Science, Religious Naturalism, and Biblical Theology: Ground for the Emergence of Sustainable Living

Authors: Fisher, George W.¹; van Utt, Gretchen²

Source: Zygon, Volume 42, Number 4, December 2007 , pp. 929-943(15)

Buy & download fulltext article:

Price: $48.00 plus tax (Refund Policy)

Abstract:

During this century, humans must learn to live in ways that are sustainable, both ecologically and morally. The global community already consumes more ecological resources than Earth can generate; population growth and increasing development are widening that gap. We suggest that paths to sustainability can be found by mindful reflection on meanings discerned in the convergence of a scientific understanding of nature, religious naturalism, and biblical understandings of creation. The patterns of ecological sustainability observed in natural systems and the wise ways of relating to the land discerned in the Hebrew Bible suggest that sustainability must be grounded in social and ecological justice and that just ways of living can emerge from a deep sense of the ways in which nature and all of humanity are interdependent. We conclude that the twentieth-century emphasis on individual control of our future must make room for the emergence of a new understanding of mutuality. There can be no flourishing apart from mutual flourishing.

Keywords: biblical theology; community; ecology; emergence; mutuality; religious naturalism; sustainability

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9744.2007.00881.x

Affiliations: 1: Emeritus Professor of Geology at Johns Hopkins University, Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Baltimore, MD 21218;, Email: gfisher@jhu.edu. 2: Pastor in the Presbytery of Baltimore, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A).

Publication date: 2007-12-01