A Theology of Creation that Honours our Creator
Christianity renounced Gnosticism for its negative view of the material world. So how did we come to hold such a negative view of the material world?
For you love all things that exist, and detest none of the things that you have made, for you would not have made anything if you had hated it. How would anything have endured if you had not willed it? Or how would anything not called forth by you have been preserved? You spare all things, for they are yours, O Lord, you who love the living. For your immortal spirit is in all things. — Wisdom 11:24–12:1
Why is it that, by and large, Christians are not leading the charge to save our planet from the ecological destruction inflicted by plastics pollution and climate change? Indeed, political leaders and parties who ignore, dismiss and deny the ecological crisis before us bask in significant support from large numbers of Christian voters. This is particularly true of Christians in developed nations like Canada. How is it that the same religion which renounced Gnosticism because of its negative view of the material world has come to hold such a negative view of the material world?
Western Christianity has largely adopted an understanding of the ‘dominion’ human beings were given over the natural world (Genesis 1:26) in the sense of domination as opposed to stewardship. We see ourselves as owners rather than caretakers. We can sing “This is My Father’s World” all we like, in practical terms we exploit and pillage this world as if it is ours and ours alone. We have also developed an anthropocentric theology of salvation which effectively reduces this earthly life to some sort of divine test to get into ‘the next life’. What odds if we destroy this planet, we are on our way to ‘a better place’. Theologian Elizabeth Johnson argues this view of salvation “has blinkered our eyes to the rest of creation.”
All of creation matters to God — all things, seen and unseen. God created “the heavens and the earth…and all their multitude” and deemed it to be “very good” (Genesis 2:1, 1:31). Indeed, creation is as much a source of revelation as are the scriptures. “Ever since the creation of the world [God’s] eternal power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been understood and seen through the things [God] has made” (Romans 1:18–20). Thus, the scriptures repeatedly praise the created order as manifesting God’s glory. Clearly we have gone astray and need to find our way back to a theology of creation that regards all that God has made with due reverence, care and concern.
The Church has been calling us back to such a view of creation for quite some time. In our own tradition it is one of the ‘Five Marks of Mission’ that guide the mission of the Anglican Communion. The Church also encourages us to observe a ‘season of creation’ which begins September first and culminates with the feast of St. Francis of Assisi, someone historian Lynn White Jr. refers to as “the greatest radical in Christian history since Christ.” In St. Francis we have a Christian role model to lead us off of the ecologically catastrophic path we are walking, someone who regarded fellow creatures as brother and sister, and lived by a theology of the equality of all creatures in the eyes of God. We would do well to follow his example and renounce the prevailing Christian view that human dominion over creation means domination of creation. This is our Father’s World. Time is running out for us to recover and live out a theology of creation that reflects this truth and honours our Creator. Indeed, if we are to save something of our Father’s world for our children and grandchildren — not to mention the other species God created — we will need to be as radical as St. Francis.
This column appeared in the November 2019 issue of Anglican Life.
