THE SPIRIT IN CREATION: A UNIFIED THEOLOGY OF GRACE AND CREATION CARE

Author: Studebaker, Steven M.

Source: Zygon, Volume 43, Number 4, December 2008 , pp. 943-960(18)

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Abstract:

This essay identifies one of the deeper theological sources of the tendency toward environmental neglect in evangelical and Pentecostal theology and proposes a theological vision that facilitates a vision of creation care as a dimension of Christian formation. The first section identifies, describes, and evaluates the traditional distinction between common and special grace or the natural and the supernatural orders as a theological foundation for environmental neglect in Pentecostal theology. The second and third sections propose that a pneumatological vision of grace based on a fundamental trinitarianism provides Pentecostals and other Christians with a way to overcome these stark dualisms and to attain a more unified and comprehensive vision of God's grace that is more conducive to creation care. The fourth section presents a case for seeing creation care as a pneumatological and proleptic participation in the eschaton and, as such, as a dimension of Christian formation and sanctification.

Keywords: common grace; creation care; general revelation; the Holy Spirit; Pentecostalism; pneumatology; special grace; special revelation; the Trinity

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9744.2008.00970.x

Affiliations: 1: Assistant Professor of Systematic and Historical Theology at McMaster Divinity College, McMaster University, 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton, ON, Canada L8S 4K1;, Email: studeba@mcmaster.ca.

Publication date: 2008-12-01