundamental matter of faith itself, Watermen. Madison, WI: Skunkwork Films, 2001. so the link of “social righteousness to the integrity of the DeWitt, Calvin B. “A Contemporary Evangelical Perspec- faith as such” had already been made by significant con- tive.” In John E. Carroll, Paul Brockelman and Mary fessional bodies. (The WCC’s Program to Combat Racism, Westfall, eds. The Greening of Faith. Hanover and begun in 1968, shared this ethos.) Now much the same was London: University of New Hampshire, University being done ecumenically around the eco-crisis and a new Press of New England, 1997, 79–104. theological factor identified as “the integrity of creation.” DeWitt, Calvin B., ed. The Environment and the Christian: That is, from the point of view of Christian faith, all What Does the New Testament have to Teach? Grand creation has standing in and before God. Human beings Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1991. are not the center of all value and the reason for the Granberg-Michaelson, Wesley, ed. Tending the Garden: existence of the rest of nature. Justice and peace cannot be Essays on the Gospel and the Earth. Grand Rapids, MI: pursued, then, by human beings as an ecologically segre- Baker Books, 1987. gated species. Realizing justice and peace requires atten- Thomas, J. Mark. “Evangelicals and the Environment: tion to creation as living and as imposing requirements Theological Foundations for Christian Environmental of its own. Moreover, even from a strictly practical point Stewardship.” Evangelical Review of Theology 17:2 of view, a just and peaceful order is only sustainable if it (1993), 241–86. respects the integrity of creation. See also: Au Sable Institute; Biblical Foundations for This new chapter in ecumenical social thought came Christian Stewardship. to a certain climax in the World Convocation on JPIC, convened in Seoul, Korea, in 1990. Four “covenants” were adopted, promoting: 1) a just economic order, including Christianity (8) – Ecumenical Movement debt release of heavily burdened Two-Thirds World International countries (interest owed to the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, international banks and nation-states); Ecumenical social thought, with growing attention to 2) security for all in nonviolent cultures; 3) cultures that signs of planetary degradation, is the focus of the treat- live in accord with creation’s integrity; and 4) an end to ment here. This is a new development. In particular, the racism and discrimination. Ten ecumenical “affirmations” condition of “nature” and “creation,” and the place and were also adopted, affirming that activity of human beings as part of them, occupies a place in ecumenical thought and practice that they were not all exercise of power is accountable to God, God’s accorded for the first three-quarters of the twentieth option for the poor, the equal value of all races and century. people, male and female as created in the image of The activity of the World Council of Churches is God, truth as the foundation of a free community, instructive. Among the churches, it gave significant the peace of Jesus Christ, the creation as beloved of leadership, some of it in close cooperation with the Roman God, the earth’s is the Lord’s, the dignity and com- Catholic Church. The language of “sustainable society” mitment of the younger generation, and human itself seems to have been initiated by a group of demo- rights as given by God. graphers, physical scientists, economists and theologians at a WCC world conference on science and technology These affirmations in turn became the core themes for a in Bucharest, Romania, in 1974. By 1975, the WCC had series of case studies conducted around the world in a proposed a program on the “Just, Participatory and subsequent WCC program under the rubric of the Sustainable Society” at its general assembly in Nairobi, “Theology of Life.” The effort was to see how, concretely, Kenya. Yet the decisive attention to human development churches and other organizations in a given locale were and nature’s endangered sustainability as integral one to addressing compelling issues in ways that built up the another came at the next general assembly, in 1983 in whole Community of Life. Differently said, the endeavor 372 Christianity (9) – Christianity’s Ecological Reformation was to discern how justice and peace might be pursued The ecological reformers, however, are not a majority in a manner that respected the integrity of creation as a and their movement is not a dominant one in Christian whole. settings. Today, for the majority of Christians – theo- Ecumenical social thought at the outset of the twenty- logians and ethicists as well as faithful church members – first century, then, has expanded its circle of ongoing con- ecological consciousness is weak and most environmental cern to the whole “household of life.” While every issue concerns are secondary issues. As has been true histori- has been and continues to be the site of moral contesta- cally in Christianity, the dominant strains of thought and tion, the inclusion of nonhuman nature in ecumenical practice remain largely anthropocentric and dualistic – moral frameworks has been done without erasing or neg- focused on human interests and segregating humanity lecting the justice and peace issues of previous decades. from the rest of nature. Indeed, many theologically and politically conservative Christians view environmental Larry Rasmussen causes as anti-Christian. Nevertheless, the reformers have exercised an influence disproportionate to their numbers. Further Reading In theology and ethics, they have forced some important Hessel, Dieter and Larry Rasmussen, eds. Earth Habitat: debates and have developed some creative alternatives to Eco-Injustice and the Church’s Response. Minneapolis: prevailing paradigms. Christian environmental activists, Fortress Press, 2001. moreover, have enabled some churches to affirm eco- History of the Ecumenical Movement. Geneva: WCC Pub- logical values as Christian mandates and to support lications, forthcoming. See especially the chapter in environmental causes. vol. III by Lewis Mudge on ecumenical social thought. The ecological reformers do not represent a theological Niles, Preman. Resisting the Threats to Life: Covenanting and moral monolith. On the contrary, the diversity in types for Justice, Peace and the Integrity of Creation. Geneva: and thought forms is notable, in everything from method- WCC Publications, 1989. ologies to ecclesiologies. They are Orthodox, Catholic, and Rasmussen, Larry. Earth Community, Earth Ethics. Mary- Protestant, from various parties in each tradition and knoll: Orbis Books, 1996. The following chapters from many national and ethnic identities. The move- detail contributions from the ecumenical movement: ment incorporates practitioners from many disciplines, “Ecumenical Earth,” “Creation’s Integrity,” and including liturgy, biology, cosmology, and economics. It “Message from Geneva.” includes a variety of causes, such as ecofeminism and See also: Earth Charter; Eco-Justice in Theology and animal rights. The reformers represent a broad range of Ethics; Environmental Ethics; United Nations’ “Earth theological perspectives, from evangelicals to post- Summits”; World Council of Churches and Ecumenical modernists. Some have proposed so-called “radical” Thought. theologies that critics see as the abandonment of basic themes in the tradition. Others have been content with modest revisions and extensions, such as extending Christianity (9) – Christianity’s Ecological the norm of love to include human relationships with Reformation otherkind. Some reformers focus on probing scripture and tradition for hidden treasures of ecological wisdom, while The multidimensional ecological crisis, covering a range others turn to the natural sciences as a prime source for of problems from species’ extinctions to climate change, theological and ethical reflection. Disagreements are has created a theological and ethical crisis in contempor- common. Yet, the reformers are united in sharing a ary Christianity. During the last half-century, ecologically concern for ecological integrity and a commitment to aware theologians and ethicists discovered that the con- reinterpreting Christian symbols in ways that enhance that ventional theological and ethical interpretations of the integrity. faith often did not fit ecological realities. They found that When many of the ecological reformers first tried to some traditional interpretations were not only irrelevant incorporate ecological concerns into their theological and but harmful in facing the ecological crisis, even contri- ethical systems, they were looking mainly for an additive buting to that crisis. As a consequence, they were pressed – something to supplement, not subvert, established sys- by these perceived irreconcilable differences into an tems. They discovered, however, that an ecological con- ecological reformation of Christian thought and practice – sciousness could not be limited to supplemental effects. It a reformation that has meant re-visioning classical functioned, instead, as a mutational power that internally affirmations of faith and trans-valuing inherited values altered the basic elements in their worldviews. They were and virtues to cohere with ecological data. The ecological encountering what economist Herman Daly and theo- reformation of Christianity – and of other major religions, logian John Cobb called “wild facts” – the ecological too – may be one of the most significant, though least dynamics that confounded conventions and seemed to noted, religious events of this age. compel re-visions. These mind-altering facts are critical Christianity (9) – Christianity’s Ecological Reformation 373 to understanding much of the ecological reformation in and intimations of the Creator’s valuations. The goodness contemporary Christian theology and ethics. of creation has been a central affirmation of faith in the Five fundamental facts about ecological realities have ecological reformation (though many Christians reformers fostered the fundamental features of the Christian eco- add, given the theological problem of natural evil inherent logical reformation. Not all of the ecological reformers in a predatorial biosphere, that the good creation is being have been shaped by all of these five, and some have been brought to fulfillment by a good God). The Earth was shaped by other factors. Yet, these five seem to be the most not created solely for humans in this view; it is part of influential factors in the reformation as a whole. These an ongoing process of cosmic and biotic, not merely facts are not rare or obscure; they are rather ordinary and anthropic, love. It is a habitat to be shared fairly among all evident features of human interactions with the rest of the creatures. The “world” is not to be despised or abused; biosphere. Contrary to the popular myth about the conflict it is to be valued in response to the rich and abundant between religion and science, moreover, the main features values encountered in diverse life forms, which are also of this reformation are rooted substantially in a serious manifestations of divine values. Ethically, from the engagement of religion with the sciences, especially the reformers’ perspective, fidelity to God implies loyalty to biological and ecological sciences. The influence of the divine affections for biodiversity. Sin, accordingly, is environmental movement as a whole is also evident. defined not only socially but also ecologically, covering The five fundamental facts and their reformative fea- human moral offenses against the biosphere and all of its tures outlined here are: evolutionary fecundity, biological inhabitants. kinship, universal relationality, biophysical boundaries, 2) Biological Kinship. Humans are linked in biological and human dominance. solidarity with all other forms of life through our common 1) Evolutionary Fecundity. Most of the ecological beginnings in one or more living cells and through our reformers stand in wonder and reverence before the aston- subsequent adaptive interactions. All life forms have the ishing fecundity on this planet – life in wild profusion, same genetic structure and significant genetic overlap. probably tens of millions of species, from algae to ele- These forms even share elements with the stars and every phants, in almost every conceivable habitat or niche other celestial entity. Consequently, claim the ecological from microorganisms in the boiling water of volcanic reformers, we can no longer talk about humans and vents to ice worms in glaciers; species generating an nature. Humans are not a biologically segregated species, abundant breadth of environmentally adaptive strategies but rather interrelated parts and products of nature. for every bodily function from reproduction to mobility; The idea of common creaturehood – from one source and new life forms radiating from existing ones in a and a shared substance – is not new in Christian reflection. process of continually creative evolution. For Christian The ecological reformation, however, has enhanced its reformers, this fecundity has been revelatory. If, as the ethical implications. The fundamental fact of biological British biologist Lord Haldane noted, the abundance of kinship, from the perspective of the reformers, points to a beetle species on the planet suggests that God has “an fundamental fault at the roots of the ecological crisis: the inordinate fondness for beetles,” then the prolific fruitful- failure to respond benevolently and justly to the biological ness of the planet suggests also that God has an extra- reality that humans are relatives of every life form. Thus, ordinary devotion to biodiversity. Furthermore, while they argue, one of the essential tasks of ecologically humans, as the ethical animal, may be called the moral reformed Christian ethics is to develop standards of images of God, the whole of nature and all its parts are the responsible human relationships with otherkind. A key- ontological images of God – incarnations or representa- note of the ecological reformation is the inclusion of tions of ultimate power, wisdom, and grandeur. otherkind within the network of moral relationships. It is not an exaggeration to say that the ecological Many of the reformers are intent on grounding human reformation of Christianity has been born, nurtured, and responsibilities to otherkind not only in kindness and empowered in encounters with evolutionary fecundity generosity but also in concepts of distributive justice. and other ecological marvels. For most of the reformers, Some even have argued for “biotic rights” – the prima the Earth is a sacramental event, revealing the glory facie moral claims on humans for the imperative condi- and mediating the grace of God. Much of contemporary tions of well-being for other species and their members. Christian ecospirituality, a movement of nature-oriented These claims demand moral justifications for human harm prayer and worship within the ecological reformation, to otherkind and a limitation of such harm only to the is rooted in these revelatory experiences and seeks to extent that it can be so justified. These rights are rooted re-enact them liturgically. not in sentience and similar criteria that apply only to For a wide range of Christian thought, from process highly evolved animals, but rather in basic biological theology to evangelical exegesis of scripture, the experi- being, which advocates regard as a minimally sufficient ence of evolutionary fecundity has also been an encounter status for moral claims. with value – intuitions of the intrinsic value of creatures But whether or not the language of rights is used, the 374 Christianity (9) – Christianity’s Ecological Reformation concern for justice to otherkind is widespread among to grave on the cultural and ecological conditions that ecological reformers. Generally, biotic justice means shape all their perspectives and possibilities. They are parts recognizing that other species, given their intrinsic values, and products of collectives – not only of family groups are entitled to “fair shares” of planetary goods, especially and communities but also of ecosystems. Humans are healthy habitats for sustaining viable populations until the social animals, as mainstream Christian traditions have end of their evolutionary time. Defining “fair shares” is always understood, but they are also ecological animals, extremely difficult, of course, particularly when humans as the traditions rarely noticed. The reformers are intent must destroy other life forms in order to survive and create upon discerning the theological and ethical implications in a predatorial biosphere. Still, say the reformers, the of this insight. struggle to define fair shares is an essential moral task to 4) Biophysical Boundaries. One of the elementary control human imperialism. Most argue also that humans lessons of the natural sciences, including ecology, is that have used far more that any reasonably defined fair share the planet is a finite, essentially self-contained sphere, of the world’s goods, and should henceforth limit eco- except for solar energy. There are no infinite bounties, nomic production and sexual reproduction to allow much no inexhaustible resources, no limitless systems. Appeals more room for the thriving of wildlife in wildlands, along to the lesson of limits are common among ecological with the thriving of human communities. reformers. They see it as a corrective response to another 3) Universal Relationality. This fundamental fact of of the fundamental faults at the roots of the ecological social and ecological interdependence is closely linked crisis: the failure to recognize and respect the limiting to biological kinship; it is separable only for analytical conditions of life – the carrying, regenerative, and absorp- purposes. Everything is connected with and has con- tive capacities of the ecosphere. sequences for everything else. Biological existence is The prevailing assumption in affluent cultures is that coexistence. Being is being in interdependent relation- the rest of nature is a warehouse of abundant supplies ships. This basic reality is deeply imprinted on the eco- for human prosperity. Many of the ecological reformers, logical reformation. however, have concentrated on puncturing this illusion of For the reformers, a consciousness of relationality helps inexhaustibility. Humans face limits everywhere, they correct another of the fundamental faults at the roots of insist, from the number of people the planet can support the ecological crisis: the failure to recognize the intricate securely to human technological capacities for extending and interdependent relationships involving humankind biophysical limits. Everything material can become scarce and the rest of the ecosphere – the connections, for – if it is not so inherently – by abuse or overuse. Thus, a example, between the dynamics of the global economy fundamental “law of nature,” as the reformers often argue, and climate change, or the profligate use of synthetic is that humans must stay within the bounds of nature, or chemicals and population declines in species. Relational- face the effects of their folly. ity, the reformers say, undoes the atomistic thinking that As a means of respecting planetary limits, sustain- has caused countless social and ecological problems. ability is a major norm in the ecological reformation, as The influence of relationality is apparent also in a norm it is in the contemporary environmental movement that is prominent in the ecological reformation. It is often as a whole. Sustainability is living within the bounds of called “eco-justice,” the integration of social justice and planetary capacities indefinitely, for the sake of future ecological integrity. The two are intimately linked and generations. It seeks a just distribution between the should be pursued in tandem. Eco-justice is an effort to present and future. prevent the compartmentalization of these two primary For an increasing number of Christian ecological areas of concern, and to prevent solutions to environ- and social reformers, moreover, the revival of frugality as mental problems at the expense of social justice, or vice morally constrained production and consumption is a versa. The implicit moral mandate in eco-justice is: Act in necessary condition of sustainability. A major challenge to ways that solutions to social problems do not cause or modern societies is how to produce, and fairly distribute, aggravate environmental problems, and vice versa – and, sufficient goods, services, jobs, capital, pensions, rev- indeed, in ways that solutions to one contribute to solu- enues, and other benefits that will enable human com- tions in the other. munities to flourish, while at the same time ensuring Relationality enables also a broader understanding of sustainability and ecological integrity. These goals are not humans as social and ecological beings – an understand- achievable, many reformers argue, without frugality as a ing that is evident in the writings of many of the reform- personal virtue and social standard. Prodigal societies, the ers. Contrary to the exaggerated individualism in some reformers claim, need to learn what the world’s religious modern cultures, humans are not self-sufficient moral traditions at their best have long understood: the fullness hermits, living as isolationists and entering into minimal and richness of life will not be found in the abundance and contractual alliances for self-protection. Instead, humans luxuriousness of possessions. Rather, genuine joy is found are internally relational creatures – dependent from cradle in justice and generosity to ensure that all – humankind Christianity and Animals 375 and otherkind, present and future – have enough to thrive Further Reading together. Barbour, Ian G. Ethics in an Age of Technology. San 5) Human Dominance. A prominent feature of planet- Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1993. ary existence is that humans exercise dominion – in the Berry, Thomas. The Dream of the Earth. San Francisco: popular sense of a controlling power over the planet’s Sierra Club, 1988. future. Whether in popular or theologically sophisticated Bouma-Prediger, Steven. For the Beauty of the Earth: A senses, however, the concept of dominion recognizes a Christian Vision for Creation Care. Grand Rapids, MI: basic biological fact: humans alone have evolved the Baker Academic, 2001. necessary rational and moral capacities, and, therefore, Cobb, John B., Jr. Is It Too Late? A Theology of Ecology. the creative and/or destructive powers, to represent divine Denton, TX: Environmental Ethics Books, 1994 (rev. blessings or demonic curses to the rest of the planet’s edn). biota. Humans alone have the talents and the tools to pro- Gilkey, Langdon. Nature, Reality, and the Sacred: The tect or incapacitate the biosphere, even to the point of Nexus of Science and Religion. Minneapolis: Fortress altering climates and disrupting creative fecundity. Press, 1993. Human dominance – especially in the form of “techno- Hessel, Dieter T. and Rosemary Radford Ruether, eds. cratic dominionism” that exaggerates human technical Christianity and Ecology: Seeking the Well-Being of powers to manage nature and reduces the value of other- Earth and Humans. Cambridge: Harvard University kind solely to instruments for human welfare – has been a Press, 2000. central nemesis for the Christian ecological reformation. McFague, Sallie. Life Abundant: Rethinking Theology and The reformers have encouraged humility as an antidote to Economy for a Planet in Peril. Minneapolis: Fortress arrogance. In their interpretations, humility recognizes Press, 2001. human capacities for error and evil. It avoids over- Moltmann, Jurgen. God in Creation: A New Theology of confidence in technical fixes and undervaluations of other Creation and the Spirit of God. San Francisco: Harper species. Humility knows that human societies depend on & Row, 1985. managerial interventions in the rest of nature, but it denies Nash, James A. Loving Nature: Ecological Integrity and the aspiration of some to be the Masters of Nature. Christian Responsibility. Nashville: Abingdon Press, It stresses instead self-mastery and self-management, 1991. keeping ourselves in check for the good of the biosphere. Rasmussen, Larry. Earth Community, Earth Ethics. Mary- Not surprisingly, given the role that “dominion” has knoll: Orbis Books, 1996. played in modern Christian history as a rationalization for Ruether, Rosemary Radford. Gaia and God: An Ecofeminst environmental exploitation, the ecological reformation Theology of Earth Healing. San Francisco: HarperSan- has given considerable attention to the concept. Some Francisco, 1992. reformers have abandoned the word, but others have Santmire, Paul. Nature Reborn: The Ecological and Cosmic reinterpreted it, with support from biblical studies. In these Promise of Christian Theology. Minneapolis: Fortress reinterpretations, dominion is not a divine right to plunder Press, 2000. with impunity. It is rather a responsibility to represent Sittler, Joseph. Essays in Nature and Grace. Philadelphia: God’s benevolence and justice, to fulfill the human Fortress Press, 1972. vocation of being the moral image of God. Moreover, Wilkinson, Loren, ed. Earthkeeping in the Nineties: when dominion is interpreted in the light of the New Stewardship of Creation. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, Testament understanding of Christ as the perfect image of 1991 (rev. edn). God, dominion becomes the serving love of Christ. In a great reversal, dominion is now not destroying but rather Christianity and Animals nurturing nature. The ecological reformation is firmly established in con- The creation story contained in Genesis 1 was pivotal in temporary Christianity. It has the potential to prosper. shaping Christian thought concerning the relationship Whether it will succeed, however, in actually reforming between humans and animals. The Genesis story made two Christianity to the point that ecological sensitivity will be critical claims: first, that all creation, including animals, is the dominant paradigm in this faith tradition is unclear. good (Gen. 1:20–25). A second claim concerns the status That will depend on a number of factors, including the and role of humans in nature, who were reportedly created reformers’ capacities to make theologically and ethically in the imago dei, or God’s image (verse 27), and given compelling cases for their cause, their strategic skills in power over all the other species: influencing Christian churches, and their persistence in the hope and affections that first inspired this movement. God blessed them and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it, and James A. Nash have dominion over the fish of the sea and over 376 Christianity and Animals

the birds of the air and over every living thing that Man’s ultimate happiness consists in the contempla- moves upon the Earth” (Gen. 1:28, NRSV). tion of truth for this operation is specific to man and is shared with no other animals . . . In this operation Despite a common foundation in the Genesis creation man is united to higher beings [substances] since story, both historical and contemporary Christian thought this is the only human operation that is carried out has contained a diversity of opinions concerning animals. both by God and by the separate substances [angels]. In his historical survey of Christian environmental per- Through this operation too man is united with those spectives, Paul Santmire identified two competing theo- higher beings by knowing them in a certain way logical motifs that can provide a framework for thinking (Aquinas, Summa Contra Gentiles III: 37). about Christianity and animals. On the one hand, Santmire found evidence for a spiritual motif that emphasizes Santmire concluded that Aquinas offered “. . . a the- spiritual salvation in such a manner that the physical ology that both affirms nature and denies nature. . .” environment and animals become unimportant for the (Santmire 1985: 94). Thomas affirmed the goodness of drama of human salvation. On the other hand, Santmire all creation, as claimed in the Genesis 1 creation story. also identified an ecological motif that acknowledges “the However, his understanding of the imago dei created a human spirit’s rootedness in the world of nature” and profound gulf between humans and animals. Whereas the understands the life of faith as occurring within the con- telos of humans is spiritual union with God, the rest of text of the whole biophysical order (Santmire 1985: 9). creation, including the animals, will cease to be at the Santmire argued that these two theological metaphors are end-time. apparent throughout the history of Christian thought, John Wesley, who was the English founder of the from the early Church Fathers, to the medieval theo- Wesleyan movement that led to the creation of several logians, through the reformers, and even into contem- Protestant denominations including the Methodist and porary thought. The diversity of Christian perspectives Nazarene Churches, exemplifies Santmire’s ecological concerning the relationship between humans and animals motif. For Wesley, the imago dei was best understood as a is well illustrated by two historical thinkers and their special relationship between God and all created beings. understanding of the imago dei. Non-human animals could also have a special relationship The medieval Catholic theologian Thomas Aquinas with God, albeit to a lesser degree than the relationship exemplified the spiritual motif concerning animals. For shared by humans with God. For Wesley, these differences Aquinas, the human–animal relationship was part of the in relationships turned primarily on the greater capacity Great Chain of Being, a hierarchy of being that included humans have to enter into relationship with God. In his both spiritual and material beings. At the top of this sermon, “The General Deliverance,” Wesley said: “We have hierarchy were spiritual or immaterial beings, most no ground to believe that they [animals] are in any degree notably angels. At the mid-point of the hierarchy were capable of knowing, loving, or obeying God. This is the humans, who held both spiritual and material properties. specific difference between man and brute – the great gulf At the bottom of the hierarchy were material beings, which they cannot pass over” (Sermon 60 in The Works of beginning with animals, followed by plants, and, finally, John Wesley). non-living material. Like Aquinas, Wesley also perceived a hierarchy While they share some material similarities, Aquinas in which humans were above animals. To appreciate held that the imago dei profoundly distinguishes humans Wesley’s understanding of this hierarchy, however, from animals. He identified the imago dei with human one must apprehend his understanding of the Creation- rationality – a characteristic and capacity that humans Fall-Reconciliation motif in Christianity. At the time of share with no other animal. For Aquinas, human rational- creation, Wesley believed that humans and animals lived ity was teleological in nature. “The end and good of the together in perfect harmony in a pain-free paradise. In this intellect is truth. Therefore the ultimate end of the whole state, animals lived in loving obedience to humans and man and of all his actions and desires is to know the first “. . . all the blessings of God in paradise flowed through truth; namely God . . . man’s ultimate end is to know God” man to the inferior creatures.” However, with the tempta- (Aquinas, Summa Contra Gentiles III: 25). Humans were tion and fall of Adam and Eve, the relationship between incapable of knowing God during their earthly life, but humans and animals changed: the flow of blessings Aquinas held that this telos could be achieved at the through humans to animals was interrupted and animals eschaton, or end-time: “Final perfect happiness can only now lived in fear of humans. Through sin and the Fall, come from the vision of the divine essence” (Aquinas, humans have fractured relationships, not only with God Summa Theologiae I–II: 3, 8). This vision of the divine and other humans, but with animals as well. Wesley essence represents a return to God by humans, who are believed that these relationships would be reconciled now understood to be purely spiritual creatures. As and healed through the new creation in Christ at the end- Aquinas summarized his own position, time. In his sermon, “The General Deliverance,” Wesley Christianity and Nature Symbolism 377 concluded by speculating that – at the end-time of recon- In conclusion, special note should be made of the ciliation – God may choose to increase animals’ ability to historical figure Saint Francis of Assisi, who referred to be in relationship so that they may experience God more animals as brothers and sisters. For many twenty-first- fully than before the Fall. century Christian thinkers working from Santmire’s In response to the emergence of serious ecological spiritual motif, Saint Francis provided the ideal paradigm crises, such as the rapid loss of animal biodiversity, several for understanding Christianity and animals. late twentieth-century Christian thinkers worked from the ecological motif to reexamine the relationship between Richard O. Randolph humans and animals. James Nash, for example, proposed “loving nature” as a controlling metaphor for thinking Further Reading about the relationship between humans and animals. Aquinas, Thomas. Summa Contra Gentiles. Indiana: He wrote, “. . . love is the integrating center of the whole University of Notre Dame Press, 1975. of Christian faith . . . [Thus] a Christian ecological ethic is Aquinas, Thomas. Summa Theologiae. New York: seriously deficient – if even conceivable – unless it is McGraw-Hill, 1964. grounded in Christian love.” Out of his understanding of Linzey, Andrew. Animal Gospel. Louisville, KY: Westmin- Christian love, Nash proposed eight biotic rights owed to ster/John Knox Press, 1998. animals: Lovejoy, Arthur O. The Great Chain of Being: A Study of the History of an Idea. New York: Harper, 1960 (1936). 1. The right to participate in the natural competition for McFague, Sallie. Super, Natural Christians: How We existence. Should Love Nature. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1997. 2. The right to satisfaction of their basic needs and the Nash, James. Loving Nature, Ecological Integrity and opportunity to perform their individual and/or eco- Christian Responsibility. Nashville: Abingdon Press, systemic functions. 1991. 3. The right to healthy and whole habitats. Santmire, Paul. The Travail of Nature. Minneapolis: 4. The right to reproduce their own kind. Fortress Press, 1985. 5. The right to fulfill their evolutionary potential with Wesley, John. “The General Deliverance.” In Albert C. Out- freedom from human-induced extinctions. ler, ed. The Works of John Wesley, vol. 2. Nashville: 6. The right to freedom from human cruelty, flagrant Abingdon Press, 1985. abuse, or frivolous use. See also: Animals; Animals in the Bible and Qur’an; 7. The right to redress through human interventions, to Bestiary; Creation Story in the Hebrew Bible; Fall, The; restore a semblance of the natural conditions disrupted Francis of Assisi; Hebrew Bible; Vegetarianism (various). by human actions. 8. The right to a fair share of the goods necessary for the sustainability of one’s species (Nash 1991: 186–9). SP Christianity and Nature Symbolism

Sallie McFague also used “loving nature” as the con- In the main, Christianity understands the divine reality as trolling metaphor for Christian thinking about animals. a Sky God. In nursery rhymes, sermons, hymnody, icon- Writing from an ecofeminist theological perspective, ography, and theological teachings, God is pictured as a McFague replaced the traditional subject–object dualism bodiless, immaterial being who inhabits an invisible, with a “Subject–subjects model,” in which “everyone and heavenly realm far beyond the vicissitudes of life on Earth. everything is somewhere on the subject continuum.” For Of course, in the person of Jesus Christ, God did become an example, humans would “. . . recognize that the wood tick enfleshed life form in ancient history. But the Incarnation is not merely an object in our world . . . but a subject in its of God in Christ is generally understood to be a long-ago, own world.” Viewed from this perspective, Christians punctiliar event limited to a particular human being. The should love animals – as well as other humans and God – incarnation does not carry the promise that God, in any as subjects (McFague 1997: 97, 109). palpable sense, is continually enfleshed within the natural Andrew Linzey would agree with the emphasis that world as we know it. Rather, for the better part of church Nash and McFague put on “loving animals.” However, history, the divine life and the natural world have been he pushed beyond love to say that Christians are also viewed as two separate and distinct orders of being. What- called to be the servants of animals: “According to the ever else God is, God is not a nature deity captive to the theological doctrine of animal rights, then, humans are to limitations and vagaries of mortal life forms. God is not be the servant species – the species given power, oppor- bound to the impermanent flux of an ever-changing tunity, and privilege to give themselves, nay sacrifice Earth. It is for these reasons, according to majority themselves, for the weaker, suffering creatures” (Linzey opinion, that biblical religion forbids the fashioning of 1998: 39). graven images as representations of the divine life: God is 378 Christianity and Nature Symbolism not a bull or a snake or a lion. On the contrary, so the and pneuma in Greek – mean “breath” or “air” or “wind.” majority argument goes, God abides in an eternally Literally, the Spirit is pneumatic, a powerful air-driven unchanging heavenly realm where bodily suffering and instrument analogous to a pneumatic drill or pump. death are no more and every tear is wiped dry for the The Spirit is God’s all-encompassing, aerial presence in the privileged believer who dwells there. atmosphere that envelopes the whole Earth; as such, the The counterpoint to the mainstream opinion is the Spirit escapes the horizon of human activity and cannot historic biblical and theological depictions of God as Earth be contained by human constraints. The Spirit is divine Spirit, the benevolent, all-encompassing divine force wind – the breath of God – that blows where it wills (John within the biosphere who inhabits Earth community and 3:8) – driven by its own elemental power and independent continually works to maintain the integrity of all forms of from human attempts to control it – refreshing and life. In this formulation, God is the Earth God who indwells renewing all broken members of the created order. the land and invigorates and flows with natural processes (3) As water, the Spirit is the living water that quickens – not the invisible Sky God who exists in a heavenly realm and refreshes all who drink from its eternal springs (John far removed from earthly concerns. God as Spirit is the 3:1–15; 4:14; 7:37–38). As physical and spiritual susten- enfleshment of God within everything that burrows, ance, the Spirit is the liquid God who imbues all life- creeps, runs, swims, and flies across the Earth. Here, God is sustaining bodily fluids – blood, mucus, milk, sweat, urine carnal: through the Spirit, God incarnates Godself within –with flowing divine presence and power. As well, the the natural order in order to nurture and bring to fruition water God flows and circulates within the soaking rains, every form of life. The Nicene Creed in 381 named the dewy mists, thermal springs, seeping mudholes, ancient Spirit as “the Lord, the Giver of Life.” To make sense of this headwaters, swampy wetlands, and teeming oceans that ancient appellation by re-envisioning the Holy Spirit as constitute the hydrospheric Earth all life inhabits. The God’s invigorating corporal presence within the society of Spirit as water makes possible the wonderful juiciness and all living beings is the burden of this article. succulence of life as we experience life on a liquid planet Granted, the terms “Holy Spirit” or “Holy Ghost” (a mis- sustained by complicated and necessary flow patterns. translation of the term “Spirit” in Old English versions (4) Finally, as fire, the Spirit is the purgative fire that of the Bible) does conjure the image of a disembodied, alternately judges evildoers and ignites the prophetic shadowy non-entity in both the popular and high thinking mission of the early church (Matt. 3:11–12; Acts 2:1–4). of the Christian West. But many Christian theological and Fire is an expression of God’s austere power; it is viewed biblical texts stand as a counter-testimony to the con- biblically as the element God uses to castigate human ventional mindset. The Bible, for example, is awash with error. But it is also the symbol of God’s unifying presence rich imagery of the Spirit borrowed directly from the in the fledgling Christian community where the divine natural world. The four traditional elements of natural, pneuma – the rushing, whooshing wind of God – is said to embodied life – Earth, air, water, and fire – are constitu- have filled the early church as its members became filled tive of the Spirit’s biblical reality as an enfleshed being with the Spirit, symbolized by “tongues of fire [that were] who ministers to the whole creation God has made for the distributed and resting above the heads of each” of the refreshment and joy of all beings. early church members (Acts 2:3). Aberrant, subversive, Numerous biblical passages attest to the foundational and creatively destructive, God as fire scorches and roasts role of the four cardinal elements regarding the biocentric who and what it chooses apart from human intervention identity of the Spirit: and design – like the divine wind that blows where it wills. (1) As Earth, the Spirit is both the divine dove, with an But fire can and should be pressed into the service of olive branch in its mouth, that brings peace and renewal to maintaining healthy Earth relations. Fire is necessary for a broken and divided world (Gen. 8:11; Matt. 3:16, John the maintenance of planetary life: as furnace heat, fire 1:32), and a fruit bearer, such as a tree or vine, that yields makes possible machine economies and food preparation; the virtues of love, joy, and peace in the life of the disciple as controlled wildfires, fire revivifies long dormant seed (Gal. 5:15–26). Far from being the “immaterial substance” cultures necessary for biodiverse ecosystems; and when defined by the standard theological lexicon, the Spirit is harnessed in the form of solar power, fire from the sun imagined in the Bible as a material, earthen life form – a makes possible safe energy production not dependent on bird on the wing or a flowering tree – who mediates God’s fossil fuel sources. The burning God is the God who has power to other Earth creatures through its physical the power to incinerate and make alive the elements of presence. the life-web essential for the sustenance of our gifted (2) As air, the Spirit is both the vivifying breath that ecosystem. animates all living things (Gen. 1:2; Ps. 104:29–30) and God as Spirit is biblically defined according to the the prophetic wind that brings salvation and new life to tropes of Earth, wind, fire, and water. In these scriptural those it indwells (Judg. 6:34; John 3:6–8; Acts 2:1–4). The texts, the Spirit is figured as a potency in nature who nouns for Spirit in the biblical texts – rûach in Hebrew engenders life and healing throughout the biotic order. Christianity and Sustainable Communities 379

The Earth’s bodies of water, communities of plants and cultural discrimination. And they undertook organized animals, and eruptions of fire and wind are not only sym- responses to “the modern social problem” (various protest bols of the Spirit – as important as this nature symbolism movements with political economic platforms, including is – but share in the Spirit’s very nature as the Spirit is both religious and secular socialism). Present Christian continually enfleshed and embodied through natural concern for sustainable development and community landscapes and biological populations. Neither ghostly draws on the fact that the social question persists as these nor bodiless, the Spirit reveals itself in the biblical litera- have, in many ways, gone global. tures as an earthen life form who labors to create and In the final third of the twentieth century, the social sustain humankind and otherkind in solidarity with one question was joined by “the ecological question.” The another. Living in the ground, swimming through the language of “sustainability” itself arose here, with some of oceans, circulating in the atmosphere, God, as Earth Spirit, its first uses in the ecumenical movement. (“Sustainable” is always afoot and underfoot – the quickening life-force as applied to society, and not simply the yield of forests who seeks to bring all denizens of our sacred Earth into or fisheries, was a mark of the 1975 World Council of fruition and well-being. Churches program “Toward a Just, Participatory and Sus- tainable Society.”) While the causes are many, the eco- Mark I. Wallace logical question, too, chiefly arises from the destructive downside of the organization and habits of modern Further Reading industrialized society, whether in the form of corporate Gottlieb, Roger S., ed. This Sacred Earth: Religion, Nature, capitalism, state socialism, or the competition of these two Environment. New York: Routledge, 1996. over decades around the modernization and alignment of Habel, Norman C., ed. Readings from the Perspective of non-industrialized or “developing” nations. Earth. The Earth Bible, vol. 1. Sheffield, England: In a word, what has given rise to concern for sustain- Sheffield Academic Press, 2000. able development and sustainable community on the part Kinsley, David. Ecology and Religion: Ecological Spiritual- of Christianity is the unending transformation of nature ity in Cross-Cultural Perspective. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: knit integrally to the unending transformation of society Prentice Hall, 1995. as these together have degraded land, sea, air, and human McFague, Sallie. The Body of God: An Ecological Theology. communities in the very process of yielding the benefits of Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1993. modernity. Few seriously propose a return to pre-modern Naess, Arne. “The Shallow and the Deep, Long-Range worlds. Yet the present course is itself considered unjust Ecology Movement.” Inquiry 16 (1973), 95–100. and unsustainable. Wallace, Mark I. Fragments of the Spirit: Nature, Violence, Two broad streams of response have followed. One is and the Renewal of Creation. New York: Continuum the search to understand the roles Christianity has played Publishing Company, 1996; Trinity Press Inter- in the travail of society and nature together in the modern national, 2002. period. Sometimes attention is given to roughly the last five centuries, beginning with the onset of colonization, conquest, and conversion on the part of Christian Europe, Christianity and Sustainable Communities while other times the attention is on the last two centuries especially – the industrial era. The other search is for Christianity’s concern for sustainable community and concrete, constructive Christian responses to the “eco- sustainable development has historical roots in what crisis” as that has been given voice from the 1970s numerous observers refer to as “the social question” or onward. Christian-identified groups have often joined “the modern social problem.” The reference is to the final other “NGOs” in this (non-governmental organizations). third of the nineteenth century, when progressive social The internal critique has been extensive. Most of it theorists in Europe and North America joined popular turns on the complicity of dominant streams of Western movements of reform, especially workers’ movements, to Christianity in the making of the modern world. protest the exploitative character of rapidly developing Religiously sanctioned racial, cultural, and gender stratifi- industrial society. In giving voice to brutalizing social cation and oppression are pointed to, together with cal- conditions, reform-minded clergy and laity of the Social lousness about the fate of the land and neglect of the Gospel movement, labor leaders and workers, and academic requirements of Earth itself for its own flourishing. students of society developed an extensive critique of the Christian habits that combine anthropocentricity with capitalist industrial order and of political and economic assumptions of the superiority and forms of Western efforts to govern it. In varying ways and degrees, they Christian civilization are the subject of detailed analysis. pointed to class suffering (especially poverty and danger- In this worldview, God has been separated from nature and ous working conditions, inequality and unemployment) the purposes of divine action (salvation, redemption) have as these were compounded by race, gender, ethnic, and been relocated in human history. Humanity itself has been 380 Christianity and Sustainable Communities separated from the rest of nature as a unique creation and “sustainable development,” thus tries to preserve or create set in history as a specifically divine/human domain. And some mix of the following: greater economic self- throughout, pervasive dualisms of nature and society have sufficiency locally and regionally, with a view to the been reinforced by church teaching and practice (men are bioregions themselves as basic to human organization; set over women, the rights of humans over the rest of agriculture appropriate to regions and in the hands of nature, and the dominance of Western technologies and local owners and workers using local knowledge and crop cultures over subjugated peoples, their religions, cultures varieties, with ability to save their own seeds and treat and lands). their own plants and soils with their own products; the The response to self-examination on the part of preservation of local and regional traditions, language, Christianity is ongoing. The last decades of the twentieth and cultures and a resistance to global homogenization of century have seen the rise of numerous “eco-theologies”; culture and values; a revival of religious life and a sense of the broadening and deepening of multiple analyses of the sacred, vis-à-vis a present way of life that, because it Christianity’s place in the making of the modern world reduces life to the utilitarian, has little sense of mystery that go beyond analyses of dominant mainstream and the sacred; the repair of the moral fiber of society on Western Christianity to emphasize the resistance to it in some terms other than material consumption; resistance to the Christianity of indigenous and other subjugated the commodification of all things, including knowledge; peoples and perspectives; and the explosion of Christian the internalization of costs to local, regional, and global participation in both faith-based and NGO efforts to environments in the price of goods and services them- address socio-environmental maladies around the world. selves; and the protection of ecosystems and cultivation of This last-mentioned item – constructive, on-the- Earth as a “commons.” All this is viewed, in the eyes of its ground organized Christian efforts – achieved a certain advocates, as global democratic community rather than focus with the United Nations Conference on Environment nativist localism. It is global by virtue of its planetary and Development in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. That con- consciousness and the impressive networking of citizens ference, the largest gathering of heads of state to that date, around the world made possible by electronic globaliza- with parallel participation by the largest gathering of tion. Yet its orientation is first of all local in that the key NGOs, gave rise to the specific language of “sustainable question for sustainable community advocates is how development” – the capacity to meet the needs of present cultural wealth and biological wealth, together with generations without jeopardizing the capacity of future economic well-being, are sustained in the places people generations to meet theirs. “Sustainable development” has live, together with the rest of the community of life. since become common discourse amid the international Christian groups have been active participants in the efforts to address the social and ecological questions quest for sustainable community and in the debates about together. sustainable development. They have joined the search for Yet sustainable development as a shared agenda has ways of living that meet the norms of genuine sustain- encountered dissent from the outset, some of it from ability, norms such as participation as the optimal Christian communities and some of it already in view at inclusion of all involved stakeholders in socio-ecological the Earth Summit. Many active participants among decisions; sufficiency as the commitment to meet the basic environmental NGOs regard sustainable development as material needs of all life possible; equity as basic fairness yielding too much to economic globalization’s efforts to across generations and across the Community of Life; integrate local, regional, and national economies into a accountability as the structuring of responsibility in ways single global economy as led by corporate capitalism. For that prize “transparency” (decision-making structures and these dissenting groups – prominent at international processes that are clear and public); material simplicity meetings of the World Trade Organization, World Eco- and spiritual richness as markers of a quality of life that nomic Forum, and the “G7” (advanced industrial) nations includes bread for all but is more than bread alone; from Seattle to Davos to Genoa to New York in the 1990s responsibility on a scale that people can handle (i.e., com- and the first decade of the twenty-first century – greening mensurate with workable community); and subsidiarity – global capitalism so as to render both the environment resolving problems at the closest level at which decisions and the economy “sustainable” does not truly address can be taken and implemented effectively, beginning with social inequities or root causes of environmental degrad- local resources and talents. ation. The dissenters’ point of departure asks instead what In addition to joining the quest for sustainable it is that makes for healthy community. They then seek to practices, Christian groups have also responded to the wrap both economy and environment around that, on critique of their own past by undertaking the retrieval and successive levels (local, regional, transnational), all the transformation of Christian faith traditions and practices time being aware that Earth’s requirements are funda- that are explicitly Earth-honoring. They have sought mental. The human economy is a subset of the economy to uncover or to create Earth-positive traditions and of Earth. “Sustainable community,” as distinct from practices that address socio-ecological questions in ways Christianity in Europe 381 resonating with faith as it has been expressed over different “waves” and regions. The anthropocentrism of millennia. Varieties of ascetic, mystical, sacramental and Western European Christian theology in its mainstream prophetic-liberative practices are all involved. formulations has contributed to this process, legitimating a sense of superiority over nature and a consumerist life- Larry Rasmussen style, even if undercurrents such as mysticism tried to resist the historical reductionism of creation spirituality. Further Reading In time, with the progress of secularization and Shiva, Vandana. Biopiracy: The Plunder of Nature and modernization, the change of life-systems, for example in Knowledge. Toronto: Between The Lines Press, 1997. climate, revealed with increasing clarity a human regime Taylor, Bron Raymond, ed. Ecological Resistance Move- over nature through reason and technology. Human ments: The Global Emergence of Radical and Popular codes of knowing about, and acting in, nature are out of Environmentalism. Albany: State University Press of balance with the codes of nature. Older natural theology New York, 1995. no longer addresses this situation, and late modern Toolan, David. At Home in the Cosmos. Maryknoll: Orbis theology is challenged to reconstruct the traditions of Books, 2001. creation theology and to interpret in a new key the God Wellman, David J. Sustainable Communities. New York who acts in, with and for a world threatened by human and Geneva: WCC Publications, 2001. beings who God once created in his/her own image. See also: Earth Charter; Religious Studies and Environ- Since the 1970s, churches and theologians in Europe mental Concern; Sustainability and the World Council of have addressed the ecological challenge in three ways. Churches; United Nations’ “Earth Summits.” First, the environmental crisis has been regarded simply as a reason to reformulate conventional doctrines of faith. Second, elements from ecological science have eclectically Christianity in Europe mixed with selected elements from Christian tradition. A third way has sought for critical-constructive mediations Christians understand “nature” as “creation,” the world of ecological insights and interpretations of God. In and life that in its origin and development as well as in its the latter, theology works as a part of a larger ecological transience exists due to its relation to God. God is regarded discourse and asks for specific Christian reconstructions as the creator of everything between heaven and Earth, and represents the mainstream of creation theology in and classical theology has interpreted God’s work as a Europe in the second part of the twentieth century. The making, preserving and fulfilling of nature. The doctrine understanding of God itself is challenged by the suffering of creation offers the horizon for the whole understanding of nature caused by men and women who are supposed to of Christian faith, even if it historically has often been be images of God the Creator. Methodologically, one can opposed to the doctrine of salvation. A general challenge discern two modes of doing theology: one dogmatic in a for Christian theology therefore is to relate God’s creation direction from faith to environment (ecological doctrine and God’s salvation to each other. Are human beings as of creation) and another contextual, departing from the “images of God” placed above or among creatures? Are state of nature and moving toward the reflection on God nature and man/woman in need of liberation? (theological ecology). The view of nature and the use of it have undergone While process philosophy offered an important back- several changes in the history of Western civilization. ground for eco-theology in the United States, European In ancient and medieval times, the notions of “physis” theologians have met this with a far more skeptical atti- and “natura” signified everything that existed, and the tude. German biologist and theologian Günter Altner so-called “natural theology” (e.g., of Thomas Aquinas), (from 1974) was the first to interpret environmental shaped the path for modern science by investigating degradation in the light of a Christian theology of the God’s being through studying nature and by explaining cross, in which nature revealed a civilization in crisis. the world from the image of God. The view of nature Altner proposed a dialogue with environmental science changed markedly in the nineteenth century. Humans and and worked out an influential ethics of dignity in widen- nature were distanced radically from each other and the ing Albert Schweitzer’s approach. human identity was no longer understood as divided Another among the pioneers of eco-theology, German between divine-spiritual and natural-bodily spheres of physician and theologian Gerhard Liedke (1979) profiled reality. the clear challenge to the churches and theology. He The “roots of our ecological crisis” cannot be identified focused on the conflict between humans and nature in in one single historical period in the history of Judaism creation, using the Norwegian peace researcher Johan and Christianity. Instead one needs to understand a com- Galtung’s theory. Liedke argued for minimizing the vio- plex historical process of almost 2000 years where the lence constituted by an asymmetry in the relation of present problems were developed and accumulated in humanity and nature. This claim was made into an 382 Christianity in Europe obligation for the ecumenical movement and its church ecumenical movement, especially in the World Council of bodies (the international, interdenominational church Churches (WCC) and the Conference of European Churches movement founded in 1925 to promote reconciliation and (CEC). It was due to the Orthodox representatives at the cooperation, and represented most prominently by the WCC assembly in 1983 and especially to the Syrian Ortho- World Council of Churches). Several theologians related dox theologian and church leader Paulos Mar Gregorios the conflict between humans and nature to the conflicts that the WCC “Programme on Justice, Peace and the Integ- between different classes, regions and people, and also to rity of Creation” (JPIC) was enriched with the environ- the conflict between the sexes, and a wide-open perspec- mental issue so that the main agenda for ecumenical social tive of liberation and reconciliation was brought into the ethics since that time has been focused on peace, justice heart of ecumenical social ethics after 1970. and ecological problems as the most highly prioritized One of the first extensive and influential re- challenges for Christians. Orthodox theologians enriched interpretations of Christianity was offered in 1985 by the sometimes limited perspectives of Protestant and Jürgen Moltmann in his “ecological doctrine of the Catholic thinkers with themes like sacraments, liturgy, creation.” Different themes from Christian tradition were Trinity and beauty. A breakthrough for ecumenical eco- loosely linked to new insights in ecological science and theology in Europe adopted by the churches took place at green social movements in order to work out the relevance the Concilium in Basel in 1989. For the first time after the of Christian faith for finding ways out of the contempor- schism between Eastern and Western Europe, all churches ary crisis of society and nature. Disciples from different met in one common conference, and they were even able confessional traditions tried to respond to the ecological to come to a strong consensus on the need for a more challenge, even if they did not always succeed in finding just and ecological order of world economics. The heritage synthetic correlations with the fathers of their traditions of this strong ecological commitment in the European and the challenges of the new situation. The question, for churches is developed in the “European Christian example, of whether Karl Barth’s neo-orthodox theology Environmental Network” (ECEN). The European Ecu- of God’s revelation can contribute to a positive under- menical Forum of Christian Women has a sub-group on standing of the creation and its spirituality is highly con- Ecofeminism and Ecology. troversial because of Barth’s dependence on the dualistic While ecofeminism has made significant inroads in thinking of his times and his tendency to develop theology the United States, it is only slowly being addressed in as a preaching monologue. Europe. Catharina Halkes, Dorothee Sölle, Anne Primavesi After the widening of the academic eco-theological and Mary Grey have from different feminist angles discourse from the first to the third and fourth world in the produced alternative visions of humanity’s encounter 1990s, the vision of an ecological theology of liberation with nature. Ecofeminism highlights the link between emerged. German-Swedish theologian Sigurd Bergmann women and nature, for example, in the model of analogy, developed such a normative approach, one in which where the idealization of the feminine and nature on the soteriology and ontology are interpreted in the notion of one hand is related to the suffering of both on the other “God’s liberating movement in creation.” This approach hand. was developed in a constructive correlation with early With academic vitality and multifaceted reflection, the church theology, especially the Greek Orthodox traditions best of this discourse was found in the British journal on the Trinity and the Holy Spirit. The four issues of social- Ecotheology. The ecumenical movement in Europe, con- ity, motion, suffering and the life-giving Spirit occur as sisting of both many independent Christian groups and main problems in late antiquity theology as well as in the networks and of institutionalized church bodies, cons- ecological discourse and in late modern eco-theologies. titutes a strong and sustainable basis for the further By an ecological widening of the criteria of contextual development of ecologically constructive and critical and liberation theology, this approach develops an eco- theology and praxis. This development is not only about theology of liberation that focuses on the trinitarian view ideological reconstruction, but also about the reacting of God, a new theological thought of motion, the theology and renewal of Christian community-life and mission. of the cross of nature and humankind, and a topologically Alternative church banking, forests and land owned and shaped spirituality. The theme of the whole “Creation set used ecologically by churches, green parish economy, and free” is contained in this approach, at the center of which Christian church aid for women preserving nature are just is God’s acts and Christian theology reflecting upon those a few of many examples where eco-theology and eco- acts. praxis are in mutual exchange. The dignity of the question The ecological challenge was taken up by theologians where and how God acts in the ecological destruction and from all confessions. From the beginning, eco-theology reconstruction of nature is increasing in accordance with was an ecumenical affair in Europe. The Eastern Orthodox the increasing environmental problems. contributions to the new discourse on nature were developed in the institutions and in the conferences of the Sigurd Bergmann Chuang-tzu 383

Further Reading he articulated in the pages of Green Egg over following Bergmann, Sigurd. Creation Set Free: The Spirit as Libera- years. This vision was of the Earth as a conscious entity, tor of Nature. (Sacra Doctrina: Christian Theology and following the publication of James Lovelock’s Gaia for a Postmodern Age). Grand Rapids, Michigan: hypothesis, the Church began to identify this goddess Eerdmans, 2004. with the name “Gaea” (later changed to Lovelock’s more Duchrow, Ulrich and Gerhard Liedke. Shalom: Biblical popular spelling, “Gaia”). Perspectives on Creation. Justice & Peace. Geneva: With his marriage to Morning Glory, Tim Zell moved World Council of Churches, 1989. to California in 1975. With the move, CAW became cen- Gregorios, Paulos Mar. The Human Presence: An Orthodox tered in northern California where Morning Glory and View of Nature. Geneva: World Council of Churches, Tim Zell lived as caretakers for a parcel of land north of 1978. Ukiah, California. Through the late 1970s and early Grey, Mary C. The Wisdom of Fools? Seeking Revelation for 1980s, CAW developed primarily in northern California. Today. London: SPCK, 1993. Publication of Green Egg ceased in 1976. While many Halkes, Catharina J.M. New Creation: Christian Feminism important developments occurred for CAW during this and the Renewal of the Earth. London: SPCK, 1991. time, including acquisition of its sacred land, Annwfn, by Moltmann, Jürgen. God in Creation: A New Theology of the late 1970s it was no longer the primary entity in the Creation and the Spirit of God. San Francisco: Harper national Pagan scene that it had been during the early & Row, 1985. publication of Green Egg. Minutes from a Board of Dir- Niles, D. Preman, ed. Between the Flood and the Rainbow: ectors meeting of CAW in June of 1986 show a call for Interpreting the Conciliar Process of Mutual Commit- revitalization. In the following years, CAW reemerged as ment (Covenant) to Justice, Peace and the Integrity of a national entity and began publication of Green Egg Creation. Geneva: World Council of Churches, 1992. once more in 1988. Primavesi, Anne. Sacred Gaia: Holistic Theology and The idea of the Earth as a living, potentially conscious Earth System Science. London/New York: Routledge, organism that was first articulated by Zell in the early 2000. 1970s remains the dominant motif in CAW’s spiritual Sölle, Dorothee and Shirley A. Cloyes. To Work and to narrative. The stated mission of the Church is “to evolve a Love: A Theology of Creation. Philadelphia: Fortress network of information, mythology and experience to Press, 1984. awaken the divine within and to provide a context and See also: Altner, Günter; Christianity (6b2) – Greek Ortho- stimulus for reawakening Gaea and reuniting Her children dox; Christianity (7b) – Political Theology; Moltmann, through tribal community dedicated to responsible Jürgen; Sölle, Dorothee; World Council of Churches and stewardship and the evolution of consciousness.” CAW Ecumenical Thought. members have frequently participated in activist environmental movements, like Earth First!; and as a whole CAW has positioned itself strongly in alliance with Chuang-tzu – See Zhuangzi environmental movements, most specifically with Deep Ecology. CAW’s vision of Gaia has always included an evolutionary principle of progressive development. As Church of All Worlds a result, members of CAW have sometimes clashed with other environmentalists because of CAW’s positive view The Church of All Worlds (CAW) officially incorporated in of technology and science and its validation of human 1968 in Missouri and has since claimed the mantle of the potential. oldest federally recognized Pagan Church in the United The second idea emphasized in the mission statement, States. Its origins, however, go back earlier to a friendship the divinity of individual humans, shows the continued formed in the early 1960s between Westminster College importance of Heinlein’s Stranger in a Strange Land on the students Lance Christie and Tim Zell (later Otter, then spiritual imagination of CAW. In addition to its articula- Oberon Zell). Christie and Zell, both deeply taken with tion of a concept of immanent divinity, Heinlein’s book Robert Heinlein’s science fiction novel Stranger in a inspired for the Church the basic structure of local bodies Strange Land, founded a community, which they called (nests), the central ritual of water-sharing, and the idea of Atl, based on spiritual and social ideas from that novel. polyamory. CAW is comprised primarily of locally defined Atl split in the summer of 1967, with Zell leading “nests,” which range from extended group families to what became CAW. CAW began publishing its journal, bodies defined in a more traditional congregational struc- Green Egg, in 1968 and through it made contact with the ture. Water-sharing, a simple ritual in which human bonds emerging American Pagan community. CAW grew in are affirmed through a formal sharing of water, provides membership during the 1970s and on Labor Day of 1970, the basic context for the Church’s continued emphasis Tim Zell had a “cosmic acid vision of the Goddess,” which on human relationships as the basis of the spiritual 384 Church of Euthanasia community. CAW has also participated in redefining (called “Dada Actions”), their publications, website and sexual and love relationships through articulating a public protests are directed at awakening a guilty popu- relationship philosophy termed “polyamory,” which lous to the “Ecocide” which is annihilating species, eco- advocates multiple adult, committed love relationships. systems, and everything else that does not serve human This exploration of human relationships has been progress. extended by many CAW members to active participation CoE emerged in the summer of 1992 when Chris Korda, in cooperative living movements. who goes by the title “Reverend Korda,” had a “vision/ Although membership in CAW has remained relatively dream” of being “visited by an alien consciousness.” This small, with its continued publication of Green Egg until alien consciousness, referred to as “The Being,” warned 2000, its presence at major Pagan gatherings throughout Korda that the planet is in peril. “Save the Planet, Kill the country, and its network of nests (local bodies), CAW Yourself” was the most direct message that Korda received continues to be a major contingent of the contemporary and has become the guiding slogan for CoE. Pagan community. Additionally, because of its wider Korda also recognizes a non-historic time called the participation within “Gaian spirituality,” CAW has “Age of Magic.” Remnants of this age are found in tradi- reached beyond the immediate Pagan community to work tionally oral and “magic-based cultures.” While certain within larger environmental and spiritual communities. people have remained in contact with this “timeless realm Green Egg has featured a number of interfaith issues of mystical experience,” the eclipse of the Age of Magic emphasizing building common bonds between Christians, and alienation from its vitality is due to the onset of the Buddhists, Jews, Hindus, and Pagans. The culture of CAW “Industrial Age.” To participate in the Magical Age emphasizes immediate experiential religion and visionary requires “sensitivity and ‘oneness,’ ” attributes that Indus- and imaginative ideas of divinity – an approach which has trial Society “must ruthlessly seek out and destroy, in its undoubtedly contributed to the radical transformations it effort to create passivity and ‘sameness.’ ” has undergone during its short history. As a “visionary,” Korda remains in contact with this realm. Living in the Industrial Age, however, she is forced Grant Potts to adapt these visions into the “laws of mass communica- tion.” The tension that Korda struggles with exists between Further Reading communicating her “irrational vision of Absolute Truth” Adler, Margot. “A Religion from the Future – The Church within a world that is overly rational and lacking spirit of All Worlds.” Drawing Down the Moon: Witches, “not only in the people, but in the language itself.” Druids, Goddess-Worshippers, and Other Pagans in Ideologically, CoE has one main commandment, “Thou America Today. Boston: Beacon Press, 1986 (rev. edn), Shalt Not Procreate.” Along with this vow there are an 283–318. additional four “pillars”; Suicide, Abortion, Cannibalism Ellwood, Robert S. “Counterpoint: Old Souls in New and Sodomy. The commandment and pillars are both pre- Vestments.” The 60s Spiritual Awakening: American scriptive and symbolically descriptive of the fundamental Religion Moving from Modern to Postmodern. New problem of human overpopulation that is taxing the Earth. Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1994, Death, suicide, phalluses, cannibalism, and hatred of 183–5. babies are prominent themes at protests and on their Green Egg. 1 (March 1968)–80 (Autumn 1976), 81 (May web site. These themes combined with terminology such 1988)–136 (November–December 2000). as “Church,” “Reverend,” “commandments,” and Korda’s Zell, Oberon, ed. Church of All Worlds Membership Hand- own ambiguous gender are tactics designed to disorient book. Ukiah, CA: Church of All Worlds, 1995. and confront people with rejected elements of a dominant Zell, Otter. The Neo-Pagan Essence: Selected Papers from culture steeped in anthropocentrism and biblical mono- the Church of All Worlds. Chicago, IL: Eschaton Books, theism. Through public display of disturbing images, 1994. banners and artwork, CoE’s mission is to penetrate every- See also: Deep Ecology; Earth First! and the Earth day assumptions and allow unpleasant “truths” about the Liberation Front; Gaia; Lovelock, James; Paganism; ugliness of humanity to enter consciousness. Radical Environmentalism; Wicca. Undergirding their transgressive identity, paradoxical message, shocking tactics, nihilistic beliefs about human nature and their anti-human stance, lie ethical and Church of Euthanasia religious beliefs that life has a purpose: for life itself to flourish. For CoE, as long as humans destroy the opportun- The Church of Euthanasia (CoE) proclaims itself “the ity for this diversity of life to continue, then humanity is world’s first anti-human religion.” This radical religious “anti-life.” “So its kind of a humorous thing” states Korda, group believes humanity has fallen irredeemably “out of “but I often say that the Church of Euthanasia is a true balance” with the larger biosphere. Using shock tactics pro-life religion.” Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints 385

Two sister organizations, the Gaia Liberation Front the essence of the Earth, animals, and plants has existed (GLF) and the Voluntary Human Extinction Movement eternally and independent of God, he could not in justice (VHEMT), each believe that the death of humans is the grant humans permission to abuse any of them. Neverthe- only feasible option to restore balance. Proclaiming in less, since he organized each of them, he gave humans, the their central slogan, “Live Long and Die Out!” VHEMT only entities created in his image, the responsibility of remains dedicated to “voluntary extinction” by refusing caring for his creations. to procreate, while GLF supports “involuntary” acts of Revelations to Joseph Smith and commentary by extinction. According to GLF humans are “genetically Mormon theologians clarify the biblical account in programmed” to destroy the Earth, thus only through the Genesis. Instead of “subdue” these revelations use the complete eradication of the human species will the Earth word “till” to refer to treatment of the Earth. Mormon be able to heal. theologian Hugh W. Nibley has written that the word CoE claims 300 members in large cities within the “dominion” means that humans have the responsibility of United States and smaller numbers in Europe and South caring for God’s animal creations for him. Abuse of the America. The majority of CoE members are young and Earth, Nibley says, is part of Satan’s effort to thwart God’s male. Although they call themselves a church (with plan for salvation by drawing men and women away from tax-exempt status as an educational foundation) they do God and making nature their enemy. not own buildings nor engage in activities commonly Moreover, revelations received by Joseph Smith in associated with churches. Rather, most of their protests, 1832 and clarified by Brigham Young in 1862 clarify selling of merchandise, and newsletters are organized via that Christ’s atonement, the resurrection, and salvation the internet. reach all of God’s creations, human, animal, vegetable, Dedicated to their mission, CoE has received national and mineral. In contrast with humans who sin regularly, and international attention. They have appeared on the however, nonhuman creations obey God’s command- Jerry Springer Show and performed and protested in ments. A revelation that Joseph Smith received in Novem- the United States, Germany, Spain, Bosnia and South ber and December 1830 linked moral and environmental America. They have established a website, an e-magazine, pollution. The revelation says that the Earth “the mother of a merchandise catalogue, and distributed fifty thousand men” is “pained” and “weary because of the wickedness “Save the Planet – Kill Yourself” bumper stickers. of my children. When shall I rest, and be cleansed from the filthiness which is gone forth out of me? When will my Matthew Immergut Creator sanctify me, that I may rest, and righteousness for a season abide upon my face.” See also: Death and Afterlife in Jeffers and Abbey; Green Smith’s successor, Brigham Young, elaborated on the Death Movement. teaching.

The soil, the air, the water are all pure and healthy. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Do not suffer them to become polluted with wicked- ness. Strive to preserve the elements from being con- Joseph Smith, the founding prophet and president of the taminated by the filthy, wicked conduct and sayings Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the Mormons) of those who pervert the intelligence God has taught that all of God’s creations, humans, animals, plants, bestowed upon the human family (Young 1861: 79). and the Earth have eternal spirits. Rejecting the doctrine of ex nihilo creation, Smith taught that God took these Although the teachings of prophets like Smith and eternal spirits, combined them with indestructible matter, Young admonish the Mormons to care for God’s creations and organized them into living beings. as they would for their own morals, like most people they We do not know how God created each, except that he have not always done so. In 1834 while Joseph Smith led a used the power of the priesthood. In the cases of human volunteer militia group from Kirtland, Ohio to Independ- beings, however, a revelation to Joseph Smith said ence, Missouri members of the party found three prairie that our Father in heaven is a being with a body and a rattlesnakes. They intended to kill the snakes, but Joseph spirit. A statement of the Church’s First Presidency in 1909 urged them to leave them alone. “Men must,” he said, said that humans have “heavenly parents,” and Mormon “become harmless, before brute creation; and when men tradition calls one of them our Mother in heaven. The dif- lose their vicious dispositions and cease to destroy the ference between humans and other creations is that animal race, the lion and the lamb can dwell together,” human spirits are the literal children of God, the Father, and in an allusion to Isaiah 11:6–8, he said “the sucking and our Mother in heaven. We are created in his image. child can play with the serpent in safety” (Smith 1948: 71). The relationship of these creations to the Creator has Clearly, however, these leaders did not oppose killing implications for their treatment by human beings. Since animals or plants for sustenance. They did, however, 386 Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints counsel as Young put it that Mormons should not take mountain sheep, elk, rattlesnakes, fish, and crickets “any more” than needed for subsistence. Nevertheless, in declined or disappeared under predator eradication, some cases, Young, himself, and others in the pioneer harvesting, and competition from domestic crops and companies that came to Utah beginning in 1847 killed animals. By 1865, recognizing the destruction of pastures predators apparently in an attempt to protect their food caused by overgrazing, leaders like Orson Hyde, then and crops. serving as president of the Quorum of Twelve Apostles, Consistent with the ideal of caring for God’s creations, the second highest governing body in the church, chided Joseph Smith and his counselors proposed a plan for an members for destruction of land and vegetation. ideal city designed to exert a minimal impact on the land In spite of such admonitions, the expansion of Mormon and its resources and to promote environmental de- participation in the market economy during the 1880s mocracy. These cities were to provide a pleasant environ- led to the introduction of increasingly large herds of ment in which people could live in relative equality, raise cattle and of sheep. Overgrazing by these animals caused gardens, and keep a few domestic animals. As they laid out extensive watershed damage in the uplands in northern the cities on a grid pattern with central blocks reserved for and central Utah. Such destruction denuded the land and public buildings, planners placed the larger farms outside led to summertime rock-mud floods that further eroded the town boundaries. After the cities reached 15,000 to the land as they caused millions of dollars worth of 20,000 those who wanted to live in a city were to move property damage. beyond the farmlands surrounding the city and build a As watershed destruction mounted, after the turn of the new one. When the Mormons settled in Utah, they used the twentieth century church leaders began to reemphasize city plan that Smith had proposed to lay out many of the the principles of stewardship and care of God’s creations cities, but they did not limit the city growth to 20,000 that nineteenth-century leaders had taught. Declaring, “As people. children of God, it is our duty to appreciate and worship After the Latter-day Saints settled in Utah, they linked Him in His creations” (Handley 2001: 195), President the concept of multiplying and replenishing the Earth Joseph F. Smith denounced the “wicked” destruction of found in Genesis 1:28 to the importation and nourishing wildlife (Smith 1963: 265). of a wide variety of plants and animals. In 1862, Heber C. Consistent with this view, he favored watershed protec- Kimball, Brigham Young’s first counselor, taught church tion. As the federal government encompassed timber members that they should help the Earth “multiply and stands and watersheds into national forests, under Smith’s increase her productions, vegetation, fowls, animals and direction, church priesthood leaders voted on 7 April 1902 all manner of creeping things” (Kimball 1862: 337). to urge the federal government to withdraw from the Wilford Woodruff, then a member of the Quorum of the market for protection of all public lands in the watersheds Twelve Apostles and later church president, experimented above Utah cities. with imported plants during the 1850s. In September 1855 Continued overgrazing and flooding, however, led to he joined with others to organize the Deseret Horticultural the appointment by Utah Governor George H. Dern of a Society. Members of the society planted and grafted a wide committee headed by MIT engineering graduate and variety of fruits to determine which would flourish in church Presiding Bishop Sylvester Q. Cannon to determine Utah’s climate and soil. the reasons for the damage. The committee attributed the In 1856 the territorial legislature chartered the Deseret damage to extensive overgrazing and urged measures to Agricultural and Manufacturing Society. DAMS imported reduce the number of livestock on the mountain water- animals and plants and seeds for fruits, grains, and sheds. This report led directly to Forest Service grazing vegetables from other parts of the United States and from reductions and range rehabilitation projects. Europe and Australia. Other early twentieth-century church leaders set As Mormon immigrants continued to pour into examples of caring for God’s creations. Reed Smoot, a Utah, they transformed the land. Along the Wasatch member of the church’s Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, Front they founded communities with families, homes, served as a Senator from Utah from 1903 to 1933. He churches, and schools. They also changed the lush grass- actively supported the conservation programs of Theodore land they found there into verdant fields and orchards. Roosevelt and Gifford Pinchot. Among other things, With considerable difficulty and a number of failed he favored the designation of National Forests and efforts, between 1847 and 1890 they established more opposed the Hetch Hetchy dam slated for construction in than 500 settlements, the majority of which have persisted California’s Sierra Nevada Mountains. After Smoot had to the present. introduced legislation for the organization of the National Although the settlements generally flourished, the Park Service in previous congressional sessions, in 1916 Mormons also caused the eradication of some wildlife and he served as Senate sponsor for the act introduced in the environmental damage to their pasturelands. Populations House by California Congressman William Kent to create of various species of wildlife such as bears, wolves, and fund the NPS. In 1920, as chair of the Senate Public Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints 387

Lands and Surveys Committee, he co-authored the Mineral mend,” Spencer W. Kimball said in November 1974, “to all Leasing Act, which serves as the basis for federal leases of people that there be no undue pollution, that the land be minerals such as petroleum and phosphates. He also spon- taken care of and kept clean, productive, and beautiful” sored legislation to establish Zion and Bryce National (Hirschi 1995: 2). “This Earth is [God’s] . . . creation,” Parks. Gordon B. Hinckley said in April 1983, “When we make it In the meantime, Latter-day Saints worked to deal with ugly, we offend him” (Hirschi 1995: 3). other environmental damages. In 1904, farmers in central In recent years, environmental ethicists have concerned Salt Lake valley secured an injunction against nearby themselves with population growth. Unfortunately, it is smelters for polluting the air and destroying crops. much easier to find official statements on population con- A number of the offending smelters closed and other trol than to provide accurate statistics on the Mormon remained open only by installing pollution control equip- population. This is in part because the church does not ment. John A. Widtsoe, University-of-Göttingen-educated compile such statistics, only about 14 percent of all member of the Quorum of Twelve Apostles, conducted Mormons live in Utah, and fewer than 50 percent of all experiments to make irrigated and dry farming more Mormons live in the United States. Nevertheless, the productive and environmentally sensitive. Church Handbook of Instructions an official directive for In Salt Lake City, Latter-day Saint leaders worked to local leaders offers the following: “The decision as to improve the physical environment. Sylvester Cannon, how many children to have and when to have them is then serving as a stake president, worked to protect and extremely intimate and private and should be left between maintain the city’s watersheds and parks. As city engineer, the couple and the Lord. Church members should not Cannon, and George W. Snow, the director of the city’s judge one another in this matter” (Church of Jesus Christ Mechanical Department, fought against air pollution. of Latter-day Saints 1998: 158). Prominent Mormon women like Leah Eudora Dunford In spite of the small representation of Latter-day Saints Widtsoe, Susa Young Gates, and Emily L. Traub Merrill and the fact that the sample includes fewer than half of all worked on civic improvements in Salt Lake City during the Mormons, using data from surveys in the United States, first decades of the twentieth century, especially to control Brigham Young University sociology professor Tim air pollution. Heaton has estimated that Mormon couples both expect to During the 1930s and 1940s, Latter-day Saints in and do have more children than average. Statistics from various localities worked to stabilize and beautify the the General Social Survey indicate that an average LDS environment. In 1936, a number including Robert H. family in the United States has 2.63 children compared Stewart of Brigham City, William Lathum of Wellsville, with a national average of 1.99 children. Moreover, and Bishop John O. Hughes of Mendon organized the Mormons say that an ideal family should consist of 3.89 Wellsville Mountain Watershed Protective Association. children compared with a national average of 2.89 chil- Collecting money from depression-strapped farmers, they dren. Both the larger family size and the larger reported purchased land in the foothills of the Wellsville Mountains ideal probably derive from Mormon belief in the eternity on the boundary between Cache and Box Elder Counties. of the family and in the importance of providing bodies Then they lobbied Congress to extend the boundaries for God’s spirit children. Moreover, the statistics show that of the Cache National Forest to encompass the land, Mormons use contraceptives at the same rate as other which they donated to the Forest Service for watershed Americans. protection. On the matter of the attitudes of the church leadership As Secretary of Agriculture during the Eisenhower toward caring for God’s creations, the church’s Public Administration, Ezra Taft Benson, a member of the Affairs department has published a general packet includ- Quorum of Twelve Apostles and later church president, ing a statement of policy. Among other things, the state- advocated watershed rehabilitation. Although J. Reuben ment says, “The Church does not, institutionally, endorse Clark, then a member of the church’s First Presidency and specific environmental crusades, but instead encourages a rancher, criticized Benson, the agriculture secretary its members, as citizens, to join with their fellow citizens nevertheless supported the efforts of the Forest Service to in supporting worthy programs that will make their reduce numbers of livestock in grazing allotments and communities better places to live and raise their families” restore the land and its vegetation. In addition, he spoke (Hirschi 1995: 1). out in favor of reverence for life and “for the resources Although vestiges of the teachings of Joseph Smith God has given man.” “The outward expressions of irrever- and Brigham Young have appeared in the thought and ence for life and for fellowmen,” he said, “often take the actions of church leaders like Joseph F. Smith, Spencer form of heedless pollution of both air and water” (Hirschi W. Kimball, Ezra Taft Benson, Gordon B. Hinckley, Reed 1995: 3). Smoot, and Sylvester Q. Cannon, many members have Recent church presidents have also spoken out on the forgotten the teachings on the relationship between need for environmentally friendly attitudes. “We recom- humans, animals, plants, and the Earth. Some scholars and 388 Church of Nazareth Baptists others have begun to remind the current membership of Kay, Jeanne and Craig J. Brown. “Mormon Beliefs About these teachings, but many are unaware of them today. Land and Natural Resources, 1847–1877.” Journal of Historical Geography 11 (July 1985), 253–67. Thomas G. Alexander Kimball, Heber C. “The Course The Saints Should Pursue and the Spirit They Should Cultivate, Remarks by Further Reading President Heber C. Kimball, made on Sunday Morning, Alexander, Thomas G. “Sylvester Q. Cannon and the April 27, 1862.” Brigham Young, et al. Journal of Revival of Environmental Consciousness in the Discourses Delivered by President Brigham Young, His Mormon Community.” Environmental History 3 Two Counsellors, the Twelve Apostles, and Others, (October 1998), 488–507. vol. 9. Liverpool: George Q. Cannon, 1862, 335–8. Alexander, Thomas G. “Cooperation, Conflict, and Com- Lamborn, John E. and Charles S. Peterson. “The Substance promise: Women, Men, and the Environment in Salt of the Land: Agriculture v. Industry in the Smelter Lake City, 1890–1930.” BYU Studies 35 (1995), 6–39. Cases of 1904 and 1906.” Utah Historical Quarterly 53 Alexander, Thomas G. “Stewardship and Enterprise: The (Fall 1985), 319–21. LDS Church and the Wasatch Oasis Environment, Nibley, Hugh W. “Brigham Young on the Environment.” 1847–1930.” Western Historical Quarterly 25 (Autumn In Don E. Norton and Shirley S. Ricks, eds. Brother 1994), 340–64. Brigham Challenges the Saints. Salt Lake City and Alexander, Thomas G. The Rise of Multiple-use Manage- Provo, UT: Deseret Book and FARMS, 1994, 23–54. ment in the Mountain West: A History of Region 4 of Nibley, Hugh W. “Man’s Dominion, or Subduing the the Forest Service. Washington, D.C.: Forest Service, Earth.” In Don E. Norton and Shirley S. Ricks, eds. 1987. Brother Brigham Challenges the Saints. Salt Lake City Alexander, Thomas G. “Senator Reed Smoot and Western and Provo, UT: Deseret Book and FARMS, 1994, 3–22. Land Policy, 1905–1920.” Arizona and the West 13 Nibley, Hugh W. “Stewardship of the Air.” In Brother (Fall 1971), 245–64. Brigham Challenges the Saints. Don E. Norton and Ball, Terry B. and Jack D. Brotherson. “Environmental Shirley S. Ricks, eds. Salt Lake City and Provo, UT: Lessons from our Pioneer Heritage.” BYU Studies 38 Deseret Book and FARMS, 1994, 55–75. (1999), 63–82. Peterson, Charles S. “Small Holding Land Patterns in Utah Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Church Hand- and the Problem of Forest Watershed Management.” book of Instructions: Book 1, Stake Presidencies and Forest History 17 (July 1973), 5–13. Bishoprics. Salt Lake City: Church of Jesus Christ of Smith, Joseph F. Gospel Doctrine: Sermons and Writings of Latter-day Saints, 1998. President Joseph F. Smith. Salt Lake City: Deseret Flores, Dan L. “Zion in Eden: Phases of the Environmental Book, 1963 (13th edn). History of Utah.” In Dan L. Flores. The Natural West: Smith, Joseph. History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Environmental History in the Great Plains and Rocky Latter-day Saints, Period I, vol. 2. B. H. Roberts, ed. Mountains. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1948. 124–44. Williams, Terry Tempest, William B. Smart and Gibbs M. Handley, George B. “The Environmental Ethics of Mormon Smith. New Genesis: A Mormon Reader on Land and Belief.” BYU Studies 40:2 (2001), 187–211. Community. Salt Lake City: Gibbs Smith, 1998. Hirschi, Clark to Thomas Alexander, 27 February 1995, Young, Brigham. “Filiality of the Saints – Appointments, & Fax Transmission, LDS Public Affairs Department, Remarks by President Brigham Young made at Logan, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, in author’s Cache Valley, June 10, 1860.” Brigham Young, et al. possession. Journal of Discourses Delivered by President Brigham Jackson, Richard H. “Utah’s Harsh Lands, Hearth of Great- Young, His Two Counsellors [sic], the Twelve Apostles, ness.” Utah Historical Quarterly 49 (Winter 1981), and Others, vol. 8. Liverpool: George Q. Cannon, 1861, 4–25. 77–80. Jackson, Richard H. “Righteousness and Environmental See also: New Religious Movements; Williams, Terry Change: The Mormons and the Environment.” Essays Tempest. on the American West, 1973–1974. Thomas G. Alex- ander, ed. Charles Redd Monographs in Western History, No. 5. Provo, UT: Brigham Young University Church of Nazareth Baptists (KwaZulu- Press, 1975. Natal, South Africa) Kay, Jeanne. “Mormons and Mountains.” The Mountain- ous West: Explorations in Historical Geography. The Church of Nazareth Baptists is a prominent instance of Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1995, the “Zion City” strain within the prophetic-charismatic 368–95. African independent churches (“AICs”) of southern Africa. Church of Nazareth Baptists 389

Originating among the Zulu and today led by a descendant One poignant incident was commemorated in another of the founder, its focus is thaumaturgic healing and hymn so as to keep people mindful of animals’ sentience: a empowerment, and the reconciliation and incorporation captive baby monkey appealed to Shembe, who bought it of ancestors. The name “Nazareth” is taken from Numbers and told the captor to release it where it had been caught. 6, the vow of the Nazarites – Yahweh’s ascetic warrior elite The final verse chastises humanity with a reminder of in the struggle against Canaanism. the spiritual superiority of other creatures: “Awake, it is In recent decades (1980–2000) the church has grown dawn! / When shall you awaken? / You have been sur- beyond KwaZulu-Natal, primarily among Zulu-speakers passed by the monkeys / In seeing the Lord.” Conversely in Gauteng, but also in the Eastern Cape and Swaziland, Shembe also mediated human claims to wild animals: and the Nguni-speaking areas of neighboring states when monkeys raided one temple’s gardens, he entreated (Mozambique, Zimbabwe). them to remember that while God had given them forests The church was founded in early twentieth century for their food, people had to grow their own. How would Natal, South Africa, by a syncretizing healer-prophet fol- they live if their food was stolen? There were no more lowing a revelation and covenant on a “cosmic mountain” thefts after this. – now the site of an annual pilgrimage. Oral traditions By Nguni (Zulu and related) tradition, certain snakes show that Isaiah Shembe (ca. 1870–1935) was also a are reincarnations of persons – Shembe himself being nature mystic whose legacy represents an exception to the known by some as “the horned viper of grace”. Once when AIC tradition, in which human concerns are paramount a mamba appeared on Ekuphakameni dance-ground, the and a “theology of power” prevails. A majority of the men asked if they could kill it, but Shembe warned that present membership remains unaware of the founder’s this was in fact a person. His request to the snake was writings, in which his concerns for animals and environ- immediately obliged: “If you want to do God’s work, go to ment are preserved, but consciousness of this aspect of that tree and stay there, you will be disturbing us here.” his legacy is sustained by oral traditions. As one elder Likewise, he could call upon water snakes to vacate pools avowed, “According to our religion, no beast is caught and in which he wanted to baptize. His followers believe them- killed without weapons by breaking the neck” (a Zulu selves immune from snakebites, since he had prayed for quasi-military custom). this privilege on the Holy Mountain; accordingly anyone The Nazareth Church’s founder was remembered as “a who killed a snake was fined. compound of gentleness and severity (who) loved all Among domestic animals too, “some are people”; cattle living things.” An expert horseman and judge of cattle in and goats as well as dogs were given names, and bulls his youth, he needed just a day to bring an ox to the yoke. were adorned for the July festival dances. After a day’s He seems also to have had “green fingers,” and later in life, dancing, a ceremony followed, designed as “an object at his citadel/commune headquarters Ekuphakameni, lesson in the care of animals”: the feeding of Shembe’s would tell his sons not to sever tree branches, asking: old grey horse, “almost as famous as himself” since it “How if I were to cut one of the fingers from your hand?” responded in kind when converts danced around it. Rules He was seen to address tree saplings, and made their were made against any callousness or cruelty toward names known. Certainly no tree could be cut without per- domestic animals. Declaring that “people are like chil- mission and good reason. One of his praise-names was dren,” Shembe cautioned them against causing misery to “flat-crown tree of Mayekisa (his father).” donkeys by not using a load-support, or roping a milk cow Birds were close to God, therefore to be attracted rather through the nose (since she steps on the rope as she walks). than killed: At Ekuphakameni fresh water was put out Prayer rather than charms was prescribed for ill cattle and for them daily, and doves were hand-fed. Followers were horses, since God had compassion for all living things. ordered to exterminate stray cats preying on them, and Householders who killed their dogs to avoid having to pay they became so numerous that during service in the great the colonial dog tax should be penalized by having to pay temple, open hymnbook pages would be spattered with it for five years thereafter, and any chief who avoided droppings. imposing this penalty would be guilty before God. Those Church legend records Shembe’s command over who killed their dogs for impregnating the dogs of others inanimate nature, in the calming of surf before baptisms, were asked “Why not castrate the dog if it had to live and the turning back of floodwaters. His prophet’s power without a bitch? . . . One cannot keep a bull where there is of Edenic communication with wild creatures is heard in no cow.” his hymnal (the only instance in the history of hymnology Although Shembe’s own position on sacrifice was in which animals speak), and their surpassing holiness is biblical (sacrifices are “a form of gratitude to Jehovah, extolled. In one hymn Adam, the defiler of Eden, is they hold people together by blood, (and open) the Gate of expelled at the request of its other creatures, who ask Heaven”), he is remembered as having disapproved the “Where shall we go today? We are separated from our killing of animals. Just before one sacrifice, he sent the Father . . . Help us God, expel Adam.” message “This beast has just come to me to say that it 390 Cihuacoatl – Aztec Snakewoman is too young to die.” At Ekuphakameni only purchased Cihuacoatl – Aztec Snakewoman animals were slaughtered, never the home herd, and only virtuous followers were apportioned the meat. No doubt The Aztec goddess Cihuacoatl, or Snakewoman, controlled to ensure humane slaughter, Shembe himself wielded the naturally destructive forces that shaped and sustained spear. Said to have been fond only of sorghum, he once births, wars, and city life. This old patroness of agricul- cast to the ground some meat prepared for him, then took tural fields, matronly advisor, and warrior woman con- it back, shook off the dirt, and ate, saying “I only do what trolled these forces by counseling both women engrossed I have been told . . . When you seek the way of God, you do in the battle of childbirth, and warriors or rulers about to not make the search a pleasant affair.” go off to battle. Her powers were needed because all of On the communal farms he established throughout Aztec life was an ongoing war of opposing forces. To Natal, Shembe pioneered rational and humane treatment modern sensibilities, the mythical equation of war’s of livestock. Rich stockfeed was planted, bulls of good destruction with life’s creations might seem strange, but it breed were bought, and the tenacious Zulu “cattle cult” is not so strange when one remembers how much nature discouraged, as followers were persuaded to keep a few structured Aztec life. The closeness with which the Aztecs good milk cows rather than many scrub cattle. Cattle lived with nature underlay a combative metaphor that fed being the cultural measure of wealth, this challenged some all existence. Cihuacoatl represented that metaphor. fundamental precepts, but was critical to curbing over- In the early sixteenth century, the Aztecs (known then grazing and erosion of the already barren lands on which as the Mexica) controlled much of Mesoamerica, an Africans had been confined by colonial legislation, and area that stretched roughly from what is now northern which by the turn of the nineteenth century barely Mexico into modern-day Nicaragua. But they did not supported rapidly expanding populations. Followers control all, and often had trouble keeping what they did whom Shembe settled on his purchases were governed by claim under control. For centuries, Mesoamerica had been a strict Protestant-style work ethic and enjoined to dominated by shifting alliances among urban centers, become as productive and self-sufficient as the Indian cities that were at once religious, political, and social ex-plantation workers-turned-market gardeners alongside centers. A patron deity governed each city, which gave whom the Nazarites lived at Ekuphakameni. it life and strength, thereby creating a ritual center and Though many Nazaretha now live in urban areas, destination for pilgrims. Each city also constituted a com- nostalgia among older members for life on the land takes plex, stratified yet flexible society of many groups of most back to their rural family smallholdings for perform- people ranging from governing elite, to religious profes- ance of weddings and all domestic ceremonies that require sionals, warriors, traders, educators, healers, craftspeople, ancestral sanction. and farmers. These urban centers often competed for power. Sometimes cities allied with one another, at other Robert Papini times they fought each other in an effort to gain the upper hand; and when one did, they captured their enemies’ Further Reading patron deities and burned the gods’ temples to claim their Fernandez, James W. “In the Precincts of the Prophet: A power. The Aztecs had gained the upper hand over many Day with Johannes Galilee Shembe.” Journal of urban centers throughout Mesoamerica, although they Religion in Africa 5:1 (1973). found themselves in almost constant warfare to sustain Hexham, Irving and Gerhardus Oosthuizen, eds. Regional their hegemony. As for many preceding centuries, war Traditions of the Acts of the Nazarites. Lewiston/ kept Mesoamerican religious, political and social bodies Queenston/Lampeter: Edwin Mellen Press, 1999. alive. Hexham, Irving and Gerhardus Oosthuizen, eds. The Story The Aztec capital city Tenochtitlan packed approxi- of Isaiah Shembe: History and Traditions Centred on mately 250,000 people onto an island ringed by fertile Ekuphakameni and Mt. Nhlangakazi. Lewiston/ farmlands rising out of the surrounding, rich wetlands. Queenston/Lampeter: Edwin Mellen Press, 1996. This was not modern-day Mexico City, whose concrete Papini, Robert. “Carl Faye’s Transcript of Isaiah Shembe’s structures now sprawl across what once was Tenochtitlan, Testimony of his Early Life and Calling.” Journal of covering up both the old island, and almost all of the Religion in Africa 29:3 (1999). ancient wetlands. Tenochtitlan’s human masses lived See also: African Independent Churches (South Africa); cheek by jowl, not with concrete, but with corn, beans, Masowe Wilderness Apostles; Zulu (amaZulu) Culture, tomatoes, chilies, and squash; and thousands of water Plants and Spirit Worlds (South Africa). birds, frogs, salamanders, turtles, and fish. Nature was not banished from this city’s life. This cheek by jowl existence with natural beings echoed a common symbolic equation among humans, nature, and gods. Humans constituted just one more set of Cihuacoatl – Aztec Snakewoman 391 natural beings in an already teeming cosmos. Moreover, Cihuacoatl, perhaps even the capture of twins who were gods took the form of natural beings. Mountains, rocks, said to come from the goddess. trees, plants, streams, lakes, all manner of animals, and This same source says that young male warriors also humans alike could all gain life from godly powers; and no sought Cihuacoatl’s powers. They battled the families of god existed that did not bear the shape or shapes of beings women who had died in childbirth in order to capture the and objects found normally in nature. As Snakewoman, dead women’s middle fingers and hair. They attached Cihuacoatl was one such deity, probably having arrived in these potent trophies to their shields to make them Tenochtitlan as patroness of recently conquered agri- valiant and paralyze their opponents’ feet. Snakewoman culturally rich cities. Some people called her “Edible Heron herself was depicted wearing the eagle plumes belonging Herbs” (Quilaztli). to the great warrior god, Mixcoatl, and she carried a Cihuacoatl, in part, helped control an eating and feed- shield and wielded a weaving batten like a weapon. The ing cycle that sustained all life. To sustain life, one must Tlacaellel, a governor who controlled the internal affairs kill something so that the living have something to eat; of Tenochtitlan and frequently counseled the ruler who this became a root metaphor for Aztec religious thinking. managed external affairs, dressed ceremonially in the People ate animals like deer, who munched on corn in goddess’ clothes in order to acquire her skills in warrior farmers’ fields. The corn, also living beings, ate the rotting strategy. loam, dead fish, and human excrement with which people However, stories tell us that Cihuacoatl also could bring fertilized their fields. And that excremental fertilizer came bad news about death and destruction. Normally, she wore from the digested deer, corn, and fish that people killed to her hair tied up in a matronly manner, but occasionally eat. Life was one big cycle of eating and being eaten. Gods she was shown wearing it down, dirty and tangled in the ate people (without whom they would starve); in return, manner of mourning. At such times, she also wore the the gods watered people’s fields so they might eat, helped jawbone of the Lords of Death. Dressed like this – so them produce children, and fed strength to their cities. the tales say – she appeared at night crying warnings for Sacrificial rituals, human and otherwise (for nonhuman all to hear. Cihuacoatl delivered such a warning twice to offerings far outnumbered the human) fed the various the Aztecs just before the Spanish Conquest of Teno- godly forces so that life’s many forms would be nourished. chtitlan in 1521. Then she wailed: “Dear children, soon I Cihuacoatl helped people fight successful battles, which am going to abandon you! We are going to leave you!” So religiously created and sustained life, just as war sustained she and the other gods did, for the Conquistadors brought political and social bodies. both a new society and religion to the land. Cihuacoatl helped Quetzalcoatl, the Feathered Serpent, create people by grinding their bones as one grinds corn Kay A. Read for tortillas. According to one sixteenth-century story, Quetzalcoatl captured the bones from the Underworld Further Reading by overcoming the Lords of Death. Taking them to the Codex Chimalpopoca. As reproduced in History and Western Tree, the home of Cihuacoatl and other female Mythology of the Aztecs: Codex Chimalpopoca. John deities, he gave them to her to grind. The water required to Bierhorst, tr. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, make the dough came from his own male member, which 1992. he sacrificially bled onto the ground cornflour. And so Durán, Fray Diego. The History of the Indies of New Spain. people were born of sacrifice, and Cihuacoatl molded them Doris Heyden, tr. Norman: University of Oklahoma into tortillas for the gods. Press, 1994. Snakewoman also gave good advice and power to Read, Kay A. “More than Earth: Cihuacoatl as Female people traveling on the warrior’s path. Midwives invoked Warrior, Male Matron, and Inside Ruler.” In Goddesses her powers to help young mothers through the battle of Who Rule. Elisabeth Benard and Beverly Moon, eds. birth, especially difficult ones. They exhorted their charges New York: Oxford University Press, 2000, 51–67. to have the courage of Cihuacoatl, and used her powers Read, Kay A. Time and Sacrifice in the Aztec Cosmos. to carefully plan the strategy required for successful Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1998. campaigns. Another sixteenth-century source tells how a Sahagún, Fray Bernardino de. The Florentine Codex: A woman who died in the battle of birth turned into one of General History of the Things of New Spain. Arthur J. the Eagle Women or honorable mythic women warriors O. Anderson and Charles E. Dibble, trs. Twelve books, who, each noonday, captured the sun from dead male 13 parts. Monographs of the School of American warriors. These women took the sun to their western Research, No. 14. Santa Fe: School of American house. There, people from the Land of the Dead captured it Research; Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, at dusk, keeping it in the Underworld until dawn when the 1953–1982. male warriors captured it back from them. If the woman See also: Aztec Religion – Pre-Colombian; Mesoamerican won the battle and lived, she received much fortune from Deities; Rainbow Serpent (North Wellesley Islands, 392 Circle Sanctuary

Australia); Serpents and Dragons; Snakes and the Luo of 1999, and has aided successful court battles involving Kenya; Volcanoes; Weather Snake. land use, job discrimination, and other issues. Circle Sanc- tuary ministers serve as consultants on Pagan religious accommodation to chaplains and administrative staff in P Circle Sanctuary hospitals, corrections, the US military, and educational institutions, and Circle Sanctuary is the first Wiccan Circle Sanctuary, also known as Circle, is one of America’s church to put forth a US military chaplain candidate. In oldest and most prominent Wiccan churches and nature addition, Circle Sanctuary is active in regional, national, spirituality resource centers. Founded in 1974 by senior and international interfaith organizations and confer- minister and high priestess Rev. Selena Fox and others, ences, including the Parliament of the World’s Religions, Circle Sanctuary serves nature religion practitioners and through this work has developed networking alliances worldwide through its networking, websites, events, with leaders and practitioners of traditional and con- healing work, education, and publishing ministries. Circle temporary nature religions in many countries. Circle Network, founded in 1977, consists of thousands of Sanctuary also engages in and supports nature religions individuals and groups, and hundreds of paths of con- research. Rev. Fox and her husband, Dr. Dennis Carpenter, temporary Paganism and related forms of ecospirituality, Circle Sanctuary research director, helped found the including Wicca, Druidism, Animism, Teutonic Paganism, Nature Religions Scholars Network associated with the Unitarian Universalism, Daoism, Pantheism, ecofeminist American Academy of Religion. They founded this spirituality, and multicultural Shamanism. In serving network in order to promote communication and col- this network, Circle Sanctuary publishes and distributes laboration among those engaged in the emerging inter- books, recordings, and periodicals, including its quarterly disciplinary field of Pagan studies. Circle Sanctuary main- CIRCLE Magazine and annual Circle Guide to Pagan tains one of North America’s largest libraries and archives Groups. of books, periodicals, recordings, and other materials Circle Sanctuary is headquartered on a 200-acre site, on contemporary Paganism. Circle Sanctuary sponsors a Circle Sanctuary Nature Preserve, which is located in the variety of activities, at its headquarters and elsewhere. rolling forested hills of southwestern Wisconsin near the Communion with the divine in nature is a common village of Mt. Horeb and the Blue Mound, an ancient underlying theme in Circle Sanctuary festivals, classes, Native American holy place. At its preserve, Circle Sanctu- passage rites, and seasonal celebrations. The largest event ary engages in forest and wetland conservation, prairie sponsored by Circle Sanctuary is the international Pagan restoration, songbird research and preservation, environ- Spirit Gathering, a weeklong conference and summer mental education, and ecospiritual activities. Science and solstice celebration held at a nature preserve in Ohio. The religion converge at Circle Sanctuary Nature Preserve. It spiritual foundation of Circle Sanctuary is the Circle Craft not only is a place dedicated to the preservation of wildlife tradition, a form of the Wiccan religion that is a blend of and ecosystems, but is also a place of spiritual nature old European Pagan folkways, transpersonal psychology, communion, where the divine is viewed as multifaceted multicultural shamanism, and nature mysticism. Staff and and immanent in all of nature. Those associated with volunteers active in the Circle Sanctuary Community carry Circle Sanctuary view environmental activities at the pre- out the multifaceted work of Circle Sanctuary throughout serve and elsewhere as sacred work. Through ecological the year. projects as well as through rituals, meditations, and other forms of religious practice, Circle Sanctuary members Selena Fox endeavor to cultivate and sustain harmonious relation- ships not only with other humans but also with the rest Further Reading of the greater Circle of Life on planet Earth and in the Buckland, Raymond. The Witch Book: The Encyclopedia of universe. Among the many ceremonial sites at the pre- Witchcraft, Wicca, and Neo-Paganism. Detroit: Visible serve are the Stone Circle dedicated to planetary healing, Ink, 2002, 92–93. Brigid’s Spring which is a spiritual healing shrine, and Fox, Selena. “Circle Sanctuary.” In J. Gordon Melton Spirit Rock, an ancient Native American vision quest and Martin Baumann, eds. Religions of the World: A place. Circle Sanctuary also engages in public education Comprehensive Encyclopedia of Beliefs and Practices, and media interviews to help improve public understand- vol. 1. Denver, Colorado: ABC-Clio, 2002, 350. ing of nature religions people and practices. Through its Guiley, Rosemary Ellen. The Encyclopedia of Witches and Lady Liberty League (LLL), Circle Sanctuary is in the fore- Witchcraft. New York: Facts on File, 1989 (revised front of civil rights and religious freedom endeavors on 1999), 60–2. behalf of Wiccans and other Pagans, and has helped win Rabinovitch, Shelley and James Lewis, eds. The Encyclo- victories in the United States and elsewhere. LLL helped pedia of Modern Witchcraft and Neo-Paganism. New defeat US federal anti-Wiccan legislation in 1985 and in York: Citadel Press, Kensington Publishing, 2002. Coalition for Environmentally Responsible Economies 393

See also: Church of All Worlds; Druids and Druidry; become a separate organization with its own governing Pagan Festivals – Contemporary; Pagan Festivals in North structure. America; Paganism; Religious Studies and Environmental CERES plays a unique role in developing partnerships Concern; Starhawk; Wicca. with business around a set of independently established principles that provide pubic accountability through reporting and dialogue. This accountability is a distinctive Coalition for Environmentally Responsible expression for religious groups within ICCR of steward- Economies ship. Corporations often use the term stewardship as a description of their environmental program, yet most fail The Coalition for Environmentally Responsible Economies to recognize the theological roots of the word or the con- (CERES), a non-profit coalition of investors, public pen- nection with economics, a transliteration of the Greek sion funds, labor unions, religious and public interest oikonomia from which stewardship is derived. groups, works in partnership with companies toward the For religious groups, ongoing relationships with cor- common goal of corporate environmental stewardship. porations through dialogue with CERES also provide an In March 1989 a group of social investors, including expression of the tension between justice and reconcili- the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR), ation. Most actions of ICCR are justice-oriented, seeking gathered to look at ways to use investment capital to particular changes in corporations viewed as unjust change the environmental actions of corporations. In Sep- adversaries. The dialogical partnership in CERES between tember 1989 CERES announced the Valdez Principles, corporations and CERES members allows reconciliation to changed in 1992 to the CERES Principles. The ten occur within the framework of accountability for just Principles called for continual environmental improve- action provided by the Principles. ment within the framework of the Principles and an annual environmental report. The Principles address J. Andy Smith, III Protection of the Biosphere, Sustainable Use of Natural Resources, Reduction and Disposal of Wastes, Energy Conservation, Risk Reduction, Safe Products and Services, See also: Wise Use Movement. Environmental Restoration, Informing the Public, Management Commitment, and Audits and Reports. From the beginning, religious groups in ICCR were Cobb, John B., Jr. (1925–) primary drivers of CERES, filing shareholder proposals with dozens of companies to endorse the Principles. John Cobb is Emeritus Professor, Claremont School of CERES provides a vehicle for ICCR groups to give expres- Theology and Claremont Graduate School, and was a co- sion through the Principles to many environmental issues winner of the Grawemeyer Award of Ideas Improving on their agenda. CERES represents a way to bring the World Order in 1992. As founding co-director of the more comprehensive issue of public accountability for Center for Process Studies, Cobb is a leading proponent of environmental action before companies with the support process theology and its implications for ecological and of other parties including public pension funds, labor economic ethics. unions, and social investors. John Cobb’s early work in process theology (from Early endorsers of the CERES Principles included many 1959–1969) gave little consideration to ecological ethics. small, socially conscious firms but no major public cor- This changed when he underwent a “conversion” in 1969, porations. In 1993 Sunoco became the first large company after his son introduced him to the drastic proportions of to endorse the Principles through negotiations led by the ecological crisis. In 1972, Cobb published Is It Too National Ministries of the American Baptist Churches Late? A Theology of Ecology where he began to develop his USA. A year later General Motors endorsed them, again ecological ethic. with negotiations led by religious shareholders. Other Cobb accepts the analysis of thinkers like Lynn White, large endorsers now include Bethlehem Steel, Ford Motor Jr., who argue that Christianity’s traditional emphasis Company, PPL, Baxter International, ITT Industries, upon humanity as being made in God’s image and having Interface, Bank of America, Polaroid, Coca Cola, Nike and dominion over the Earth has led to the ecologically American Airlines. harmful view that only humans have intrinsic value, In 1998 CERES convened an international gathering to while all other creatures merely have value insofar as develop a global environmental metric and in March they serve human interests. Cobb points out that this of 1999 announced the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI). anti-ecological perspective is neither truly biblical, nor The GRI developed a set of guidelines for international theologically necessary. Nonetheless, Christian theology standardized reporting that covers environmental, social needs to be creatively transformed; hence, he turns to and economic impacts. In 2002 the GRI is scheduled to process theology to discover a perspective that is truly 394 Cobb, John B., Jr.

SP The Making of an Earthist Christian those acids without abandoning their faith. I needed to Scholarly Protestant theology in the nineteenth century understand how. I had glimpsed this possibility in a became primarily anthropology; that is, it focused course I had taken with Charles Hartshorne in the on the human condition as understood in the Christian Philosophy Department, and I wanted to learn more tradition. This resulted from the general lack of con- about it. Hartshorne had introduced me to the thought of fidence in theoretical reflection about God, caused in Alfred North Whitehead, and it was to this that I was part by the breakdown of the earlier deism and in part by most drawn. the rejection of metaphysics in the extremely influential Most of Whitehead’s work was about the natural philosophy of Immanuel Kant. This move entailed the world. That was important to me chiefly as assuring me virtual disappearance of the natural world from con- that what he said about humanity and God was coherent sideration. Where it did appear, as in Albrecht Ritschl, it with a responsible science. The Protestant theology that represented the sphere over which human beings were to shaped my questions did not direct my concerns to exercise their mastery. nature as such. In 1965 I published a book entitled “A Popular Protestant piety and its conservative theo- Christian Natural Theology” in which I wrote about God logical expressions did not go so far in this anthropo- and human beings based on Whitehead’s philosophy centric direction. The deistic argument from the order and said almost nothing about the rest of the natural and beauty of the world to God as supreme personal will world. still played a large role. This piety, however, received a It was in the summer of 1969 that my conversion major shock from evolutionary theory. By the twentieth occurred. One of my sons, Cliff, urged me to read The century, in the British and American spheres, the con- Population Bomb by Paul Ehrlich. It was at the time a troversy over evolution split the Church between those best seller, and it was one of the major influences on who appealed to the Bible in a literalistic way as trump- Earth Day 1970. Ehrlich was wrong on many particulars, ing science, and those who adjusted their theology, more but I was convinced then, and am convinced now, that or less, to scientific thinking. Most of the latter solved he was right in his fundamental vision. Population the problem in Kantian fashion, by sharply distinguish- growth combined with rising rates of per capita con- ing the world of science from the historical world to sumption is on a collision course with the Earth’s which theology applied. capacity to sustain us. Another response played some role in the English- Abruptly, the separation I had been making between speaking world. One might try to develop a larger vision human history and the changing condition of the planet in which the data of biological evolution along with became impossible. The fate of the natural world became other sciences and the historical understanding of a consuming concern. I re-thought my vocation. I human beings were brought into coherent unity. This laid aside a manuscript I had almost completed on required challenging the mechanistic worldview under- explanation in history and wrote Is It Too Late? A lying almost all scientific formulations of the time. Theology of Ecology. I led in organizing a 1970 con- It required the rejection of supernaturalist theism and ference on “The Theology of Survival.” And I spoke here appeals to revelation that presupposed this. It took evo- and there in all too alarmist ways. lution seriously, but understood it to mean that some of My new vocation was to critique the Protestant the- the characteristics of the human sphere must have been ology that had led me, and so many others, to be blind to present also in pre-human creatures. the dependence of human life on the wider ecological I attended the Divinity School at the University of system. We Protestants had much responsibility for the Chicago, which was one of the few centers of this kind blindness of our whole society. We were called to repent. of thinking in the mid-twentieth century. To avoid I was certainly not the first to recognize the error of complete isolation from the dominant discussion, we the dominant tradition. I realized that some of my own emphasized the anthropological implications of our teachers, including Hartshorne, had been deeply con- vision. Existentialism was the most challenging form cerned and had worked for change. Joseph Sittler had of this anthropology, and the one most congenial to made an important speech at the Delhi meeting of the us. Hence, we were likely to accent this aspect of our World Council of Churches calling for a renewal of con- tradition of “neo-naturalism.” cern for the whole of creation. Most helpful to me, Lynn The piety I brought with me to the University of White, Jr., a Presbyterian layman who taught the history Chicago was shattered by my first year of study in the of technology at UCLA, had presented a speech on “The Humanities Division in a program called the Analysis of Historical Roots of the Ecological Crisis” in which he Ideas and the Study of Method. I entered that program had explained how the anthropocentric reading of the precisely to expose my Christian faith to the acids of Bible in the West had provided the underpinning for the modernity. I shifted to the Divinity School because I Western ideal of dominating nature. My work depended realized that the faculty there had come to terms with on all of these. Continued next page Cobb, John B., Jr. 395

My work depended, even more, on the thought of Some students worked with me to find thinkers who took Whitehead. Suddenly whole dimensions of its implica- the crisis seriously and then went on to propose ways of tions became important to me. For Whitehead, human ordering our lives that could be both sustainable and existence is continuous with all other forms of existence. rewarding. In 1972 we held another conference on Every momentary event is an occasion of experience, “Alternatives to Catastrophe.” The quest for an alterna- and every occasion of experience is of value to itself as tive to the continuing course of events has been central well as to others. Among the others, the Consequent to my quest to this day. Nature of God, to which all else contributes its value, Of all the denominations, it was the American Baptists is supremely important. The idea that only human who took the need for change most seriously. This was experience is of value is totally erroneous. due chiefly to the leadership of one man, Jitsuo Furthermore, I was convinced that on these points Morikawa. He had been my pastor during my student Whitehead was closer to the Bible than the anthropo- days at Chicago, and we reconnected. I had the privilege centric theology that dominated the Western tradition of working with him on several conferences in the and had been intensified for Protestants by Kant. Quite seventies. apart from the relation to human beings, the creation The man who played the largest role in bringing the story asserts that God saw that the creation was good. urgency of sustainability before the Nairobi WCC The Jewish scriptures celebrate the land and understand Assembly was an Australian ecologist, Charles Birch. nature to glorify God. Jesus speaks of God’s providential Birch had been influenced by Whitehead and admired care for plants and birds. Even Paul envisions the day Charles Hartshorne. These shared interests had brought when the whole creation is freed of suffering. The us together in the sixties. In 1976 he suggested that we narrowing of focus on God and the human soul, so pro- write a book jointly. This took some time, but in 1981 we nounced in Protestantism, is a distortion of the Bible. published The Liberation of Life. It employed a Christian It has been a source of joy to find that fairly rapidly ecological perspective to deal with life at several levels other Protestants have moved in the same direction. and to draw forth the implications of this vision for Already in 1975 at Nairobi, the World Council of public issues. Churches added to its vision of a just and participatory The greatest challenge I felt to my Christian approach society the idea that it must be sustainable as well. was from a colleague in the Claremont Colleges, Paul Although this is still anthropocentric thinking, it opened Shepard. I first worked with him on conference in the the door to seven years of worldwide reflection on the mid-seventies on “The Rights of Nature.” The conference importance of the natural world. At Vancouver in heightened my awareness of the danger of “rights” 1982, the Council shifted to the phrase “the integrity language, although it did not persuade me to abandon of creation,” a much less anthropocentric term. Similar it. Talking with Shepard then and subsequently, I felt changes took place in many denominational statements. the superficiality of much of my own work. I also The Protestant churches took the Bible seriously and recognized how deep was my assumption that civiliza- began the long and difficult task of repentance. tion was something positive, despite all its problems. I Repentance is not easy. Deeply entrenched habits of had celebrated the Christian contribution to civilization thought and sensibility continue to dominate even after and to the development of science and technology, one has recognized the need for change. This is certainly despite their ambiguous role. true of large institutions. It is also true for individuals Paul’s view was that the abandonment of the hunting like me. I published in 1975 my most important and gathering society had been a disaster and that all theological book, Christ in a Pluralistic Age. It sets the supposed “progress” since then had driven humanity issue of Christian belief in Jesus Christ in the context of further into madness. Much that I had taken as support- religious and cultural pluralism. The larger natural con- ive of the positive role of Israel and Christianity (as well text is virtually absent. I am glad to say that after a long as the other “higher” religions) was presented by him as period in which I found it necessary to segregate my reason to reject them and attempt to recover the basic work in interreligious dialogue from my concern for the ethos and sensibility of primal religions. For Paul, the fate of the Earth, the two have now merged. My dialogue self-transcendence that enables us to be self-critical and partners deeply share this passion. to repent is itself a mark of our deep alienation. Several Despite my failure to integrate my concerns in the times we taught seminars jointly, and I was often over- seventies, I was not inactive on the issue of what we whelmed by the depth and richness of his scholarship humans are doing to the rest of the world and the and the creative originality of his vision. Nevertheless, I Church’s responsibility. Shortly after the conference on have remained convinced that whatever the values that “The Theology of Survival” I became convinced that might have been retained had our ancestors never there was little likelihood of change unless there were turned to agriculture and herding, today our hope lies in some positive images of what we should change to. Continued next page 396 Cobb, John B., Jr.

the capacity to repent, that is, to intentionally change age of Christianism through nationalism to the current the direction of thought and action, which, Paul agreed, age of economism. I note the emergence of a new vision the prophetic tradition of the Hebrews most effectively and commitment that I call Earthism and see how this is introduced into history. I pointed out to Paul that he was challenging the dominance of economism in the Bank, playing the prophetic role, much as he opposed it. partly from within, but mostly from without. The book By the early eighties I had become convinced that the is entitled The Earthist Challenge to Economism: A church’s repentance, however important, would not Theological Critique of the World Bank. change the course of events. The world was run on eco- It is very hard to remain hopeful, but hope is a theo- nomic principles, not Christian ones. If there were to be logical virtue not to be abandoned because of dis- any possibility of redirection, these principles would couraging circumstances. The corporate domination have to be challenged. I began to offer occasional of the world for purposes of rapid exploitation of courses on theology and economics in order to educate both the poor and natural resources is accelerating. It is myself. I became convinced that one major problem was supported by both of the major US political parties, by that economic well-being was typically gauged by Gross the universities, by the media, and therefore by the pub- National Product, whereas I was convinced that lic. Yet resistance is rising. Labor and environmentalists increases in GNP had little or no connection to actual are putting aside their differences to recognize the human betterment. A group of students worked with commonality of their interests. Repentance is advancing me to study existing alternatives to the GNP, better cor- in the churches and other religious communities are related to actual economic gains. None were quite satis- joining in. It is too late, much too late, to prevent many factory, and none were being kept up. Accordingly, we of the catastrophes that were still preventable when I went on to construct our own tables for the United wrote Is It Too Late? in the summer of 1970. But there States. The latter task was finally carried out by my son, is much of value that could still be saved if we change Cliff. We called our measure the Index of Sustainable direction now. Sadly, there is less every year. We cannot Economic Welfare. It has been developed subsequently afford to relax our efforts. by Redefining Progress into the Genuine Progress Index. Similar statistics have now been compiled for eight John B. Cobb, Jr. other countries. Quite consistently it turns out that at the present time growth as measured by GNP (or GDP) does Further Reading not indicate any real improvement in the economic Birch, Charles and John B. Cobb. The Liberation of Life: well-being of the people. From the Cell to the Community, Revised. Denton, Of course, there is much more to economics. I turned TX: Environmental Ethics Books, 1990. to Herman Daly, who had presented his vision of a Cobb, John B. The Earthist Challenge to Economism: A stationary state economy at our conference on “Alter- Theological Critique of the World Bank. New York: natives to Catastrophe,” suggesting that we write a St. Martin’s, 1999. book together. We undertook to critique the theoretical Cobb, John B. Is It Too Late? A Theology of Ecology. assumptions of modern economic thinking, to propose Denton, TX: Environmental Ethics Books, 1995 alternative assumptions, and to indicate the practical (revised). implications that would follow from these. In 1989 we Cobb, John B. Sustaining the Common Good: A Christian published For the Common Good, which has touched Perspective on the Global Economy. Maryknoll, NY: the economic community only at the fringes but has Orbis, 1995. exercised some influence in a wider circle of those inter- Daly, Herman and John B. Cobb. For the Common Good: ested in public affairs. Working on this book confirmed Redirecting the Economy Toward Community, the for me a thesis Birch and I put forward in our earlier Environment, and a Sustainable Future. Boston: book: that the policies that destroy nature are also Beacon Press, 1989. destructive of human beings, especially the weak and Ehrlich, Paul. The Population Bomb. New York: poor. Ballantine, 1971. This work has given me lenses with which to observe Gaines, David P. The World Council of Churches. Peters- the still growing dominance of economics in national borough, New Hampshire: Richard R. Smith Noone and world affairs. I have lectured and written on current House, 1966. events and collected some of these essays in Sustaining White, Lynn, Jr. “The Historical Roots of Our Ecological the Common Good. I have grown increasingly distressed Crisis.” Science 155 (10 March 1967), 1203–7. about the dominance of the market in education. See also: Christianity (7f) – Process Theology; Environ- I have written a book locating the development of mental Ethics; Process Philosophy; Shepard, Paul; theory and practice in the World Bank in the context of a White, Lynn – Thesis of. theological periodization of history, moving from the Cognitive Ethology, Social Morality, and Ethics 397

Christian and fully capable of grounding a strong SP Cognitive Ethology, Social Morality, and ecological ethic. Ethics Cobb’s process theology understands God panentheisti- cally (i.e., as both present in and more than the world). As Cognitive ethology is the comparative, evolutionary, and present in and experiencing all existence in its fullness, ecological study of animal minds and mental experiences God values all things. Put differently, everything that including how they think, what they think about, their exists contributes to the experience of God. Moreover, beliefs, how information is processed, whether they are process theology understands each existing thing – or conscious, whether they are self-aware, and the nature of “actual occasion” – as capable of some level of experi- their emotions. Species and individual differences are of encing, even if in a relatively trivial way (e.g., the interest in these studies. Cognitive ethology traces its experience of an electron). Consequently, as a subject of beginnings to Charles Darwin. A natural historian at heart, experience, each thing has some degree of intrinsic value – Darwin emphasized the importance of evolutionary the greater the capacity of experience, the greater the mental continuity among animals, noting that behavioral, intrinsic value of the creature. Thus, all things have value cognitive, and emotional variations among different in themselves, and value for God, over and beyond their species are differences in degree rather than difference in instrumental value to humans. On this basis, Cobb kind. Shades of gray, rather than absolute differences, link develops a comprehensive ecological ethic that rejects different species. anthropocentrism. This ethic has found its most extensive One area in which the interests of cognitive ethologists treatment in The Liberation of Life: From the Cell to the merge with those of theologians and religious leaders Community, co-authored with Australian biologist Charles concerns the evolution of social morality: Do animals Birch. other than humans have codes of social conduct that regu- Cobb’s process relational perspective has also led him late their behavior in terms of what is permissible during to examine the relationship between ecology, social social interactions? Do they cooperate and behave fairly? justice, and economics, arguing that a truly ecological Are they capable of empathy? Many researchers agree ethic will strive to promote a society which is just, par- that if social morality is to be found among nonhuman ticipatory, and sustainable. In short, Cobb argues that animals, it will be the Great Apes and perhaps other pri- economic justice, political participation, and ecological mates who are capable of moralizing. This is a narrow sustainability are not competing goods, but rather require speciesist view that discounts the possibility that some each other. The fruit of his expanded vision can be seen in non-primate social species, such as grey wolves in which For the Common Good: Redirecting the Economy Toward individuals live in cohesive packs that depend on co- Community, Environment, and a Sustainable Future operative and coordinated behavior, might be composed (written with economist Herman Daly), which proposes of moral beings. the use of an “Index of Sustainable Economic Welfare” as The study of the evolution of cooperation and fairness an alternative to Gross National Product for measuring is closely linked to science, religion, theology, spirituality economic well-being that accounts for ecological health and perhaps even different notions of God, because ideas and justice for the poor. about continuity and discontinuity (the possible unique- ness of humans), individuality, personal identity, and free- Paul Custodio Bube dom are involved. Such efforts help us come to terms with who we are in this awe-inspiring universe. Many have Further Reading been moved to be more humble and less anthropocentric Cobb, John B., Jr. Is It Too Late? A Theology of Ecology. and more biocentric in their views of the world when they Beverly Hills, CA: Bruce, 1972. compare humans to other animals who depend on us, as Cobb, John B., Jr. and Charles Birch. The Liberation of Life: the voices for their very existence. Animals offer much in From the Cell to the Community. London: Cambridge terms of spirituality and love, and also show us what we University Press, 1981. have lost in our own evolution. Cobb, John B., Jr. and Herman Daly. For the Common While there is little doubt that the animal roots on Good: Redirecting the Economy Toward Community, which human morality might be built are not identical to Environment, and a Sustainable Future. Boston: animal morality, continuity among different species is Beacon Press, 1989 (rev. edn, 1994). likely. Linear scales of evolution that portray some species See also: Christianity (7f)–Process Theology; Environ- as “higher” or “better” than others are simplistic views of mental Ethics; Process Philosophy. current work in evolutionary biology. Tool-use, language, self-awareness and self-consciousness, culture, art, rationality, and perhaps even the having of religious experiences no longer can reliably be used to draw species boundaries that separate human from all other animals. 398 Cognitive Ethology, Social Morality, and Ethics

Humans are viewed as a part of the animal kingdom, and in the activity and the equality (or symmetry) needed for not apart from it. play to continue makes it different from other forms Some animals may also be viewed as “persons.” Among of seemingly cooperative behavior (e.g., hunting, care- the criteria used to designate a being as a “person” are giving). This sort of egalitarianism is thought to be a pre- included: being conscious of one’s surroundings, being condition for the evolution of social morality in humans. able to reason, experiencing various emotions, having a These codes of conduct likely are important in the evolu- sense of self, adjusting to changing situations, and per- tion of social morality. Behaving fairly evolved because it forming various cognitive and intellectual tasks. helped young animals acquire social (and other) skills Studies of social play and the cooperation that is needed as they mature into adults. needed to maintain play provide insights into animal Without further research, we cannot dismiss the possi- social morality. The emotions associated with play, joy and bility that social play played a role in the evolution of happiness, drive animals into becoming at one with the fairness, social morality, and environment-related mores, activity. As Darwin noted in his book, The Descent of Man or that animals other than human and nonhuman primates and Selection in Relation to Sex, “Happiness is never better are unable intentionally to choose to behave fairly exhibited than by young animals, such as puppies, kittens, because they lack the necessary emotional – empathic – lambs, &c., when playing together, like our own children.” capacities. Even if nonhuman primates do not seem to Concerning the evolution of social morality, the play fairly, this does not justify the claim that individuals notion of “behaving fairly” has received much attention. of other species cannot play fairly. “Behaving fairly” centers on the notion that animals often How we view ourselves in relation to other animals have social expectations when they engage in various informs how we interact with and treat them. If we view sorts of social encounters, the violation of which consti- animals as “lower” than ourselves we treat them accord- tutes being treated unfairly because of a lapse in social ingly. Studies of animal cognition stress that it is impor- etiquette. tant to ask the question “What is it like to be another Playtime usually is safe time – mistakes are forgiven animal?” and to try to answer this question from the point and apologies are accepted by others, especially when one of view of the animals themselves. When we assume the player is a youngster who is not yet a competitor for social animals’ points of view, it becomes obvious that they are status, food, or mates. Individuals must cooperate with subjects of a life, and not merely objects. Many animals one another when they play. They must negotiate agree- have complex cognitive and emotional lives and experi- ments to play. The highly cooperative nature of play has ence pain and suffering. They are intelligent beings with evolved in many species. Detailed studies indicate that feelings and individual personalities. Thus, they deserve individuals trust others to maintain the rules of the game. moral standing that protects them from being used by Cooperation is not merely a by-product of tempering humans merely for our own ends. aggressive and selfish tendencies or combating “selfish Current research in cognitive ethology is transforming genes.” Cooperation and fairness are needed for play to many researchers’ spirituality and ethics. The detailed occur. It might even feel good to be nice to others, to study of animal cognition, emotions, and morality makes cooperate with them and to treat them fairly. it increasingly difficult to argue convincingly for In many different species, social cooperation and dichotomies juxtaposing “them” (nonhuman animals) behaving fairly facilitate the formation of groups (com- versus “us” (human animals), and there are movements munities) based on individuals agreeing to work in away from this sort of arrogant and self-serving human- harmony with one another. Individuals of many species centered polarization. Mainstream journals are beginning fine-tune ongoing play sequences to maintain a play to publish essays on science, nature, spirituality, and heart. mood and to prevent play from escalating into real aggres- Rather than arguing speciesistically for the existence of sion. While play in most species does not take up much “higher” and “lower” species, evolutionary continuity is time and energy, researchers agree that play is very emphasized. Accepting continuity leads to various con- important in social, cognitive, and/or physical develop- ceptions of a community in which all beings share similar ment, and may also be important for training youngsters standing based on who they are, a community of subjects for unexpected circumstances. The absence of play can rather than a mere collection of objects (to paraphrase have devastating effects on social development, rendering Thomas Berry). an individual incapable of interacting with other species Much more research is needed on a wider variety of members. species, and this research must be ethically defensible. This During social play, while individuals are having fun in is among the reasons why Jane Goodall and I formed a relatively safe environment, they learn ground rules that the organization Ethologists for the Ethical Treatment of are acceptable to others – how hard they can bite, how Animals/Citizens for Responsible Animal Behavior roughly they can interact – and how to resolve conflicts. Studies. Our purpose is to develop and to maintain the Play cannot occur if the individuals choose not to engage highest of ethical standards in comparative ethological Columbia River Watershed Pastoral Letter 399 research that is conducted in the field and in the labora- area includes a textured topography – mountains and tory. We urge researchers to use the latest developments meadows, forests and lakes – in which cities and towns, from research in cognitive ethology and on animal sen- farmers and fishers, and loggers and miners all owe their tience to inform discussion and debate about the practical existence and their livelihood to regional natural capital. implications of available data and for the ongoing devel- Diverse ethnic groups inhabit the area: Canadians and opment of policy concerning the treatment of nonhumans Euro-Americans mingle with Native Americans (“First animals by humans. Nations” in Canada), African Americans and Asian Americans. Although diverse native peoples inhabit this Marc Bekoff region, those most directly a part of the Columbia water- ways are the Wanapum, the River People. Their name is Further Reading derived from “Che Wana,” the “Great River” later called Allen, Colin and Marc Bekoff. Species of Mind: The Phi- the “Columbia” by Captain Robert Gray when he sailed his losophy and Biology of Cognitive Ethology. Cambridge, ship of that name in an exploratory journey to the region MA: MIT Press, 1997. in 1792. Bekoff, Marc. Minding Animals: Awareness, Emotions, The pastoral letter process began in 1997 with the and Heart. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002. formation of an international Steering Committee whose Bekoff, Marc. “Social Play Behaviour, Cooperation, members represented the watershed’s Canadian and U.S. Fairness, Trust and the Evolution of Morality.” Journal Catholic dioceses, colleges and universities. The com- of Consciousness Studies 8:2 (2001), 81–90. mittee, headed by Bishop William Skylstad of Spokane, Bekoff, Marc, ed. The Smile of a Dolphin: Remarkable Washington, selected John Reid as Project Manager and Accounts of Animal Behavior. New York: Discovery John Hart as Project Writer, and named the faith-based Books/Random House, 2000. environmental effort the “Columbia River Pastoral Letter Bekoff, Marc, ed. Encyclopedia of Animal Rights and Project.” A series of “Readings of the Signs of the Times” Animal Welfare. Westport, CT: Greenwood Publishing was held in Washington, Oregon and British Columbia in Group, Inc., 1998. which representatives of diverse constituencies – industry, Gallese, Vittorio and Alvin Goldman. “Mirror Neurons and agriculture, fishing, education, community and environ- the Simulation Theory of Mind-reading.” Trends in mental organizations, and native peoples – presented their Cognitive Science 2 (1998), 493–501. perspectives on regional needs. A draft based on their Griffin, Donald R. Animal Minds: Beyond Cognition to ideas was enlarged and enhanced by suggestions from Consciousness. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, consultants that included natural and social scientists, 2001. theologians and church representatives. A website was See also: Animals (various); Elephants; Epic of Evolution; established which described project activities, published Environmental Ethics; Goodall, Jane; Hyenas – Spotted; pertinent biblical quotes and presentations from the Nile Perch; Primate Spirituality. “Readings” sessions, and invited comments from the general public. These activities led to the release on 12 May 1999 of an exploratory document, “The Columbia Columbia River Watershed Pastoral Letter River Watershed: Realities and Possibilities – A Reflection in Preparation for a Pastoral.” The first bioregional statement authored by Catholic The “Reflection” noted environmental degradation bishops was the landmark environmental pastoral letter, and human injustice in the watershed, citing pollution, The Columbia River Watershed: Caring for Creation and including pollution from the Hanford Nuclear Reserva- the Common Good. The pastoral letter, international in tion; salmon species extinction; U.S.-dam-caused extreme scope because the watershed area includes the U.S. states variations in Canadian river levels, disruptive of agri- of Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Montana, and the cultural and commercial enterprises; violations of Canadian province of British Columbia, integrated native peoples’ rights; low working people’s wages; and Catholic faith, community well-being and ecological discrimination against ethnic minorities. The bishops’ responsibility, as it discussed issues of ethics, economics draft document proposed concrete steps to improve water- and ecology in the region. The letter weaves together a shed ecological and social conditions, including Church sense of the sacred, creation care, and the common good pledges to reduce gold use and to strive to eliminate of watershed communities. pesticides and fertilizers on Church properties (the latter The Columbia watershed encompasses 259,000 square exemplary actions, and strong advocacy of salmon con- miles. Its major lifeline is the twelve hundred miles of the servation, would be dropped from the final document Columbia River, which emerges in British Columbia and because of concerns about alienating some watershed is fed by tributaries in Montana, Idaho, Washington and stakeholders). Oregon as it winds its way to the Pacific Ocean. The The “Reflection” catalyzed numerous comments, the 400 Columbia River Watershed Pastoral Letter vast majority positive, from across the U.S. Members of positive and negative aspects of the watershed environ- several Christian traditions noted their particular appreci- ment, human relationships and activities, and human ation for the terms “sacramental universe,” cited from the interaction with regional ecosystems. The bishops recog- U.S. bishops’ national environmental letter, and “sacra- nized human responsibility to build community and to mental commons,” originating in the environmental care for creation: “We are called to relate to people as our theology work of the Project Writer (the latter concepts neighbors and to our shared place as our common home would be eliminated from the final pastoral letter, because . . . We are responsible to God and to the community and some of the region’s bishops did not want to extend the we are responsible for the creation around us” (Columbia idea of “sacramental” to an experience other than that of River pastoral, 5). the Church’s seven ritual sacraments). Part II, “The Rivers through Our Memory,” summarized After the release of the “Reflection,” bishops in regional history and reviewed Catholic religious tradi- Montana, Oregon and Washington hosted “listening tions. Its focus was on the stewardship of creation, con- sessions” which generated ideas that were incorporated by cern for the common good of the human community, and the Project Writer into subsequent drafts of the letter. the promotion of “living water” – biblically, this means Under the leadership of Bishop Skylstad, the bishops then water flowing free and pure – in the watershed. This idea finalized the letter and issued it on 8 January 2001 as The is, symbolically and concretely, a prophetic stimulus for Columbia River Watershed: Caring for Creation and the restoring and conserving the rivers network. The bishops Common Good. The final document was much reduced in urged people to be in “service to God and to creation” content from its predecessor “Reflection.” (Columbia River pastoral, 7). This notion of service to The pastoral letter has an introduction, “Caring for creation expressed a new understanding with profound Creation, Community and the Columbia,” and four major implications for human conduct. In this section the sections: historical perspectives on the rivers, which pro- bishops returned to the theme of God-immanent, parallel- mote in turn analysis of the current situation, reflections ing the idea of a “sacramental universe” expressed by the on regional history and religious ideals, formulation of a U.S. bishops in their 1991 pastoral letter, Renewing the vision for the future, and proposals for concrete actions Earth, and implying a new concept of a “sacramental to realize that vision. The document appended a poem, commons”: “As the whole universe can be a source of “Riversong,” authored by the Project Writer. blessing or revelation of God, so also the commons of a In the introduction, the bishops expressed their hope to local place can be revelatory” (Columbia River pastoral, 8). use the pastoral letter as the basis for an effort “to develop The pastoral articulated the Church’s position that and implement an integrated spiritual, social and eco- Earth’s goods are to be distributed equitably, because God logical vision for our watershed home, a vision that pro- intends the Earth “to provide for the needs of peoples as motes justice for people and stewardship of creation” they live in complex and diverse ecosystems”; people (Columbia River pastoral, 1). In balance with the ordinary should “distribute property and goods justly” (Columbia Christian focus on the transcendence of God from creation, River pastoral, 8), ensuring that all humans’ needs are met. the bishops referred to the immanence of God in creation, Part III, “The Rivers of Our Vision,” proposed that the observing, “The watershed, seen through eyes alive with watershed should be conserved and cared for and its con- faith, can be a revelation of God’s presence, an occasion of stituent communities – human and biotic – should live in grace and blessing. There are many signs of the presence balance. The bishops expressed the hope that “people will of God in this book of nature” (Columbia River pastoral, 2). recognize the inherent value of creation and the dignity The bishops advocated concern for the common good of all living beings as creatures of God” (Columbia River and intergenerational responsibility: “The common pastoral, 11). good demands a proper respect for the land, the air and Part IV, “The Rivers as Our Responsibility,” suggested the water to assure that when we have passed through ten steps to be taken by individuals and communities to this land it remains habitable and productive for those make religious ideals and regional realities congruent in who come after us” (Columbia River pastoral, 2). They the future: quoted approvingly Pope John Paul II’s statement that “Christians, in particular, realize that their responsibility 1. Consider the Common Good within creation and their duty toward nature and the 2. Conserve the Watershed as a Common Good Creator are an essential part of their faith,” (Columbia 3. Conserve and Protect Species of Wildlife River pastoral, 3), affirming thereby that environmental 4. Respect the Dignity and Traditions of the Region’s concern and caretaking are not “add-ons” to Christian Indigenous Peoples conduct but a vital aspect of Christian life. This idea has 5. Promote Justice for the Poor, Linking Economic Justice been a significant contribution to Catholic environmental and Environmental Justice thought and action. 6. Promote Community Resolution of Economic and Part I, “The Rivers of Our Moment,” focused on current Ecological Issues Commons and Christian Ethics 401

7. Promote Social and Ecological Responsibility among (WWF). It has stimulated ongoing watershed educational Reductive and Reproductive Enterprises activities, including an elementary school curriculum 8. Conserve Energy and Establish Environmentally module, presentations of project videos to parish groups Integrated Alternative Energy Sources and civic organizations, and distribution of the pastoral 9. Respect Ethnic and Racial Cultures, Citizens and letter to members of state legislatures. Communities The Columbia River Watershed pastoral has made a 10. Integrate Transportation and Recreation Needs with significant contribution to Catholic Church teachings on Sustainable Ecosystem Requirements (Columbia issues of environmental caretaking and economic justice. River pastoral, 13–17). It stimulated ongoing discussions and debates among diverse constituencies in the watershed, and some of its These proposed ideas and actions, which are being insights will remain part of the enhanced body of Catholic widely disseminated, have a potential to promote care for Church environmental teachings. Even sections that were creation not only in the bishops’ bioregion but in other part of the “Reflection” but not included in the final areas around the globe. document are a source of reflection and proposals for In the watershed itself, however, some individuals and action among members of the clergy and the laity, groups strive to privatize public lands such as national possibly signaling future developments in Catholic forests and wilderness areas, advocating virtually absolute environmental thought and action. personal and corporate rights to hold and use private property in whatever way they desire. The bishops directly John Hart addressed such beliefs: “In the concept of the common good, community and individual needs take priority over Further Reading private wants. The right to own and use private property Clark, Robert. River of the West: A Chronicle of the Colum- is not seen as an absolute individual right; this right must bia. New York, NY: Picador USA, 1997. be exercised responsibly” (Columbia River pastoral, 13). Columbia River Watershed Catholic Bishops. The Columbia Private property is a trust from God to the civil owner for River Watershed: Caring for Creation and the Common the benefit of the entire community. Good. Seattle, WA: Columbia River Project, 2001. When they advocated meeting the needs of the eco- Hart, John. “Care for Creation, Community and the Com- nomically dispossessed, the bishops declared that the mon Good.” Josephinum Journal of Theology 9:1 Church exercises an “option for the poor,” a term which (2002). originated in the Latin American bishops’ 1979 “Puebla Hart, John. “A Jubilee for a New Millennium: Justice for Document,” and was used subsequently in U.S. bishops’ Earth and for Peoples of the Land.” Catholic Rural Life national pastoral letters such as Economic Justice for 43:2 (2001), 22–31. All: Catholic Social Teaching and the U.S. Economy (1986) Hart, John. The Spirit of the Earth – A Theology of the and Renewing the Earth. The Church is called to help the Land. Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 1984. poor to acquire “justice, respect, and an inherent sense of John Paul II, Pope. The Ecological Crisis: A Common dignity, and to participate in transforming economic and Responsibility. Washington, D.C.: United States political structures to create a just society and a sustain- Catholic Conference, 1990. able environment” (Columbia River pastoral, 14–15). In United States Catholic Bishops. Renewing the Earth: An response to harm caused by pollution from mining Invitation to Reflection and Action on Environment in industry operations and agricultural chemicals runoff, Light of Catholic Social Teaching. Washington, D.C.: the bishops declared that “People . . . have a right to a United States Catholic Conference, 1991. clean and healthful environment” (Columbia River pas- See also: Christianity (6a) – Roman Catholicism; Environ- toral, 15), borrowing an expression found in the Montana mental Ethics; Sacramental Universe; Yakama Nation. Constitution. In the Conclusion, the bishops called for transfor- mation of the region “through community commitments Commons and Christian Ethics to concrete historical projects” (Columbia River pastoral, 18). The bishops declared thereby that ideals should be The “commons” designates a shared place as well as an realized through the considered actions of concerned ethics of relation within and accountability for that public citizens. or civic zone (i.e., “the common good”). Such designation The document received significant public attention, as “the commons” can be applied to various scales of including national media coverage in the U.S. and Canada, communitarian affiliation – from the town square or and was recognized with a number of awards, including a “green” to the oceans, atmosphere and planet as “the “Sacred Gifts Award” from the Alliance of Religions and commons” of all kind. While the concept of the commons Conservation (ARC) and the World Wide Fund for Nature does not preclude a sense of territoriality or various 402 Commons and Christian Ethics administrative strategies, it does tend to preclude propri- God-governed commons as a material resistance strategy etary relationships, especially those of an individual or to the hegemony of empires, Jesus compared the economic private interest group. Evocation of the commons attempts flow of divine providence – construed by him as the flow in various ways to account for the land or other resource of natural light without architectural direction as in a as a living system of reciprocal exchanges and as a com- sanctuary; living or naturally free-flowing water, munity of creatures with and beside human interests. unconstrained by aqueducts; wild foods outside of the Likewise, the commons extends human ethical account- systems of tithing and taxation; bodies outside of patri- ability beyond private, individual interests and asserts a lineage; the exchange of wisdom without rabbinic over- holistic versus aggregate communal sensibility. Ethically sight or instruction – to the economic patterns created by speaking, the concept of the commons has been asserted to the imperial rule of Herod Antipas, who was in collusion argue for the basic right of subsistence sustenance for all with Rome and its multinational systems of trade and creatures. Hence, as an interdependent community, the oversight. Positioning “God’s Great Economy” against the planet – including Earth’s arteries of air, water, and energy “big economy” of the Pax Romana and its Herodian – is the life source of all kind, whether human, plant, collaborators not only challenged the presumptive totality animal or insect; since all life depends upon sharing the of its world scale; Jesus also thereby created an economic common or basic elements of life (e.g., fresh water, habitat, circulation among the displaced which exited the imperial and food sources), human interaction with these commons structures – if not wholly, at least in ways that resisted must be maintained with respect “for the common good.” the flow of imperial goods. This movement created a new Christianity has often evoked an ethics of the commons, kingdom within, but also a subversion of the prevailing especially as an ideal of resistance to world regimes, world empire. though the concept does not inherently purport a means of Others of the Jesus movements appealed to the ancient governance or an essential economic pattern thereby. ethic of freedom for debt-slaves so as to decolonize the land fallen under the impress of Rome – the first society Historical Views not to cancel debts. So the author of the Gospel of Luke, In the religious sensibilities of ancient Israel, it was said for example, later in the first century, framed the practice that “the Earth is the Lord’s” (Ps. 24:1); humanity did not of Christian ministry, figured in and through the person of possess the land, but held it in sacred trust. For practical Jesus, as that of a Jubilee, as an act of land redemption management purposes, the land of Israel was divided (Luke 4:18–19). among tribes and households. Legal provisions were estab- Paul, another early first-century apostle with the Jesus lished in this settled agricultural milieu which periodically movements, asserted a certain ethics of living in com- occasioned the forgiveness of indebtedness and the release munity (koinonia) when instructing Corinthians who were of humans from any indentured position into which they divided by class differences: since all are interrelated, all had been economically pressed, so as to redistribute the should act “for the common good” (1 Cor. 1:9, 12:7). Yet if resources of the land (See: SABBATH-JUBILEE CYCLE). Levitical Athenian democracy presumed the common good to be codes insisted that “[t]he land shall not be sold in per- well dispensed from the headquarters of propertied and petuity, for the land is mine [Yahweh’s]; with me you are educated males and wealthy Corinthians were somehow but aliens and tenants. Throughout the land that you hold, imitative of such an hierarchy, Paul eschews their somatic you shall provide for the redemption of the land” (Lev. governance model (1 Cor. 12:14–26). Paul’s resistant 25:23–24). Later prophets likewise condemned those who evocation of koinonia suggested that the adjudication of “add house to house and join field to field until everyone the common good proceed rather by inverting the value else is displaced” (Isa. 5:8). Such legal provisions restored hierarchy: value should be given to the constituents of what the priests construed as a sacred trusteeship, a dis- “the body” generally conceived to be of low status, the tribution pattern which was apparently intended to so-called “weaker” and less honorable and less beautiful guarantee general human access to life sufficiency and members of the body. accountability for soil management. While the mention of While the Christian Church itself was, from the third the commons and the common good date back in biblical century on, numbered among landowners, significant texts to the reconstruction of the Second Temple (Neh. 2:18), Christian voices throughout late antiquity (e.g., the patris- references become more frequent in intertestamental tic theologians Basil the Great, Clement of Alexandria and literature (2 Macc. 11:15, Wis. 7:3) and in the literature of Ambrose) maintained the moral, philosophical teaching the first century (Acts 2:44–45, 4:32 in addition to what of the commons. The fourth-century theologian Ambrose, follows). The Jesus movement of the first century was Bishop of Milan, declared that “God has willed this Earth generated in reaction to the effects of the combined to be the common possession of all and its fruit to support colonizing tendencies of the ancient Hasmonean reign, all.” Indeed, “God has created everything in such a way the Herodian Temple state, and the Pax Romana upon the that all things be possessed in common. Nature is therefore region of Galilee. Invoking “the kingdom of God” or the the mother of common right . . .” (in Avila 1983: 74). Commons and Christian Ethics 403

Basil dispensed the philosophical conviction that dis- and the familial development of father-to-son inheritance, tinguished ta koina, the environment of labor, which giving this genealogy of patrilineal exchange of private individuals had no right to own, from ta idia, that which property something of the connotation of the classic was a product of one’s labor (e.g., ornament, craft, tool, Christian doctrine of “the Fall.” Marxist communism, a etc.). Further, where the rich become richer and the poor hybrid reading of philosopher G.W.F. Hegel’s Spirit- poorer, John Chrysostom – building specifically upon the enthused idealism infused with Native North American Pauline commitment to koinonia – surmised that two tribal philosophy of the commons, might be understood as interrelated conditions occasioned economic injustice: 1) one recent historical attempt at encouraging the reemer- private ownership of land, which began under the aegis of gence of the commons. Even as it must be admitted that Roman law, and 2) the enslavement of laborers, which he the communist experiment failed because of authoritarian, considered an inherent tenant of private ownership of state control thereof, that philosophical Marxism was a land. While Christian ascetic discipline limited the number tool of liberation theology, for positioning its contention of personal goods (cloak, staff, clothes on your back, of God’s preferential option for the poor, may indicate that food bowl, etc.), the philosophy of the commons named liberation theology too shares in the spirit of this claim to the “theatre” of land, water, the winds, rain and sun, for the commons. which no one – Basil insisted – could claim the labor of origination (Avila 1983). Recent Christian Theological Evocations Christian movements, like the seventeenth-century Contemporary invocations of “the [global] commons,” a English Diggers and early North American utopian refrain of Christian eco- and liberation theologians among experiments, which presumed shared land as the basis of others, pose a moral, ethical and philosophical challenge community, leaned back into this sensibility of the com- to the prevailing Roman legal model of private property, mons. During the seventeenth-century enclosure of the which undergirds global capitalism and the extension of English commons by feudal lords, the philosophy of the “property rights” into the domains of knowledge, seed commons was considered a lower-class heresy. Gerard stocks and human genomes, air waves, space and cyber- Winstanley, a failed tradesperson, had a vision telling him space. With the inception of the Roman legal system, to publish abroad that “the Earth should be made a com- private property became the legally defined and pro- mon treasury of livelihood to the whole [of hu-]mankind, tected land ethic, a norm which spread with colonization without respect of persons” (in Hill 1991: 112). Known as and therefore in the company of Western Christianity. “the Diggers,” his community actively opposed the aristo- Enclosure of the global commons has been particularly cratic conscription of the commons by cultivating and set- detrimental to indigenous peoples, who claim a tradition tling St. George’s Hill. Making manuring of this commons of relating to the land as commons (Weaver 1996; a sacramental act, those dislocated by royalist enclosure Charleston 1998), and to women who, according to United of the lands there set up an agrarian community of the Nations statistics, own less than 1 percent of the planet’s dispossessed. An act repeated throughout southern and arable land. central England, the Diggers reclaimed the commons of Often today evoked as a political wager and religious forests and cultivated agricultural fringes. By 1650, they warrant to create alternative civic pockets and alternative added the demand that church land be turned over to the circulatory systems for resource distribution, the metaphor poor. Equating private property with “the original cause of the commons exists within theological circles as of sin” and commenting on Romans 8, Winstanley wrote: principally that – namely, as a fertile symbol which, like “They that are resolved to work and eat together, making a buoy, marks a philosophical ideal that has not yet the Earth a common treasury, doth join hands with Christ been carefully reworked into contemporary theological to lift up the creation from bondage and restore all things teaching or a practical ethic, but hopes to be materialized from the curse” (in Hill 1991: 129). For Winstanley, true here and there as subversions to economic imperialism. religion was founded upon the egalitarian state of nature Such an ethical commitment is ritually enacted in and true freedom developed as an extension of the social Christian circles where the eucharistic sacrament or relations of the commons. “communion” is defined as a “sharing of the common In his assessment that human “covetousness” held the elements.” Frequent references to koinonia (“community”) Earth in bondage, Winstanley echoed the Reformer Martin within Christian practice (ancient as well as contem- Luther’s notion of the “covetous imagination.” Frederick porary) and theo-ethical reflection around the notion of Engels, a reader of Luther, suggested that such covetous- “the common good” carry within them remembrance of ness infected not just the human heart, but was built up “the commons” submerged within Christian spiritualities. into perduring social patterns. Engels in his classic outline Insomuch as Western Christians have inherited an of human social evolution, The Origin of the Family, Augustinian revulsion at the level of need and necessity as Private Property, and the State, associated private property tying one to the Earth and the mind to practical affairs, with the economic development of animal husbandry resurfacing the theology of the commons returns basic 404 Community Supported Agriculture matters of survival and sustainability to the theo-ethical Further Reading agenda. Avila, Charles. Ownership: Early Christian Teachings. Sri Lankan theologian Tissa Balisuriya in his work Maryknoll: Orbis, 1983. Planetary Ecumenism has charged the Western world with Balasuriya, Tissa. Planetary Ecumenism. Maryknoll: Orbis, land apartheid, for enclosing – through immigration law 1984. – the most productive agricultural land of North America, Berry, Wendell. “Two Economies.” In Home Economics. while conscripting the mass of humanity to marginal New York: North Point Press, 1987, 54–75. lands. Larry Rasmussen’s evocation of planetary “ecu- Boff, Leonardo. Ecology and Liberation: A New Paradigm. menacy,” in his book Earth Ethics, Earth Community, Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 1995. can be seen as analogically parallel the notion of “the Charleston, Rt. Rev. Steven. “From Medicine Man to commons.” Leonardo Boff, agreeing with the conviction Marx: The Coming Shift in Native Theology.” In Jace that “poverty is our main environmental problem,” Weaver, ed. Native American Religious Identity: critiques the way in which power has decided access to Unforgotten Gods. Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 1998, necessities and proposes a new model of society, which 155–72. finds the supreme good in earthly and cosmic integrity. Daly, Herman E. and John B. Cobb, Jr. For the Common Interpreting the Trinity as a symbol of the communion of Good: Redirecting the Economy Toward Community, the God-hood, Boff urges Christian spiritual mysticism to the Environment, and a Sustainable Future. Boston: take up the practical labor of reconstructing patterns of Beacon Press, 1989. sharing and living within nature’s systems of reciprocity. Engels, Frederick. The Origin of the Family, Private Sun Ai Lee-Park reads the biblical story of the Tree of Property, and the State. New York: Pathfinder Press, Life at the center of the Garden of Eden to support the 1972. contention that “the source of life” – that is, the vital and Hill, Christopher. The World Turned Upside Down. New basic systems of life exchange (food, water, shelter) – need York: Penguin, 1991. to be kept open to all creatures. Genesis Farm – recogniz- Lee-Park, Sun Ai. “The Forbidden Tree and the Year of ing that as more and more life interchanges are forced the Lord.” In Rosemary Radford Ruether, ed. Women through the monetary system, the human social com- Healing Earth. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 1996. munity experiences greater chasms of inequality – has Rasmussen, Larry. Earth Ethics, Earth Community. Mary- planted a hillside with an orchard that allows persons knoll: Orbis, 1996. in its agricultural cooperative as well as visitors to its Rifkin, Jeremy. Biosphere Politics: A Cultural Odyssey educational center to “Come eat, without money . . .” (Isa. from the Middle Ages to the New Age. New York: 55:1–2). This orchard, literally a “free for all,” helps the HarperSanFrancisco, 1991. human community remember the organic, material ideal Sawicki, Marianne. Crossing Galilee: Architectures of of the land commons. Contact in the Occupied Land of Jesus. Harrisburg, PA: Wielding prophetic critique, Christians evoke the com- Trinity, 2000. mons so as to generate legal and political moves to with- Spretnak, Charlene. States of Grace: The Recovery of hold entities and knowledge from the market, to open Meaning in the Postmodern Age. New York: Harper- value outside of the tide of economic commodification. SanFrancisco, 1991. Engels ended his essay on the history of private property Weaver, Jace. “From I-Hermeneutics to We-Hermeneutics: with the conclusion – more hope than historical observa- Native Americans and the Post-Colonial.” Semeia 75 tion – that “[a] mere property career is not the final destiny (1996), 153–76. of [hu]mankind” (Engels 1972: 166). “The commons” as a See also: Christianity (4) – Early Church (Fathers & communitarian land ethic, as a philosophical and sym- Councils); Christianity (5) – Medieval Period; Christianity bolic ideal, has had various material incarnations as well (6c1) – Reformation Traditions; Christianity (7a) – Theology as a long history of political resistance to world-totalizing and Ecology; Diggers and Levelers; Eco-Justice in regimes. Calling upon this powerful political valency, Theology and Ethics; Environmental Ethics; Hebrew Bible; contemporary assertions of “the commons” attempt to Sabbath – Jubilee Cycle. evoke a new human relationship to various unclaimed or non-patented though threatened life regions. Rolling the discontent of global economic injustice around ancient Community Supported Agriculture and reconstructed memories, the concept of the commons yearns toward a new moral ethic, if not a new economic Agricultural practices worldwide in the past four decades model, which promises access to a sustainable livelihood have moved away from community-based, diversified for all kind. farms toward a globally integrated industrial food system. This has been especially true of the industrialized nations Sharon V. Betcher of the North. One result of this is that fewer and fewer Complexity Theory 405 people know where or how food is produced and what or further human alienation from the land and eco- kinds of agricultural practices are involved. Community logically viable lifestyles. Supported Agriculture (CSA) emerged originally in Japan • An integral part of the CSA ethic is a spiritual dimen- and shortly thereafter in several European nations in the sion. One CSA in Iowa includes in its description of late 1960s and 1970s in response to these trends. In Japan, CSAs this phrase: “CSAs seek to reconnect people with groups of consumers concerned about food production the Earth, the rhythms and beauty of nature, and the began to approach agricultural producers with the pro- physical and spiritual rewards of direct contact with posal that they buy directly from the producers in the soil.” Many CSA producers and consumers cite spir- exchange for having the food raised using sustainable itual or religious commitments as among the reasons agricultural practices and no artificial chemicals. By the why they are involved in CSAs. The frameworks or mid–1980s, two farms in the eastern U.S. began practicing spiritualities tend to group broadly into two categories: Community Supported Agriculture. Today there are over stewardship convictions rooted in the Judeo-Christian 1000 CSA projects in the U.S., and the numbers continue tradition that humans are to be loving stewards of to grow. God’s gifts of creation, and more Earth-based A key feature of Community Supported Agriculture is spiritualities that discern a sacred dimension in the building direct partnership between the farmer and the Earth and its rhythms itself, and try to farm in ways consumer. The farmer or organizing members plan a that are harmonious with these energies. budget that includes costs of production, salary, distribu- tion, administration and organizational costs. This deter- Daniel T. Spencer mines the number of members that a CSA can support and the price of a membership or share. Consumers buy a share Further Reading in the CSA and receive the return on their “investment” in Bird, Elizabeth Ann, Gordon L. Bultena and John C. the form of weekly portions of food during the growing Gardner, eds. Planting the Future: Developing an Agri- season. In this way consumers share the risk of farming culture that Sustains Land and Community. Ames, IA: sustainably with the farmer: in good years bountiful Iowa State University Press, 1995. harvests provide greater quantities of food to members, DeMuth, S. Community Supported Agriculture (CSA): An while in poor years, consumers and farmers share in the Annotated Bibliography and Resource Guide. Belts- loss of any particular crop. The producer receives payment ville, MD: National Agricultural Library, Alternative at the beginning of the season, which prevents the need Farming Systems Information Center, 1993. for springtime operating loans and provides a guaranteed Groh, Trauger and Steven McFadden. Farms of Tomorrow income for the farmer’s labor. Revisited: Community Supported Farms, Farm Sup- Community Supported Agriculture fosters the integra- ported Communities. Kimberton, PA: Bio-dynamic tion of several important dimensions of an ecological Farming and Gardening Association, 1997. ethic: Hassanein, Neva. Changing the Way America Farms: Knowledge and Community in the Sustainable • CSAs serve to link rural and urban dwellers in a particu- Agriculture Movement. Lincoln, NE: University of lar region through sustainable food production. They Nebraska Press, 1999. counter the trend toward centralized and concentrated Wilson College Center for Sustainable Living. The Com- food systems and social systems that cause damage to munity Supported Agriculture Handbook: A Guide to both local ecosystems and the human communities Starting, Operating or Joining a Successful CSA. within them. They consciously seek to produce food for Chambersburg, PA: Center for Sustainable Living, humans by working within the natural rhythms and Wilson College, 1998. capacities of the land. They strengthen local com- See also: Back to the Land Movement; Berry, Wendell. munities by allowing farmers to live on the land while linking the land and food production to the rest of us. Complexity Theory Many CSAs stress education about sustainable food production and either invite or require some participa- Also known as chaos or catastrophe theory, complexity tion of their members in the farming practices so that theory is primarily a development of the Santa Fe Institute the knowledge base about food and its production in New Mexico that focuses upon the predominant non- increases. The importance of culture in agriculture is linear processes of change operating in economics, retained and strengthened. physics, biology, computer sciences, social dynamics and • CSAs stress that everyone invests time and money in the cosmos in general. The sciences of complexity are food consumption; where this investment goes and primarily concerned with the emergent principle of who and what practices support it can either foster an spontaneous self-organization in which the whole ecologically aware and sustainable relation to the land becomes something more than the simple sum of its parts. 406 Complexity Theory

At present, complexity science as developed by the likes of individual components. Because the significant factor in Murray Gell-Mann, Kenneth Arrow, Ilya Prigogine, Daniel natural processes is iteration or repeated feedback allow- Stein, Arthur Brian, John Holland, Stuart Kauffman, ing any given system through multiple folding back onto Christopher Langton, Doyne Farmer and Philip Anderson itself to have both the range and time to exhibit new among others has been applied essentially to mechanics properties and organizational forms, Frederick Turner and social and political theory, but in principle it is equally (Eve, et al. 1997: xv, xxiv) adds nonlinear dynamic applicable to understanding spiritual and green con- modelling as a new fifth tool of complexity science along sciousness as products of natural evolution as well as with observation, analysis, theorizing and demonstrable possible reasons behind successful anti-environmental testing. efforts. From the perspective of nature and religion, the According to Charles Jencks (1995: 37), the complexity Gaia principle of James Lovelock, and the notion of understanding sees that the universe is ever increasing in increasingly complex fields of consciousness as sponta- information or negentropy. This production of negative neous consequences of uncorrupted and balanced natural entropy counters the second law of thermodynamics that development, conform to the explicative dynamics offered holds instead that information (including heat or energy) by complexity theory. To date and in general, the theory will disappear rapidly as entropy inevitably increases to has yet to influence significantly “green” ways of think- maximum. Nevertheless, along with such concepts as ing. But it retains potential in providing motivation, increasing returns, unpredictability and the immense spiritual resource or rationale for deployment toward historical consequences understood possibly to result from nature conservation. tiny events (e.g., hurricanes in Florida following from the In both the natural and behavioral sciences, the ability flapping of butterfly wings in Saudi Arabia), complexity to predict greater than chance has been the bedrock of theory also embraces the notion of lock-in, namely, the traditional scientific methodology comprising obser- entrenched establishment of a less advantageous situation vation, logical/mathematical analysis, hypothesis and that becomes the norm. Examples of negative feedback experiment, but with the increased recognition of com- patterns of lock-in include the QWERTY/AZERTY key- plexity within both the natural and social worlds, com- board layout, the VHS videotape format over the Beta plexity theory argues that, rather than forecast accurately design, gasoline-powered internal combustion over the the likely shapes of future development, it is more if not steam engine, and light-water reactors over gas-, heavy- only possible to retrodict (determine causality ex post water-, or liquid-sodium-cooled nuclear power systems. facto) from a situation that has already occurred on how Even in cases of lock-in, however, the retrodictable that particular event came to pass. In essence, complexity explanation is one that makes sense, and for complexity theory is predicated upon 1) Einstein’s demolishing of theorists this in turn is part of the process of emergent Newton’s concepts of absolute space and time; 2) Heisen- properties and new forms of organization that can be berg’s understanding of indeterminancy as a fundamental understood in terms of freedom. Complexity freedom principle that disallowed Laplace’s contention that one differs from the existential freedom of gratuitous chance could know simultaneously both the position of a particle and capricious fancy. Instead, the freedom of unpredict- and its velocity; 3) quantum theory that extends the per- ability is both the underlying simplicity of turbulent self- ception of light as sometimes functioning like waves and organizing feedback and the natural survival advantage sometimes like particles to other fields of physics; and 4) inherent in redundant proliferation of unintended backup the ideas of deterministic chaos that refute the basis of systems. In understanding complexity science as the macroscopic determinism, namely, that even with a small cybernetics of effective organization, and in the face of number of objects, their fundamental physics makes long- realizing time to be irreducible, irreversible and asym- term prediction impossible. metrical, a new catalogue of forms emerges: irregularity, Consequently, complexity theory comprehends nature discontinuity, tendency toward fragmentation, self- both with our terrestrial planet and throughout the uni- similarity, scaling symmetries, infinite depth within a verse as not only extremely complicated but also highly bounded domain, a three-dimensional look and a charac- adaptive, undergoing sudden phase transitions or teristic “style.” Complexity theory refers to these collec- upheavals at the edge of chaos, nonlinearly dynamic, tively as the basic “strange attractor” or fractal form spontaneously self-organizing and emergent. This com- embedded in any nonlinear feedback process. It is the prehension, however, undermines science in general and strange attractor that allows systemic “free choice” as well the social sciences in particular by challenging the laws of as the understanding that nonlinear historical processes cause and effect as the foundational basis for a means and are primary – with the abstract laws of science being method of explanation. Spontaneous self-organization generated from the iteration of dynamic processes rather working with ever-increasingly complex building blocks than the operations necessarily having to conform to leads to new and unpredictable properties – with a pre-established scientific patterns. resultant totality that exceeds any understanding of its Complexity theory, therefore, comprehends nature as Composting 407 an unbounded and perpetual feedback process of self- substance. While Midler found in it her place in the uni- organization. Consciousness itself is understood as an verse, many environmentalists use it as a central symbol emergent property of nature rather than a transcendent for the cycle of nature. originator beyond space and time. The teleological emer- In earlier agriculture, composting was a natural part gence of both functional structure and sentience from of the recycling of substances, while late modern green inert matter is expressive of a spontaneous generative spirituality, especially within the Green Death Movement, inclination inherent in physical reality. Some complexity also includes the notion of humans as being between birth, theorists have recognized this creative tendency as an death and rebirth in the cyclical worldview represented by incipient inclination toward spiritual development that is the compost container in the garden or the flat. Critiquing internal to nature. In other words, the spiritual is a natural modern society, compost also serves for the revaluing development, a built-in feature, integral to the energy- of garbage, shit and waste that are turned into nearly matter matrix that is our cosmos. It comprehends how we sacred artifacts representing the flow of nature. Environ- as human beings become something more than merely mentalists sometimes even wish to be buried in their the sum of our bodily parts, how our planet emerges as a compost, resting in Mother Earth. self-regulating biosystem and even that a collective Pre-modern religions include differentiated under- consciousness such as is currently being monitored by standings of the planet’s surface (e.g., the Earth as mother), the Princeton Institute might increasingly become an while modern worldviews have forgotten or eliminated apparent operative. these. A look at biblical and classical traditions in Christi- anity shows that the Earth was regarded as in cooperation Michael York with God in regard to the history of salvation. The Earth took care of the dead bodies until their final resurrection. Further Reading Ancient beliefs in the goddess Gaia were transformed by Arrechi, Tito. “Chaos and Complexity.” In Charles Jencks, the early church into an understanding of the Earth as a ed. The Post-Modern Reader. New York: St. Martin’s holy element of the Spirit’s life-giving. The modern Press/London: Academy Editions, 1992, 350–3. culture of composting in rich and poor countries alike Eve, Raymond A., Sara Horsfall and Mary E. Lee, eds. should be regarded as a strong religious symbol for a new Chaos, Complexity, and Sociology: Myths, Models, and cyclic way of understanding life in general and the human Theories. Thousand Oaks, London, New Delhi: Sage, bodily self concerning it. The cycle of life, from birth to 1997. flourishing to a death which gives new conditions for Gleick, James. Chaos: Making a New Science. London, furthering life, could easily be experienced as a trans- Melbourne, Johannesburg, Auckland: Heinemann, formative material, social and religious praxis. 1988. Composting is strongly encouraged and legitimized Jencks, Charles. The Architecture of the Jumping Universe. through green ideologies in many nations’ environmental London: Academy Editions, 1995. policies. Composting can reduce garbage volumes up to 80 Kauffman, Stuart A. The Origins of Order: Self- percent. Through the practice of composting, the diminish- Organization and Selection in Evolution. New York and ing layer of productive Earth for farming could again be Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993. increased, especially in the Third World. Pedagogical pro- Waldrop, M. Mitchell. Complexity: The Emerging Science grams for the education of teachers and children have at the Edge of Order and Chaos. New York: Touchstone; been developed around composting. Christian churches in London: Simon & Schuster, 1992. East Germany, Finland and Sweden, for example, have See also: Chaos; Einstein, Albert; Gaia; Lovelock, James; developed a “com-post-modern theology” (a term coined Prigogine, Ilya; Science. by S. Bergmann) where gardeners, priests and politicians have reflected on and renewed the material flow in various parishes. Composting Sigurd Bergmann “All my life I had waited for an inspiration, a manifesta- tion of God, some kind of a transcendent, magic experi- See also: Church of Euthanasia; Death and Afterlife in Jef- ence that could show me my place in the universe. This fers and Abbey; Green Death Movement; Zoroastrianism. experience I made with my first compost,” the American singer Bette Midler replied when she was crowned as the “queen of compost” in Germany in 1994. Confucianism Compost is a mixture of decomposed vegetable or animal matter that is collected in an open or closed con- Confucianism has conventionally been described as a tainer in order to transform “dead” matter into fertilizing humanistic tradition focusing on the roles and responsi- 408 Confucianism bilities of humans to family, society, and government. scholars who came to Taiwan and Hong Kong after Mao’s Thus, Confucianism is identified primarily as an ethical or ascendancy in 1949. Mao felt that Confucianism was political system of thought with an anthropocentric focus. essentially a feudal tradition, anchored in history, and that However, upon further examination and as more transla- for his ideas to flourish a radical break must be made with tions become available in Western languages, this narrow the past. The anti-Confucian campaigns during Mao’s rule perspective needs to be reexamined. were virulent, especially in the Cultural Revolution of the Some of the most important results of this reexamina- 1960s and 1970s. However, after Mao’s death, there was a tion are the insights that have emerged in seeing Con- resurgence of interest in Confucian values, some of this fucianism as not simply an ethical, political, or ideological encouraged by the government. Indeed, the International system. Rather, Confucianism is being appreciated as a Confucian Society held two major conferences in Beijing profoundly religious tradition in ways that are different and in Confucius’ birthplace, Qufu, to explore the future of from Western traditions. This may eventually result in the Confucian Way in 1989. These conferences were held expanding the idea of “religion” itself to include more to commemorate the 2540th anniversary of Confucius’ than criteria adopted from Western traditions such as birth and marked a renewed interest in Confucianism to notions of God, salvation, and redemption. Moreover, balance the unsettling effects of the rapid industrialization Confucianism is being recognized for its affirmation of and modernization of China. relationality, not only between and among humans but also with humans and the natural world. Major Thinkers and Texts The Confucian worldview might be described as a series The acknowledged founder of the Confucian tradition was of concentric circles where the human is the center, not as known as the sage-teacher Kongzi (551–479 B.C.E.). His an isolated individual but as embedded in rings of family, name was Latinized by the Jesuit missionaries as Con- society, and government. This is especially clear in the fucius. Born into a time of rapid social change, Confucius ancient text of the Great Learning (Daxue) which is a was concerned with the goal of reestablishing political and chapter from the Book of Rites (Liji), one of the Confucian social order through rectification of the individual and the classics compiled over 2000 years ago. All of these circles state. The principal teachings of Confucius are contained are contained within the vast cosmos itself. Thus the in his conversations recorded in the Analects. Here he ultimate context for the human is the “10,000 things,” emphasized the cultivation of moral virtues, especially nature in all its remarkable variety and abundance. humaneness (ren) and the practice of civility or ritual decorum (li), which includes filiality (xiao). Virtue and Historical Development civility were exemplified by the noble person (junzi) We can identify four major periods of Confucian thought particularly within the five relations, namely, between and practice. The first stage is that of classical Confucian- ruler and minister, parent and child, husband and wife, ism, which ranges from approximately the sixth century older and younger siblings, and friend and friend. The B.C.E. to the second century before the Common Era. essence of Confucian thinking was that to establish order This is the era of the flourishing of the early Confucian in the society one had to begin with harmony, filiality, and thinkers, namely Confucius and Mencius. The second decorum in the family. Then, like concentric circles, the period is that of Han Confucianism when the classical effects of virtue would reach outward to the society. Like- tradition was shaped into a political orthodoxy under the wise, if the ruler were moral, it would have a ripple effect Han empire (202 B.C.E – 220 C.E.) and began to spread to on the rest of the society and to nature itself, like a pebble other parts of East Asia. The Han period saw the develop- dropped into a pond. ment of the theory of correspondences of the microcosm At the heart of this classical Confucian worldview was a of the human world with the macrocosm of the natural profound commitment to humaneness and civility. These world. The third major period is the Neo-Confucian two virtues defined the means of human relatedness as a era from the eleventh to the early twentieth century. spiritual path. Through civility, beginning with filiality, This includes the comprehensive synthesis of Zhu Xi in one could repay the gifts of life both to one’s parents and the eleventh century and the distinctive contributions of ancestors and to the whole natural world. Through Wang Yangming in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. humaneness one could extend this sensibility to other The influence of both Confucianism and Neo- humans and to all living things. In doing so one became Confucianism as an educational and philosophical system more fully human. The root of practicing humaneness was spread beyond China and shaped East Asian societies considered to be filial relations. The extension of these especially Korea and Japan, along with Taiwan, Hong relations from one’s family and ancestors to the human Kong, and Singapore. family and to the cosmic family of the natural world was In the twentieth century a fresh epoch of Confucian the means whereby these primary biological ties provided humanism has emerged called “New Confucianism.” This a person with the roots, trunks, and branches of an inter- represents a revival of the tradition under the influence of connected spiritual path. Humans, nature, and the cosmos Confucianism 409 were joined in the stream of filiality. From the lineages of Finally, he had a highly developed sense of the inter- ancestors to future progeny, intergenerational connec- dependent triad of Heaven, Earth, and humanity that was tions and ethical bonding arose. Reverence and reciprocity emphasized also by many later Confucian thinkers. He were considered a natural response to this gift of life from writes: “Heaven has its seasons; Earth has its riches; parents and ancestors. Analogously, through reverence for humans have their government.” (Heaven was understood Heaven and Earth as the great parents of all life, one as the guiding force of the Universe and Earth as the realized one’s full cosmological being and one’s place in natural world within which humans lived and flourished.) the natural order. Confucianism blossomed into a Neo-Confucian revival Confucian thought was further developed in the in the eleventh and twelfth centuries that resulted in a writings of Mencius (ca. 385–312 B.C.E.) and Xunzi new synthesis of the earlier teachings. The major Neo- (ca. 310–219 B.C.E.), who debated whether human nature Confucian thinker, Zhu Xi (1130–1200), designated four was intrinsically good or evil. Mencius’ argument for the texts from the canon of historical writings as containing inherent goodness of human nature gained dominance the central ideas of Confucian thought. These texts and among Confucian thinkers and gave an optimistic flavor Zhu Xi’s commentaries on them became, in 1315, the basis to Confucian educational philosophy and political theory. of the Chinese civil service examination system, which This perspective influenced the spiritual aspects of the endured for nearly six hundred years until 1905. Every tradition as well because self-cultivation was seen as a prospective government official had to take the civil means of uncovering this innate good nature. Mencius service exams based on Zhu Xi’s commentaries on the contributed an understanding of the process required for Four Books. The idea was to provide educated, moral self-cultivation. He did this by identifying the innate seeds officials for the large government bureaucracy that ruled of virtues in the human and suggesting ways in which China. The influence, then, of Neo-Confucian thought on they could be cultivated toward their full realization as government, education, agriculture, land, and social virtues. Analogies taken from the natural world extended values was extensive. Views regarding nature, agriculture the idea of self-cultivation of the individual for the sake and management of resources were derived from Neo- of family and society to a wider frame of reference that Confucian understandings of the importance of humans’ also encompassed the natural environment. This can be working to cultivate and care for nature as a means to described as a path of botanical cultivation. In addition to fulfill their role in the triad of Heaven and Earth. his teachings on personal cultivation, Mencius advocated Zhu Xi’s synthesis of Neo-Confucianism was recorded humane government as a means to promote the flourish- in his classic anthology, Reflections on Things at Hand ing of a larger common good. His political thought (Jinsilu). In this work Zhu formulated a this-worldly spir- embraced appropriate agricultural practices and proper ituality based on a balance of cosmological orientation, use of natural resources. Mencius taught: ethical and ritual practices, scholarly reflection, and politi- cal participation. The aim was to balance inner cultiva- If the agricultural seasons are not interfered with, tion with outward investigation of things in concert there will be more grain than can be eaten. If close- with the dynamic changes of the natural world. Zhu Xi meshed nets are not allowed in the pools and ponds, affirmed these changes as the source of transformation there will be more fish and turtles than can be eaten. in both the cosmos and the person. Thus Neo-Confucian And if axes are allowed in the mountains and forests spiritual discipline involved cultivating one’s moral nature only in the appropriate seasons, there will be more so as to bring it into harmony with the larger pattern timber than can be used . . . this will mean that the of change in the cosmos. Each moral virtue had its cos- people can nourish their life, bury their dead, and be mological component. For example, the central virtue without rancor (in DeBary and Bloom 1999: 118). of humaneness was seen as the source of fecundity and growth in both the individual and the cosmos. By prac- In particular, he urged that the ruler attend to the basic ticing humaneness, one could effect the transformation of needs of the people and follow the way of righteousness things in oneself, in society, and in the cosmos. In so not profit. doing, one’s deeper identity with reality was recognized Xunzi contributed a strong sense of the importance of as forming one body with all things. As the Doctrine of the ritual practice as a means of self-cultivation. He noted that Mean stated: “. . . being able to assist in the transforming human desires needed to be satisfied and emotions such and nourishing powers of Heaven and Earth, one can form as joy and sorrow should be expressed in the appropriate a triad with Heaven and Earth” (in De Bary and Bloom degree. Rituals provided the form for such expression in 1999: 338). daily human exchange as well as in rites of passage such as marriage and death. Moreover, because Xunzi saw Confucian Relationality and Nature human nature as innately flawed, he emphasized the need From the classical texts to the later Neo-Confucian for education to shape human nature toward the good. writings there is a strong sense of nature as a relational 410 Confucianism whole in which human life and society flourishes. Indeed, Everything in nature and society has its appropriate role Confucian thought recognizes that it is the rhythms of and place and thus should be treated accordingly. The use nature that sustain life in both its biological needs and of nature for human ends must recognize the intrinsic socio-cultural expressions. For the Confucians the bio- value of each element of nature, but also its value in logical dimensions of life are dependent on nature as a relation to the larger context of the environment. Each holistic, organic continuum. Everything in nature is inter- entity is considered not simply equal to every other; dependent and interrelated. Most importantly, for the Con- rather, each interrelated part of nature has a particular fucians nature is seen as dynamic and transformational. value according to its nature and function. Thus, there is a These ideas are evident in the Book of Changes and are differentiated sense of appropriate roles for humans and expressed in the Four Books, especially in Mencius, the for all other species. For Confucians, hierarchy is seen as a Doctrine of the Mean, and the Great Learning. They come necessary way for each being to fulfill its function. In this to full flowering in the Neo-Confucian tradition of the context, then, no individual being has exclusive privileged Song (960–1276) and Ming periods (1368–1644). Nature status in relation to nature. Rather, the processes of nature in this context has an inherent unity, namely, it has a and its ongoing logic of transformation (yin/yang) is the primary ontological source (Taiji). It has patterned pro- norm that takes priority for the common good of the whole cesses of transformation (yin/yang) and it is interrelated in society. the interaction of the five elements and the 10,000 things. Confucians were mindful that nature was the basis of a Nature is dynamic and fluid with the movements of (qi) stable society and that without tending nature carefully, material force. imbalance would result. There are numerous passages For the Confucians, humans are “anthropocosmic” in Mencius advocating humane government based on beings not anthropocentric individuals. The human is appropriate management of natural resources and family viewed as a microcosm in relation to the macrocosm of the practices. Moreover, there are various passages in Con- universe. This is expressed most succinctly in the meta- fucian texts urging humans not to wantonly cut down trees phor of humans as forming a triad with Heaven and Earth. or kill animals needlessly. These relations were developed during the Han period Indeed, the Confucians realized that the establishment with a complex synthesis of correlative correspondences of humane society, government, and culture inevitably involving the elements, directions, colors, seasons, and results in the use of nature for housing, for production, virtues. This need to consciously connect the patterns of and for governance. In this sense, Confucians might be nature with the rhythms of human society is very ancient seen as pragmatic social ecologists (rather than deep in Confucian culture. It is at the basis of the anthropocos- ecologists) who recognize the necessity of forming human mic worldview where humans are seen as working institutions – both educational and political – for a stable together with Heaven and Earth in correlative relation- society. These ideals, however, did not prevent deforesta- ships to create harmonious societies. The mutually related tion historically, which increased drastically in the resonances between self, society, and nature are con- modern era due to rapid industrialization and population stantly being described in the Confucian texts and are growth. Nonetheless, it is clear that for Confucians human evident in art and architecture as well. cultural values and practices are grounded in nature and For Confucians, nature is not only inherently valuable, part of its structure, and thus humans are dependent on it is morally good. Nature, thus, embodies the normative its beneficence. In addition, the agricultural base of Con- standard for all things; it is not judged from an anthropo- fucian societies has always been recognized as essential to centric perspective. There is not a fact/value division in the political and social well-being of the country. Humans the Confucian worldview, for nature is seen as an intrinsic prosper by living within nature’s boundaries and are source of value. In particular, value lies in the ongoing refreshed by its beauty, restored by its seasons, and ful- transformation and productivity of nature. A term filled by its rhythms. For Confucians, human flourishing repeated frequently in Neo-Confucian sources is sheng is thus dependent on fostering nature in its variety and sheng reflecting the ever-renewing fecundity of life itself. abundance; going against nature’s processes is self- In this sense, the dynamic transformation of life is seen as destructive. Human moral growth means cultivating one’s emerging in recurring cycles of growth, fruition, harvest- desires not to interfere with nature but to be in accord with ing, and abundance. This reflects the natural processes of the great Dao of Nature. Thus the “human mind” expands flourishing and decay in nature, human life, and human in relation to the “Mind of the Way.” society. Change is thus seen as a dynamic force with which In short, for Confucians, harmony with nature is essen- humans should harmonize and interact rather than with- tial, and human self-realization is achieved in relation to draw from. nature. The great triad of Confucianism, namely, Heaven, In this context, the Confucians do not view hierarchy as Earth, and humans, signifies this understanding that leading inevitably to domination. Rather, they see that humans can only attain their full humanity in relationship value rests in each thing, but not in each thing equally. to both Heaven and Earth. This became a foundation for a Confucianism and Environmental Ethics 411 cosmological ethical system of relationality applicable to SP Confucianism and Environmental Ethics spheres of family, society, politics, and nature itself. It is certainly the case that both historically and in the Historically, the influence of Confucianism has been modern period the inevitable gap between ideal principles significant across East Asia in political thought and and pragmatic decisions has caused considerable damage institutions, social relationships and ritual exchange, to China’s natural environment. In the last fifty years this educational philosophy and moral teaching, cultural is due to economic exploitation of resources along with attitudes and historical interpretation. Indeed, Confucian population growth and Maoist ideology that rejected values still play an important part in East Asian life Confucianism and favored modernization at any cost. At despite the striking inroads of Maoism, modernization, present the large-scale industrialization that is occurring and Westernization. Although we are concerned here with in China with few restraints will no doubt cause irrepar- the potential positive contribution of Confucianism to able damage to China’s natural inheritance but will also environmental thought, acknowledgment is made of the adversely affect the global commons. With the renewed inevitable gaps between theories and practices, his- interest in Confucian thought after several decades of its torically and at present. We are aware that historically the eclipse under Mao there may be grounds for an indigenous record is quite mixed regarding protection of the environ- Confucian (and Daoist) approach to environmental ment in China and further research needs to be done in protection. this area. This article will point toward the resources Con- fucianism holds for values toward nature and environ- Mary Evelyn Tucker mental ethics. However, in light of the contemporary environmental crisis, viewing Confucianism as a singular Further Reading tradition is problematic because of its geographic spread, Berthrong, John and Evelyn Berthrong. Confucianism: A its historical development, and its varied forms, ranging Short Introduction. Oxford: Oneworld, 2000. from Imperial State Confucianism to local and familial Cheng, Chung-ying. New Dimensions of Confucian and Confucianism. Neo-Confucian Philosophy. Albany: State University Nonetheless, while clearly Confucianism has enormous of New York Press, 1991. historical variations, cultural particularities, and national Ching, Julia. The Religious Thought of Chu Hsi. Oxford: differences, there are certain central ideas and values that Oxford University Press, 2000. have spread across East Asia from China through Korea Cua Antonio, ed. Encyclopedia of Chinese Philosophy. New and to Japan. These ancient values constitute key elements York and London: Routledge, 2003. of the tradition that have endured despite historical de Bary, William Theodore and Irene Bloom, eds. Sources changes and political upheavals. They are major resources of Chinese Tradition, vol. 1. New York: Columbia for contemporary environmental ethics in East Asia as University Press, 1999. well as for an emerging global ethics. These include: a Hall, David and Roger Ames. Thinking Through Confucius. dynamic cosmological context or worldview for promot- Albany: State University of New York Press, 1987. ing harmony amidst change; the embeddedness of each Ivanhoe, Philip J. Confucian Moral Self Cultivation. person in concentric circles of relationships and ethical Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company, 2000. responsibilities; the importance of the family including Liu, Shu-hsien. Understanding Confucian Philosophy: past, present, and future generations; the function of a Classical and Sung-Ming. Westport, CT: Praeger, 1998. hierarchical social system where loyalties to elders and to Taylor, Rodney. The Religious Dimensions of Confucianism teachers are critical; the significance of education in culti- Albany: State University of New York Press, 1990. vating the individual, enriching the society, and contri- Tucker, Mary Evelyn and John Berthrong, eds. Confucian- buting to the political order; and the role of government ism and Ecology. Cambridge: Harvard Center for the in establishing a political bureaucracy for ruling large Study of World Religions, 1998. numbers of people. These values will be discussed in Wei-ming, Tu. Confucian Thought: Selfhood as Creative relation to their potential contribution to environmental Transformation. Albany: State University of New York thought. Press, 1985. Of singular importance in these discussions is the rich Wei-ming, Tu and Mary Evelyn Tucker, eds. Confucian cosmological worldview of Confucianism that promotes Spirituality. New York: Crossroads, 2003. harmony amidst change. This is an invaluable perspective See also: Chinese Traditional Concepts of Nature; for seeing nature as intrinsically valuable and for under- Creatures’ Release in Chinese Buddhism; Daoism; Yunnan standing the role of the human in relation to natural Region (Southwest China and Montana Mainland South- processes as critical. This worldview is characterized by east Asia); Zhuangzi. four key elements: an anthropocosmic rather than an anthropocentric perspective, an organic holism of the con- tinuity of being, a dynamic vitalism of material force (qi), 412 Confucianism and Environmental Ethics and a comprehensive ethics embracing both humans and stant vigilance. Virtues are described as seeds that sprout nature. through moral practice and flower over time. The ethical By “anthropocosmic” we refer to the great triad of vitality of the individual is situated against the backdrop Heaven (a guiding force), Earth (nature), and humans. This of the dynamic pattern of qi in nature. The Chinese martial idea is central to Confucian thought from its earliest arts and medical practices reflect this attempt to balance expressions in the classical texts to its later developments and cultivate one’s qi as part of maintaining one’s physical in Neo-Confucianism that arose in the eleventh century. and moral health. The seamless interaction of these three forces contrasts For Confucians health meant not only reciprocity with markedly with the more human-centered orientation of the patterns of nature but also responsibility for the health Western traditions where personal salvation in relation to of nature as well. It was thus critical for the government to a divine figure is central. support agriculture through irrigation systems as creating By “organic holism” the universe is seen as unified, the basis for a sustainable society. Human livelihood and interconnected, and interpenetrating. Everything interacts culture was seen as continuous with nature, as the follow- and affects everything else, which is why the notion of ing passage by a leading Han Confucian, Dong Zhongshu microcosm and macrocosm is so essential to Chinese (ca. 195-105 B.C.E.; traditionally ca. 179-104 B.C.E.), cosmology. The elaboration of the interconnectedness indicates: of reality can be seen in the correspondence of the five elements with seasons, directions, colors, and even virtues. Heaven, Earth, and humans are the basis of all This type of classification began in the third millennium creatures. Heaven gives them birth, earth nourishes B.C.E. and resulted in texts such as the Yijing (Book of them, and humans bring them to completion. Changes). This sense of holism is characterized by the view Heaven provides them at birth with a sense of filial that there is no creator God behind the universe. Chinese and brotherly love, earth nourishes them with thought is less concerned with theories of origin or with clothing and food, and humans complete them with concepts of a personal God than with the perception of an rites and music. The three act together as hands and ongoing reality of a self-generating, interconnected uni- feet join to complete the body and none can be dis- verse described by Tu Weiming as a “continuity of being.” pensed with (in de Bary 1999: 162). “Dynamic vitalism” refers to the basis of the underlying unity of reality that is constituted of qi, the material force Within this broad cosmological pattern of Confucian of the universe. This is the unifying element of the cosmos thought the person is seen in relationship to others and and creates the basis for a profound reciprocity between not as an isolated individual. The Confucian tradition humans and the natural world. Material force (qi) as the stresses the importance of cooperative group effort so that substance of life is the basis for the continuing process of individual concerns are sublimated to a larger sense of the change and transformation in the universe. The term common good. In this view, self-interest and altruism for a sheng-sheng, namely, “production and reproduction” is common cause are not mutually exclusive, and responsi- repeatedly used in Confucian texts to illustrate the bilities rather than rights are stressed. Such a communi- creativity of nature. This recognition of the ceaseless tarian value system may be indispensable for fostering movement of the cosmos arises from a profound medita- sustainable communities. tion on the fecundity of nature in continually giving birth With the Confucian emphasis on the continuity of the to new life. Furthermore, it constitutes a sophisticated family there is a strong ethic of indebtedness to past awareness that change is the basis of the interaction and generations and obligations to descendants. Within this continuation of the web of life systems – mineral, vege- moral framework there is the potential for evoking a sense table, animal, and human. Finally, it celebrates transform- of self-restraint and communal responsibility toward the ation as the clearest expression of the creative processes environmental well-being of future generations. In other of life with which humans should harmonize their own words, the Confucian emphasis on lineage (ensuring actions. In essence, human beings are urged to “model continuity from the ancestors to the heirs) may be raised to themselves on the ceaseless vitality of the cosmic process.” another ethical perspective, namely, intergenerational Confucian ethics in its most comprehensive form relies obligations toward maintaining a healthy environment. on a cosmological context of the entire triad of Heaven, The hierarchical social system of Confucianism can also Earth, and humans. Human actions complete this triad and be expanded to place humans in relation to the biological are undertaken in relation to the natural world and its lineage of life in the natural world. In this sense, loyalty to seasonal patterns and cosmic changes. In this context, elders, teachers, and those who have gone before may be humans are biological-historical-ethical beings who live broadened to include respect for the complex ecosystems in a universe of complex correspondences and relation- and forms of life that have preceded humans. Thus bio- ships. Cultivation of the land and of oneself are seen as diversity can be valued. The total dependence of humans analogous processes requiring attention, care, and con- on other life forms for survival and sustenance may be Congo River Basin 413 underscored in this scenario. “Loyalty” is thus enlarged Its hundreds of streams and tributaries reach from from the human world to include the natural world itself. Zambia to Cameroon to form the Congo River Basin, Confucian education as essentially a form of moral which is roughly 3.7 million square kilometers in size, and cultivation has been viewed as a means of contributing to comprised mostly of tropical rainforest and savannah. The the betterment of the sociopolitical order. By extension, forest itself comprises roughly 15 million hectares and ethical restraint toward the unlimited use of the environ- spans more than 3400 kilometers. Sixty million people ment can be seen as adding to the social and political inhabit this region, with roughly 12 million actually living stability of the region as a whole. From a Confucian per- still in the forest much like they have for hundreds of spective, moral suasion and education are a viable means years. These dwellers of the rainforest, who speak more of evoking communal changes that would promote such than 450 dialects, can be divided very generally into two stability through personal choice and voluntary measures groups: forest peoples like the Mbuti, and river peoples like rather than simply through legislation from above. the Nunu. Confucian forms of government are generally highly Being adjacent to the Rift Valley, which is the cradle centralized and interventionist. Thus, they can afford to of humanity, the Congo Basin has been inhabited since engage in long-range planning with other key sectors, very early in human history, long before the great Central especially the business community. Because this long- African tropical rainforest expanded after 10,000 B.C.E. term policymaking is not unfamiliar in East Asian soci- The Mbuti are one of several ethnic groups that col- eties, it is possible to include environmental issues in these lectively are called “Pygmies,” who, having lived in the kinds of centralized strategic planning. Rather than only great rainforest of Central Africa for thousands of years, being concerned about immediate goals or quarterly possess one of humanity’s oldest living cultures and still profits, such planning can assist processes of environ- subsist mainly through hunting and gathering. Fed and mental preservation. in places swamped by the Congo River, the Mbuti’s In conclusion, this comprehensive cosmological world- forest is one of Earth’s most biologically diverse places. view of Confucianism has had an enduring influence in Mbuti religion is deeply intimate with the forest, which is East Asian family and social values as well as educational itself understood as the Supreme Being and benevolent and political institutions. It still has enormous potential provider of all that people require for happiness. Gratitude in East Asia for a renewed appreciation of nature as for such divine providence inspires in the Mbuti the intrinsically valuable and for an environmental ethics that ecstatic ritual dances that intrigued Egyptian Pharo affirms the role of humans in working in conjunction with Nefrikare some 2500 years before Christianity. Still today nature. the communal focus of Mbuti religion, these dance forms sometimes follow the music from a woodwind instrument Mary Evelyn Tucker called the molimo. Traditionally made from bamboo, the molimo’s sound is the voice of the Supreme, who is the Further Reading forest itself. de Bary, William Theodore and Irene Bloom, eds. Sources The Congo River Basin underwent significant cultural of Chinese Tradition, vol. 1. New York: Columbia Uni- changes with the arrival of Bantu migrants from the north versity Press, 1999 (1960). beginning four to five millennia ago through the fourth Tucker, Mary Evelyn and John Berthrong, eds. Confucian- century. Having acquired ceramics and developed new ism and Ecology. Cambridge: Harvard Center for the trapping, fishing, and agricultural techniques, these Study of World Religions, 1998. migrants pushed deeper and deeper into the tropical rain- Weiming, Tu and Mary Evelyn Tucker, eds. Confucian forest by following rivers and elephant trails. In time, they Spirituality. New York: Crossroads, 2003. developed metallurgy and cultivated yams and bananas, See also: Environmental Ethics; Religious Studies and which allowed them to become more sedentary and Environmental Concern. eventually develop large chiefdoms and, later, kingdoms like the Kuba and the Kongo. With an existence so intensely related to the natural Congo River Basin environment, it is not surprising that in Central African forest religion, which is cosmogenically monotheistic, One of the world’s greatest rivers, the Congo flows for there developed a strong belief in nature spirits. There is a nearly 5000 kilometers from south-central Democratic life-force within nature that is understood as powerfully Republic of Congo (formerly Zaire) north, west, then sacred, a belief that has made the wilderness the deepest south, crossing the equator twice before finally emptying resource of divinity for the Bantu. Centralized political into the Atlantic Ocean. With its width spanning in places power, moreover, required popular belief that the chief and some 40 kilometers, and its depth reaching 500 meters, the his family were infused with the force of and legitimized Congo is surpassed in water volume only by the Amazon. by such nature spirits. The leopard became the symbol 414 Congo River Basin par excellence of such sacred legitimation, and in a ritual the water. We are, as it were, our own ancestors known as bokapa ekopo (“dividing the sacred emblem”) reincarnated. the spoils of the leopard hunt were often divided among Christianity arrived in the Congo in two waves: 1) in elite families from neighboring chiefdoms in precolonial the late fifteenth century the Portuguese established mis- Congo. sionary and trade enterprises around the Congo’s Atlantic In addition to nature spirits, people in the Congo River river mouth; and 2) in the late nineteenth century Belgian Basin have long believed in ancestral deities, especially Catholic and British Protestant missions were established mythic chiefs of the forgotten past who intervene on much farther up river. In both cases, the white foreigners behalf of the living in exchange for worship. Shrines for were identified as spirits or ancestors, which readily prayer, offerings, and sacrifice to both ancestral leaders instilled in Central Africans a sense of awe of both the and nature spirits had become a prominent feature of visitors and their religion. This is surely a main reason Central African religion long before the introduction for Christianity’s remarkable spread in the Congo River of Christianity in the fifteenth century, which is today Basin, such that some 90 percent of the region is today the dominant religion in the region. Because the Bantu Christian. Yet this mass conversion has never meant the believe that ancestors and nature spirits infuse stones and disappearance of the traditional Kongolese worldview, other charms with their sacred power, ritual specialists which features, in addition to belief in supernatural emerged in the Congo Basin centuries ago, priests who healing forces, profound belief in supernatural destructive use charms to influence everything from the forces of forces (ndoki) and sorcerers who control it. The second nature to the outcome of wars and the eradication of Christian wave differed from the first in that the horrors “witchcraft.” Such priests have also developed skills in of the Belgian rule in the Congo brought Africans to divination and herbalism, each of which crafts are deeply associate Christianity with evil. Soon enough, however, rooted in the natural world and reliant upon natural spirits Christianity became widely respected for its healing and for effect. exorcising functions and succeeded largely because of its For the riverine Nunu people of the Congo-Ubangi power to combat ndoki. Peninsula, settlement in the forest and its swamps and The Congo gained independence from Belgian colonial intercalary savannahs was predicated upon the successful rule in 1962. Unfortunately, however, post-colonial planting into the Earth of the nkinda charm. The Nunu political culture was dictated by the same endeavor to believed that life would be abundant and free of disorder exploit nature that had driven the Belgians to enslave only insofar as the spirits of the forest accepted and Africans to extract rubber from the forest in the first place. empowered the nkinda. Normally the nkinda charm was Belgian colonial rule resulted in the death of over half an ensemble of leaves, cloth, and sacrificed animals, and it the region’s population long before independence. The ensured the Nunu’s harvest of the rivers and savannahs ensuing “kleptocratic” regime of Field Marshall (Maréchal) in order to prosper. The planter of the nkinda was auto- Mobutu Sese Seko, who always appeared in public matically the high priest (ngeli) and guardian of the newly wearing a leopard-skin hat to give the impression that he settled territory, whose permission was required of all pro- was the Congo’s most powerful ngeli, lasted over thirty spective settlers. As settlements increased in size, weaker years until a rebellion led by Laurent Kabila ousted the nkinda were planted in sub-settlements and a hierarchy of Zairian dictator from power in 1997. Zaire was then ngelis developed accordingly. renamed the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), but a The cosmology of Central African peoples was also civil war continued to rage, killing over two million people strongly shaped by observations of the natural world. within five years. Generally speaking, the harvest cycle and the cycle of the The Congolese Civil War cannot be understood without sun and the moon inspired meditations into the nature consideration of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, which of the universe and of human existence and destiny. The left upward to a million people dead and drove tens of universe is divided into two worlds, or lands, which the thousands of others into the DRC seeking asylum. Religion Kongo people call nza yayi (land of the living) and nsi a played an important role in exacerbating the tribal bafwa (land of the dead). Sunrise represents our birth in conflict that fueled the genocide, as Belgian Catholic mis- nza yayi; noon represents the fullness of our life in nza sionaries in Rwanda had promoted an understanding of yayi; and sunset represents our death in nza yayi, but also the superiority of the Tutsi people, whose height and facial our rebirth in nsi a bafwa as an ancestor. This rebirth features made them seem closer to Europeans than the is also symbolized by the rising of the moon; midnight shorter, broader-faced Hutus. The resultant Hutu hatred of symbolizes our fullness of life in nsi a bafwa; and dawn the Tutsis was a major impetus for the genocide, whose marks both our death in nsi a bafwa and rebirth into nza consequences for the peoples and environment of the yayi. The two worlds are conceived of as being separated Congo River Basin have been catastrophic, though still by a body of water (nzadi), across which live our ancestors, largely immeasurable. Rebel factions from the Rift Valley, who are white, in the forest, under the ground, or under moreover, have poured into the Congo since the Rwandan Conservation Biology 415 genocide in efforts to control its rich natural resources. Further Reading Many of them, like the Mai-Mai and the Lord’s Resistance Clark, John F., ed. The African Stakes of the Congo War. Army, use religion as an inspirational and legitimating New York: Palgrave, 2002. force for some of the conflict’s most unspeakable atroci- Harms, Robert. Games against Nature: An Eco-Cultural ties, including the crucifixion of their opponents. History of the Nunu of Equatorial Africa. New York: Almost from its outset, the war drew no fewer than six Cambridge University Press, 1987. other African countries into the conflict, all of them MacGaffey, Wyatt. Religion and Society in Central Africa: driven primarily by the quest to profit from exploiting the The BaKongo of Lower Zaire. Chicago: The University region’s extraordinary mineral resources: copper, cobalt, of Chicago Press, 1986. coltan, diamonds, and gold, not to mention timber and Turnbull, Colin M. The Forest People. New York: Simon & ivory. For the victims of “Africa’s First World War,” hard- Schuster, 1962. ship has reshaped local religion, as noted by Pulitzer Vansina, Jan. Paths in the Rainforest: Toward a History of Laureate for Journalism Paul Salopek: “Cults of many Political Tradition in Equatorial Africa. Madison: The types have erupted everywhere in wartime Congo. In hard University of Wisconsin Press, 1987. times, imported Christianity has been whittled and shaped See also: African Religions and Nature Conservation; Bio- to meet local demand; relief from the suffering and diversity and Religion in Equatorial Africa; Kimbanguism uncertainty of a war the world ignores” (The Chicago (Central Africa); Pygmies (Mbuti Foragers) and Bila Tribune, 12/10/00). Farmers of the Ituri Forest; West Africa. Laurent Kabila was assassinated by one of his own bodyguards in 2001 and succeeded by his son, Joseph Kabila. Like many other contemporary African heads of Conservation Biology state seeking either to alleviate their people’s poverty (the DRC GNP was $78 in 1999) or to enrich themselves and During the late 1970s and 1980s, concerned scientists their minions, DRC President Joseph Kabila values foreign and resource managers began to shape a new synthetic investment in the mining and timber industries much discipline that integrated scientific knowledge from a more than the Congo’s natural environment. Mining, variety of disciplines, including the social sciences, with hunting, and timber regulations have been virtually non- the goal of conserving biodiversity. They called this new existent since war first broke out in 1996, and over a field “conservation biology.” As the discipline has grown, million refugees from Rwanda and elsewhere have sought it has drawn upon the natural sciences (including genetics, haven in the Congolese forest and surrounding regions. population and evolutionary biology, systematics, and An environmental catastrophe is clearly underway in biogeography), the agricultural sciences, and the tradi- one of Earth’s most precious and biodiverse regions. tional resource management disciplines (e.g., forestry, National parks have not been spared: between 1995 and wildlife, and fisheries management). It has also welcomed 1999 alone, one park lost a third of its elephants to the infusion of knowledge from anthropology, economics, ivory hunters and hungry miners, and today bushmeat, and other social sciences, as well as the humanities, along with timber, is one of the region’s leading exports. illuminating human behavior in a way that can be used to Regrettably, the recent UN intervention, ceasefires, and promote biodiversity conservation. The envisioned level of withdrawals of foreign troops are unlikely to be of much interdisciplinary inquiry has yet to be realized, however, benefit to the Congo River Basin’s gravely endangered according to Stephen Humphrey, an officer and Board environment: Presently the Kabila regime is orchestrating Member of the Society of Conservation Biology from 1990 an economic recovery program with the World Bank that through this writing). But it is possible, he believes, to see hinges on the exploitation of the nation’s natural two forces that animate the field: “Biophilia,” and a belief resources, much like when his father sold off the Congo’s that conservation-related “science should be applicable to mineral resources for self-enrichment and to pay for pro- conservation of biological diversity” (author’s interview, tection provided by his foreign supporters, namely July 2003). Uganda and Rwanda; much like Mobutu had done to Many of conservation biology’s most effective vision- become one of the world’s richest men; and much like the aries were motivated by one or another form of nature Belgians had done in one of the most atrocious colonial spirituality involving a profound sense of connection to conquests in world history. Meanwhile, the Kimbanguist the Earth’s living systems. Indeed, the breadth and inclu- Church, which was founded by Congolese healer named siveness of conservation biology allowed it to incorporate Simon Kimbangu in the 1920s, continues to grow, as and build upon ideas emerging from environmental ethics, thousands of recent converts await the coming of a black and provided space for scientists and others to explore the messiah to the Congo. cultural and spiritual dimensions of conservation. Some of its leaders have also been involved with deep ecology or Terry Rey radical environmental movements, giving conservation 416 Conservation Biology biology an audience wider than might otherwise have jungles of the Amazon and the air above the been the case. A quick look at several early leaders in the mountains, even the everlasting sea which gave us field, including the first two editors of its premier journal, birth (Ehrenfeld 1978: 269). shows that conservation science and nature religion some- times cross-fertilize, and that important hybrids can result. A third leading figure is Reed Noss, Ehrenfeld’s succes- In 1978 biologist Michael Soulé organized the “First sor as editor of Conservation Biology. As a young man International Conference on Conservation Biology” at the Noss was an early and regular contributor to Earth First!, San Diego campus of the University of California, sub- getting involved shortly after hearing a news report of sequently publishing an anthology that helped to herald some of its early antics and acts of civil disobedience in the emergence of the new field. According to conservation the early 1980s. He expressed his early enthusiasm for historian (and long-term board member of the Society of the movement in an early article written from a “Taoist Conservation Biology) Curt Meine, science had for decades perspective” claiming that “ecological resistance (includ- been deployed in the conservation cause; in this sense, ing sabotage) is to the ecocentric [individual who views conservation biology was nothing new. However, conser- entire ecosystems as having intrinsic moral value] an vation biology represented an intensified, self-conscious extended form of self-defense: regrettable but necessary.” effort to synthesize “many fields of knowledge around the Fusing such militancy with deep ecology, Noss called general goal of protecting and perpetuating biological Earth First! “the ecological resistance embodiment of diversity, which the traditional disciplines had not Deep Ecology” (1983: 13). His fifth-degree black belt in addressed adequately” (personal communication, June Shito-Ryu karate (see Noss and Cooperrider 1994: 417) 2003). Soulé organized a second conference at the Uni- suggests that for him Eastern religions fit well with his versity of Michigan in 1985 and is credited by many as the love of nature. leading founder of the Society for Conservation Biology Noss withdrew from Earth First! by the end of the in 1986, which began publishing its flagship journal decade, having become critical of the anti-scientific bent Conservation Biology in 1987. of increasing numbers of its activists. But he continued to Interestingly, in between these first two conservation promote deep ecology and Naess’ notion of an “ecological biology conferences, Soulé organized another conference self” – a wider-than-human identity that extends the during an extended sabbatical from the academy that he center of moral concern beyond humans to all species. He took at the Los Angeles Zen Center. Held in Los Angeles in articulated such views even in his scientific writings (e.g., 1981 and no doubt motivated by his understanding of Noss and Cooperrider 1994: 21–4) and continued to work Buddhist ethics, the conference explored the relationships with Dave Foreman (a co-founder of Earth First!) and between religion and ecology. Soulé asked Deep Ecology’s other radical environmental activists who appreciated founding philosopher Arne Naess to participate, and the conservation biology, many of whom also quit Earth First! acquaintance spurred a long and close friendship. Soulé while retaining their ecocentric value systems, in which invited Naess to give the keynote address at the second nature is considered to be of intrinsic, moral value. Indeed, conservation biology conference “because I felt he pro- Noss subsequently served as science-advisor to the Wild- vided a better philosophical foundation for conservation lands Project, which was founded in 1991 by Foreman, and biodiversity than anybody since [Aldo] Leopold.” Soulé, and a number of other prominent conservationists. Soulé added, Naess “has been a major influence on my It articulates a long-term biodiversity strategy for the life.” (Soulé’s quotes are from author’s interviews, 27 Americas based on the principles of conservation biology. February near Tucson, Arizona or by telephone, 15 July It was Noss’ research, however, not his grassroots 1997.) environmental activism or deep ecology affinities, that led David Ehrenfeld was another key figure in the emer- to his becoming the second editor of Conservation Biology gence of conservation biology, and served as the founding (a post he held most of the time between 1993 and 1997). editor of Conservation Biology. This is of particular This prestigious position was offered in part because in interest in that Ehrenfeld’s 1978 book, The Arrogance of numerous journal articles he had advanced significantly Humanism was a landmark in the emergence of non- the conceptual foundations of the discipline. anthropocentric environmental ethics, and is considered a Quite a number of other conservation biologists have classic by many deep ecologists. It elegantly expressed affinity with deep ecology and have contributed both their melancholy over the extinction crisis and their per- to scientific and radical environmental journals. Two ception of a defiled world: who have put such spirituality in writing include Bill Willers and Ed Grumbine. The title of Willers’ edited book, We must live in our century and wait, enduring Learning to Listen to the Land, reflects its pantheistic (and somehow the unavoidable sadness . . . nothing is animistic) ethos, and it includes excerpts from an eclectic free of the taint of our arrogance. We have defiled group of writers with deep ecological sensibilities. A everything, much of it forever, even the farthest biology professor who founded the Superior Wilderness Conservation Biology 417

Action Network (SWAN), Willers was unsuccessfully sued was that few involved in conservation biology had interest in the 1990s, along with his nemesis, the United States in Eastern or alternative religions or deep ecology. Based Forest Service (UFSF), for allegedly violating the religious on their own experiences both Humphrey and Meine have freedom protections guaranteed in the First Amendment reached similar conclusions: most conservation biologists of the U.S. Constitution. The lawsuit by a group of loggers are focused primarily on their scientific work and its and their conservative allies alleged that the defendants application in solving conservation problems. While such had conspired to establish “deep ecology religion” by a focus does not preclude an interest in, and commitment protecting forests that the defendants, according to the to, philosophical or spiritual self-reflection, conservation lawsuit, considered sacred (Taylor and Geffen 2003). biologists tend to place their scientific commitments first. Ed Grumbine is director of the Sierra Institute, an affili- This strong commitment of conservation biologists, ate of the University of California, Santa Cruz, which however, suggests a more complex relationship between promotes wilderness experience and research. Like Noss, their scientific interests and their personal belief systems. Soulé, and Willers, he has also written for radical Indeed, the role of nature spirituality may be much more environmental journals. And his book Ghost Bears: prevalent than would be obvious from a cursory review Exploring the Biodiversity Crisis is laced through with of the everyday experiences of those engaged in cons- deep ecology themes. In it he cites movement elders, ervation biology and its professional organizations. It including Aldo Leopold, Arne Naess, Henry David may be that shedding further light on this matter will Thoreau, and the poet Robinson Jeffers, and he explicitly depend on devising a way to ask conservation scientists endorsed Naess’ notion of the ecological self and defended such questions without engendering fear among them that deep ecology. Praising the Council of All Beings, which he an honest answer would compromise their credibility and described as an important ritual process that strives to thus damage their work and careers. In the twentieth evoke and deepen such an ecological identity, he also century, as historian Stephen Fox has amply demon- confessed that the ritual changed his life (Grumbine 1992: strated, environmentalists often downplayed nature- 233, 230–6). related spirituality in the interest of not alienating the To note that during the late twentieth century some of more traditionally religious publics they need to persuade. the key figures promoting the new field of conservation An open question is how strong this tendency will be in biology were both motivated by and promoted nature the twenty-first century among environmentalists and religion in no way suggests that their science was those scientists who are their allies. compromised. Nor does it prove that other conservation biologists have been similarly motivated; indeed, both Bron Taylor Meine and Humphrey think only a small minority of those involved in conservation biology would likely consider Further Reading themselves to be explicitly or overtly motivated by deep Ehrenfeld, David W. The Arrogance of Humanism. New ecological spirituality or other religious sentiments. York: Oxford University Press, 1978. Indeed, the extent to which conservation biologists are Fox, Stephen. The American Conservation Movement: more likely than individuals from other groups to have John Muir and His Legacy. Madison: University of affinity with deep ecology or other nature-related Wisconsin Press, 1981. spiritualities is an as yet unresearched empirical question, Grumbine, R. Edward. Ghost Bears: Exploring the Bio- worthy of quantitative survey research. It is notable, how- diversity Crisis. Washington, D.C.: Island Press, ever, that David Takacs, who in The Idea of Biodiversity: 1992. Philosophies of Paradise interviewed dozens of scientists Noss, Reed. “A Taoist Reply (on Violence).” Earth First! whose careers have been devoted to understanding 3:7 (21 September 1983), 13. and protecting biological diversity (including Soulé and Noss, Reed F. and Allen Y. Cooperrider. Saving Nature’s E.O. Wilson) reported that a spiritual connection to nature Legacy: Protecting and Restoring Biodiversity. was a recurrent theme among them. Qualitative research Washington, D.C.: Island Press, 1994. thus suggests that there may be a significant correlation Soulé, Michael. “The Social Siege of Nature.” In Reinvent- between the pursuit of careers in ecological science (like ing Nature? Responses to Postmodern Deconstruction. conservation biology) and nature spirituality. M. Soulé and G. Lease, eds. San Francisco: Island For his part, Michael Soulé stressed that conservation Press, 1995, 137–70. biology depends first and foremost on the scientific Soulé, Michael, ed. Conservation Biology: The Science of method and not on spirituality or deep ecological value Scarcity and Diversity. Sunderland, MA: Sinauer, theory. During my interview with him he worried that a 1986. historical overview like the one I have provided here might Takacs, David. The Idea of Biodiversity: Philosophies of be used by the enemies of conservation to discredit con- Paradise. Baltimore, MD: John Hopkins University servation biology as somehow “pagan.” His perception Press, 1996. 418 Con-spirando Women’s Collective

Taylor, Bron and Joel Geffen. “Battling Religions in Parks theology, which is to search out and raise the questions of and Forest Reserves: Facing Religion in Conflicts over ultimate meaning. Protected Places.” In The Full Value of Parks and Pro- We are convinced that, to bring about relationships tected Areas: From Economics to the Intangible. David marked by justice and equality, we must celebrate our Harmon and Allen Putney, eds. Lanham, MD: Rowman differences and work toward a greater pluralism world- & Littlefield, 2003, 281–93. wide. To this end, we need theologies that unmask the Willers, Bill, ed. Learning to Listen to the Land. Washing- hierarchies in which we live; theologies that, rather than ton, D.C.: Island Press, 1991. seeking to mediate Mystery, celebrate and explore the See also: Biodiversity and Religion in Equatorial Africa; Holy without reductionism or universalisms. We call for Biophilia; Council of All Beings; Deep Ecology; Earth theologies that question anthropocentrism and that pro- First! and the Earth Liberation Front; Environmental mote the transformation of relationships based on Ethics; Jeffers, John Robinson; Leopold, Aldo; Naess, dominance of one race, nationality, gender or age group Arne; Radical Environmentalism; Restoration Ecology and over another and of the human over other forms of life. Ritual; Social Science on Religion and Nature; Thoreau, Such theologies will have profound political consequences. Henry David; Wilson, Edward O. Such a feminist perspective based on our diversity of class, race, age and culture must also take up our love as well as our anguish for all life on the planet that we feel is Con-spirando Women’s Collective (Santiago, so threatened today. We call this posture ecofeminism. It Chile) is within this perspective that we seek a spirituality that will both heal and liberate, that will nourish our Christian Con-spirando is a women’s collective working in the areas tradition as well as take up the long-repressed roots of the of ecofeminism, theology and spirituality which began native peoples of this continent. We want to explore the in 1991. I am a founding member of this collective. We liberating dimensions of our experience and imagination publish a quarterly journal, Con-spirando: Revista Lati- of the Holy. To do this, we “con-spirar juntas” noamericana de Ecofeminismo, Espiritualidad y Teología, (Con-spirando 1992: 2–5). hold workshops, seminars and an annual summer school Most of the members of Con-spirando come from the on ecofeminist theology, spirituality and ethics, and offer Christian tradition, but we are critical of the patriarchal a yearly cycle of rituals. underpinnings of Christian theologies and try to relativize In our magazine’s first issue, we set out our purpose, the Judeo-Christian myths and resurface other, more which more than ten years later still defines what we are indigenous myths that have been suppressed, while at the about: in the patriarchal culture in which we live, women’s same time always remaining vigilant to patriarchal contributions are not taken seriously. This is particularly remnants in these myths as well. true in the area of theology. Women are absent as subjects Con-spirando is not a purely academic organization, doing theology and also as a major subject-matter of this nor are we associated with any church organization, theological reflection. Our lives, our everyday religious which frees us from the control of both. We are organized practice and our spirituality, are simply not present in cur- as a collective: we are a non-hierarchical, multicultural rent theological reflection. Absent too, are our experiences team that has both Latin American members as well as of suffering, joy and solidarity – our experiences of the members from other countries where relations of justice sacred. Besides expressing our criticism of patriarchal and tenderness are the goal. We are committed to the culture, we also seek to contribute to the creation of a following: culture that allows theological reflection to flower from First, the belief in the wisdom of our bodies and the our bodies, our spirits – in short, our experiences as priority of knowing through our corporeality in relation- women. ship. Here, feeling becomes a way of knowing. Second, We seek theologies that take into account the dif- efforts to search out non-hierarchical ways of being that ferences of class, race and gender that so mark Latin model “power with” rather than “power over.” Third, the America. We hope to open new spaces where women sharing of new ways to celebrate, new rituals that nurture can dig deeply into our own life experiences without fear. our emerging spiritualities and our commitments. Fourth, These experiences are often negative, even traumatic, the reexamination of those foundational myths upon in terms of the religious formation we have received. which Western, Christian culture is based in order to We seek spaces where women can experience new ways relativize them and search for new myths that can water of being in community; where we can celebrate our our emerging spiritualities, theologies and ethics. And faith more authentically and creatively; where we can fifth, an ecofeminist ethic that moves toward the eco- rediscover and value our roots, our history and our logical self – my neighbor and I are one. All are my kin, traditions – in short, to engage in an interreligious from the folks in the barrio (neighborhood) to the animals, dialogue that helps us to recover the essential task of the mountains, the rivers. Con-spirando Women’s Collective 419

Origins according to our deepest intuitions, and to share We are a collective of women who share a joint interest in what it means to live righteously and reverently feminist spirituality and theology. It was this common with Earth and all Earth’s children by providing thread that brought us together in Santiago, Chile in early spaces of reflection to grapple with the theological 1991 to share “a sacred space and time.” These times questions we are asking. together were and continue to be moments of creative ritual, of sharing our experiences of the Holy in our lives. Each of the three partners is now committed to carrying From these times together, a core group of women forth this process in our own regions and in our own emerged: the Con-spriando collective. We have many context. years of experience working with women at the grassroots It was with this mandate that Con-spirando initiated an level. Some of us have a vast experience of working with annual Summer School for Ecofeminist Spirituality and our churches in programs dealing with women. Others of Ethics in 2000. This “school” offers, for ten days, a us have a long history of participation in the feminist contained space and time where women can ask their movement. Some of us would still identify ourselves as theological questions without fear. It is a “safe space” Christian (indeed, one of us is a Catholic missionary and allowing participants to search together for more life- another is a Lutheran pastor), while others have moved giving theologies, cosmologies and ways of celebrating beyond the Christian tradition. Still others of us work in our emerging spiritualities. It is a space to search together academic settings doing research and teaching in gender and formulate our own body of thought, study and studies. Through our time of ritual together, a deep reflection as Latin American women engaged in the bonding has taken place; in the process we felt the need religious debates of our region. Finally it has become a to become connected with other women who share our space to begin to build new practices and power relations same interest in feminist theology and spirituality. as we look for ways to sustain ourselves in terms of To make those connections and to share our own constructs of meaning both at the personal and at the reflections and experiences, we decided to publish a communal level. This has led us to searching for journal. With the encouragement of key women in other new stories of meaning, new myths and symbols of the Latin American countries, we launched the first issue of sacred, as well as new rituals. Throughout our history, Con-spirando: Revista Latinoamericana de Ecofeminismo, we have been deeply influenced by the thought of Espiritualidad y Teología on 8 March 1992, International Brazilian ecofeminist theologian Ivone Gebara, who is Women’s Day. That year we published two issues and since one of Con-spirando’s midwives. Her sharp analysis of 1993 Con-spirando has been published quarterly. patriarchy within the Christian tradition and her pro- Besides the journal, Con-spirando has become a gather- posed “holistic ecofeminism born of everyday life” has ing place for workshops, seminars and conversations in shaped our work. We have also been influenced by the feminist and ecofeminist theology and spirituality and in writings of Charlene Spretnak, Thomas Berry and Brian gender studies. These sessions continue to draw women Swimme. from grassroots groups such as barrio women’s centers Ever since Con-spirando began, we have offered rituals, and Christian base communities as well as women with a “sacred time and space” to celebrate the Earth’s cycles more academic training. The sessions are highly participa- and the cycles of our own lives. These celebrations, open tive: Included as an integral part of each session is body to the public, are an essential part of our work in honoring work, which links the personal body – often broken, women’s experiences of the sacred. Our rituals always violated and in pain – with the Earth’s body, which is also include convening a circle, often chanting “somos un being devastated and violated by the system we now círculo, dentro de un círculo, sin principio y sin final.” openly identify as patriarchy. Sensitive to the indigenous roots of Latin America, we From 1996–1998, the Con-spirando Collective – along have present in the circle’s center the four elements and with our partners Mary Hunt and Diann Neu of WATER always salute the four directions. Many rituals concentrate (Silver Spring, MD, USA), and Ivone Gebara (Recife, Brazil) on reconnecting with our ancestors and with the broader – has been the organizer of a very key feminist theology community of life. program in the Americas called A Shared Garden. As a Another key aspect of our work is research. Either as a result of this program (which took place over a two-year collective, or in conjunction with others, we have been period in Santiago, Washington, D.C. and Recife), as stated involved on an ongoing basis with investigating the evo- in our overall objective, each of the three organizers has lution of women’s experiences as they relate to theology, felt empowered by the more than 135 Garden participants spirituality and ethics. to deepen and consolidate the process of In the past three years, we have been responding to increased requests for facilitation from women’s groups, empowering ourselves, as women, to speak our own helping them clarify their identity, vision, objectives and theological word, to celebrate the Holy in our lives future plans. Requests have come from Catholic women’s 420 Coronado, Rodney religious congregations, evangelical women’s groups and Ecstatic naturalism views nature as having two dimen- gay and lesbian organizations. sions: “nature naturing” and “nature natured” (Averroes, Finally, the Con-spirando collective is committed to Spinoza, Buchler). Unlike most other naturalist phi- networking both locally and at a regional/international losophies, ecstatic naturalism is committed to thinking level with other like-minded organizations, groups and about the sacred in nature. Nature naturing represents the movements who share our vision. vastness of nature which gives birth to nature natured (i.e., the multiple orders and complexes of the world). Mary Judith Ress Nature naturing is not only the origin of everything else, but a destination as well, a “not-yet” (Heidegger). The Further Reading ontological difference between the two dimensions of Berry, Thomas. The Great Work. New York: Bell Tower, nature is, for ecstatic naturalism, held open by an abyss, 1999. which a person must confront in order to gain meaning Con-spirando: Revista Latinoamericana de Ecofeminismo, of the world. Melancholy and ecstasy are the two funda- Espiritualidad y Teología 1 (March 1992), 2–5. mental attunements of ecstatic naturalism, melancholy Santiago de Chile. giving a human self-understanding of the depth and Gebara, Ivone. Longing for Running Water: Ecofeminism immensurability of nature naturing, often experienced as and Liberation. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1999. the longing for a lost origin, or the maternal (Kristeva); Ruether, Rosmary Radford. Gaia & God: An Ecofeminist ecstasy being radically open to the future. This tense space Theology of Earth Healing. San Francisco: HarperSan- between the nevermore and the not-yet is the field of Francisco, 1992. world semiosis, where humans gain understanding both of Swimme, Brian. Canticle to the Cosmos. Video Series. nature and of how they are shaped by nature. See also: Berry, Thomas; Christianity (7d) – Feminist Corrington has advocated a decentered, divine spirit or Theology; Ecofeminism (various); Gebara, Ivone; spirits in his writings, where the sacred in nature is seen as Spretnak, Charlene; Swimme, Brian. one of the products of nature naturing, which encounters the human in numerous and numinous ways. His recent moves have been into dialogue with Hegel and the esoteric Coronado, Rodney – See Rodney Coronado and traditions. Ecstatic naturalism has become more pan- the Animal Liberation Front (adjacent to Radical theistic, not only viewing some aspects of nature natured Environmentalism). as sacred, but also encompassing nature naturing as well. One of the capacities of nature is seen to be an “infinitizing” process, capable of opening up new sacred Corrington, Robert S. (1950–) dimensions for experiencing selves.

Robert S. Corrington, a professor at Drew University in Sigridur Gudmarsdottir New Jersey, has developed an influential philosophical and religious theory of nature which he calls “ecstatic Further Reading naturalism.” In developing his theory, he claims that Corrington, Robert. “My Passage from Panentheism nature has no opposite and is all that is. Therefore, for to Pantheism.” American Journal of Theology & ecstatic naturalism, there can be no God different from or Philosophy 23:2 (May 2002). outside nature. Corrington, Robert. A Semiotic Theory of Theology and Ecstatic naturalism follows two pragmatic principles. Philosophy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, First, everything in the world is seen to be in a complex 2000. relationship to something else in the world, but nothing Corrington, Robert. Nature and Spirit: An Essay in is totally related to everything. These diverse relations Ecstatic Naturalism. New York: Fordham University form “complexes.” The second rule advocates “ontological Press, 1992. parity” and claims that every complex is ontologically See also: Nature Religion; Pantheism; Spinoza, Baruch; as real as any other. The principle of ontological parity Unitarianism. is used to refute any worldview which seeks to classify some structures as not real or less true, and honor others as better, more real or true. Thus classical SP Cosmology theism, with its belief in an omnipotent and omnipresent God that utterly surpasses the creatures in oneness, Cosmology is the object of research by anthropology and truth, and goodness can neither be in accordance with the physics. Astrophysics studies the evolution of the uni- rule against total access to complexes nor ontological verse, while anthropology analyzes the cosmologies of parity. all the world’s cultures as socio-cultural constructions. In Cosmology 421 anthropology, the term cosmology is used as an analytical through “grid-group” methodologies, issues such as construct to refer to the overarching cognitive and risk perceptions in techno-scientific institutions. Yet, behavioral templates which are reiterated, transformed increasingly researchers have investigated contemporary and used by a society to comprehend its role within: cosmologies in industrial or post-industrial societies humanity, life, the world (planet Earth) and the cosmos. A focusing on issues such as habitus among indigenous cosmology involves explanations of the past, present and or academic organizations, scientific and globalized future of a society within these levels of encompassment, organizations, millenarian and worker’s sects, and ethnic and is part of its understanding of cosmo-eco-ethno conflicts, among others. genesis. It deals with origins as well as with the finality What is clear in all research among a-modern, modern and destiny of humans and of other forms of existence. or postmodern societies, is that there can be a single Anthropology analyzes how these templates of significa- coherent cosmological system prevailing in a given group, tion exist in rational, scientific, religious, artistic, ethical especially among indigenous cultures, though in most and emotional and sensorial terms, and how they involve societies there is no unique, grand cosmological narrative, holistic approximations laden with “transcontextual” and and several versions exist. Moreover, a common cosmo- multi-experiential meaningfulness. logical cosmoscape can prevail but with individual and All cultures have cosmologies, religious or non- subcultural variants, according to a person’s rank, religious, as means to interpret a society’s situatedness in expertise, age or gender, and to seasonal and situational the universe, Earth, biosphere, and in humanity. During contexts. the twentieth century most anthropological research investigated religious cosmologies among indigenous Religion, Ecology, and Cosmology among Indigenous and and traditional cultures. After Griaule’s path-breaking Traditional Cultures research in the 1930s in Africa on Dogon cosmological Cosmologies of traditional and indigenous societies myths and their functions which defined collective ways invoke respect for the sacred and the spiritual essence of of thinking and behaving, decades of research ensued in all forms of existence, to keep a balanced coexistence other continents. Lévi-Strauss, through structuralist among the parts composing the total whole of the cosmos. analyses, investigated the socio-ecological and intel- People, ecosystems, and the geoscape and cosmoscape, are lectual value of Amerindian cosmologies, and he opened defined as having identities defined with matter, spirit, an era of structuralist and post-structuralist research and mind. These common predicaments imply shared worldwide which inquired about their underlying cosmic synergies among all forms of existence, human mechanisms. and nonhuman, biotic or not, who must negotiate with At the beginning of the twenty-first century, there are other matter, energy, spirit, and other essences. Humans academic debates concerning the relevance of cosmolo- are to calibrate when to exchange or not exchange these gies as ideational and operational systems in a globalizing essences and must request permission and compensate world where not all cultures live in a single delimited other beings or forces for using their resources – for territorial or communitarian context nor sustain unique example, when engaged in hunting, gathering, fishing, identities. As a reaction to evolutionary anthropology and agriculture, herding, or in making artifacts or settlements, similar approaches which hold that there is a common or or when people are born or die. universal basis for cognitive and behavioral templates in Spirit, matter, and principles of “peoplehood” are said all humans, a majority of analysts defend instead the to dwell in artifacts of material culture, and in animals, paradigm of relativism which insists that all cosmologies plants, minerals, as well as in winds, thunder, mountains, are socially constructed designs, manufactured to give river rapids, caves, and in certain ecosystems. Cosmo- meaning to existence. Religious persons hold that such logical loci exist in many of these sites, as well as in the meta-referential parameters involve spiritual parameters cardinal, intercardinal orientations, and in the center, where the agency of Gods or divinities are believed to nadir and zenith. The cosmological axes mark the linkages define all forms of existence and surpass mere human between skies, world and underworlds: for example, in socio-historical agency. They believe there is a God and a village layouts, or temple or house alignment and design, life after death, and that supernatural architects or authors or in the sacred origin sites of ethnic groups or lineages or created and run the cosmos and human destiny. Though clans. They also mark the linkages between the ancestors analysts having religious and non-religious backgrounds and the present and future generations, as well as between contrast in their reactions to these beliefs, all seek to local existence and a universal and immanent one. investigate, ultimately on a cross-cultural bases, the pro- In these sites the specialists, such as priests, shamans or cesses involved in cosmology making. elders, officiate rites to maintain the communicative ethos During the twentieth century, research was scarce on and manage the exchanges among and between inter- industrial societies’ cosmologies in spite of the pioneering connected systems of matter and spirit, and past, present research by Mary Douglas who analyzed, for example, and future. Cosmological rites are performed when people 422 Cosmology are born, die, or are initiated, and to deliberate the use of of life. Such applied religion is meant to guarantee the environmental resources, as well as to celebrate seasonal greatest good to all while appealing to the conservation of turnover (astronomical cycles, epochs, years, equinoxes or biological and cultural diversity. solstices, months, seasons, days etc.). There is a differential Anthropological analyses using the ecosystem use of ritual artifacts which hold cosmological referents approach, cultural ecology, human ecology, environ- (crowns, staffs, masks, sacred stones, stools or chairs, mental anthropology, ethnosciences, and ethnoecology and others) and these usually express differences in have documented these last decades how indigenous soci- knowledge, expertise, age, or gender. eties engage in sophisticated calculations to correct or For indigenous cultures, the cosmological loci are used avoid negative ecological impacts of human activities. to remind a community that it must correlate its society For example, in tribal societies in New Guinea, these imply to the world and universe, relating their biosocial circ- the use of ritual cycles to manage population levels and umstances to climatic, meteorological, astronomical and de-escalate social conflicts in societies engaged in cultiva- cosmic dimensions. This connectivity is reiterated not tion and animal husbandry. Among tribal peoples of the only in the landscape, but also in abodes. It is made in Amazon, cosmologies are used by shamans to do long- astronomically oriented observatories, temples, and term environmental assessment to measure resource use houses. These architectural devices are used in ceremonial for hunting, fishing, gathering or shifting cultivation, or to and daily practices to signify a dwelling in the cosmos. establish intertribal alliances for regional resource man- The symbolism of the house or temple projects the archi- agement across rainforest terrains, while similar practices tecture of the universe (for example a multilayered uni- are made by shaman-priests in mountain ecosystems to verse composed of skies, this world, and underworlds), sustainably manage regions across village networks. while the universe itself is signified as a temple or home. In Asia, among indigenous chiefdoms that practice Calendars correlate the spatio-temporal significance shamanism but who are confronted with statal (state- of the changing astronomical, meteorological, environ- based) societies or imposed religions, the struggle to con- mental and social links which each society considers as trol their socio-ecological systems has implied difficult the pivotal references. Rituals express in performative negotiations. But shamanic superpositions and confronta- modes the significance of these chronotopes; for example, tions of cosmological templates, and ritual contestation to mark the opening and closing of seasons, or changes in has allowed resistance to hegemonic displacement. landscape use or population levels, while rites of passage Among indigenous shamanistic cultures, the rituals in mark changes in collective or individual identity to pub- a person’s lifecycle and in group development are made licly mediate how these are to resonate within ecosystems to celebrate, reward, or punish their contribution to the and across the world and universe. harmonized existence of the socio-biosphere within It is significant that among indigenous societies which the cosmos, largely calculated in practical terms. But it have shamanism as their main cosmological orientation, is above all the religious dimension which propels a there is an overt concern regarding the need to minimize spirituality and an ethics to achieve justice with other negative human impacts on the environment. Shamanism forms of life or existence. In rituals of divination, com- has rituals and strategies that allow calculations for long-, pensation or sacrifice, religious experts seek to redress, mid- and short-term resource use. It has an overarching propitiate or to calculate the appropriate relations between retrospective and prospective outlook, or a “looking and among the forces of the universe. Cosmological codes backwards and looking forwards” template to manage in curative or preventive medicine are attentive to the human actions within the context of a balance with the same laws of harmonized coexistence (though medicinal grander whole, and shamans consider their task to be to practices also imply effective phytomedicine and other “help manage and care” for humans, the world, and the practical approaches). universe. Yet, the overall effectiveness of cosmological account- Cultures that have shamanism have ritual cycles to ability to maintain biosocial balance and socio- engage individual and collective responsibility to monitor environmental conservation is achieved by harnessing the state of biosocial systems and to redress socio- scientific, medicinal, socio-economic, political, religious, environmental imbalances. Such individual and group musical, philosophical, artistic and performative modes. behavior is regulated by cosmological normativity to Thus, while the religious bases of cosmologies foment inculcate environmental resource use and conservation as community and environmental well-being in a cosmos part of the “proper way” to live in this life and be in the based on sentient spirituality, there is both a rational afterlife. Through wise, dignified and austere livelihoods approximation and an enchanted one to define a society’s involving the daily monitoring of thoughts, words and place in the universe. actions which reiterate communal life and sound eco- In many shamanistic societies the importance of mind- system use, this shamanic cosmological awareness propels altering exercises, or the intake of substances that allow communal responsibility and respect for the sacred bases altered states of consciousness – for example, the use Cosmology 423 of hallucinogens – reiterate the cosmological holistic witnessing an unprecedented loss of invaluable time- imaginary and experientiality while imbuing people with proven cultural and cosmological creativity. an intense sense of awe and respect for the linkages Yet the accelerating socio-economic, political, religious between human existence, life and the universe. and environmental changes among the world’s 6800 or Myths and formal narratives, as well as legends, folk- so ethnolinguistic groups, and the increasing exchanges tales, proverbs, children’s stories and songs also express among all peoples and nations, now allow a society to cosmological conventions. Each reiterates heightened construct hybridized fragments of cosmological systems forms of socio-ecological awareness toward sustainable or superposed templates. Convivial or conflicting criteria use and conservation of resources and are used to con- involving ethnic, religious or juro-political identities and solidate in families, communities and cultures the daily diverse interpretations and stages of modernization or commitment to sustain a sentient socio-ecological balance globalization allow contemporary societies to hold while achieving a balanced sense of existence within the dynamic cosmological versions as they manage them in world and universe. situational contexts. Anthropological analyses have indicated the sagacious Though in this globalized era the need to have cosmo- foresight the shamanistic and cosmological systems logical parameters seems to be a high stake for all soci- deploy to resist ethnocidal or ecocidal tendencies, as eties, it appears that cosmologies based on the big traditional and indigenous societies are confronted by religious traditions appeal to more profound or funda- modernization and by colonization and displacement. It mentalist commitments, though many of these exclude is important to note that this last decade, indigenous rep- alternative cosmologies and worldviews. resentatives themselves are increasingly voicing and As some societies struggle to have single cosmologies defending their own positions in relation to these pre- while marginalizing, respecting, or exterminating those of dicaments in local, national and global forums, while others, others increasingly hold cosmological diversity, seeking the respect of their rights, cosmologies and hybridity, or engage in re-cosmologization by transposing worldviews. preexisting cosmologies. A main concern of contemporary There are however differences in the structures and societies is the redefinition of the meaning of human functions of the cosmologies of the world’s 400 million existence within the world and cosmos, but the pressing indigenous peoples and their interpretation of ethno- issue of recognizing socio-environmental interdepen- eco-cosmic linkages. Those of nomadic bands of hunter- dencies and redressing imbalances in these across local gathers portray egalitarian synergies, those of tribal or and global dynamics is at present at an impasse. Facing chiefdom agricultural, pastoral, or herding cultures these tasks requires cross-cultural cooperation among portray ranked and hierarchical synergies, while those societies holding diverse and often contrasting con- in statal societies portray stratified and exploitative ceptions of society, humanity, world and universe, or dynamics. Perhaps in the near future those in post-state cosmologies and worldviews, and a necessary communi- and globalized societies may reconsider the value of cation among and between these frameworks is required global interdependencies in a shared biosphere and world, to achieve common goals. where human creativity could contribute to the cele- Though the frontiers of science and technology con- bration and not the destruction of intelligent life in the tribute data which permit the construction of non- universe. religious cosmologies based upon knowledge of the laws There is an urgent task of acknowledging and conserv- and properties of the universe, world, biosphere and ing the heritage of the world’s cosmologies and their humanity, the majority of people seem intent on holding important lessons, but the extermination of the world’s to cosmologies based on religious or non-scientific bases. linguistic, cultural and biological diversity continues to If such connectivity between society, environment, world accelerate. and cosmos necessarily implies a sense of spirituality or of enchantment which in turn relates to the big questions Cosmologies in a Globalized World of human existence and attributes meaning to life, death, Though many of the world’s indigenous cosmologies have or justice itself, then cosmologies with a religious base a coherent scaffolding to calculate the impacts of people will be determinant in promoting biological and cultural upon their own and other societies’ environments and diversity, and with it the possible survival or demise of into the biosphere and universe, as well as upon future humanity itself. generations, and this is important for human survival, it is This process has begun, because of register-shifts and clear that many of these cultures are being exterminated, the upgrading of cosmological referents among con- displaced or assimilated. Though indigenous people con- cerned environmentalists, and there is an unprecedented serve still what are the world’s highest areas of biocultural expression of creativity engaging new forms of socio- diversity, over 70 percent of this cultural diversity may environmental ethics and spiritual ecology during the last be exterminated within the next century. Humanity is decades. The respect for the sacrality of life encompasses a 424 Cosmology concern for the well-being of humans who are considered opt to forget, silence or ignore the lessons reaped for as part of nature and not as opposed entities in a fallacious millennia by cultures that calibrated the impact of their nature–culture contraposition. daily practices onto the web of life in order to resonate with the ancient laws of nature, or to echo those of the Conclusion cosmos. In all historical times, the use of cosmologies to mobilize At present the modernizing and the post-industrial or immobilize normative directives and social movements societies in a globalizing world are faced with major indicate their strategic socio-environmental and socio- challenges for the sustainable conservation of biocultural political and economic functions. The long-term directives diversity and for peaceful human coexistence. It is impor- of their templates have been, and can be used, to manage tant to reconsider the value of spirituality and the lessons identitarian parameters within the interpretation of the of indigenous cosmologies to foster wise human con- evolution of humanity, life, the world, and the cosmos. viviality and environmental management. It is also These parameters guide the overarching imaginaries that important to remember that in this globalized world there relate microcosm to macrocosm, and with it, define the is an unprecedented impact of human agency in environ- ideological and the practical commitments of each self and mental destruction, climatic change, and in exterminating society in relation to the rest of humanity, and to the world cultural diversity. and cosmos. Redressing this may partly occur through international Cosmologies that contain viable environmental negotiations across peoples, nations or regions, but to management systems and socio-economic, political and truly halt the extermination of biological and cultural religious systems, can allow wise use and conservation of diversity, ecologists such as Edward Goldsmith stress biosocial resources, but in a globalized world they can that there is an urgency – globally, and among many only do so if other societies respect this too. Because the societies – to uphold relevant worldviews and cosmologies age-proven systems of many indigenous or traditional to guarantee a fulfilled sense of existence, and the survival cosmologies are used to monitor and harness socio- of humanity and life itself. ecological functions and communal well-being, their existence is critical to achieve sustainable development Elizabeth Reichel and conviviality among peoples. Such templates hold important lessons for other sectors Further Reading of humanity to understand, and to adequately manage key Aveni, Anthony and G. Urton, eds. Ethnoastronomy and biocultural synergies. It remains to be seen how these will Archaeoastronomy in the American Tropics. New be encompassed in a grander scheme that allows a mean- York: New York Academy of Sciences, 1982. ingful sense of human existence and a fulfilled life. As this Bateson, Gregory. Steps to an Ecology of Mind. New York: human situatedness involves a worldview which relates to Chandler, 1972. the dynamics within the world or planet Earth, and a cos- Bloch, Maurice. Prey Unto Hunter: The Politics of Religious mology which encompasses the cosmic dimensions, con- Experience. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, catenating humanity, world and universe, the recognition 1992. of these multiscale processes may now allow a new form Bourdieu, P. Outline of a Theory of Practice. Cambridge, of human consciousness. These imply an acknowledge- Cambridge University Press, 1972. ment of supra-referential parameters to comprehend the Crocker, Joe C. Vital Souls: Bororo Cosmology, Natural distinct orders of magnitude of the spatio-temporal Symbolism and Shamanism. Tucson: University of dimensions in the short-, mid- and long-term calculations Arizona Press, 1985. each society holds to explain its responsibilities therein. Croll, Elizabeth and D. Parkin, eds. Bush-Base-Forest Today as each of the world’s cultures, indigenous or Farm: Culture, Environment and Development. not, recreate the specific meaning it gives to the relations London: Routledge, 1992. between its society and its own and others’ biocultural Descola, Philippe and G. Palsson, eds. Nature and Society: environment, and to the rest of the world and the cosmos, Anthropological Perspectives. London: Routledge, they constitute particular mechanisms to be, or not be, 1996. accountable for the interdependencies affecting, for Douglas, Mary. Essays in the Sociology of Perception. example, other socio-environmental dynamics. Though London: Routledge, 1982. some cosmologies include this awareness as an “eco- Douglas, Mary. Natural Symbols: Explorations in Cos- cosmology” which promotes socio-ecological dimensions, mology. London: Penguin, 1970. or by encompassing this awareness within a grander Geertz, Clifford. Local Knowledge. New York: Basic Books, socio-eco-cosmic consciousness, many modern cosmolo- 1983. gies or worldviews may opt for short-sighted, risk-prone, Gell, Alfred. “Closure and Multiplication: An Essay on or scapegoating mechanisms. When they do so, they may Polynesian Cosmology and Ritual.” In Daniel de The Council of All Beings 425

Coppet and A. Iteanu, eds. Cosmos and Society in Taussig, Michael. Shamanism, Colonialism and the Wild Oceania. Oxford: Berg, 1995. Man. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1987. Goldsmith, Edward. The Way: An Ecological World-view. Urton, Gary. At the Crossroads of Earth and Sky. Texas: Boston: Shambhala Publications, 1992. University of Texas Press, 1981. Humphrey, Caroline. “Chiefly and Shamanist Landscapes Viveiros de Castro, Eduardo. “Images of Nature and in Mongolia.” In Eric Hirsch and Michael O’Hanlon, Culture in Amazon Ethnology.” Annual Review of eds. The Anthropology of Landscape. Oxford: Claren- Anthropology 25 (1996), 179–200. don Press, 1995. Wilbert Johannes. Mystic Endowment. Cambridge: Cam- Keesing, Roger. Kwaio Religion. New York: Columbia bridge University Press, 1993. University Press, 1982. See also: Anthropology as a Souce of Nature Religion; Klass, Morton. Ordered Universes: Approaches to the Bateson, Gregory; Blackfoot Cosmos as Natural Phil- Anthropology of Religion. Boulder: Westview Press, osophy; Indigenous Environmental Network; New Age. 1995. Latour, Bruno. We Have Never Been Modern. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1993. P The Council of All Beings Rappaport, Roy. Pigs for the Ancestors: Ritual in the Ecology of a New Guinea People. New Haven: Yale The Council of All Beings is a communal ritual in which University Press, 1968. participants step aside from their human identity and Rayner, Steve. “The Perception of Time and Space in speak on behalf of another life form. A simple structure for Egalitarian Sects: A Millenarian Cosmology.” In Mary spontaneous expression, it aims to heighten awareness Douglas, ed. Essays in the Sociology of Perception. of our interdependence in the living body of Earth, and to London: Routledge, 1982. strengthen our commitment to defend it. The ritual serves Reichel, Elizabeth. “Cosmology, Worldview and Gender- to help us acknowledge and give voice to the suffering of based Knowledge Systems among the Tanimuka and our world. It also serves, in equal measure, to help us Yukuna (Northwest Amazon).” Worldviews: Environ- experience the beauty and power of our interconnected- ment, Culture, Religion 3:3 (1997), 213–42. ness with all life. Reichel-Dolmatoff, Gerardo. The Forest Within: The Worldview of the Tukano Amazonian Indians. London: History Themis Press, 1996. The form originated in Australia in early 1985, when I Reichel-Dolmatoff, Gerardo. “The Loom of Life: A Kogi was on a workshop tour bringing group practices to sus- Principle of Integration.” Journal of Latin American tain social and environmental activists. One day after a Lore 4:1 (1978), 5–27. weekend workshop, John Seed, founder of the Rainforest Reichel-Dolmatoff, Gerardo. “Cosmology as Ecological Information Center, took me to one of the last vestiges of Analysis: A View from the Rainforest.” The Huxley his continent’s primordial forests, saved from the timber Memorial Lecture. Man 11:3 (1976), 307–18. companies by blockades mounted by John and other local Reichel-Dolmatoff, Gerardo. Amazonian Cosmos. Chicago: protesters. On that excursion John and I discovered that University of Chicago Press, 1971. we shared a passionate interest in deep ecology and the Roe, Peter. The Cosmic Zygote. New Jersey: Rutgers writings of Norwegian philosopher Arne Naess about the University Press, 1982. “ecological self.” As Buddhists, we both resonated with Sahlins, Marshall. Historical Metaphors and Mythical these concepts, finding them close to the Buddha’s core Realities. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, teaching on the interdependence of all life. John expressed 1981. the wish that my workshops include a “deep ecological” Schneider, Mark. Culture and Enchantment. Chicago: group experience to directly challenge the anthropo- University of Chicago Press, 1993. centrism of industrial society. Tambiah, Stanley. Magic, Science, Religion and the Scope So together, that day, we invented the Council of All of Rationality. Cambridge: Cambridge University Beings. It was introduced shortly afterwards, in the course Press, 1990. of the weeklong training that culminated my workshop Tambiah, Stanley. Culture, Thought and Social Action. tour. At a camp north of Sydney, on huge flat rocks by a Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1985. waterfall, some forty people took part. And soon they were Taylor, Bron. “Earth and Nature-Based Spirituality (Part taking the ritual back with them to their local communities. II): From Deep Ecology to Scientific Paganism.” Within a year, by word of mouth – and through John’s Religion 30:3 (2001), 225–45. and my travels – the Council of All Beings spread to Taylor, Bron. “Earth and Nature-Based Spirituality (Part I): North America, Western Europe, and Japan. From the From Deep Ecology to Radical Environmentalism.” Grand Canyon to the banks of the Rhine, in redwood Religion 31:2 (2001), 175–93. groves and classrooms and church basements, people were 426 The Council of All Beings gathering to shed their personae as humans and give voice culture incurs. They also serve to awaken us to the inter- to the plight of the Earth. They spoke as whale and wolf connectedness of all life forms, our deep ecology. I have and wind, aspen and marsh and any other nonhuman they come to see deep ecology as an explanatory principle both felt called to represent. for the pain we experience on behalf of the natural world, Articles about the ritual soon appeared in a variety of and for the sense of belonging that arises when we stop publications, and by 1988 a book by us both, with Arne repressing that pain. Naess and Pat Fleming (Thinking Like a Mountain: Towards a Council of All Beings) carried the practice Remembering more widely, especially among activists, religious groups, Our connections with other life forms are based not only and environmental educators. These publications helped on emotional attachments to places and beings we have people from different cultures and walks of life to guide loved. They are also organic, woven by shared ancestries, the Councils in a recognizably consistent fashion. embedded in our bodies. Each atom in each molecule of our being goes back to the beginning of life, and has Description belonged to far more ancient and varied forms of life than As the practice spread, the name “Council of All Beings” our own. The human form we now wear is just the latest came to be used in two ways: to refer to the ritual itself, and briefest chapter of a long evolutionary journey. In the and also to refer to the workshop or gathering in which it Remembering, we consciously own this ancient kinship so is held, and which includes closely related processes. Since that, when the time comes to speak for other life forms, we two of these related processes are considered by many to can do so a greater sense of naturalness and authenticity. be important, if not essential, to the experience as a whole, Also known as “evolutionary remembering,” this they are included in the following description. experiential process guides the imagination while drawing on multiple senses and inner body knowings. It sets The Mourning our present-day, hurried lives within larger contexts of The interdependence of all life remains just a mental con- time. On occasion, the Remembering extends back to the cept, without power to affect our attitudes and behaviors, beginning of space and time, drawing on texts such as unless it takes on some emotional reality. We need to feel The Universe Story by Thomas Berry and Brian Swimme, it, and our capacity to feel is stunted, if we block out the and ritual adaptations by such20teacher-practitioners pain within us over what is happening to our world. as Sr. Miriam MacGillis. But as a preparatory stage to the Furthermore, if we proceed to take part in the Council Council of All Beings, we usually focus on “our life as per se, speaking on behalf of other life forms, without first Gaia”; it is easier to feel with our bodies, and we have acknowledging our sorrow for what other beings are already done it in our mother’s womb. Just as, in utero, we suffering at human hands, we risk being superficial, even physically recapitulated the evolution of cellular life, so presumptuous. now we attempt to do it consciously, harnessing intellect Here we use “mourning” as a generic term for the and imagination. expression of moral pain for what humans are inflicting Instead of relying on words alone, sound and move- on the natural world. This pain for the world includes not ment help us to “remember.” A heartbeat on a drum, only grief, but fear, anger, and despair as well. Because evoking life’s rhythms, as it pumps our blood, breathes these emotions are not encouraged in conventional through our lungs, can take us back through time, helping society, and because they reveal the truth of our inter- us imagine we can recall the adventures of our four and a connectedness with all life, we allow them full play. half billion years. Our evolutionary journey can also be For the Mourning, a variety of forms have evolved, in explored through bodily movement, even the barest of which people feel both safe and free in expressing and motions. Nosing, crawling, wriggling, pushing up, we releasing their pain for the world. The methods I like best imaginatively feel our way into the inner body sense of are simple ones: a recitation of the names of endangered fish and amphibian and reptile, life stages still embedded species, with drumbeat and pauses for people to name in our neurological system. what is disappearing from their lives today. Or the Cairn of Mourning, where, gathered in a circle, people move to the As your memory improves, as the implications of center, one by one, and place a stone. Each stone repre- evolution and ecology are internalized and replace sents a loss that has occurred or is occurring. As it is outmoded anthropocentric structures in your mind, brought forward, the loss is described: a family farm there is an identification with all life. Then follows replaced by a shopping mall, a fishing stream polluted or the realization that the distinction between “life” paved over, clean air, safe food... and “lifeless” is a human construct. Every atom in Reconnecting us with our capacity to care, such ritual this body existed before organic life emerged. namings of the losses brought by our industrial culture Remember our childhood as minerals, as lava, as serve as an antidote to the pervasive psychic numbing this rocks? (John Seed) The Council of All Beings 427

The expanses of time evoked by the Remembering form, I like to begin the proceedings by inviting the beings remind us that the industrial growth society is a temporary to identify themselves in turn, a kind of roll call: Wolf is episode – and that in order to move beyond it now, we can here, I speak for all wolves. I am Wild Goose; I speak for all draw on a more deeply rooted legacy. Respect and grati- migratory birds. tude arise for our forebears’ capacity to weather adversity Welcoming them all, I thank them for coming, and, and to respond collectively and creatively to enormous with some solemnity, set the theme for our deliberations. challenges. The process helps us to believe that these capacities have not forsaken us, and to draw on them now We meet in council because our planet is in trouble; at this crisis point for life on Earth. our lives and our ancient ways are endangered. It is In my years of experiencing and guiding this process, I fitting that we confer, for there is much now that have seen how it strengthens us to act in defense of Earth needs to be said and much that needs to be heard. and Earth’s beings. It helps us act, not from the whim or nobility of our short-lived individual ego, but clothed in The council unfolds in three consecutive stages. First, the authority of our four and a half billion years. We start the beings address each other, telling of the changes and learning to act our age. hardships they are experiencing in these present times.

Speaking for Other Life Forms “The shells of my eggs are so thin and brittle now, This is the Council of All Beings per se, enhanced, when they break before my young are ready to hatch.” time permits, by the preparatory practices described “I’m tightly crowded in a dark place, far from above. grass and standing in my own shit. My calves are The beings that coexist with us in the web of life are taken from me, and instead cold machines are profoundly affected by our actions, yet they have no clamped to my teats. I call and call for my young. hearing in our human deliberations and policies, no voice Where did they go? What happened to them?” to call us to account. The Council of All Beings gives them “As Lichen, I turn rock into soil. I worked as the a voice – and because it is our own as well, it can change glaciers retreated, as other life-forms came and the ways we see and think. went. I thought nothing could stop my work; but Participants begin by letting themselves be chosen by now I’m being poisoned by acid rain.” another life form, be it animal, plant, or natural feature like swamp or desert. We use the passive verb, be chosen, in The second stage of the Council begins after most have order to encourage people to go with what first intuitively spoken, and the guide invites humans into the center. occurs to them, rather than selecting an object of previous Since it is clear that one young species is at the root of all study. This way our minds are more receptive and humble, this trouble, its representatives should be present to hear more open to surprise. When out-of-doors, we can wander these testimonies. So, a few at a time, the beings put aside off alone to happen on the identity we will assume. When their masks and move to sit for a while, as humans, in the indoors, some quiet moments suffice, as we relax and middle of the circle. The other life forms now speak to wait with an open, non-discursive mind for the imagined them directly. presence of another life form. Then we take time to behold this life form in our mind’s eye, bestowing upon it fullness “For millions of years we’ve raised our young, of attention, imagining its rhythms and pleasures and rich in our ways and wisdom. Now our days are needs. Respectfully, silently, we ask its permission to speak numbered because of what you are doing. Be still for for it in the Council of All Beings. once, and listen to us.” If time allows and supplies are available, we make sim- “See my possum hand, humans? It resembles ple masks, working together in companionable silence yours. From its print on the soft soil you can tell with paper and paints, twigs and leaves. Then, briefly where I have passed. What mark on Earth will you clustering in small groups, we practice taking on the leave behind you?” identity of our chosen life form. This helps us let go of our “Humans! I am Mountain speaking. For millennia self-consciousness as humans, and become more at ease in your ancestors venerated my holy places. Now you imagining a very different perspective on life. dig and gouge for the ore in my veins. Clearcutting Then, with due formality, the participants assemble in my forests, you take away my capacity to hold water a circle and the Council of All Beings commences. To and release it slowly. See the silted rivers? See the create a sense of sacred space, prayers and invocations are floods? In destroying me, you will destroy spoken. Native American practices, such as smudging yourselves.” with sage or cedar, and calling in the blessings of the four directions, are often used here to good effect. When I am The first time I sat in the center, a human in the the guide, and speaking, of course, as my adopted life presence of other life forms, I felt stripped. I wanted to 428 The Council of All Beings protest. “I’m different than the logging and mining execu- These gifts reside already in the human spirit, as seeds tives, the multinational CEOs, and the consumers addicted within the psyche; otherwise they could not be spoken. to shopping,” I wanted to say. “I am a caring human; I Their naming brings forth a sense of wholeness and meditate and recycle and teach deep ecology.” glad possibility. When all of them have been offered, the But because I was not permitted to speak, these words Council of All Beings is formally concluded. Then the began to evaporate in my mind. I saw them soon as essen- assembled often break into singing, drumming, exultant tially irrelevant. The deep ecology that had so lured me dancing – releasing energy after the long, attentive listen- with its affirmation of our interconnectedness with other ing. Sometimes the group just sits in stillness, silently species now forced me to acknowledge my embeddedness absorbing what has been learned or writing in journals. in my own. If I was linked to the wild goose and the lichen, Care is taken to thank the life forms, who have spoken I was far more linked to the investment speculators and through us, and to dispose of the masks in a deliberate compulsive shoppers. Shared accountability sank in, fashion. The masks may be formally burned, or hung on a leaching away any sense of moral immunity. tree or wall, or taken home with us as symbolic reminders Then, as the others did, I moved back to the periphery, of the ritual. On occasion, at the close of a Council, to see and speak from that wider context. From here I wanting to stay identified with the other life forms, we could see more clearly than before the isolation in which fancy that we are putting on human masks, the better to humans imagine themselves to exist, and the fear and work for them as we reenter the world of the two-leggeds. greed than can seize them. In the third stage of the Council, the other life forms Reflections and Applications offer gifts to the humans. Recognizing how dependent The Councils of All Beings, that I have personally experi- they have become on humankind, they would help this enced, number in the hundreds by now. I can think of young species deal with the crisis it has created. As ritual nothing I would give in exchange for them – nothing that guide I might cue this stage by saying, equals their mixture of laughter, tears, and eloquence, or that can replace the spontaneous insights they engender. Many humans now realize the destruction they are Sometimes, as I start to offer the ritual, I fear that people causing; they feel overwhelmed and powerless in will reject it as beneath their dignity, as childish or a waste the face of the forces they have unleashed. Yet our of their valuable time. But in each case, when I proceed fate is in their hands. O fellow beings, what with quiet confidence, the outcome is similar. Whether in strengths of ours can we share with them, what Nebraska or Germany, Russia or Japan, people seem ready powers can we lend them? and able to step free from their human roles, if only for an hour or two, and give voice to wider, more ancient With this invitation, the beings in the Council begin knowings. spontaneously to offer their own particular qualities and The quality and effectiveness of these rituals vary capacities. widely, of course. Because there is no required training for the guide, or “quality control,” they can, on occasion, “I, Lichen, work slowly, very slowly. Time is my become diffuse, distracted, even boring. Yet, by and large, friend. This is what I give you, humans: patience and there is something irreplaceable that happens in the simple perseverance.” act of taking on – or even attempting to take on – the “I, Condor, give you my keen, far-seeing eye. Use persona and perspective of another life form. It is basically that power to look ahead beyond your daily distrac- an act of humility and generosity. It moves the self- tions, to heed what you see and plan.” important ego from stage center, and sheds a fresh light on One after another the beings offer their particular even the most ordinary elements of life. powers to the humans in the center. After speaking, According to theologian Thomas Berry in The Dream of each leaves its mask in the outer circle and joins the the Earth, the “shamanic personality,” which can under- humans in the middle, receiving the gifts still to be stand and speak for other life forms, is essential to our given. survival. It helps us to break free from our culture’s “As Mountain, I offer you humans my solidity anthropocentrism and dispel the trance of industrial and deep peace. Come to me to rest, to dream. With- civilization. The life-giving powers shaping creation from out dreams you lose your vision and hope. Come, the beginning of time are still present within us, Berry too, for my strength and steadfastness, whenever writes. They exist as “deep spontaneities,” accessible you need them.” through the imagination. “As Leaf, I would free you humans from your fear The Council of All Beings has shown it can evoke these of death. My dropping, crumbling, molding allows deep spontaneities. Here no fasting or drugs or arduous fresh growth. If you were less afraid of death, you disciplines are needed to awaken the inner shaman. would be readier to live.” The Council does not claim to involve channeling or Covenant of the Unitarian Universalist Pagans 429 shapeshifting, or to engage any capacities beyond the networking group, it has no specific beliefs or practices moral imagination. All that is required is clear intention; it other than the broad eclecticism and acceptance of spir- is like opening a door in the mind and walking through. At itual paths characterized by the UUA and by the neo-pagan times people do experience another voice “coming movement as a whole. In some communities it is seen by through” that is beyond any conscious editing on their neo-pagans as a meeting and recruiting ground for groups part. This is not surprising, given the close relation of this as diverse as the OTO and Wiccan covens. work to the shamanic experience. CUUPS emerged in the 1970s as a result of feminists’ While the processes described above require a measure critique of what was considered the patriarchal orientation of uninterrupted time – a few hours for the ritual circle of Unitarian Universalist (UU) spirituality. In response, the itself, a full day or two with the related practices – briefer UUA General Assembly passed the “Woman and Religion applications have evolved. In church services and celebra- Resolution” in 1977 and introduced concepts such as the tions of the mass, abridged versions of the Council of All goddess and a more Earth-centered spirituality through a Beings have, on many occasions, functioned as the sermon class offered in many UUA churches. This movement made or liturgy of the word. As enrichment to environmental connections with the growing neo-pagan movement, as education, the Council has occurred in countless settings, Margo Adler noted in Drawing Down the Moon (1979). from elementary and high school classrooms to graduate CUUPS received its charter from the UUA in 1987, and schools of architecture and urban planning, where students became attractive to neo-pagans who were middle class speak for the flora and fauna affected by a building project and professionals and, during the “Satanic Panic” of the they are designing. Inspired by their experience of the late 1980s and early 1990s, were looking for protection Council, concerned citizens in several countries have and legitimacy from an established religious organization. appeared at public hearings on waste disposal and mining, CUUPs had a mixed reception in the UUA. Many con- lumber, and other resource extraction projects; and, with gregations were heavily influenced by an atheistic move- or without masks, they have testified on behalf of the ment in the 1960s, and were as opposed to pagan theology non-human dimensions of life that these plans will affect. as to Christian theology. However, CUUPS has grown People are also choosing to represent our fellow species as rapidly in numbers and influence within both UUA and in listening presences in community meetings, and marchers the neo-pagan movement. In 1993 it was able to get the in town parades. All these current practices attest to our UUA to include goddess and Earth-centered spiritual readiness and capacity to break through our society’s material in its hymnal, and by 1995 convinced the UUA to anthropocentrism, and give expression to the ecological adopt the following statement as the “sixth source” of self. UU spirituality: “Spiritual teachings of Earth-centered traditions which celebrate the sacred circle of life and Joanna Macy instruct us to live in harmony with the rhythms of nature.” CUUPs membership appears to have two distinct Further Reading groups, UU-pagans and Pagan-UUs, based on whether the Macy, Joanna and Molly Young Brown. Coming Back to members started as UUs or as neo-pagans. The UU-pagans Life. Philadelphia, PA: New Society Publishers, 1998. tend to be older and more socially integrated while the Seed, John, Joanna Macy, Pat Fleming and Arne Naess. Pagan-UUs tend to be younger and more countercultural. Thinking Like a Mountain. Philadelphia, PA: New Pagan-UUs are much less likely to attend regular Sunday Society Publishers, 1988. services, but rather will focus on evening activities and are See also: Breathwork; Deep Ecology; Deep Ecology – more likely to introduce energetic activities when the Institute for; Earth First! and the Earth Liberation Front; group sponsors the Sunday service. This is most apparent Epic of Evolution; Macy, Joanna; Pure Brethren; Radical in the national CUUPs meetings, where Pagan-UUs will be Environmentalism; Re-Earthing; Seed, John; Yoga and more likely to engage in late-night drumming and dancing Ecology. while UU-pagans will turn in early. CUUPs has also had a mixed reception within the neo- pagan movement. It has primarily appealed to the more P Covenant of the Unitarian Universalist Wiccan and Earth-centered branches, and to the more Pagans socially integrated portion of that branch. It went through a period of instability in the mid-1990s that resulted in a The Covenant of the Unitarian Universalist Pagans more activist and Pagan-UU leadership. It is currently (CUUPs) is a branch of the Unitarian Universalist Associ- regarded as one of the larger organizations that constitute ation (UUA) dedicated to networking among neo-pagan the neo-pagan movement. members of the UUA. Its goals include promoting inter- faith dialogue, developing neo-pagan religious beliefs and Marty Laubach practices and integrating them into UUA services. As a 430 Cowboy Spirituality

Further Reading easily into violence, both in imitation of nature’s ways and Adler, Margot. Drawing Down the Moon: Witches, Druids, in efforts to conquer her. This aspect of cowboy spiritual- Goddess-Worshippers, and Other Pagans in America ity fits Richard Slotkin’s thesis that the mythology of the Today. New York: The Viking Press, 1979. American frontier centers on the embrace of violence as a Cookson, Catherine. “Reports from the Trenches: A Case means of generating vitality, and thus helps place cowboy Study of Religious Freedom.” Journal of Church and culture in the larger context of American mythology of the State 39:4 (1997), 723–61. West. As interpreters of American culture often argue, the See also: Paganism; Unitarianism. ideal of the frontier West exists in opposition to stereo- types about the effeteness and artificiality of urban life. The ideal of the rugged, cowboy West serves as an antidote Cowboy Spirituality to the anti-ideal of enervated life in polite society. In this respect, the violent aspects of cowboy culture – bull As expressed in poetry and song, cowboy spirituality is a riding, shoot-outs, drunken brawls – are sometimes pre- classic example of tension between formal religion and sented as part of the rough morality of nature. McCanless heartfelt spirituality that runs deep in American culture defended cowboy justice by appealing to the big lives of and religious life. Protestant-rooted ideas about the biblical heroes: authority of individual conscience, the virtue of plain speech, and disdain for the pretentiousness of ritual and If I’d hair on my chin, I might pass for the goat, hierarchy characterize cowboy spirituality, as do romantic That bore all sin in ages remote; ideas about nature as a production of God, comparable to But why this is thusly I don’t understand, the Bible, and belief that awareness of God’s hand in For each of the patriarchs owned a big brand. nature is far superior to citified churchgoing. On spiritual matters, cowboy verse often combines sentimental, In recent years, disagreements about appropriate use even tear-jerking feeling with gallows humor and honest of rangelands pitted environmentalists against ranchers respect for the grim facts of life. As Allen McCanless wrote and cowboys, and contributed to the strength of the in his famous “Cowboy’s Soliloquy,” first published in Republican Party, which often opposed restrictions on 1885, rangeland in Western states and capitalized on local hostility to federal government intervention. Ranchers My ceiling the sky, my carpet the grass. and cowboys have not been immune to concerns about the My music the lowing of herds as they pass; environment, however. Overgrazing has taken its toll My books are the brooks, my sermons the stones, on the arid and fragile ecosystems of the West, water My parson’s a wolf on a pulpit of bones. is often scarce, and some ranchers and cowboys have started running bison because they need less grass and As the last line of the stanza illustrates, cowboy verse is water than cattle. And for a number of these cowboys and a peculiar blend of reverence and irreverence that aims to ranchers there is not only a practical reason for running get at the heart of things, often by reference to the earthi- bison, but a belief that it is morally right to prefer native ness of life and death. Cowboy verse is also forthright species such as bison over those imported from other about interpreting people and imagery in the Bible, as continents. if they existed, in a kind of eternal way, in the cowboy The main difficulty in defining cowboy spirituality lies culture of the American West. Thus another stanza of in understanding the relationship between cowboy myth- McCanless’ “Soliloquy” reads, ology and the lives of real people who actually rode (and still ride) the range. On one hand, “cowboy” is a metaphor Abraham emigrated in search of a range, for high-testosterone, just-do-it behavior that is just as When water got scarce and he wanted a change. appropriate in the city or suburbs as out on the high plains Isaac had cattle in charge of Esau under a big sky. In this respect, the term “cowboy” can And Jacob run cows for his father-in-law; even by used as a verb – as in “ ‘cowboy’ that door shut” or He started in business down at bedrock, “ ‘cowboy’ that jar open.” Tommy Lee Jones flying a space And made quite a fortune by watering stock. ship with reckless dexterity in Space Cowboys and then propelling himself to the moon in a heroic act of self- One of the most complicated and important aspects sacrifice that enables his buddies to reach Earth in safety is of cowboy spirituality is the cowboy’s relationship to another example of the expansive use of the term “cow- nature. Respect for the power and grandeur of nature is a boy,” and one that reflects the emotional and gritty ethics recurrent theme, as is cowboy pride in a close working of cowboy spirituality. On the other hand, real cowboys companionship with natural forces. At the same time, lived, and still live today, working long days in the saddle, however, companionship with the forces of nature turns punching cows for little pay in all kinds of weather. As Creation Myths of the Ancient World 431 members of a proud but often desperately marginal sub- tradition are the epic of Gilgamesh and the Enuma Elish culture, real cowboys often have lives that are consider- (ca. 2000–1200 B.C.E), the Babylonian creation epic. But ably sadder and less romantic than the mythology of cow- there are other creation stories, which make use of the same boy culture would suggest. Still, these real men and boys, or similar gods and goddesses. Older Mesopotamian cos- and some women as well, write and resonate with the mogonies focused on various nature gods including: An poetry that idealizes their culture. or Anu, the sky-god; Enlil, the wind-god who originally separated sky from Earth; and Ea or Enki, the creator god Amanda Porterfield who came from out of the primordial waters to create life on land. This pantheon also included the sun-god, Further Reading Shamash, and the mother-goddess, Ninhursaga. These Cannon, Hal, ed. Cowboy Poetry: A Gathering. Layton, UT: older Sumerian stories tend to make the creation event a Gibbs M. Smith, Inc., 1985. natural occurrence in which the primordial abyss, Apsu or Ehrlich, Gretel. The Solace of Open Spaces. New York: Abzu, was opened and the world was created according Penguin Books, 1985. to principles of natural order. That these gods represented Slotkin, Richard. Regeneration through Violence: The order and justice in the cosmos is illustrated by the sun- Mythology of the American Frontier, 1600–1860. god, Shamash, who gave Hammurabi his famous code of Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 1973. laws (ca. 1700 B.C.E.). A recurrent theme in these early Smith, Henry Nash. Virgin Land: The American West as myths is the struggle of the gods of order against chaotic Symbol and Myth. Cambridge: Harvard University monsters who rise out of Apsu’s abysmal depths. The Press, 1973 (1950). standard interpretation traces this struggle of cosmos Stanley, David and Elaine Thatcher, eds. Cowboy Poets & against chaos in Mesopotamian myth to the unpredict- Cowboy Poetry. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, ability of the Tigris-Euphrates river system. 2000. The cosmogony of the Enuma Elish presents a creation See also: Bison Restoration and Native American story in which this struggle against such violent destruc- Traditions; Disney Worlds at War; Manifest Destiny. tive forces predominates. In this story we find the triumph of a younger god, Marduk, in his struggle against the chaotic primordial waters, the male Apsu, now represent- Creation Myths of the Ancient World ing fresh water, and the female Tiamat, who represents the salt water. The other gods arise from out of Tiamat who is Creation myths in Egypt, Mesopotamia, and Greece gener- impregnated by Apsu, in a symbolic representation of the ally express the idea of the creation and defense of an deposition of silt in the delta. In the course of this story the ordered cosmos from out of primordial chaos. Many noisy and active younger gods anger the static tranquility connections can be made among these different mythic of Apsu and Tiamat. A cycle of violence ensues and finally traditions in their attempts to make sense of the natural Marduk, the noisy young upstart, leads the gods in a final world. For example, the idea of water as the primordial decisive battle against Tiamat. Marduk defeats Tiamat and source of life can be found in all of these traditions. More- splits her body, creating heaven and Earth. Along the way over, water is then used by the gods to punish and purify Marduk also slays Kingu, Tiamat’s champion. Marduk in the Gilgamesh epic of Mesopotamia (ca. 2000–1600 ordains that human beings are to be created out of Kingu’s B.C.E.), in Greek stories of Zeus (the weather-god), and blood. In one version, when Tiamat is slain, her body is even in the Hebrew story of Genesis. Here we see opened and the waters flow out through various orifices. myth struggling to comprehend the moral purpose of the The Tigris and Euphrates flow out of her eyes and her body destructive power of nature. There are many other connec- becomes the mountains from which these waters flow. tions among mythic motifs, including the bull as a symbol The danger of her overflowing flood is always present and of fertility and power, stories about the struggles of the religious rituals are used to prevent this threat of chaos. sun-god to maintain the order of day, and stories about The moral of these Mesopotamian myths is that the the divine origin of the cycle of the seasons. One must human being is a minor and inconsequential portion of be careful, when undertaking such a synthetic approach, a much larger struggle within the natural world. The however, because these mythological traditions each have primeval creation scene focuses on the coming of order their own integrity. And even within a single tradition out of nothing and the struggle of order against disorder. there are conflicting stories and rival cosmogonies. The creation of human beings comes later. Indeed, the Mesopotamian myths profess that human beings are Mesopotamia created to suffer and die as servants of the gods. The The complexity of the mythologies of Mesopotamia Mesopotamian gods are, for the most part, indifferent to reflects the linguistic and political diversity of this region. human suffering. When they do intervene in human Two of the better-known and more recent texts in this affairs they do so for their own pleasure. 432 Creation Myths of the Ancient World

Certain natural themes are ubiquitous in the Mesopo- Egyptian cosmogony appealed to certain basic facts of tamian myths. One of the most important of these themes Egyptian climate and geography. is water. Life is said to have come from water and silt. Other naturalistic elements occur in the Egyptian One can see here an obvious connection with the natural mythos, including the idea of the generation of the world environment of Mesopotamia where flooding and silt from a primordial act of divine masturbation or expectora- deposition were pressing concerns of early agricultural- tion, as Atum brought the world into existence from ists. The importance of water recurs in the Gilgamesh out of himself. This idea develops in a more intellectual epic with the story of the flood as told to Gilgamesh by the direction, with connections to the Hebrew creation story, immortal one, Utnapishtim. The gods destroyed humanity in which the creator god of the Memphis theogony, Ptah, by way of the flood because the raucous noise made speaks the word into existence. There is also a parallel by human beings on Earth was disturbing to their ears. story featuring the spontaneous generation of frogs and Gilgamesh himself struggles through and across waters to snake from out of the mud left by the receding flood- find the immortal one who then directs him to a medicine waters. This naturalistic theme was taken up in earnest by that can ensure youthful longevity. This medicinal plant the cosmogony of Hermopolis, which was a city located is found under water and is later lost by Gilgamesh when midway between Thebes and Memphis. In the Hermopoli- a snake comes out of a well and steals it from him. In tan cosmogony the cosmic egg either laid by a cackling the Gilgamesh, water is the important element against goose, an ibis, or simply left by the receding waters. which human beings must struggle. This struggle does not Within this egg was the sun-god, Re, who then created the promise a happy ending, however, as the waters them- rest of the world. Finally, there were stories about the selves seem to be poised against human success. Human appearance of the divine flower, the lotus, growing out interaction with nature is thus antagonistic. of the sacred lake at Hermopolis. This flower was again identified with the sun god. Other significant natural Egypt themes can be found in the animal imagery of these While humans struggled before indifferent gods to subdue myths. The god Horus was connected with the falcon, nature in the Mesopotamian stories, in Egypt they were which was connected with the sun, the falcon’s eye in the seen as allies of the gods in their struggle to maintain sky. In addition, the sun god was connected with the bull order before the forces of chaos. Unlike the precarious as a symbol of fertility and strength and the cow as a and dangerous cosmos of the Mesopotamian stories, the symbol of generation and motherhood. Egyptian cosmogonies seem to hold out the hope for sta- These naturalistic themes in the Egyptian cosmogony bility and immortality. The Egyptian idea of the primordial make sense within the geographical context of the Nile nothingness was personified as Nun, waters which are system. The cyclical floods of the river, the repetition inert and featureless. These waters are not like angry of cycles and seasons in the natural world showed the Mesopotamian Tiamat. For the Egyptian, the cycle of time Egyptians a concrete example of creation on a yearly was stable, as represented by the movement of the sun basis. Creation occurred in the appearance of land, of the across the sky and the regular cycle of the flooding sun, the cycles of the moon, in the genesis of amphibian Nile. There was a promise of stability and permanence, life, of eggs, and in the birth of the lotus from out of the even though there were dangers and monsters to be nothing that was the primordial water of the river and of combated. Nun. The Egyptian concern with immortality and rebirth, The Egyptian creation stories begin when Atum or Re, its connection with a stable natural world, its worship of the first god, comes into existence. His appearance occurs the sun-god, and its cult of the pharaoh (who was in some in the same way that a hill might be revealed by the reced- stories the reincarnation of Osiris and thus a descendent of ing floodwaters of the Nile. This naturalistic metaphor has Re) – all of this is connected with the geographical context two important aspects for Egyptian mythology. First, and its tendency to support these naturalistic explanations Egyptians tried to locate the point of Atum’s appearance for the existence of the world. This natural order was at some definite geographical high point, which was then based upon divine order or justice, which was called sanctified as a center of religious or political power. ma’at. This order required human support in the form of Indeed, as the Egyptian tradition developed in different rituals and sacrifices because there were threats to order cultural centers (Heliopolis, Memphis, or Hermopolis, for found in the coming of night, the waning of the moon, example) the geographical location of this holy ground eclipses, and other natural disturbances to the rule of Re. also shifted. Second, it connects the creation myth with These disordered elements were personified in Apophis, the seasonal fluctuation of the Nile and so locates the the evil god who disrupted ma’at with its opposite, isfet – Egyptian mythology within the natural world. This disorder or injustice. The cosmic struggle between Re and seasonal ebb and flow, the concealing and revealing of Apophis, between light and dark, seen on a daily basis in land, may also have been the basis of Egyptian ideas about the progress of the sun, found its ultimate significance reincarnation, as seen in the myth of Osiris. In general, the in the cycle of birth and death that permeates the natural Creation Myths of the Ancient World 433 world. Individual humans must support the cosmic order men, leaving, finally, only a degenerate race of men made of nature, ma’at, so that they will be able to accompany from stone. These stories of degeneration seem to indicate Osiris in pursuit of immortality. the Greek awareness of the presence of ancient traditions left over from the Minoan and Cretan civilizations, whose Greece and Rome culture was contemporary with that of the ancient In the Greek and Roman myths, as in Egypt and Mesopo- Egyptians and Mesopotamians. The point here is that the tamia, we find the creation of order, cosmos, out of chaos. Greeks possessed a healthy respect for the destructive Our sources for Greek cosmogony include Homer, Hesiod, power of the gods and the destructive potential of their the Greek tragic poets, and later Roman poets such as Ovid natural powers. Odysseus, for example, was punished by (spanning a time frame from the eighth century B.C.E to Poseidon for blinding Poseidon’s son, the Cyclops. As the the first century). In the Greco-Roman mythos, Earth and god of the sea, Poseidon then buffeted Odysseus with Heaven, Gaia and Uranos, are born from out of Chaos, the storms and prevented him from returning home. Such primordial undifferentiated abyss. We also see water as the stories were important for a people who lived and traded primordial element, personified as Ocean, who surrounds on the shores of the Mediterranean, subject to the whims the cosmos. Like the Mesopotamian myths, the Greek of weather and sea. myths told of generations of gods struggling against one Finally, in the literary development of the Greek and another. These generational struggles culminate in the Roman mythos, in the Latin poet Ovid’s Metamorphoses, battle of Zeus (the Roman Jupiter) against his father, the we find the creative application of myth as explanation Titan Cronus (Saturn). Eventually the Olympian gods for a variety of natural phenomena. Ovid tells of various became supreme under the leadership of Zeus. Zeus then ways in which the gods meddle in human affairs for led the battle against those monstrous offspring of Earth their own pleasure. He also tells us how certain plants and who represented disorder. Once Zeus was triumphant, animals became the way they are by way of various struggle became understood as a struggle among the metamorphoses of humans and gods. Here we find stories Olympian gods. As in other mythic traditions, each Greek of natural transformations, which have become standard god was associated with some natural feature or power. parts of Western culture: the stories of Narcissus and Echo, The struggle among these gods was thus used to explain Io and Europa. In this magical atmosphere, Ovid shows a natural phenomena such as earthquakes and storms, syncretic tendency, using images and appealing to gods, the rising and setting of the sun, etc. One of the more which were part of foreign traditions, including the gods important of these stories, which figured in the mysteries of Egypt. of Eleusis, was the story of Demeter and Persephone. The moral of the Greek tradition is thus similar to that Persephone was the daughter of Demeter, the goddess of of the Mesopotamian and Egyptian traditions. The natural grain and growing crops. Persephone was seized by Hades world is created full of spiritual energies and divine and carried to the underworld. In her agony over her lost beings. Human beings must be careful not to offend these daughter, Demeter stopped plants from growing until Zeus natural deities and disrupt the order of the cosmos. And persuaded Hades to release Persephone. This story, which finally, the features of the natural landscape itself can be has obvious connections with the Egyptian stories of death explained by way of divine conflict. and rebirth, explains the origin of the cycle of the seasons in terms of a struggle among the gods. Andrew Fiala The Titan Prometheus created human beings and animals. Prometheus’ scatter-brained brother, Epimetheus, Further Reading who assisted in the creation, botched the job somewhat Brandon, S.G.F. Creation Legends of the Ancient Near East. by giving animals all sorts of physical advantages over London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1963. humans. Prometheus remedied this by giving human Clifford, Richard J. Creation Accounts in the Ancient Near beings the use of fire and other crafts. Another creation East and in the Bible. Washington D.C.: The Catholic story, one taken up by Plato in the Republic, finds the gods Biblical Association of America, 1994. experimenting with different metals, beginning with gold Cohn, Norman. Cosmos, Chaos, and the World to Come. and ending up with iron. The current race of men is New Haven: Yale University Press, 2001. supposed to be descended from the iron race, at the Frankfort, Henri. Kingship and the Gods. Chicago: Uni- degenerate end of the historical scheme. In these stories we versity of Chicago Press, 1978. discover the Greek view of the relation between gods and Hamilton, Edith. Mythology. Boston: Little, Brown, and human beings. The gods have no real concern for the Co., 1942. human except to the extent that humans maintain rituals Hughes, J. Donald. Ecology in Ancient Civilizations. for them and make sacrifices to them. Indeed, in one story, Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1975. similar to the story in Gilgamesh and in the Hebrew bible, See also: Creation Story in the Hebrew Bible; Creation’s Zeus supposedly floods the Earth to kill off the wicked iron Fate in the New Testament; Egypt – Ancient; Greco-Roman 434 Creation Story in the Hebrew Bible

World; Greece – Classical; Mesopotamia – Ancient to 2000 recreating it with springs, rivers and trees so that his B.C.E.; Ovid’s Metamorphoses; Roman Religion and people can freely eat and quench their thirst on their Empire. homeward journey (Is. 41:17–20; Ezek. 34). Aspects of divinity are present in trees like the Tree of Life and the Temple Tree (Gen. 3:22; Ezek. 31; Isa. Creation Story in the Hebrew Bible 55:12–13). God’s essential connection to trees compels Abraham to camp at the groves of sacred trees at Beer- The Hebrew Bible preserves two contrary stories of God’s sheba, Shechem and Hebron so as not to miss divine relation to nature and humans’ place within it, with little encounters. Ezekiel envisions God as a sacred tree with editorial attempt to harmonize the stories. water springing from his base (Ezek. 34:25–30; 41:15–26; Genesis’ first creation account opens with God wrest- 47:1–12). Israel also is like a tree according to God (Jer. ling chaotic waters in utter darkness, the stormy conflict 11:16, 19; 17:7–8; Hos. 9:10). seemingly without beginning. God creates by pushing God’s presence at Mount Sinai is so strong that Moses chaotic waters behind the barriers of firmament and Earth must bring the people there to meet him (Ex. 19). Moses (Gen. 1:6, 9). Water is pushed to the periphery of this story, and Elijah venture into caves in Mount Sinai and experi- a constant threat to creation if the water ever broke ence intense personal encounters with God (Ex. 33:18–33; through its limits (Gen. 7:11–12; Ps. 46:1–3). The story’s 1 Kings 19:8–13). Later God’s presence is integral to closing mandate exhorts humankind to mimic the divine Mount Zion in Jerusalem (Ps. 48:1–2, 12–14; 132:13). repression of chaos in order to live within this creation, Jacob, after visions of divinities shuttling between and life is lived under threat (Gen. 1:28). heaven and Earth, calls the mountain of Bethel a gate of Water remains a continual danger to God’s chosen heaven (Gen. 28:17). The wilderness is a place of divine people, threatening God’s plan for his people’s survival at restoration for Moses and Elijah (Ex. 3–4; 1 Kings 19:1–9). key points. Mass drowning during the flood makes the God so pervades the natural world that ancient Israel’s command to multiply and fill the Earth difficult (Gen. 9:1). legal and wisdom traditions assert that God’s will and Called out of Egypt, Israelites pause before the sea in character are evident in natural phenomena, as well as in terror, wishing to return, but God dries up the sea so that animal and human behavior. The law consecrates human they can proceed (Ex. 14:16). God repeats this at the river and animal life equally before God (Ex. 22:29–30; 23:5). Jordan so Israelites can cross into the Promised Land on Animals suffer their domesticity, fulfilling their potential dry ground (Josh. 3:16–17). But God may have driven far from human habitation (Job 39:5–30). water too far from the land promised to Abraham, as its The history of the covenant, the most legal of the frequent famines attest (Gen. 12:10; 26:1; Ruth 1:1). Bible’s formal agreements, begins with God making a Water is not the only natural threat to creature and promise to Noah and every living creature as equals (Gen. Creator. Israelite religious reformers hack and hew 9:9–12). That history ends on the Day of the Lord when Asherim – wooden pillars or trees at sacred sites that rep- God will reestablish a covenant between all life, human resent the goddess Asherah – to purify the cult (Ex. 34:13; and animal (Hos. 2:18–19, Joel 1:14–20). In Hosea’s vision Deut. 7:5; 12:3; Jer. 2:26–27). God may consider living God establishes his final covenant by banishing violence trees a personal threat to Israel (Ezek. 20:46–47; Isa. to reconcile species (Hos. 2:20–23). 10:33–34; Jer. 7:20). And wilderness becomes hostile to Within this creation story prophets cannot imagine the human existence as well (Gen. 21:15–16; Ex. 23:28–30; restoration of the people of God without a concurrent Joshua 5:6). restoration of animals and nature back to their begin- Genesis’ second creation story gives a contrary view. nings. In the words of Isaiah, “The Earth lies polluted The story opens with creation thirsting for water to realize under its inhabitants; for they have transgressed the laws, its potential (Gen. 2:4–5). God allies with rain, mixing violated the statutes, broken the everlasting covenant. with soil to make mud, into which he breathes divine Therefore a curse devours the Earth, and its inhabitants breath. From this tripartite mix human farmers are pulled suffer for their guilt” (Isa. 24:5–6). to till the land as well as animals to alleviate human lone- Human vigilance keeping nature’s chaotic elements in liness (Gen. 2:5). God mandates a vegetarian diet that pro- check is never relaxed in the worldview of the first story. tects this sibling relationship (Gen. 2:16–17, also 1:29–30). Reestablished harmony between humans, animals and When humans transgress divine limits, this harmony land is the future hope of the second story. Although the turns adversarial and humans, animals, soil and water are two creation stories set out contrary roles for nature, the estranged (Gen. 3:15–19). The hope of this story cycle is to natural world in both is a medium of divine revelation and a future return to this original harmony of God, soil, water instruction – a role as significant as any historical event. and creature. Water is key to bringing exiled Jews back to a verdant Matt Wiebe Promised Land. God recasts the hostile desert landscape Creationism and Creation Science 435

Further Reading proposed the development of an alternative science, Barr, James. “Man and Nature: The Ecological Controversy leaving out the naturalistic assumptions and ignoring and the Old Testament.” In David and Eileen Spring, whole fields of Darwinian research. Creation science eds. Ecology and Religion in History. New York: Harper attempts to make creationism up to date and scientific Torchbooks, 1972, 48–75. through the search for natural facts that support the Hiebert, Theodore. The Yahwist’s Landscape: Nature and Providential and biblical picture of God’s loving creation Religion in Early Israel. New York: Oxford University of the world. Press, 1996. For both creationism and creation science, the advent Miller, Patrick. “Judgement and Joy.” In John Polking- of Darwinism was a crucial turning point. Previous views horne and Michael Welker, eds. The End of the World of nature tacitly assumed that God carefully watched over and the Ends of God: Science and Theology on Escha- the Earth’s creatures with the special creation of individual tology. Harrisburg, PA: Trinity Press International, species, generally in their present location. By contrast, 2000, 155–70. Charles Darwin in The Origin of Species (1859) proposed Russell, David M. The “New Heavens and New Earth”: that divergent species develop through wholly natural Hope for the Creation in Jewish Apocalyptic and the mechanisms, specifically, by hereditary variation and New Testament. Philadelphia: Visionary Press, 1996. struggle within their natural environment. While he did Schmid, H.H. “Creation, Righteousness and Salvation: not himself openly criticize religious beliefs in the creative ‘Creation Theology’ as the Broad Horizon of Biblical action of the divine, his theory of species development Theology.” Translated and abridged by Bernhard W. through natural selection had no place for such thought. Anderson and Dan G. Johnson. In Bernhard W. Ander- Moreover, as Darwinism and other similarly secular son, ed. Creation in the Old Testament. Philadelphia: scientific theories in the late nineteenth century rose Fortress Press, 1984, 102–17. in public authority and influence, many enthusiasts for See also: Creation’s Fate in the New Testament; Fall, The; science used the new knowledge as a weapon to attack Hebrew Bible; Judaism. religious belief. In this context, creationism was put on the defensive and grew avowedly anti-scientific and even anti-modernist, as it affiliated with traditionalist social Creationism and Creation Science values and conservative politics in the twentieth century. While the labels “creationists” and “scientific natural- Creationism is the belief in the supernatural origins of the ists” defined the polar extremes of this cultural divide, universe. Although many different religious believers – there were also larger numbers of people who occupied with various mixtures of scientific explanation – could positions on the spectrum in between, with various agree to such propositions about divine power and religious Darwinist and progressive evolutionist positions involvement in the natural world, the term has come to that allowed for divine action in the world expressed be associated exclusively with conservative Christian through the natural means that science had come to opposition to evolutionary theories of nature, based on the understand. In public debates, however, creationists were adequacy of the Bible to answer the mystery of creation. eager to identify their position as the only truly religious Strictly speaking, almost all thought (in the European stance, with any middle ground on the road to secularism world) about cosmic origins before the modern era was and atheism. In the United States, the publication of a creationist in character. However, beginning in the seven- series of books called The Fundamentals in the 1910s teenth century, a number of scientifically oriented thinkers institutionalized this traditionalist religious orientation, in Western Europe began systematic study of the operation with biblical literalism as a theological centerpiece. of natural laws. These views proposed to reframe divine Despite the claims to be doctrinally steadfast through action in terms of, or even subordinated to, the workings the ages, such fundamentalist-inspired creationism has of nature. As science grew in authority, by accumulating been, ironically, a modernist phenomenon. The focused worldly reasons for natural facts and explaining previ- attention on the biblical creation account in open scorn ously mysterious phenomena, “creationism” came to refer of modern science has only emerged in the wake of to the position of resistance to such scientific explan- these modern scientific propositions. From the creationist ations: creationists retained a caring, Providential picture point of view, scientific inquiries are merely elaborate of the world’s operation, including its origins, while “sci- versions of vain human efforts to understand God’s entific naturalists” posited that natural facts and forces cosmic workings; better to keep loyal to a set of truths were sufficient to understand nature. higher than those of any merely human inquiry. The Creation Science has a more specific meaning and a divinely inspired Word of God enshrined in the Christian more recent history. By the 1960s, some creationists grew Bible provides a lens for viewing the facts of nature in impatient with attempts to defy modern science. Instead of their order, beauty, and blessed indications of divine care trying to object to science completely, creation scientists for humanity. 436 Creationism and Creation Science

While creationists could agree on the truth of the Bible Society in 1963, and they have been gaining popular and the arrogant temptations of scientific claims, they support through the democratically compelling argument disagreed on the ways they read the Word of God. There that creation science does not seek to defy professional have been three main versions of creationism: the gap, science but just to gain equal time alongside it. Ironically the day-age, and the young Earth theories. With Genesis this argument has gained unintended support from left- as a touchstone for Christian creationist explanations of wing theories about the relativity of truth and the social origins, some have been content to accept large lapses of construction of scientific knowledge. In this setting, time in the history depicted within the first few verses science is just another ideology and creation science offers of the Bible’s opening chapter. “In the beginning, God an alternative ideology. However, in a precedent-setting created the heavens and the Earth,” therefore, serves these legal case about an Arkansas law mandating equal time creationists as an accurate record of origins, with the next for creation science with evolution science, the Supreme verses describing events occurring ages later in time. Court declared that creation science is not a science, but a This gap theory maintains biblical literalism, but leaves religious position that has no place in public education. room for naturalistic explanations in the gaps of time not Ironically, some contemporary creationists have turned explicitly mentioned in the Bible. Other believers in against creation science because in its eagerness to biblical inerrancy strayed a little further from literalism: establish another parallel science, it has taken on too The day-age theory was the proposition that passages many of the trappings of science; for these creationists, about days in the Bible corresponded to whole long ages the point is to witness the truth of their religious truths of time. For example, the six days of creation therefore against the godless despair of modernist thinking distorted would not mean the activities of a literal line on a monthly by the folly of Darwinism. These rumblings from within calendar, but God’s actions over eons, explained to fundamentalism have not stopped the public progress of humanity in the story form of a creator/father’s work creation science. week. Both the day-age and the gap versions of creation- In its open defiance of mainstream science, creation ism offered the potential to accommodate modern profes- science has contributed to an inhibition in public educa- sional scientific insights into a biblical understanding of tion about the basic principles and facts of evolutionary the world. This could not satisfy the most ardent of cre- theory in general, and also about the biological functions ationists. The Seventh-Day Adventists, a small American of ecological systems that support a healthy environment. denomination founded in 1863 in the wake of early nine- This has added a religious edge to environmental policy teenth-century millennialist expectations of Jesus’ discussions since creationist religious believers have imminent return, championed a more radically literalist, tended to fear environmentally friendly policies because anti-scientific creationism. In the early twentieth century, they associate them with paganism. When advocates of an Adventist preacher, George McCready Price, made the the ecological imagination call for biophilia and a humble first modern attempts to systematize the argument for a turn from anthropocentric practices, creationists tend to young Earth. He called evolution absurd for its improb- see non-Christian nature worship and an erosion of moral ability and inaccessibility to empirical verification, and he standards. While most creationists are at least suspicious proposed an alternative: special creation of unchanging of environmentalism, there is a recent movement to regard species, and a worldwide flood – namely, the one environmental destruction not through scientific ecology, described in the biblical story of Noah – that can explain but through a theological argument about defending the seeming antiquity of rocks and fossils. By the early God’s creation. This trend in conservative Christianity twentieth century, however, Price represented a minority connects to its historic distaste for the dissolving forces position, even among creationists. For example, during of cosmopolitan corporate capitalism. Just as mass-culture the Scopes Trial (1925), William Jennings Bryan used markets can destroy traditional values, so too they day-age ideas to prosecute John Scopes and to defend can destroy the beauties of the Earth. Despite these Tennessee’s Butler Act, which prohibited the teaching of developments, most creationists align politically with evolutionary theories of human origins. Creationists of all anti-environmentalism or with minimal efforts to curb varieties remained publicly quiet until the 1960s. During humanity’s ecological footprint. this age of atomic power and ambitions for space travel, Despite its legal setbacks and its scientific implaus- when there was unprecedented enthusiasm for progress ibility, creationism in the form of creation science con- through science and technology, the young-Earth tinues to be broadly influential in the United States and creationists launched a counterattack. in some other parts of the world because it strikes a Creation science, built on the young-Earth version of responsive chord in many people for its ability to portray creationism, began to take shape with the publication of empirical reasons to believe in the personalized and com- John Witcomb and Henry Morris’ The Genesis Flood forting pictures of the creation that are set out in the Bible (1961). These ideas for a 6000-year-old Earth took insti- and conservative Christian theology. These positions are tutional form with the founding of the Creation Research largely unresponsive to scientific critique, and they fuel Creation’s Fate in the New Testament 437 periodic political advances for creationism, most recently in nature – restoring overtaxed fish populations (Lk. 5:4– in the Kansas school system. In an age when many feel 10, Jn. 21:1–11), increasing the Earth’s fertility through distrust and even fear of the growing power of science, but multiplication of fish and bread (Matt. 14:13–21; 15:29– also enthusiasm for the technological fruits of scientific 39; Mk. 6:30–44; 8:1–10), enhancing its nourishment by ways to shape our relation with nature, creationism and changing water into wine (Jn. 2:1–11), or reestablishing especially creation science are ways to keep the traditional supporting relations between species (fish provide the faith and still lay claim to a kind of scientific authority. coin to pay state tax, Matt. 17:24–27) – restore nature’s fertility. Those parts of nature resisting Jesus’ call of Paul Jerome Croce fertility, like the withered fig tree, are removed (Matt. 21:18–22; Mk. 11:12–14, 20–26). Further Reading Jesus’ miracles in nature reveal nature’s divine character Conkin, Paul K. When All the Gods Trembled: Darwinism, previously hidden, thus reestablishing nature’s abundant Scopes, and American Intellectuals. Lanham, MD: fertility by which it expresses divine creation. The incar- Rowman and Littlefield, 1998. nation of God in human form is more than the creator’s Gilkey, Langdon. Creationism on Trial: Evolution and God passion for creation, it argues for God’s embeddedness at Little Rock. Minneapolis: Winston, 1985. in it. Water is no longer just water and bread is no longer Larson, Edward J. Summer for the Gods: The Scopes Trial just bread but they are aspects of the divine (Jn. 4:10–14, and America’s Continuing Debate Over Science and 6:51). Religion. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, The agricultural setting of Jesus’ parables is more than 1997. a reminder of his rural upbringing. The thorns, thistles, Marty, Martin E. and R. Scott Appleby, eds. Fundamental- frustrated sowing and harvest also recall the cursed farmer ism and Society: Reclaiming the Sciences, the Family, and ground of Genesis’ Adam and Cain (Gen. 3:17–18; and Education. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 4:11–12). Jesus’ words reinvigorate the farmer and fertilize 1993. the land, reversing Adam’s curse, if both are receptive to Numbers, Ronald L. The Creationists: The Evolution of his message (Matt. 13:8, 23, 30 and Mk. 4:8, 26–32). Scientific Creationism. Berkeley: University of Farmers hesitant to plow – unwilling to trust God’s California Press, 1992. reestablished commitment to man and soil – are not ready Webb, George Ernest. The Evolution Controversy in for the Kingdom (Lk. 9:62). America. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, Numerous images of husbandry – chasing down lost 1994. animals (Matt. 18:12, Lk. 15:4), cultivating (Lk. 13:8), See also: Biophilia; Darwin, Charles; Science; Scopes Trial. grafting (Rom. 11: 17–19), harvesting (Matt. 9:37; Jn. 4:35), plowing (Lk. 9:62; 1 Cor. 9:10), pruning (Jn. 15:2), reaping (Rom. 1:13; Rev. 14:14–16), sowing seed (Matt. Creation’s Fate in the New Testament 13:3; Jn. 4:36–37), shepherding (Matt. 25:32; 26:31; Jn. 10:2), threshing (Matt. 3:12) and watering (1 Cor. 3:6–8) – Nature has two dominant fates in New Testament books. It argue for human integration into nature. Human alien- either passes away to be replaced by a new creation, or ation from nature is over. is transformed anew. In either case tension exists between The fate of nature in Revelation includes its replace- nature’s current state and its future form. ment (21:1–5). But there also are stronger images of On the future Day of the Lord the heavens and Earth nature’s lengthy transformation process alongside God’s will disappear with a loud snap consumed by fire (2 Pet. purification of humanity. The scroll of history, a literal 3:10–12). This annihilation of creation prepares the way bridge of material continuity, stretches from the writer’s for new creation to replace the old (Rev. 21:1, 4–5; cp. day into the future. Nature is not only increasingly Isa. 65:17; 66:22). The new creation is to be an entirely renewed in Revelation but it is also enlisted as Christ’s ally spiritual existence (1 Cor. 15:42–50). in the fight against human evil (Rev. 12:16). Nature is to This view suggests a disregard for current nature – after assist in bringing humanity to repentance (Rev. 16), and to all, it is going to be replaced or destroyed anyway. But end evil’s rule. Birds pick clean the bones of the wicked, there is a call for humanity to live transformed lives in the the Earth swallows the Devil, and Satan as well as the present creation as if it were a new creation (2 Pet. 3:11– wicked are locked up and burn forever in terrestrial lakes 14). The dissolution of nature was never intended, and of fire (Rev. 19:17–21; 20:3; and 21:8). there is a constant hope that the end of the world can Restored creation so appeals to God that God descends be avoided. Nevertheless the dualism behind this view down to wed creation. God’s place is with creation (Rev. chooses to perfect the human spirit over nature. 21:3; 22:1–2). The vision of the end times in Revelation The dominant New Testament view of nature’s fate is its returns full circle back to the creation images of Genesis. restoration alongside human restoration. Jesus’ miracles The Creator, who vivified nature with his water and 438 Creatures’ Release in Chinese Buddhism breath calling it good, returns in the end to embrace its release of creatures are also performed for the realization goodness. of communal goals, especially protection from natural disasters such as drought. Matt Wiebe On occasion Chinese Buddhist associations organize mass releases of creatures, especially during popular Further Reading Buddhist holidays such as an annual festival dedicated to Minear, Paul. Christians & the New Creation: Genesis Guanyin, the bodhisattva of compassion. As part of the Motifs in the New Testament. Louisville, KY: West- ceremonies performed at such occasions, Buddhist monks minster John Knox, 1994. recite the Three Refuges and Five Precepts on behalf of the Russell, David M. The “New Heavens and New Earth”: released animals in the hope of helping them to accrue Hope for the Creation in Jewish Apocalyptic and the good karma and improve their chances for favorable New Testament. Philadelphia: Visionary Press, 1996. rebirth. For some critics this sort of practice gives rise Weaver, Dorothy Jean. “The New Testament and the to ethical concerns. Although the release of creatures Environment: Toward a Christology for the Cosmos.” basically represents a sympathetic attitude toward animals, In Calvin Redekop, ed. Creation & the Environment: in effect it increases the demand for the capture of certain An Anabaptist Perspective on a Sustainable World. types of animals and fish, thereby merely benefiting local Baltimore: The John Hopkins University Press, 2000, pet shop owners and fisherman but doing little to deal 122–38. with the basic causes of animal suffering. Weder, Hans. “Hope and Creation.” In John Polkinghorne Scriptural basis for the practice of releasing of creatures and Michael Welker, eds. The End of the World and the can be traced back to canonical sources such as the Ends of God: Science and Theology on Eschatology. Brahma Net Scripture, an apocryphal text composed in Harrisburg, PA: Trinity Press International, 2000, medieval China. This scripture calls for the liberation of 184–202. living creatures and their protection from suffering and See also: Anarcho-Primitivism and the Bible; Christianity danger. The practice became popular in China during the (3) – New Testament; Creation’s Story in the Hebrew Bible; medieval period, when it was promoted by pious rulers Fall, The; Hebrew Bible. such as Emperor Wu of the Liang Dynasty (r. 502–549). The emperor adopted a vegetarian diet and enacted laws that restricted the slaughter of animals. Other important Creatures’ Release in Chinese Buddhism factors included the examples set by influential monks such as Zhiyi (538–597), the founder of the Tiantai school. The releasing of captive creatures (fangsheng in Chinese; During his tenure as an abbot of monastery at Tiantai ho¯jo¯-e in Japanese) destined for slaughter is a popular mountain, Zhiyi converted the local fisherman to adopt Buddhist practice in China and the rest of East Asia. It the practice of non-killing and persuaded the imperial exemplifies an emphasis on cultivation of compassionate government to issue a decree banning fishing along the and meritorious deeds that is characteristic of Chinese seacoast close to his monastery. Buddhism; it also resonates with the virtue of nonviolence Rituals for the release of creatures were also trans- and the Buddhist sense of concern for the welfare of all mitted to Japan, where they received support from the creatures. The animals released are usually ones that can medieval Japanese state. Pertinent rites were promoted survive on their own in their natural habitat, such as birds, in concert with a government-issued ban on the killing wild animals, and fish. Domestic animals are also some- of animals during specific periods, and eventually they times donated to monasteries, thereby enabling them to assumed the form of state ritual. Another Japanese live out their natural lifespans in peaceful environments innovation was the performance of these rituals at Shinto within consecrated areas. shrines, especially shrines that served as cultic centers Traditionally in China many monasteries had pools in for the deity Hachiman. In the course of time the services which lay devotees could drop fish and turtles they had came to incorporate and mix elements from both received from local fishermen, thereby generating good traditions, thereby ceasing to be purely Buddhist rituals. karma for themselves and their families. Like other popu- lar practices, the release of animals was largely motivated Mario Poceski by the desire to accrue merit and receive positive karmic recompense. According to Zhuhong (1535–1615), an Further Reading eminent Ming dynasty cleric and a leading proponent Welch, Holmes. The Practice of Chinese Buddhism: 1900– of the practice, the rewards for those who free animals 1950. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1975, include acquisition of honor and status, extension of one’s 378–82. lifespan, protection from disasters, rebirth in heaven, and Williams, Duncan Ryu¯ken. “Animal Liberation, Death, and enlightenment. Sometimes large ceremonies that feature the State: Rites to Release Animals in Medieval Japan.” Cronon, William 439

In Tucker and Williams, eds. Buddhism and Ecology: have continued to be discovered, leaving many convinced The Interconnection of Dharma and Deeds. Cambridge: that there is an unexplained force at work. Harvard University Center for the Study of World Today one can find beautiful interlinked spirals, snow- Religions, 1997, 149–62. flake and spiderweb-like designs, fractals, and various See also: Buddhism (various); Chinese Traditional more free-form shapes, often spectacular and sometimes Concepts of Nature; Daoism. demonstrating clear symbolism of a scientific or esoteric nature. Any sown crop can host formations, but they are most common in wheat, rye, corn, and barley fields, – See Environmental Ethics. Cronon, William though they have been found in wild grass and under- growth. Many cases exhibit great complexity in the Crop Circles swirled lay of the crop, with little apparent stem damage, and scientific tests have reportedly found distinctive Large, complex and intricate patterns have been found biological anomalies within the plants themselves. swirled into crop fields around the world on a noticeable Like other mysterious phenomena (see Earth Mysteries), scale since the early 1980s, though documented reports of reception of crop circle appearances has tended to be related phenomena go back much further. Known generi- polarized between believers and debunkers. The latter cally as “crop circles,” their origin and purpose remains group claims that all crop formations are done by hoaxers, contested or mysterious. Despite many attempts to dismiss though only a small percentage have been claimed by them all as the work of human artists, a dedicated côterie their erstwhile creators. The former group, meanwhile, of researchers and followers, generically dubbed “cerealo- resorts to a wide range of arguments to dispute this, gists” (after Ceres, the Roman goddess of vegetation), including the fact that few, if any, circle-makers have believe they represent something much more mysterious. ever been caught in the act, and that some circles are seem- The appearance of crop circles was first reported in ingly made in the space of a few minutes, most commonly 1980 in the Wiltshire area of southern England. Since at night, with the makers leaving no apparent tracks. then, the number, size, and diversity of formations has Cerealogists have proposed several complementary grown considerably, numbering several thousand in total, hypotheses to explain the phenomenon. Besides Meaden’s found as far apart as Australia and western Canada, plasma vortex theory, crop formations have been inter- though with a disproportionate amount still concentrated preted as caused by lightning-induced electrical pulses; in rural England. Formations range in size from about a geomagnetic or telluric energies; collective psychokinesis; foot across to several hundred feet in diameter. The earliest greetings, warnings, abstract doodles, or other com- reported formations were simple swirled circles and munications from an extraterrestrial source; microwave ellipses. By the mid-1980s these were joined by circles transient radiation, possibly resulting as a by-product with numerous rings and satellites, and by 1990 included of secret military experiments; or as the trickster-like elaborate “pictograms.” When the phenomenon first response of Gaia or of more place-specific Earth spirits to began to attract serious attention in the 1980s, many the environmental crisis. believed the initially simple circles to be the result of Perhaps of equal interest to the question “what are unusual meteorological phenomena. Perhaps the most they?” is the religious dimension of the crop circle phe- widely touted scientific hypothesis has been physicist nomenon. The hundreds of individuals who have devoted Terence Meaden’s “plasma vortex” theory, which postu- months or years of their lives to visiting, researching, lates that they are formed by the rapid downward collapse and pondering these figures constitute a subculture that of a standing, electrically charged whirlwind. finds meaning in mysteries, unanswered by the current But rapidly increasing numbers and evolving designs scientific worldview, which they believe to be associated soon made Meaden’s hypothesis appear untenable. Tan- with the ecological crisis or with an impending trans- talized by associated reports of glowing lights, strange formation in human consciousness. Crop circles thus sounds and other bizarre phenomena, everyone from UFO constitute an enigma that suggests that the Earth itself or buffs to eminent scientists became involved in trying some higher power is provoking us to wonder, to “question to unravel the mystery. The year 1990 saw a substantial authority” and to “think outside the box.” At the same leap in the evolution and complexity of the designs and time, the individuals who have been responsible for an increase in media attention. For many, the mystery of creating at least some of these formations have revived a crop circles was solved in 1991 when two English sexa- tradition noticeably absent in the art world since the genarians, Doug Bower and Dave Chorley, announced that medieval era – that of the anonymous artist, in this case, a they had invented the whole phenomenon as a joke and landscape or Earth artist whose work is intended to evoke had themselves created over 250 formations. Despite this a sense of mystery, or at least puzzlement, rather than to and the appearance of other hoax claimants over the provide answers or assert one’s individuality. Whatever years, crop formations of growing sophistication and size their origins, crop circles have entered the creative 440 Cuero, Delfina mythmaking endeavor by which some humans are generally just headed farther into the mountains. Pretty reconceiving their relationship to the Earth. soon they would tell me we had to move again” (in Shipek 1991: 26). Adrian Ivakhiv Delfina Cuero describes what plants, such as cactus, Andy Thomas acorns, pine nuts, manzanita berries, wild sweet pea with red flowers, pumpkins, mint, sumac, and edible seaweed, Further Reading had been gathered and where, and how they were prepared Haselhoff, Eltjo H. The Deepening Complexity of Crop for food or medicine. She explains what fish and shellfish, Circles: Scientific Research and Urban Legends. such as starfish, crabs, octopus, abalone scallops, clams, Berkeley: Frog, 2001. lobster, and shrimp, were collected. She remembers only a Levengood, W.C. and Nancy B. Talbott. “Dispersion of few stories and relates them: accounts of the dipper in the Energies in Worldwide Crop Formations.” Physiologia sky, lying differently in the summer and winter; coyote Plantarum 105 (1999), 615–24. and the two beautiful female crows; rabbit’s eyes which Levengood W.C. “Anatomical Anomalies in Crop For- make one a good hunter; tattooing and nose piercing mation Plants.” Physiologia Plantarum 92 (1994), which helped one travel on a straight road when one 356–63. dies; and the stinging red ants’ “good medicine.” She tells Nickell, J. and J.F. Fischer. “The Crop Circle Phenomenon: of great dreamers, of witches, of medicine people, herb An Investigative Report.” Skeptical Inquirer 16 (1992), women, “sucking doctors,” healing songs and their power. 2. Schnabel, Jim. Round in Circles. London: Penguin, 1993. A good one, after he had dreamed and received his Thomas, Andy. Vital Signs: A Complete Guide to the Crop power would go off and fast and dance by himself. Circle Mystery and Why It Is NOT a Hoax. Berkeley: Then he would quietly start healing anyone who Frog, 2002. happened near . . . Anyone who did that, never Wilson, Terry. The Secret History of Crop Circles. Devon, thought of themselves any more, only of the people U.K.: Centre for Crop Circle Studies, 1998. who needed help (in Shipek 1991: 51). See also: Earth Mysteries; UFOs and Extraterrestrials. What is remembered is an intimate relation with the land, sea and sky. What emerges in this story is not a bitterness, but a sense of tremendous sadness and loss as a people are Cuero, Delfina (1900–1972) dislocated from their land, “When I was young, we had to “My name is Delfina Cuero. I was born in xamaca’ move too much to plant anything. Always being told to (Jamacha) about sixty-five years ago (about 1900).” So leave, it was no use to plant” (Shipek 1991: 32). begins the classic as-told-to-story in Delfina Cuero: An There was another loss: ritual. Rituals – menstruation Account of Her Last Years and Her Ethnobotanic Contribu- rituals, tattooing practices, the fire dance, the image tions, which offers a window into the Kumeyaay and their dance, the death ceremonies – had taught people of life relation to the coastal regions of California in the early and its transitions. Delfina explains, 1900s. Recorded and edited by anthropologist and ethno- In the real old days, grandmothers taught these botanist Florence C. Shipek, and originally published by things about life at the time of a girl’s initiation Dawsons’ Book Shop in 1968, this book provides invalu- ceremony, when she was about to become a woman. able information on food collecting, hunting, and fishing Nobody just talked about these things ever. It was all along the coastal regions in San Diego County and Baja in the songs and myths that belonged to the cere- California. Most important, Delfina Cuero recounts in a mony. All that a girl needed to know . . . was learned precise manner the interdependent relationship between at the ceremony, at the time when a girl became a ritual and food resources, a characteristic of California woman (in Shipek 1991: 42–4). Indians. One can trace the diminution of ritual through their forced displacement in the late 1800s and early But by the time Delfina was a young women, she recounts, 1900s. “They had already stopped having the ceremonies before I “My father and mother left Mission Valley, they told became a woman, so I didn’t know these things until later” me, when a lot of Chinese and Americans came and told (Shipek 1991: 43). In a moving narrative, she tells how them that they would have to leave. They did not own other young girls had the same trouble she did after she the land that their ancestors had always lived upon . . .” was married. One day she was picking greens, as food was (Shipek 1991: 23). Delfina Cuero tells how her people hard to come by, and she says, survived from hand to mouth, belonging nowhere, owning nothing, exploited as the cheapest form of labor No one told me anything. I knew something was supply. “When the Indians were told to leave a place, they wrong with me but I didn’t know what . . . I had a Cusa, Nicholas of 441

terrible pain . . . I started walking back home but I there. It originates in divine self-manifestation and is had to stop and rest when the pain was too much. destined for its own unique deification. Although it does Then the baby came, I couldn’t walk any more, and I not surrender its own independent being, it is neverthel- didn’t know what to do . . . I lost the baby (in Shipek ess inextricably linked to God. His concept of divine 1991: 43). immanence infuses the world with immeasurable value and gives rise to a Christian spirituality that can address Kumeyaay no longer had access to sacred places for cere- the current ecological crisis. monies nor in their search for food could they maintain Since the essence of God is the essence of all things, a the ceremonial rhythm as a people. Most young mothers of characteristic of the natural order is unity. It is because the her generation lost their first-born. One reveals itself in multiplicity that the universe is indeed By the early 1960s when this story was told, the a uni-verse. The One God who is absolutely identical to Kumeyaay no longer had access to familiar land for food each and every thing appears actually in variety. The resources, “I went out and hunted for wild greens and divine manifestation of Unity into difference allows for honey. Sometimes we found things. Lots of times we did the created order’s existence as a united, singular thing. not and we went hungry” (in Shipek 1991: 60). Nor did Thus, to divine Unity can be traced the self-identity of the they have the ritual structure which expressed their inter- diversity of things and their incorporation into the uni- dependent relation of ritual and food resources. Yet we verse. The unfolding of God in the world and its enfolding hear the echoes of a transformed continuity, a grateful in God means that there is an interdependence within reciprocity. Delfina Cuero says, “Nobody ever told me the natural order itself. Metaphysically, the whole comes anything about God that I can remember. But I thank God before the part; no aspect could exist without the other. all the time, especially for plants” (Shipek 1991: 53). Nicholas offers a model of the universe that is tradi- tional and yet innovative. God reveals himself to humanity Jean Molesky-Poz as he reveals the natural order. The link between reverence for the divine and reverence for nature is inescapable. As Further Reading an expression of the divine, the natural world has its own Shipek, Florence Connolly. Delfina Cuero: An Account of perfection that commands our respect and care. Hence, Her Last Years and Her Ethnobotanic Contributions. “natural” never refers to an order apart from God; nature Menlo Park, CA: Ballena Press, 1991. is never severed from grace. Nicholas of Cusa’s model See also: Ethnobotany; Traditional Ecological Knowledge of God offers a promisingly Christian, yet modern, under- among Aboriginal Peoples in Canada. standing of God that suggests new ways of thinking about nature.

Cusa, Nicholas of (1401–1464) Nancy J. Hudson

The medieval philosopher and theologian, Nicholas of Further Reading Cusa developed a concept of divine presence in the uni- Dupre, Louis. “Nature and Grace in Nicholas of Cusa’s verse that can be mined for its rich spirituality, which is Mystical Philosophy.” American Catholic Philo- inclusive, rather than exclusive, of the natural world. sophical Quarterly (Winter 1990), 153–70. Because he saw the world as an outward expression of Hopkins, Jasper. Nicholas of Cusa on Learned Ignorance: God’s very self, today he is being rediscovered as pro- A Translation and Appraisal of De Docta Ignorantia. viding a theological basis for reverence for nature. God Minneapolis: The Arthur J. Banning Press, 1981. enfolds the universe in himself and unfolds himself in the Nicholas of Cusa: Selected Spiritual Writings. H. Lawrence world, Nicholas believed, and thus nature is not a fabri- Bond, tr. The Classics of Western Spirituality. Mahwah, cated object apart from God, created for human use, but it NJ: Paulist Press, 1997. is God’s self-externalization. Since this doctrine of divine See also: Christianity (5) – Medieval Period. immanence is held in tension with a doctrine of divine transcendence, or extreme otherness, Nicholas avoided both the hierarchy that is the source of much criticism Cyborgism among environmentalists today, as well as pantheism and monism. The variety of nature is a result of divine fecund- In Simians, Cyborgs, and Women: The Reinvention of ity, not of the filling in of the slots of a hierarchy reflective Nature, Donna Haraway invokes the ironic image of the of medieval society. Thus, his mystical approach promises cyborg as a tactic to disturb gender essentialism in both a new way of religiously valuing nature. mainstream Western culture and feminism. Haraway’s Nicholas understood the world as fundamentally embracing of the cyborg figure is born of a concern that oriented toward God because of God’s intimate presence certain uses of female imagery associated with nature 442 Cyborgism tend to essentialize women, and construct “women’s spirituality. Following the logic of the cyborg, she does experience” in a unitary fashion. To essentialize is to take not choose to accept or reject these completely, but con- a characteristic or part of something as descriptive of the tinues questioning. Her work suggests that the question whole phenomenon, as in taking an idea of what a woman is wrongly posed to imply that women, to be effective is like, perhaps “nurturing” or “closer to nature,” and feminists or environmentalists, must choose between equating it with what all women are like, ignoring science and religion or spirituality. Women should not the other characteristics of individual women, such as abandon science, Haraway maintains, because it is too personality, culture, race, class, sexual orientation, etc. powerful to ignore: it will continue to overwhelm our Haraway’s image of the cyborg transgresses such culture if we do not change it from within. Science is a essentialist ideas of what women are like, by disturbing powerful myth in Western culture, and she suggests chal- expectations of tidy categories. Cyborgs are transgressive lenging it through adopting the ironic political myth of boundary creatures, monsters, ambiguities of organism cyborgism. Haraway’s work explains and illustrates a and machine, neither necessarily one gender nor the other. view shared by many ecofeminists, that science and myth, The image of the cyborg demonstrates and signifies the a form popularly thought of as relegated to religion and intertwining of technology and organic bodies in humans, spirituality, cannot be separated. transgressing the categorical boundaries that would name Marsha A. Hewitt criticizes Haraway’s cyborgism for humans as either cultural or natural beings. Using the offering an escapist abstract vision of emancipation that image of the cyborg communicates the idea that humans lacks an awareness of the concrete conditions of women’s are both organic creatures and cultural beings dependent oppression, and that is appropriate only to middle-class on technology. The cyborg figure undermines belief in the academic feminists living in late industrial capitalist expected explanations provided by biology, evolution, society. Haraway’s writing may not be accessible to lay and technology, as it questions the boundaries between audiences, but it has proven influential in feminist and living and technological systems. Where do our science ecofeminist theory, notably in the work of Stacy Alaimo and technology end, and our selves begin? The cyborg has (1994), Catriona Sandilands (1999), and Noël Sturgeon the potential to stimulate social change, Haraway argues, (1997). as an ironic image that suggests a model of the person as being connected, responsible, and diverse, rather than an Barbara Jane Davy independent ego. Haraway concludes her “Cyborg Manifesto” with the Further Reading words “I would rather be a cyborg than a goddess” (1991: Alaimo, Stacy. “Cyborg and Ecofeminist Interventions: 181), but this should not be taken to mean that she rejects Challenges for Environmental Feminism.” Feminist all feminist spirituality and ecofeminism. On the contrary, Studies 20 (1994), 133–52. she speaks well of ecofeminist and spiritual activities such Haraway, Donna J. Simians, Cyborgs, and Women: The as the demonstrations against nuclear power in which Reinvention of Nature. New York: Routledge, 1991. Starhawk, a prominent American witch, participates. Hewitt, Marsha A. “Cyborgs, Drag Queens, and Goddesses: Haraway objects not to ecofeminism or feminist spiritual- Emancipatory-regressive Paths in Feminist Theory.” ity per se, but to any unquestioning identification of Method & Theory in the Study of Religion 5 (1993), women with nature, and use of the image of Mother 135–54. Nature or Mother Earth in the essentialist forms familiar Sandilands, Catriona. The Good Natured Feminist: Eco- within mainstream culture. Haraway suggests that women feminism and the Quest for Democracy. Minneapolis: would do better to revision “the world as coding trickster University of Minnesota Press, 1999. with whom we must learn to converse” (1991: 201), rather Sturgeon, Noël. Ecofeminist Natures: Race, Gender, than seek a primal mother in nature. Feminist Theory, and Political Action. New York: Haraway self-identifies as ecofeminist, yet maintains a Routledge, 1997. critical stance regarding ecofeminism as well as feminist See also: Ecofeminism (various).