God is Green?: Jewish and Christian Theological Study of Creation Ethics

Peter Harrison thinks the doctrine of original sin played a crucial role in this, arguing there was a widespread belief in the early modern period that Adam, prior to the fall, had superior senses, intellect, and understanding. As a result of the fall, human senses became duller, our ability to make correct inferences was diminished, and nature itself became less intelligible. They must supplement their reasoning and senses with observation through specialized instruments, such as microscopes and telescopes.

As Robert Hooke wrote in the introduction to his Micrographia:. As a result, the Condemnation opened up intellectual space to think beyond ancient Greek natural philosophy. For example, medieval philosophers such as John Buridan fl. As further evidence for a formative role of Christianity in the development of science, some authors point to the Christian beliefs of prominent natural philosophers of the seventeenth century. For example, Clark writes,. Exclude God from the definition of science and, in one fell definitional swoop, you exclude the greatest natural philosophers of the so-called scientific revolution—Kepler, Copernicus, Galileo, Boyle, and Newton to name just a few.

Others authors even go as far as to claim that Christianity was unique and instrumental in catalyzing the scientific revolution—according to Rodney Stark , the scientific revolution was in fact a slow, gradual development from medieval Christian theology. In spite of these positive readings of the relationship between science and religion in Christianity, there are sources of enduring tension.

For example, there is still vocal opposition to the theory of evolution among Christian fundamentalists. Additionally, it refers to a culture which flourished within this political and religious context, with its own philosophical and scientific traditions Dhanani As the second largest religion in the world, Islam shows a wide variety of beliefs. Beyond this, Muslims disagree on a number of doctrinal issues.

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The relationship between Islam and science is complex. Today, predominantly Muslim countries, such as the United Arabic Emirates, enjoy high urbanization and technological development, but they underperform in common metrics of scientific research, such as publications in leading journals and number of citations per scientist see Edis Moreover, Islamic countries are also hotbeds for pseudoscientific ideas, such as Old Earth creationism, the creation of human bodies on the day of resurrection from the tailbone, and the superiority of prayer in treating lower-back pain instead of conventional methods Guessoum The contemporary lack of scientific prominence is remarkable given that the Islamic world far exceeded European cultures in the range and quality of its scientific knowledge between approximately the ninth and the fifteenth century, excelling in domains such as mathematics algebra and geometry, trigonometry in particular , astronomy seriously considering, but not adopting, heliocentrism , optics, and medicine.

A major impetus for Arabic science was the patronage of the Abbasid caliphate — , centered in Baghdad. The former founded the Bayt al-Hikma House of Wisdom , which commissioned translations of major works by Aristotle, Galen, and many Persian and Indian scholars into Arabic. It was cosmopolitan in its outlook, employing astronomers, mathematicians, and physicians from abroad, including Indian mathematicians and Nestorian Christian astronomers.

Throughout the Arabic world, public libraries attached to mosques provided access to a vast compendium of knowledge, which spread Islam, Greek philosophy, and Arabic science. The use of a common language Arabic , as well as common religious and political institutions and flourishing trade relations encouraged the spread of scientific ideas throughout the empire.

Some of this transmission was informal, e. The decline and fall of the Abbasid caliphate dealt a blow to Arabic science, but it remains unclear why it ultimately stagnated, and why it did not experience something analogous to the scientific revolution in Western Europe. Some liberal Muslim authors, such as Fatima Mernissi , argue that the rise of conservative forms of Islamic philosophical theology stifled more scientifically-minded natural philosophers.

This book vindicated more orthodox Muslim religious views. As Muslim intellectual life became more orthodox, it became less open to non-Muslim philosophical ideas, which led to the decline of Arabic science. The study of law fiqh was more stifling for Arabic science than developments in theology. The eleventh century saw changes in Islamic law that discouraged heterodox thought: Given that heterodox thoughts could be interpreted as apostasy, this created a stifling climate for Arabic science. In the second half of the nineteenth century, as science and technology became firmly entrenched in western society, Muslim empires were languishing or colonized.

Scientific ideas, such as evolutionary theory, were equated with European colonialism, and thus met with distrust. In spite of this negative association between science and western modernity, there is an emerging literature on science and religion by Muslim scholars mostly scientists. The physicist Nidhal Guessoum holds that science and religion are not only compatible, but in harmony. Nevertheless, Muslim scientists such as Guessoum and Rana Dajani have advocated acceptance of evolution.

In contrast to the major monotheistic religions, Hinduism does not draw a sharp distinction between God and creation while there are pantheistic and panentheistic views in Christianity, Judaism, and Islam, these are minority positions. Many Hindus believe in a personal God, and identify this God as immanent in creation. This view has ramifications for the science and religion debate, in that there is no sharp ontological distinction between creator and creature Subbarayappa Philosophical theology in Hinduism and other Indic religions is usually referred to as dharma , and religious traditions originating on the Indian subcontinent, including Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, and Sikhism, are referred to as dharmic religions.

One factor that unites dharmic religions is the importance of foundational texts, which were formulated during the Vedic period, between ca. More gods were added in the following centuries e. Ancient Vedic rituals encouraged knowledge of diverse sciences, including astronomy, linguistics, and mathematics.

Astronomical knowledge was required to determine the timing of rituals and the construction of sacrificial altars. Linguistics developed out of a need to formalize grammatical rules for classical Sanskrit, which was used in rituals. Large public offerings also required the construction of elaborate altars, which posed geometrical problems and thus led to advances in geometry. Classic Vedic texts also frequently used very large numbers, for instance, to denote the age of humanity and the Earth, which required a system to represent numbers parsimoniously, giving rise to a base positional system and a symbolic representation for zero as a placeholder, which would later be imported in other mathematical traditions Joseph In this way, ancient Indian dharma encouraged the emergence of the sciences.

Around the sixth—fifth century BCE, the northern part of the Indian subcontinent experienced an extensive urbanization. The latter defended a form of metaphysical naturalism, denying the existence of gods or karma. The relationship between science and religion on the Indian subcontinent is complex, in part because the dharmic religions and philosophical schools are so diverse. Such views were close to philosophical naturalism in modern science, but this school disappeared in the twelfth century. He formulated design and cosmological arguments, drawing on analogies between the world and artifacts: Given that the universe is so complex that even an intelligent craftsman cannot comprehend it, how could it have been created by non-intelligent natural forces?

From to , India was under British colonial rule. This had a profound influence on its culture. Hindus came into contact with Western science and technology. For local intellectuals, the contact with Western science presented a challenge: Mahendrahal Sircar — was one of the first authors to examine evolutionary theory and its implications for Hindu religious beliefs.

Sircar was an evolutionary theist, who believed that God used evolution to create the current life forms. Evolutionary theism was not a new hypothesis in Hinduism, but the many lines of empirical evidence Darwin provided for evolution gave it a fresh impetus. While Sircar accepted organic evolution through common descent, he questioned the mechanism of natural selection as it was not teleological, which went against his evolutionary theism—this was a widespread problem for the acceptance of evolutionary theory, one that Christian evolutionary theists also wrestled with Bowler The assimilation of western culture prompted various revivalist movements that sought to reaffirm the cultural value of Hinduism.

Responses to evolutionary theory were as diverse as Christian views on this subject, ranging from creationism denial of evolutionary theory based on a perceived incompatibility with Vedic texts to acceptance see C. Brown for a thorough overview. Authors such as Dayananda Saraswati — rejected evolutionary theory. More generally, he claimed that Hinduism and science are in harmony: Hinduism is scientific in spirit, as is evident from its long history of scientific discovery Vivekananda Sri Aurobindo Ghose, a yogi and Indian nationalist, who was educated in the West, formulated a synthesis of evolutionary thought and Hinduism.

He interpreted the classic avatara doctrine, according to which God incarnates into the world repeatedly throughout time, in evolutionary terms. He proposed a metaphysical picture where both spiritual evolution reincarnation and avatars and physical evolution are ultimately a manifestation of God Brahman. Brown for discussion. During the twentieth century, Indian scientists began to gain prominence, including C.

Raman — , a Nobel Prize winner in physics, and Satyendra Nath Bose — , a theoretical physicist who described the behavior of photons statistically, and who gave his name to bosons. However, these authors were silent on the relationship between their scientific work and their religious beliefs. By contrast, the mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan — was open about his religious beliefs and their influence on his mathematical work.

He claimed that the goddess Namagiri helped him to intuit solutions to mathematical problems. Likewise, Jagadish Chandra Bose — , a theoretical physicist, biologist, biophysicist, botanist, and archaeologist, who worked on radio waves, saw the Hindu idea of unity reflected in the study of nature. He started the Bose institute in Kolkata in , the earliest interdisciplinary scientific institute in India Subbarayappa Current work in the field of science and religion encompasses a wealth of topics, including free will, ethics, human nature, and consciousness.

Contemporary natural theologians discuss fine-tuning, in particular design arguments based on it e. Collins , the interpretation of multiverse cosmology, and the significance of the Big Bang. For instance, authors such as Hud Hudson have explored the idea that God has actualized the best of all possible multiverses. Here follows an overview of two topics that generated substantial interest and debate over the past decades: Before scientists developed their views on cosmology and origins of the world, Western cultures already had an elaborate doctrine of creation, based on Biblical texts e.

This doctrine of creation has the following interrelated features: Differently put, God did not need any pre-existing materials to make the world, unlike, e. Rather, God created the world freely. This introduces a radical asymmetry between creator and creature: Third, the doctrine of creation holds that creation is essentially good this is repeatedly affirmed in Genesis 1. The world does contain evil, but God does not directly cause this evil to exist.

Moreover, God does not merely passively sustain creation, but rather plays an active role in it, using special divine actions e. Fourth, God made provisions for the end of the world, and will create a new heaven and earth, in this way eradicating evil. Related to the doctrine of creation are views on divine action.

Theologians commonly draw a distinction between general and special divine action. Unfortunately, there is no universally accepted definition of these two concepts in the fields of theology or science and religion. One way to distinguish them Wildman Drawing this distinction allows for creatures to be autonomous and indicates that God does not micromanage every detail of creation. Still, the distinction is not always clear-cut, as some phenomena are difficult to classify as either general or special divine action.

Alston makes a related distinction between direct and indirect divine acts. God brings about direct acts without the use of natural causes, whereas indirect acts are achieved through natural causes. Using this distinction, there are four possible kinds of actions that God could do: God could not act in the world at all, God could act only directly, God could act only indirectly, or God could act both directly and indirectly.

In the science and religion literature, there are two central questions on creation and divine action. To what extent are the Christian doctrine of creation and traditional views of divine action compatible with science? How can these concepts be understood within a scientific context, e. Note that the doctrine of creation says nothing about the age of the Earth, nor that it specifies a mode of creation. This allows for a wide range of possible views within science and religion, of which Young Earth Creationism is but one that is consistent with scripture.

The theory seems to support creatio ex nihilo as it specifies that the universe originated from an extremely hot and dense state around The net result of scientific findings since the seventeenth century has been that God was increasingly pushed into the margins. This encroachment of science on the territory of religion happened in two ways: While the doctrine of creation does not contain details of the mode and timing of creation, the Bible was regarded as authoritative.

Second, the emerging concept of scientific laws in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century physics seemed to leave no room for special divine action. These two challenges will be discussed below, along with proposed solutions in the contemporary science and religion literature. Christian authors have traditionally used the Bible as a source of historical information. Biblical exegesis of the creation narratives, especially Genesis 1 and 2 and some other scattered passages, such as in the Book of Job , remains fraught with difficulties.

Are these texts to be interpreted in a historical, metaphorical, or poetic fashion, and what are we to make of the fact that the order of creation differs between these accounts Harris ? Although such literalist interpretations of the Biblical creation narratives were not uncommon, and are still used by Young Earth creationists today, theologians before Ussher already offered alternative, non-literalist readings of the biblical materials e.

From the seventeenth century onward, the Christian doctrine of creation came under pressure from geology, with findings suggesting that the Earth was significantly older than BCE. From the eighteenth century on, natural philosophers, such as de Maillet, Lamarck, Chambers, and Darwin, proposed transmutationist what would now be called evolutionary theories, which seem incompatible with scriptural interpretations of the special creation of species.

Ted Peters and Martinez Hewlett have outlined a divine action spectrum to clarify the distinct positions about creation and divine action in the contemporary science and religion literature. They discern two dimensions in this spectrum: At one extreme are creationists. Like other theists, they believe God has created the world and its fundamental laws, and that God occasionally performs special divine actions miracles that intervene in the fabric of laws.

Creationists deny any role of natural selection in the origin of species. Within creationism, there are Old and Young Earth creationism, with the former accepting geology and rejecting evolutionary biology, and the latter rejecting both. Next to creationism is Intelligent Design, which affirms divine intervention in natural processes. Intelligent Design creationists e. Like other creationists, they deny a significant role for natural selection in shaping organic complexity and they affirm an interventionist account of divine action.

For political reasons they do not label their intelligent designer as God, as they hope to circumvent the constitutional separation of church and state in the US which prohibits teaching religious doctrines in public schools Forrest and Gross Theistic evolutionists hold a non-interventionist approach to divine action: God creates indirectly, through the laws of nature e. For example, the theologian John Haught regards divine providence as self-giving love, and natural selection and other natural processes as manifestations of this love, as they foster autonomy and independence.

While theistic evolutionists allow for special divine action, particularly the miracle of the Incarnation in Christ e. God has laid out the laws of nature and lets it run like clockwork without further interference. Deism is still a long distance from ontological materialism, the idea that the material world is all there is. Views on divine action were influenced by developments in physics and their philosophical interpretation.

In the seventeenth century, natural philosophers, such as Robert Boyle and John Wilkins, developed a mechanistic view of the world as governed by orderly and lawlike processes. Laws, understood as immutable and stable, created difficulties for the concept of special divine action Pannenberg How could God act in a world that was determined by laws? One way to regard miracles and other forms of special divine action is to see them as actions that somehow suspend or ignore the laws of nature. This concept of divine action is commonly labeled interventionist.

Interventionism regards the world as causally deterministic, so God has to create room for special divine actions. By contrast, non-interventionist forms of divine action e. In the seventeenth century, the explanation of the workings of nature in terms of elegant physical laws suggested the ingenuity of a divine designer. For example, Samuel Clarke cited in Schliesser Another conclusion that the new laws-based physics suggested was that the universe was able to run smoothly without requiring an intervening God.

The increasingly deterministic understanding of the universe, ruled by deterministic causal laws as, for example, outlined by Pierre-Simon Laplace — , seemed to leave no room for special divine action, which is a key element of the traditional Christian doctrine of creation. Newton resisted interpretations like these in an addendum to the Principia in Alston argued, contra authors such as Polkinghorne , that mechanistic, pre-twentieth century physics is compatible with divine action and divine free will.

In such a mechanistic world, every event is an indirect divine act. Advances in twentieth-century physics, including the theories of general and special relativity, chaos theory, and quantum theory, overturned the mechanical clockwork view of creation. In the latter half of the twentieth century, chaos theory and quantum physics have been explored as possible avenues to reinterpret divine action. One difficulty with this model is that it moves from our knowledge of the world to assumptions about how the world is: Robert Russell proposed that God acts in quantum events.

This would allow God to directly act in nature without having to contravene the laws of nature, and is therefore a non-interventionist model. Since, under the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics, there are no natural efficient causes at the quantum level, God is not reduced to a natural cause. Murphy outlined a similar bottom-up model where God acts in the space provided by quantum indeterminacy. After all, it is not even clear whether quantum theory would allow for free human action, let alone divine action, which we do not know much about Jaeger a.

Next to this, William Carroll , building on Thomistic philosophy, argues that authors such as Murphy and Polkinghorne are making a category mistake: God is not a cause in a way creatures are causes, competing with natural causes, and God does not need indeterminacy in order to act in the world. Rather, as primary cause God supports and grounds secondary causes. While this solution is compatible with determinism indeed, on this view, the precise details of physics do not matter much , it blurs the distinction between general and special divine action.

Moreover, the Incarnation suggests that the idea of God as a cause among natural causes is not an alien idea in theology, and that God at least sometimes acts as a natural cause Sollereder There has been a debate on the question to what extent randomness is a genuine feature of creation, and how divine action and chance interrelate. Chance and stochasticity are important features of evolutionary theory the non-random retention of random variations.

In a famous thought experiment, Gould imagined that we could rewind the tape of life back to the time of the Burgess Shale million years ago ; the chance we would end up with anything like the present-day life forms is vanishingly small. However, Simon Conway Morris has argued species very similar to the ones we know now including human-like intelligent species would evolve under a broad range of conditions.

Under a theist interpretation, randomness could either be a merely apparent aspect of creation, or a genuine feature. Plantinga suggests that randomness is a physicalist interpretation of the evidence. God may have guided every mutation along the evolutionary process. In this way, God could. By contrast, some authors see stochasticity as a genuine design feature, and not just as a physicalist gloss.

Their challenge is to explain how divine providence is compatible with genuine randomness. Under a deistic view, one could simply say that God started the universe off and did not interfere with how it went, but that option is not open to the theist, and most authors in the field of science and religion are theists, rather than deists.

Elizabeth Johnson , using a Thomistic view of divine action, argues that divine providence and true randomness are compatible: God gives creatures true causal powers, thus making creation more excellent than if they lacked such powers, and random occurrences are also secondary causes; chance is a form of divine creativity that creates novelty, variety, and freedom. One implication of this view is that God may be a risk taker—although, if God has a providential plan for possible outcomes, there is unpredictability but not risk.

Johnson uses metaphors of risk taking that, on the whole, leave the creator in a position of control creation, then, is like jazz improvisation , but it is, to her, a risk nonetheless. Why would God take risks? There are several solutions to this question. The free will theodicy says that a creation that exhibits stochasticity can be truly free and autonomous:. Authentic love requires freedom, not manipulation. Such freedom is best supplied by the open contingency of evolution, and not by strings of divine direction attached to every living creature.

Christianity, Islam, and Judaism have similar creation stories, which ultimately go back to the first book of the Hebrew Bible Genesis. According to Genesis, humans are the result of a special act of creation. Genesis 1 offers an account of the creation of the world in six days, with the creation of human beings on the sixth day. Islam has a creation narrative similar to Genesis 2, with Adam being fashioned out of clay. These handcrafted humans are regarded as the ancestors of all living humans today. Humans occupy a privileged position in these creation accounts. In Christianity, Judaism, and some strands of Islam, humans are created in the image of God imago Dei.

There are at least three different ways in which image-bearing is understood Cortez According to the functionalist account, humans are in the image of God by virtue of things they do, such as having dominion over nature. The structuralist account emphasizes characteristics that humans uniquely possess, such as reason.

The relational interpretation sees the image as a special relationship between God and humanity. Humans also occupy a special place in creation as a result of the fall. By eating from the forbidden fruit of the Tree of Good and Evil they fell from this state, and death, manual labor, as well as pain in childbirth were introduced.

The Augustinian interpretation of original sin also emphasizes the distorting effects of sin on our reasoning capacities the so-called noetic effects of sin. As a result of sin, our original perceptual and reasoning capacities have been marred. Whereas Augustine believed that the prelapsarian state was one of perfection, Irenaeus second century saw Adam and Eve prior to the fall as innocent, like children still in development.

Scientific findings and theories relevant to human origins come from a range of disciplines, in particular geology, paleoanthropology the study of ancestral hominins, using fossils and other evidence , archaeology, and evolutionary biology. These findings challenge traditional religious accounts of humanity, including the special creation of humanity, the imago Dei , the historical Adam and Eve, and original sin.

In natural philosophy, the dethroning of humanity from its position as a specially created species predates Darwin and can already be found in early transmutationist publications. Jean-Baptiste Lamarck proposed chimpanzees as the ancestors to humans in his Philosophie Zoologique He proposed that the first organisms arose through spontaneous generation, and that all subsequent organisms evolved from them.

He argued that humans have a single evolutionary origin: Darwin was initially reluctant to publish on human origins. In the twentieth century, paleoanthropologists debated whether humans separated from the other great apes at the time wrongly classified into the paraphyletic group Pongidae long ago, about 15 million years ago, or relatively recently, about 5 million years ago. Molecular clocks—first immune responses e.

The discovery of many hominin fossils, including Ardipithecus ramidus 4. These finds are now also supplemented by detailed analysis of ancient DNA extracted from fossil remains, bringing to light a previously unknown species of hominin the Denisovans who lived in Siberia up to about 40, years ago. Taken together, this evidence indicates that humans did not evolve in a simple linear fashion, but that human evolution resembles an intricate branching tree with many dead ends, in line with the evolution of other species.

In the light of these scientific findings, contemporary science and religion authors have reconsidered the questions of human uniqueness and imago Dei , the Incarnation, and the historicity of original sin.

Some authors have attempted to reinterpret human uniqueness as a number of species-specific cognitive and behavioral adaptations. For example, van Huyssteen considers the ability of humans to engage in cultural and symbolic behavior, which became prevalent in the Upper Paleolithic, as a key feature of uniquely human behavior. Other theologians have opted to broaden the notion of imago Dei. Given what we know about the capacities for morality and reason in non-human animals, Celia Deane-Drummond and Oliver Putz reject an ontological distinction between humans and non-human animals, and argue for a reconceptualization of the imago Dei to include at least some nonhuman animals.

Joshua Moritz raises the question of whether extinct hominin species, such as Homo neanderthalensis and Homo floresiensis , which co-existed with Homo sapiens for some part of prehistory, partook in the divine image.

• Kinder im Schulalter: Verhaltensstörungen, Lernprobleme, Normabweichungen (German Edition);
• Fort van die kappiedraers (Afrikaans Edition);
• Religion and Science (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy);
• Joana (MON PETIT EDITE) (French Edition).
• 2. Science and religion in Christianity, Islam, and Hinduism?
• Maori Tales And Legends?
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There is also discussion of how we can understand the Incarnation the belief that Jesus, the second person of the Trinity, became incarnate with the evidence we have of human evolution. For instance, Peacocke regarded Jesus as the point where humanity is perfect for the first time. Teilhard de Chardin had a teleological, progressivist interpretation of evolution, according to which Christ is the progression and culmination of what evolution has been working toward even though the historical Jesus lived years ago.

According to Teilhard, evil is still horrible but no longer incomprehensible; it becomes a natural feature of creation—since God chose evolution as his mode of creation, evil arises as an inevitable byproduct. Deane-Drummond , however, points out that this interpretation is problematic: Teilhard worked within a Spencerian progressivist model of evolution, and he was anthropocentric, seeing humanity as the culmination of evolution. Current evolutionary theory has repudiated the Spencerian progressivist view, and adheres to a stricter Darwinian model.

Deane-Drummond, who regards human morality as lying on a continuum with the social behavior of other animals, conceptualizes the fall as a mythical, rather than a historical event. She regards Christ as incarnate wisdom, situated in a theodrama that plays against the backdrop of an evolving creation. As a human being, Christ is connected to the rest of creation, as we all are, through common descent. By saving us, he saves the whole of creation. Debates on the fall and the historical Adam have centered on how these narratives can be understood in the light of contemporary science.

1. What are science and religion, and how do they interrelate?

On the face of it, limitations of our cognitive capacities can be naturalistically explained as a result of biological constraints, so there seems little explanatory gain to appeal to the narrative of the fall. Some have attempted to interpret the concepts of sin and fall in ways that are compatible with paleoanthropology. Peter van Inwagen , for example, holds that God could have providentially guided hominin evolution until there was a tightly-knit community of primates, endowed with reason, language, and free will, and this community was in close union with God.

At some point in history, these hominins somehow abused their free will to distance themselves from God. For van Inwagen, the fall was a fall from perfection, following the Augustinian tradition. John Schneider , on the other hand, argues that there is no genetic or paleoanthropological evidence for such a community of superhuman beings. Helen De Cruz and Johan De Smedt favor an Irenaean, rather than an Augustinian interpretation of the fall narrative, which does not involve a historical Adam, and emphasizes original innocence as the state that humans had prior to sinning.

This final section will look at two examples of work in science and religion that have received attention in the recent literature, and that probably will be important in the coming years: Other areas of increasing interest include the theistic multiverse, consciousness, artificial intelligence, and transhumanism. Even before Darwin formulated his theory of natural selection, Victorian authors fretted over the implications of evolutionary theory for morality and religion.

Evolutionary theorists from Darwin onward argued that human morality is continuous with social behaviors in nonhuman animals, and that we can explain moral sentiments as the result of natural selection. This capacity has evolutionary precursors in the ability of nonhuman animals to empathize, cooperate, reconcile, and engage in fair play e. Since we can explain ethical beliefs and behaviors as a result of their long-term fitness consequences, we do not need to invoke ethical realism as an explanation.

Some ask whether evolutionary challenges to moral beliefs apply in an analogous way to religious beliefs see Bergmann and Kain , especially part III. Others have examined whether evolutionary ethics makes appeals to God in ethical matters redundant. John Hare , for example, has argued that this is not the case, because evolutionary ethics can only explain why we do things that ultimately benefit us, even if indirectly e. According to Hare , evolutionary ethics does not explain our sense of moral obligation that goes beyond biological self-interest, as evolutionary theory predicts that we would always rank biological self-interest over moral obligations.

Therefore, theism provides a more coherent explanation of why we feel we have to follow up on moral obligations. Intriguingly, theologians and scientists have begun to collaborate in the field of evolutionary ethics. For example, the theologian Sarah Coakley has cooperated with the mathematician and biologist Martin Nowak to understand altruism and game theory in a broader theological and scientific context Nowak and Coakley The cognitive science of religion examines the cognitive basis of religious beliefs.

Recent work in the field of science and religion has examined the implications of this research for the justification of religious beliefs. De Cruz and De Smedt propose that arguments in natural theology are also influenced by evolved cognitive dispositions. For example, the design argument may derive its intuitive appeal from an evolved, early-developed propensity in humans to ascribe purpose and design to objects in their environment.

This complicates natural theological projects, which rely on a distinction between the origins of a religious belief and their justification through reasoned argument. Kelly Clark and Justin L. Barrett argue that the cognitive science of religion offers the prospect of an empirically-informed Reidian defense of religious belief.

Thomas Reid proposed that we are justified in holding beliefs that arise from cognitive faculties universally present in humans which give rise to spontaneous, non-inferential beliefs. If cognitive scientists are right in proposing that belief in God arises naturally from the workings of our minds, we are prima facie justified in believing in God Clark and Barrett John Wilkins and Paul Griffiths argue that the evolved origins of religious beliefs can figure in an evolutionary debunking argument against religious belief, which they formulate along the lines of Guy Kahane The evolutionary process X does not track the truth of propositions like p.

Wilkins and Griffiths hold that the epistemic premise can sometimes be resisted: However, they hold that this move does not work for religious and moral beliefs, because such beliefs are assumed not to be the result of truth-tracking cognitive processes. Comte, Auguste cosmological argument Hume, David: This research was supported by a small book and research grant of the Special Divine Action Project, specialdivineaction. Religion and Science First published Tue Jan 17, Ministering with the Earth Author: The challenge is more than caring for the Earth; it is also engaging with the Earth in ministry… Stories and visions invite us to meditate, to analyze, and to take a new view of the Earth—not merely as a source of beauty and certainly not as a collection of valuable resources—but as a creation of God with which we are bound in conventional relationship.

The Search for Enough An Earth Ministry publication that explores money from the perspective of faith and the environment. Hicks In this timely resource, author Douglas A. Hicks offers a faith-based account of the global economy and our place in it. Money Enough is filled with insight and wise advice that walks the line between rejecting the marketplace and accepting its excesses. Using well-chosen illustrative examples, the book shows how to develop practices that help us survive in hard times and reach out to others.

A broadly graded stewardship education program for children ages four through grade two and children in grades three through six. This five-session course can be used in your congregation during a stewardship emphasis, for a special study, or as a resource for a five-day vacation school program. Each session is designed for a one-hour time frame but offers a wide variety of activities adn can be easily expanded. Encountering God in Nature Author: Wonder, reverence, and praise in encounter with the beauty of nature. Of God and Pelicans: A Theology of Reverence for Life Author: This is not a book merely about pelicans and God.

It is a book about all living things on earth, both inanimate and animate: Such questions are especially urgent for those coming of age in the twenty-first century. I see in this generation a passionate yearning to live in a way that is good for our endangered planet, life-giving to others, and attentive to the presence of God. On Our Way is a response to this yearning, offered by a group of authors who belong to the diverse, imperfect, amazing community that has gathered around Jesus Christ across the centuries.

Pick up your garden tools and get to work. As we follow Jesus out of doors into the ebb and flow of creation, we will discover that mountain top experiences cannot be separated from the needs of human beings for physical and spiritual healing. Our Sustainable Table Editor: A collection of essays about our off-track relationship with food, the land, and the people who farm it. Passion for the Earth: Challenging the Church to respond to environmental degradation, Sean McDonagh examines newly-industrialized nations and looks at the effects on the environment of GATT.

Examples are given from many countries. Pilgrim at Tinker Creek Author: It presents Dillard — mystical naturalist wordsmith — at her best. Vancouver BC author decides to eat food grown within miles of home for one year and tells about this challenge. Practice of the Wild Author: Snyder is a highly respected nature poet and writer. This collection of essays provides a good sampling of his work. Practicing Our Faith Author: Their responses, represented here, explore vital ways to apply Christian tradition and practice to everyday life in a world that demands continuous personal change and discernment.

A thoughtful discussion of possibilities for responding to the challenges of faith through the shared dimensions of spiritual life. Praying with Francis of Assisi Author: Stoutzenbarger and John D. Praying with Francis of Assisi is not a biography about St. Francis, but a way of praying with him. Praying with Julian of Norwich Author: Jim Merkel Many people feel the need to change their own lifestyles as a tangible way of trasnforming our unsustainable culture. Radical Simplicity is the first book to guide you toward a personal sustainability goal, and then offer a way to lower your footprint to be more equitable among all people, species, and generations.

Restoring Nature to Culture Author: Volume 4 of 4 in a comprehensive, systematic statement of environmental theology by a Christian teacher. In this stand-alone volume, focuses on restoring a love and reverence of nature to modern culture. A Contemporary Spirituality Author: The realization that we live in such a universe will change how we work and pray, how we relate to one another and to God, to ourselves.

Kathleen Fischer calls us not only to contemplation but to solicitude for the earth. Patience and Practice in the Desert Author: In this collection of essays, poems, congressional testimony, and journal entries, Williams reflects on the God-given value of wilderness and the need to preserve wild places — for their own sake and the sake of the human spirit.

Redeeming the Creation Author: Redeeming the Time Author: An examination of environmental theology from four major viewpoints. Scharper looks first at how Christianity began to look at the environmental crisis and has responded to it over three decades. He then explores the viewpoints: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle Author: Oregon Ecumenical Center for Environmental Action.

A look at the problem, the theological basis for recycling, benefits of recycling, economics, opportunities, success stories, and practical tools for starting a recycling program in the church. Includes extensive lists of practical resources and congregational tools. Williams, a naturalist and writer from Salt Lake City, weaves the story of the flooding of Great Salt Lake in , and the resulting loss of wetlands, with the losses in her own family due to cancer caused by nearby atomic testing.

This compassionate book poignantly combines love and knowledge of place, landscape, and family. Religion and the New Ecology Author: The book reflects the conviction that we must establish significant coherence between our historical, scientific, and religious understandings of nature if we are to effectively address current and emerging environmental problems. Filled with well-chosen resources to help you design your own outdoor retreats and prayer experiences.

Skillfully written over seven years of Sabbaths in the solitude of his hillside retreat, Berry candidly reveals his spirituality and ponderings on relationships with the land and people who comprise his community. Each poem is like a brief, wisdom-filled retreat. Ecofeminist Theology and Globalization Author: Grey Focusing on such simple yet profound symbols as water, light, and sacred space, noted theologian, Mary Grey, tries to re-instill a spiritual quest — a kind of eco-mystical renewal — as an element in the transformation of desire, lived out in Christian community. Sands of the Well Author: Saving Creation Full Title: However, over the last century, the evangelical church has let the value of caring for creation slip away.

In this book, author and pastor Tri Robinson makes a compelling case for the biblical precedence behind environmental stewardship and shows the church what it can do about this eroding value. Serve God, Save the Planet: A Christian Call to Action Author: Matthew Sleeth was living the American dream as a medical chief of staff—until the increasing number of chronic illnesses he was witnessing gave him a new environmental awareness.

Seven Songs of Creation: Liturgies for Celebrating and Healing Earth Author: Written by the chief editor of the Earth Bible Project, this resource intends to help worshipping communities develop liturgies to revere, honor, love, and serve Earth. Christian Practices for Enjoyment Author: David Beckman, President, Bread for the World.

Each booklet focuses on a different facet of simple living: The sessions are presented in a context of prayer and ritual, with consideration of both the personal and global effects of our choices. Simpler Living, Compassionate Life: A Christian Perspective An Earth Ministry publication that explores issues of voluntary simplicity from a faith and environmental perspective.

This an effective tool for individuals and groups. The Art of Living Author: Rohr, a Franciscan priest and internationally known speaker, was invited to Germany in to present a series of sermons on the spiritual life. This book is a compilation of some of those talks.

Sisters of Dust, Sisters of Spirit: Womanist Wordings on God and Creation. Evinces a strong sense of God in nature. Discusses environmental racism and a constructive religious vision. Also discusses how migration and urbanization have affected black people and their tie to land. Drawing on information from demographers, economists, ecologists, and sociologists, Bratton argues that individuals should use Christian values when dealing with the regulation of human population.

New Hymns for God and Neighbor Author: The book, Songs of Grace, includes over 70 new hymns written to be sung to the tunes of many well loved and well known hymns. The new words offer expressions of hope, celebration and spiritual enrichment. They hymns are written to celebrate the ministry of a wide range of church activities, from older adult ministries and stewardship to social justice and many other topics in between.

This is the ideal introduction to the life and thought of this modern Catholic mystic whose powerful vision and life-affirming spirituality speak even more vitally to the concerns of our time. A Guide to Reconnecting with Nature Author: An optimistic handbook on how to reconnect with the ancient spiritual ecology of the Earth, foster health, and employ resources practically and effectively to reverse environmental degradation and decline.

Stations of the Banquet Author: A scripture based exploration of the Christian story of salvation as a food story, provides nourishment for those engaged in living out the food and justice challenges of the Gospel. How We should Love Nature Author: McFague further applies her solid theological views to concrete examples of compassionate relationships with Earth and all of its inhabitants. Sustainability, Economics, Ecology, and Justice Author: This book, a collection of essays written over a ten-year period, is an approachable treatment of the economic and environmental linkages explored in For the Common Good.

This book is an analysis of the assumptions of the economic theory on which the current global economy is based and of the dramatic increase in poverty for most of the world to which the global economy has led. Essays on the Gospel and the Earth Editor: Rich in biblical insight and creative theological work, the book examines the relationship of God, humanity, and all creation. Thank God for Evolution: Dowd describes how to view evolution as a divine process; how current science shows that evolution is not meaningless blind chance; practical methods for using evolutionary insights to achieve greater personal fulfillment and thriving relationships; and how aligning with evolutionary trends can guide activists and others hoping to make our world a better place.

The Better World Handbook Authors: The Better World Shopping Guide: Every Dollar Makes a Difference Author: Jones, Ellis The Better World Shopping Guide is the only comprehensive guide for socially and environmentally responsible consumers. Environmental sustainability Human rights Community involvement Animal protection Social justice. About how Christians can achieve personal, ecclesial, and social transformation in the year of the Jubilee. Explores challenges of economic and social justice.

The Body of God: An Ecological Theology Author: A Holden Village resource. While on a nine month sabbatical at Holden Village, Alvin Pitcher, studied the environmental issues of the late s. The Collected Poems of Wendell Berry: God, Job, and the Scale of Creation Author: McKibben, widely respected author and United Methodist Sunday school teacher, shares scientific insights into the crisis of global climate change. Christianity and the Consumer Culture Editor: The Death of Nature: Women, Ecology and the Scientific Revolution Author: Merchant traces the development of attitudes toward women and nature in Western philosophical and religious traditions.

A germinal eco-feminist work. The Divine Milieu Author: A paleontologist and Roman Catholic priest, Teilhard de Chardin skillfully outlines his Catholic, incarnational theology — with Christ transparent in all creation. A Theology of American Culture Author: William Dyrness, who teaches theology at Fuller Theological Seminary, provides an evangelical, relational, and trinitarian rethinking of divine creation and concepts of culture in response to issues of identity, ecology, and aesthetics. Christians and the Environment Editors: Land and Louis A. Combining the traditionally conservative issue of religion with the traditionally liberal issue of protecting the environment is a difficult task.

Land does it well in this book and provides an introduction for those interested in protecting the environment from a Christian standpoint. The Embers and the Stars: This almost dream-like exploration into the reality of nature including humankind and God is both coherent and moving. The End of Nature Author: This powerfully unsettling book details many of the our current environmental challenges: McKibben, a widely published writer and United Methodist Sunday school teacher, shares his own passionate plea for necessary change in how humans view nature and our actions.

Environmental Task Force, Diocese of Newark. The Episcopal Church in Communion with Creation: Policy and Action Publisher: Episcopal Church Center, The Gift of Good Land: Further Essays Cultural and Agricultural Author: Wendell Berry touches on many topics in this rich book of essays. The Great Unknowing Author: Our Way into the Future Author: Thomas Berry is a visionary and these are books to read and reread, for they stretch vision, imagination, and resolve all at once. Berry is a bridge builder: The Green Sanctuary Handbook: The Seventh Principle Project was established in by a group of Unitarian Universalists committed to finding ways to live their faith in a more ecologically sustainable way.

The Greening of Protestant Thought Author: The Hidden Heart of the Cosmos: Humanity and the New Story Author: Following the most recent scientific discoveries about the birth of the universe, this text shows how these new insights replace outmoded ways of seeing the world, bridging the chasm between science and spirituality, the physical realm and the soul. Church and the New Universe Story Author: Cletus Wessels The Holy Web offers entree to the world revealed by contemporary science and the difference the new models or our life on earth make to understanding Christianity.

The Hymn of the Sun Author: The first illustrated version of St. The Island Within Author: An anthropologist and eloquent writer, Nelson takes readers to Alaska and invites them into his experience with a single island and its animal inhabitants. In this exotic locale, he encourages all readers to see every place as the special place. The Living Universe Author: Practical advice on energy efficiency, landscaping and church grounds, and new purchases. Shierry Weber Nicholsen This book is a gathering of meditations and collages. Its evocations of our emotional attachment to the natural world and the emotional impact of environmental deterioration are meant to encourage individual and collective reflection on a difficult dilemma.

Nicholsen draws on work in environmental philosophy and ecopsychology. The Memory of Old Jack Author: The Natural History of the Bible: The Phenomenon of Man Author: The Rebirth of Nature: The Greening of Science and God Author: The Rights of Nature: A History of Environmental Ethics Author: A hopeful historical journey that, over the centuries, traces the notion of rights as extended to larger numbers of groups of people.

The Sacred Depths of Nature Author: Goodenough, a leading cell biologist and author of the widely used textbook Genetics, offers this emotionally vibrant work that interweaves modern scientific understandings with ageless spiritual reverence for creation. An historical overview of the practice of voluntary simplicity in America — with detailed exploration of important spiritual and community dimensions in this practice. By exploring the lives and discoveries of modern archaeologists excavating the site of Tell Makor, Michener vividly re-creates life in and around an ancient city, and traces the history of the Jews, including that of the early Hebrews and their persecution, the impact of Christianity on the Jewish world, the Crusades, and the Spanish Inquisition.

The Spell of the Sensuous: A beautifully rendered analysis of the importance of the development of language in separating human consciousness from the natural world. It illuminates the difference between cultures that live close to the land and the Western consciousness that sees humans as separate from the rest of nature. The book gives suggestions to repair this gulf.

The Travail of Nature: In his germinal work, Santmire explores how Christian theologians and church figures, through the centuries, have thought about nature. This important book, at times heavy theologically, is one of the few books that present a broad historical overview of a Christian theology of nature. A Celebration of Nature Author: Ellen Bernstein founded Shomrei Adamah, the first national Jewish environmental organization. Communicating his ideas in the form of a classical dialogue between a youth and a wise elder, cosmologist Brian Swimme crafts a fascinating exploration into the creativity suffusing the universe.

The Universe Story Author: Swimme, Brian and Berry, Thomas. Physicist Swimme and cultural historian Berry here examine and synthesize a vast body of knowledge and hypothesis from the fields of astronomy, physics, biology, anthropology, and history. The Unsettling of America: Culture and Agriculture Author: As one of our modern-day prophets, Berry skillfully shows the impact of our current, pervasive disconnections between the land and people.

The Violence of the Green Revolution: Shiva, an activist and scientist from India, traces the impacts of corporate agriculture on cultures, small farmers, ecosystems, and on the quality of the food we consume. In this and other books, Shiva explores issues such as biotechnology, patents on life, the domination of agribusiness, and many others. At a time of growing concern about environmental issues, Benstein explores the relationship Jews have with the natural world and the ways in which Judaism contributes to contemporary social-environmental issues.

Theology and Public Policy: Theology for Earth Community: A Field Guide Editor: Authors assess what various theologians have to offer, and draw implications for reshaping religious and environmental studies, as well as preparing the next generations of church leaders or pastoral workers. Oliver reflects her faith in God and her grief over the death of her longtime partner while still writing poems about nature. Religion, Nature, Environment Author: Tis a Gift to Be Simple: Embracing the Freedom of Living with Less Authors: To Heal the Earth: A Theology of Ecology Author: Upper Room Books To Heal the Earth sets environmental reflection and ecological concern within the framework of biblical scholarship, drawing from both the Old and New Testaments and the works of early church forebears.

This unique combination of theological underpinning and ecological truth is masterfully interwoven throughout the book as the author shares from his wealth of story and church liturgy. To Till It and Keep it: Torah of the Earth: The relationship between Judaism and concern for the environment is examined in this comprehensive two-volume anthology, which probes the roots of the environmental crisis as a looming catastrophe, especially in Israel, and points to a sustainable future path that requires spiritual healing.

This crucial report showed race to be the most significant factor when siting hazardous waste facilities, nationwide. Troubled Waters provides readers with an appreciation of the central role of religious meanings and ritual practices surrounding water, arriving at creative new ways to approach the growing water crisis worldwide. Unfortunately, It Was Paradise: Considered the Palestinian national poet, Darwish has observed that Palestine is a metaphor for the loss of Eden, for the sorrows of dispossession and exile, for the declining power of the Arab world in its dealings with the West.

Isaiah and Urban Possibility Author: New and different readings of biblical texts are one consequence of a growing awareness of the environmental crisis and how it relates to social relations, especially in urban settings. Brueggemann explores readings from Isaiah an dhow they relate to the environment and urban crisis. He approaches the readings as an artistic-theological history of the city of Jerusalem — a case study of urban environmental crisis that resulted from a lost sense of covenantal neighborliness.

This resource is an excellent tool for Bible study groups and pastors who are concerned with our current urban situation. Through this performance piece the prophetic voice of our children has a chance to be heard by the whole family of God. What Are People For? This more current analysis of American economic and agricultural systems provides a thought- and action-inspiring sequel to his earlier The Unsettling of America.

When Corporations Rule the World Author: Korten gives readers crucial insight into the way in which corporations take possession of Earth — its economies, peoples and cultures, ecosystems, and political systems. Corporations, Korten argues, supplant the power that was once held by the now-in-decline nation-state. This collection of essays on the development of the Western United States is engagingly written by one of the best authors of our day. Stegner clearly demonstrates the interaction of culture and land.

Where the Dragon Meets the Angry River: Who Is the Earth? Who is the Earth? The language starts out very simple, like a seed, and ends up in Part II a bit more complex and erudite, like a tree are trees erudite? Poems of the Natural World Author: An excellent collection of contemporary American nature poetry compiled by the poetry editor of Wilderness magazine. Rosemary Radford Ruether, editor. In Women Healing Earth, noted theologian Rosemary Radford Ruether brings together illuminating writings of fourteen Latin American, Asian, and African women on the meaning of eco-theological issues in their own contexts — and the implications they have for women in teh first world.

Tucker describes how world religions have begun to move from a focus on God-human and human-human relations to encompass human-earth relations. She argues that, in light of the environmental crisis, religion should move from isolated orthodoxy to interrelated dialogue and use its authority for liberation rather than oppression. Mary Evelyn Tucker and John A. The original writings of Worldviews and Ecology creatively present and interpret worldviews of major religious and philosophical traditions on how humans can live more sustainably on a fragile planet.

Your Money or Your Life: Produced by the New Road Map Foundation. If Jesus returned to Earth and paid us a visit, what might he think of the way we live? Would he see us as responsible and compassionate stewards of creation? Contemporary Christians face a major challenge: Joe Dominguez and Vicki Robin. Do you spend more than you earn? Does making a living feel more like making a dying?

Is money fragmenting your time, your relationships with family and friends? If so, Your Money or Your Life is for you. This guide examines the many ways that our current lifestyle contributes to the global environmental crisis. The first part of this guide explains the greenhouse effect, ozone depletion, and acid rain. An Action Manual Author: Fritsch, Albert and Angela Ladavaia-Cox.

This resource contains helpful audits, suggestions, and resources for individuals and congregations. Environmental Stewardship Resource Manual Author: This manual can be used by lay Christians, priests, youth groups, deacons, bishops — in short, by anybody—as an introduction to Christian environmental stewardship and as a source of materials for a wide range of activities.

Practical Ideas for Congregations Author: Gershon, David and Robert Gilman. This workbook divides environmental concerns into six areas and recommends that small groups meet regularly over a six-month period to address these areas: Each month, the group can take specific actions in order to implement ideas within a household or church congregation. These guides encourage participants to explore God in nature and our covenant with the earth.

This an effective tool for groups. Let the Earth Bless the Lord: This resource is not a curriculum but has many materials that may be adapted for adult group studies. Materials include articles on sustainable development, international environmental justice, as well as practical hints to implement and sustain parish-based environmental programs. This introductory, six-session curriculum is divided into three groupings: This curriculum also contains an extensive list of other Episcopal, environmental resources.

Renewing the Face of the Earth: A Resource for Parishes Produced by the U. Includes suggestions for initiating parish programs; liturgical, homily, and prayer helps; and background on the connection between the environment and social justice. The Cry of Creation: A Call for Climate Justice An interfaith study guide on global warming. Features theological and spiritual reflections, an overview of the scientific consensus, a spectrum of interfaith voices, action steps, and a bibliography for further study.

An adult curriculum for environmentally-focused bible study. To Till and to Tend: Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life. The Jewish community is presented here with a three-part challenge to accept environmental activism as a practical and a spiritual obligation: Curriculum for teaching environmental justice, sustainability, and theology within Christian churches.

Middle school curriculum on water quality prepared by Seattle Drainage and Wastewater Utility. Whose World Is It? The Land of Curiosities , by Deanna Neil, is the first tale in a series of highly-acclaimed eco-adventures that explore themes like the relationship between faith and ecology. This is a great gift to teach environmental history and promote eco-values for young readers. Click here to order. Saving energy can be fun! Make it a family activity! Teach your children and grandchildren the value of saving money and protecting the planet. You will find as your energy saving activities increase so does your wealth.

Use this newly created wealth to fund other things such as vacations, college education or energy saving home improvements. Additional ways to conserve energy include personal transportation, water conservation, landscaping to save energy and energy sources for the future. The Green Bible , ed. The Bible includes a topical index and green Bible trail study guide, and inspirational essays from leaders and thinkers. Printed with soy-based ink on recycled paper. Your Will Be Done on Earth: Jenkins, is an excellent resource for anyone working with youth.

Relevant religious and scientific background is provided for each activity. This page guide is divided into children and youth sections, each containing several games, activities, crafts, songs, plays, and youth liturgies. An older resource, but still relevant. Thispage PDF resuorce contains lesson plans for children. Keepers of the Earth: Native American Stories and Environmental Activities for Children , by Michael Caduto and Joseph Bruchac, helps children connect with the natural world while telling important environmental concepts.

Each section contains a Native American story, discussion ideas, interesting questions, and related indoor and outdoor activities. Eco-Fables from Ancient Israel , by Barry Schwartz, retells the wondrous deeds of Honi-the-Circlemaker, who wandered over the land of ancient Israel planting carob seeds and spreading goodwill.

These short and simple stories can be told to young children or acted out. The North Pole is Sinking!

Religion and Science

Ecology Crafts for Kids: Projects include gift wrap, planters, envelopes, bird feeders, mosaics, puppets, and candles. Play Lightly on the Earth: Each activity contains an objective, preperations, options and discussion questions well-suited for young children. Journey for the Planet: A Congregational Guide to Earth Stewardship by Cindy Ubben Causey is a page, comprehensive guide to planning earth stewardship within a congregation.