By Beth McKinlay
When we talk about God, it is important to keep in mind that our understanding of the mystery of God is informed by our experiences, our worldview, our culture and our religious traditions. Ecotheology leads us to reflect on our image of God and to consider the natural world as a source of revelation of God. Theologians, mystics, poets, and ecofeminists point to the divine face of God in nature and they ask us to consider how this image of God might influence our spirituality and our relationship with the natural world.
Scriptural references attesting to the presence of God in nature are found in both the First Testament (Old Testament) and the New Testament. The writer of Isaiah claimed “the whole earth is God’s glory” (Isaiah 6:3) and the writer of Ezekiel saw “the earth shining with God’s glory”(Ezekiel 43:2). In the New Testament, we read that Jesus preached about the reign of God among us and St. Paul claimed that it is “in God we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:20). The immanence of God in the world is highlighted by ecotheology.
The sense that there is a mysterious presence in the natural world predates these Scriptural assertions. Thomas Berry, a priest and cultural historian, describes the “Great Spirit” of early primal people as:
the all-pervasive, mysterious power that is present and observed in the rising and setting of the sun, in the growing of living things, in the sequence of the seasons. This mysterious power carries things through to their brilliant expression in all the forms that we observe in the world about us, in the stars at night, in the feel and experience of the wind, in the surging expanse of the oceans. People generally experience an awesome, stupendous presence that cannot be expressed adequately in human words. …What is the divine? It is the ineffable, pervasive presence in the world around us. [1]
Mystics and poets have been inspired by this presence. Hildegard of Bingen wrote, “It is God whom human beings know in every creature,” [2] and Thomas Merton declared, “It becomes very obvious that God is everywhere and in everything.” [3] These sentiments were expressed elegantly by Elizabeth Barrett Browning when she wrote “Earth’s crammed with heaven, and every bush alive with the fire of God,” [4] and in Gerard Manley Hopkins’ verse, “The world is charged with the grandeur of God. [5]
While our biological connection to the environment is well understood, there is a growing realization of the significance of our spiritual connection with the natural world. Thomas Berry suggests that we come to understand God better when we spend time in nature. The natural world is a source of revelation because it is in our “apprehension of physical reality that we encounter ...the ultimate mystery. [6] Berry claims that that the natural world is the basis of our religious imagination and he explains that our ideas about God are born in our “gorgeous,” beautiful and magnificent world…(and that these ideas) would be very different if we lived on the barren landscape of the moon.” [7] Thomas Aquinas also believed that it was important to turn to nature in our efforts to understand the mystery of God and he wrote, “A mistake about creation results in a mistake about God.”
Contemporary theologians are exploring the implications of different images of God. Sallie McFague claims that we need models of God that both connect us to the natural world and lead us to reflect on our relationship with nature. McFague proposes that “The world is God’s body…God is closer to us than we are to ourselves, for God is the breath or the spirit that gives life to the billions of different bodies that make up God’s body.” [8] If the earth is God’s body, McFague reasons, then our current economic and religious paradigms must be thoroughly reevaluated. [9] She challenges us to consider how our lifestyle and many of our daily decisions affect the planet. Thomas Berry reminds us that our current paradigms have resulted in an escalating ecological crisis. He warns of the spiritual loss that results from ecological destruction when he claims, “To diminish our natural world is to diminish an aspect of God. To wantonly destroy a living species is to silence forever a divine voice.” [10]
Ecotheology envisions the earth as sacred and emphasizes the need for an environmental ethic. Elizabeth Johnson characterizes the hoped-for relationship with the earth as being more about “reciprocity rather than rape.” Drawing on biblical tradition, Johnson hopes that more people will act as prophets and will speak against “biocide, ecocide, geocide” using all techniques of active, non-violent resistance to halt the degradation. [11]
For some, ecotheology is an occasion to reconsider both their religious views and their worldviews. Ecotheology can be an opening to faith development and spiritual growth for those who never named the wonderful, enriching experiences that they have in nature as experiences of the divine. When one’s view of God expands to include the natural world, it can become an opportunity to reflect deeply on our lifestyles and our personal impact on the planet. Ecotheology has potential to challenge, inspire and motivate us to consider how we might nourish the spiritual and biological health of both humans and the planet.
[1] Thomas Berry, Befriending the Earth (Mystic, Connecticut: Twenty-Third Publications, 1992) 11.
2 Dowd, Michael. Earthspirit: A Handbook for Nurturing an Ecological Christianity. (Mystic, Connecticut: Twenty-Third Publications, 1991). 42.
3 Borg, Marcus. The God we Never Knew (New York: New York: HarperSanFrancisco, 1997) 47.
4 Borg, 47.
5 Gerald Manley Hopkins cited on www.Bartelby.com
6 McFague, Sallie. The Body of God: And Ecological Theology. (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1993) xi.
7 McFague, Sallie. Life Abundant: Rethinking Theology and Economy for a Planet in Peril. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2001.
8 Ibid, p. 69.
9 Berry, Thomas. The Dream of the Earth (San Francisco: Sierra Club Books, 1988) 46.
10 Lonergan Anne and Caroline Richards, eds. Thomas Berry and the New Cosmology (Mystic, Connecticut: Twenty-Third Publications, 1987) 96.
11 Ibid, p. 9
[1] Thomas Berry, Befriending the Earth (Mystic, Connecticut: Twenty-Third Publications, 1992) 11.
[2] Dowd, Michael. Earthspirit: A Handbook for Nurturing an Ecological Christianity. (Mystic, Connecticut: Twenty-Third Publications, 1991). 42.
[3] Borg, Marcus. The God we Never Knew (New York: New York: HarperSanFrancisco, 1997) 47.
[4] Borg, 47.
[5] Gerald Manley Hopkins cited on www.Bartelby.com
[6] Lonergan Anne and Caroline Richards, eds. Thomas Berry and the New Cosmology (Mystic, Connecticut: Twenty-Third Publications, 1987) 96.
[7] Ibid, p. 9
[8] McFague, Sallie. The Body of God: And Ecological Theology. (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1993) xi.
[9] McFague, Sallie. Life Abundant: Rethinking Theology and Economy for a Planet in Peril. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2001.
[10] Berry, Thomas. The Dream of the Earth (San Francisco: Sierra Club Books, 1988) 46.
[11] Ibid, p. 69.