An Indian Journey through Lent, Day 39
Ecotheology and the Goal of the Gospel
In yesterday’s entry I introduced my specialty, ecotheology, and started to address the most common challenge to its validity: what does it have to do with the Gospel, that is, the central Christian message? I concluded by remarking that I have several problems with the way that central Christian message is often understood within the evangelical tradition in which I grew up. The first is that I can no longer accept that God’s entire interest on earth is with human beings. I quoted two of the Bible’s most famous texts as indicative of my revised stance.
The second problem I have is with the Goal of the Gospel. As a young evangelical I was taught that the goal is to escape earth and get to heaven. I don’t remember being told what heaven was like, except that it was perfect, and we wouldn’t have to suffer or be sad. It was more implied than stated that heaven was somewhere up there, as in the exclamation “Heavens above!”, and the fact that the very word heaven did service to describe the locations both of the afterlife and of the sky.
These days I have two problems with all of that. One is that it sounds very like Plato’s theory of forms rather than being “biblical” or “Christian”. Half a millennium before Christ the great Greek philosopher Plato argued that somewhere “way beyond the blue” was a world in which the perfect, eternal forms of everything that existed materially and imperfectly here on earth was located. Early Christianity, as it broke out of its Jewish confines into the Greek-speaking, Roman-ruled Mediterranean world started reading Jewish-founded belief through this lens of Greek philosophy. We still do today. As the twentieth century philosopher Alfred North Whitehead put it, “The safest general characterization of the European philosophical tradition is that it consists of a series of footnotes to Plato.” That means, secondly and in consequence, that in the dualistic western tradition we have tended to prioritise heaven over earth, even as we cheerfully utilised (and despoiled) earth for our earthly purposes.
So what is the Goal of the Gospel, and what does that have to do with Ecotheology? The best place to look for answers to those questions is actually in the Resurrection of Jesus. And what better time to look at the Resurrection than at Easter time? Tomorrow I shall conclude these 40 days of diary entries and move into Holy Week by doing just that.
Ecotheology and the Goal of the Gospel
In yesterday’s entry I introduced my specialty, ecotheology, and started to address the most common challenge to its validity: what does it have to do with the Gospel, that is, the central Christian message? I concluded by remarking that I have several problems with the way that central Christian message is often understood within the evangelical tradition in which I grew up. The first is that I can no longer accept that God’s entire interest on earth is with human beings. I quoted two of the Bible’s most famous texts as indicative of my revised stance.
The second problem I have is with the Goal of the Gospel. As a young evangelical I was taught that the goal is to escape earth and get to heaven. I don’t remember being told what heaven was like, except that it was perfect, and we wouldn’t have to suffer or be sad. It was more implied than stated that heaven was somewhere up there, as in the exclamation “Heavens above!”, and the fact that the very word heaven did service to describe the locations both of the afterlife and of the sky.
These days I have two problems with all of that. One is that it sounds very like Plato’s theory of forms rather than being “biblical” or “Christian”. Half a millennium before Christ the great Greek philosopher Plato argued that somewhere “way beyond the blue” was a world in which the perfect, eternal forms of everything that existed materially and imperfectly here on earth was located. Early Christianity, as it broke out of its Jewish confines into the Greek-speaking, Roman-ruled Mediterranean world started reading Jewish-founded belief through this lens of Greek philosophy. We still do today. As the twentieth century philosopher Alfred North Whitehead put it, “The safest general characterization of the European philosophical tradition is that it consists of a series of footnotes to Plato.” That means, secondly and in consequence, that in the dualistic western tradition we have tended to prioritise heaven over earth, even as we cheerfully utilised (and despoiled) earth for our earthly purposes.
So what is the Goal of the Gospel, and what does that have to do with Ecotheology? The best place to look for answers to those questions is actually in the Resurrection of Jesus. And what better time to look at the Resurrection than at Easter time? Tomorrow I shall conclude these 40 days of diary entries and move into Holy Week by doing just that.
great to hear such braveheart real life stories....we would be in manali for a summer getaway in the hills, we have a little 3 yr old who is very sensitive to change in temp. so just wanted to be careful, we called the lady wilington hosp and asked who would be available on duty in the paedetrics so the receptionist took dr. lena's name but she didnt share your contact details, it would be great to have ur no. just as an sos...would like to meet you in any case and congratulate you for the fabulous work you are doing for humankind...
ReplyDelete