| Renewable Energy |Sacred Commons | Traditional Wisdom | International Agreements |
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(Reprinted from Becoming a Friend to the Creation, Earthcare Leaven for Friends and Friends' Meetings, Quaker Earthcare Witness, 1994 [out of print].) Introduction THE CHRISTIAN TRADITION has responded to the environmental crisis in a number of ways. The mainstream of this response has often addressed itself to a theology and practice of "earth stewardship." The heart of this approach has been a search for a new relationship with creation and with God in relation to creation that shares the assumptions of the wider Christian tradition but challenges its environmental awareness and behavior. This essay is, first, an attempt to introduce readers to the assumptions and challenges of earth stewardship, and, second, a very partial exploration of their usefulness through some personal observations and some queries which might guide further discussion. The challenges which the Earth stewardship "movement" presents are largely informed by the revelation and perspective of the environmental movement; its assumptions are largely informed by the revelations and perspectives of the Bible and of the theological reflection which the Bible has inspired. Though it rarely addresses environmental issues per se, some Christian writers have held this biblical tradition up to the light of environmental concerns to see what principles might emerge. These writers have then applied these principles in various forms and combinations to the Christian community's environmental behavior, though they have not necessarily expressed these principles in the forms given below. These efforts are beginning to define a more or less coherent theology of Earth stewardship, and they are beginning to affect the actions of churches, especially at the denominational level of organization. In the next section, I offer a concise list and definition of 9½ Principles of Christian Earth Stewardship which I have culled from my reading. This reading has included three sources: the Bible itself, contemporary Earth stewardship writers, and the writings of Friends, especially George Fox and John Woolman. Some I have found stated explicitly in the form I have given them. Each has been found in enough sources to seem worthy of inclusion. I have gathered them into three groups: The first group of principles define God's relationship with creation. The second defines humanity's relationship with creation. The third defines our relationship with God in relation to creation. In the next section, entitled "Exploring Earth Stewardship," I question these principles with some personal observations and then offer some queries, which are grouped in the same three-fold way. These observations and queries are offered as initial aids to a process of discernment: As Friends seek a faith and practice that will inspire, guide, and strengthen us in the face of an intensifying ecological crisis, new leadings will come. Our tradition is to test such leadings in the light of scripture, in the light of our Quaker history and tradition, and, ultimately, in the Light of the corporate body gathered in spirit-led worship. To be faithful in this process, we must know what our tradition is in order to use it as a benchmark. The present work is a contribution to this process. 9½ Principles of Christian Earth Stewardship 1. Creation is good but not holy. Though its goodness is affirmed, creation is not holy in itself. 2. God is transcendent and Other than creation. God may be present in creation by choice in specific places for specific purposes in specific moments, as when speaking through the burning bush. But God's presence does not live in creation in any way that might invite the worship of creation. 3. God is the sovereign proprietor of creation. "The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof." (Psalms 24:1) 4. The "purpose" of creation is to glorify God. "The heavens are telling the glory of God; and the firmament proclaims his handiwork." (Psalms 19:1) By inference, then, the purpose of earth stewardship is to glorify God. 5. We have been given dominion over creation as God's stewards. "God blessed them, and God said to them, `Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.'" (Genesis 1:28) We have been put in the "garden" to "till it and keep it." (Genesis 2:15) Conversely, we lose our right to dominion when we violate our responsibilities in stewardship. 5½.The privilege of God's special favor extends beyond dominion. We are created in God's image, we enjoy exalted status (see Psalm 8) and God's special favor (see Matthew 10:29_31). Thus, a principle of spiritual anthropocentrism is a corollary of our dominion. 6. The rightful context for stewardship is covenant. With the covenantal promise of blessing and dominion comes responsibility, the obligation to steward the gifts God has given us according to God's will. 7. Irresponsible Earth stewardship is a sin. This sin results from the fall and continues out of the same over-reaching pridefulness. Though "ecological sin" is never defined explicitly in the Bible, it is implicit, especially in the words of the prophets and the "stewardship" parables of Jesus. As with other sins, we will be held accountable for our ecological sins before God. 8. Because creation is a gift to all humanity which we only hold in trust, there is a social justice dimension to Earth stewardship. This is most clear in the prophets, especially Amos and Isaiah. A great deal of contemporary Earth stewardship writing comes from Christians in the Third World. 9. We have been promised that harmony will be restored between us and creation when we are saved. Put another way, obeying God's will as God's stewards will bring us into a "new creation," for which the "peaceable kingdom" passage in Isaiah 11 is the most famous expression. "New creation" imagery also figures prominently in George Fox's thinking; Fox seems to have derived this imagery from Revelations and the letters of Paul. Summary CONDENSED INTO a concise statement, we might say that we have been given creation in trust by God, its creator, sovereign, and true owner; that we are stewards of God's property; and that this dominion over creation, which is only one of our blessings as God's chosen people, is to be tempered by obedience to God's will; and that ecological mismanagement is a sin. Through our covenantal right alignment with God's will, creation will be included in our own ultimate salvation. Exploring earth stewardship: some observations I HAVE PRESENTED these principles as expressing the "leadings" of the mainstream of the Christian tradition today on environmental issues. I think this is true, as far as any such broad generalization goes. Based on conversations in my own Yearly Meeting and especially at the Friends United Meeting Triennial in 1993, I believe they also speak for many of the Christian Friends, who are a clear majority in the Society worldwide. By contrast, I know that many Friends in the "liberal, silent tradition" find these principles unsatisfactory in varying degrees. I do myself. [Editor's note: Unprogrammed Friends include, in fact, many "liberal" and "conservative" Christians.] Nevertheless, I believe that we must take them seriously and not reject them out of hand. I have two reasons for feeling this way: First, it is something that we must do to be faithful in our search for an ecological faith and practice. As I said in the introduction, our processes of discernment require that we know what our tradition is as a starting point, and yet not take it for granted, that we hold our tradition in the same Light which inspired it in the first place and which guides us today. An honest, well-informed, spirit-led discernment of our own tradition is, it seems to me, a sine qua non for going forward. How can we go forward if we don't know where we've been or how we got where we are? How can we all go forward together, which is a central principle of Quaker governance, unless we learn to speak and to hear each other's language? THE SECOND REASON is that I believe there are powerful principles of truth at the core of each of these principles which have yet to be thoroughly developed. If we took full responsibility for them, they would take us a long way. Let me give just one example, on land ownership. God's sovereign ownership of creation is explicitly tied to the inalienable nature of land in [ancient] Israel's family-oriented land-tenure law, which explicitly prohibits the private and corporate ownership of land (see Leviticus 25, especially). This is potentially a radical platform for agricultural policy and land reform and a powerful prophetic challenge to corporate capitalism. Nevertheless, earth stewardship presents us with quite a lot of problems. In the next section, I take a very brief look at some of these, principle by principle. But first I want to look at two problems affecting the stewardship tradition as a whole: First, historically, it is an abject failure. Some would even blame the Christian tradition for the ecological crisis itself, especially as it has shaped the assumptions behind our view of the world and our place in it. At the least, Christian leaders, writers, and communities have not stood in the way of the destruction of creation until very recently. Why not, when virtually all of the principles of Earth stewardship are at least 2,500 years old? The second problem is institutional, ecclesiastical, political. The Christian tradition has never created concrete institutions and processes by which the community might put these principles into practical effect. There has never been a way to bring the elements of our faith to bear on actual land management and development decisions. I believe a thorough evaluation of the Earth stewardship tradition needs to keep the historical and practical in mind. It should seek rigorously the stops in the tradition which prevent its becoming practical. It also should reveal the implications and the positive potential of the principles of earth stewardship if they were energetically applied. THE FIRST STEP IN OUR DISCERNMENT process is to acquaint ourselves with our tradition. We should do this not just because it represents our roots in the past, but also because it is the measure of light given to the majority of Friends today. To help in this process of discernment, I offer some queries, which are excerpted from a much more extensive list. Perhaps I should call them just questions, because a query should invite an inward journey without suggesting direction, and some of the questions below are not so neutral. Exploring earth stewardship Questions on God's relationship with creation CREATION IS GOOD, but not holy. God is other than creation and beyond it and, by virtue of having created it, God is its sovereign owner. Creation's purpose is to glorify God. For over 3,000 years, the tradition has feared and fought "Baalism," that is, the translation of the experience of God in the natural world into a worship of God as the natural world. How do we name our genuine experiences of the holy in creation? How do we share and seek these experiences with others? The Trinity and the presence of God in creation: Has the Creator ever rested? Are we comfortable recognizing Christ in His creative and sustaining role in creation? Can creation be animated with life without the presence of the Holy Spirit? Is creation more than just God's property? If we believe God is present in creation, does eco-cide equal dei-cide (that is, the diminution of the presence of God itself)? If so, how does this affect our relationship with creation? For ancient Israel, God's sovereign ownership of creation precluded its private or even corporate ownership. If we still accept the first principle, then how are we to treat land tenure today? On humanity's relationship with creation WE HAVE BEEN GIVEN creation as a gift in trust; we have dominion over it, but in the spirit of stewardship. As God's stewards, we enjoy God's special blessing as a favored species. What are the limits of our dominion in stewardship? If we care for creation on the Creator's behalf, at what point are we obligated to seek God's will on specific matters of stewardship before acting? How do we seek God's will? How do we recognize answers to this search and test them? To what degree do the principles of Quaker process represent a useful contribution to these problems of active, practical, spirit-led stewardship? The roots of the word "steward" mean ward of the sty, that is, the one given responsibility for the military protection of the lord's animal wealth and, by extension, for protection of the estate's continued sustenance. Does the hierarchical and military nature of the feudal vocabulary of Lord, dominion, and steward serve us well in the face of contemporary environmental crisis? Why would we retain such a vocabulary in our religious and "eco-religious" lives when we have abandoned it in our social and political culture? On our relationship with God in relation to creation COVENANT IS THE RIGHTFUL CONTEXT for Earth stewardship. In this context, irresponsible earth stewardship is a sin for which we shall be held accountable by God. This understanding of righteousness and sinfulness as regards treatment of creation also includes dimensions of gender, social, racial, economic, and political justice. We have been promised that harmony will be restored between us and creation when harmony between us and God has been restored. Covenant is a relationship of mutual promise and responsibility into which one enters consciously and voluntarily, as in a marriage or meeting membership. The original covenant between Israel and Yahweh included the land as a third partner. Can we extend our relationships with each other and with God to include the land as well? How? Can we look to the principles of "deep ecology" to develop a "deep Quakerism," a set of laws or principles that we would accept as binding in ways similar to the land management laws in Israel's covenant with Yahweh? What do the spiritways of indigenous peoples have to offer us for our understanding of covenantal relationship with the land? For Christians, the message and life of Jesus are a prescription for right living. Given that Jesus did not teach his community specifically on the topic of earth stewardship, what principles do we find implicit in the teaching we do have? Contemplating the end of the world WHAT ARE THE IMPLICATIONS for us of Christian eschatology, of a belief in the "end of the world" as God's final saving act, in the face of the present ecological and nuclear proliferation crises? To the degree that we are Christians concerned with sin and salvation, repentance and forgiveness, how do we confess our failure as earth stewards and our oppression of land-based peoples, whose land and stewardship we have usurped? How do we repent, or turn around? Put another way: If irresponsible Earth stewardship is a sin, how and when will Christians and Christian communities be held accountable by God? How can we establish concrete forms of accountability that will actually effect community behavior to protect creation? Is salvation just for individual souls in some hoped-for future, or for bodies and communities in the here and now, as well? To the degree that we are post-Christian, finding the Christian salvific paradigm unhelpful, what other tenets of faith and practice serve to guide the community in its practical land-use and development decisions? How do we incorporate constructive discipline and useful limits in the life of the community without "sin," without some framework for naming and correcting wrongdoing? Individualism and eco-religious life TO WHAT DEGREE do we understand salvation or wholeness as a matter for the human individual rather than for the wider human and non-human community? On the model of deep ecology, to what degree is the community more important than the individual? To what degree do Christian and Quaker culture suffer for unbalanced individualism? STEVEN DAVISON is currently writing two books, a land-based reading of the gospel of Jesus, tentatively titled Good News for the Land: Economics, Politics and Community in the Commonwealth of God, and an economic history of Friends titled Quakerism and Capitalism. He is active with the recently formed Quaker Eco-Witness for National Legislation (QEW-NL), helping to develop Quaker Eco-101 (QE-101) curriculum materials. He is an avid student of the Bible and of Quaker history, faith, and practice. His ministries include Bible study and education, recovery of and spirit-led experimentation with the faith and practice of traditional Quaker ministry, and land-based spirituality. Steven is a member of Yardley Meeting, Philadelphia Yearly Meeting.
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