This is an INTEREST GROUP PRESENTATION ABSTRACT; the paper will be presented at the Jamaica Consultation on Creation Care and the Gospel in October, 2012.  Comments are welcomed!  View all abstracts.

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I. Limits of God’s creation, both in a spiritual and a practical level (in OT and NT)

II. Excess of human exploitation of natural resources and pollution motivated by sin/greed/power, etc.

III. Faith in God (through the Gospel of Jesus-Christ) and respect of God’s limits (like rest of the Sabbath in OT, but in a real love and freedom in Christ) both in a spiritual and practical way in order to take care of the Creation.

 

Other problems to identify and discuss

Eschatology and creation care, especially:

Pantheism and science: a real difficulty in evangelization (Gospel) and Creation care Ecological and philosophical movements, such as the nebulous and syncretistic New-Age movement, preach a respect of nature which seems very admirable.  But it is actually inspired by a pantheist and Eastern vision of nature, which is very different from the biblical doctrine. We need to denounce the link between pantheism (especially Spinoza) and modern Science…

Deep Ecology and biocentrism: a real danger
Most radical is the Deep Ecology Movement, which underlines that measures proposed for environment preservation remain too superficial, not only on a philosophical but also on a practical level.  According to some “extremists” of this group, if man could disappear, it should be a good thing to preserve biodiversity since he is the principal cause of the disorders in nature… But that is not a solution… Neither human, nor Christian…
The Christians’ “Theocentrism” should protect them from excessive domination or “centrism” exclusively centered on man or nature.  The Christian point of view embodies a project of life for this present world, even if the Christians are not always the best witnesses…

Caring for Creation: which motivation? Fear or Faith?

What is the link between evangelization (Gospel), Christian life and Creation care?

Priority: evangelizing or/and caring for Creation?

Practical individual or/and community ways to take care of the Creation?