Book Review: A Generous Orthodoxy Part 22 of ??
Green
This wasn't the most interesting part of the book for me, but then I am the guy who looked at the Grand Canyon and said, "Yep, that's a big hole."
McLaren writes that his care for creation, "flows from my generously orthodox identity: a creature who wants to care generously for other creatures because I am made in the image of a Creator who cares generously for us all." He writes that in recent history, Christians have allied too closely with capitalism's view of nature as existing almost exclusively for commercial exploitation. He also writes that the rise of "Evangelical-dispensational 'left-behind' eschatology" has lead to a disregard for creation by many Christians.
Once again I think McLaren's quoting of Chesterton says it best, "The essence of all pantheism, evolutionism, and modern cosmic religion is really in this proposition: that Nature is our mother … The main point of Christianity was this: that Nature is not our mother: Nature is our sister. We can be proud of her beauty, since we have the same father, but she has no authority over us; we have to admire, but not to imitate … To St. Francis, Nature is a sister, and even a younger sister: a little, dancing sister, to be laughed at as well as loved."
This wasn't the most interesting part of the book for me, but then I am the guy who looked at the Grand Canyon and said, "Yep, that's a big hole."
McLaren writes that his care for creation, "flows from my generously orthodox identity: a creature who wants to care generously for other creatures because I am made in the image of a Creator who cares generously for us all." He writes that in recent history, Christians have allied too closely with capitalism's view of nature as existing almost exclusively for commercial exploitation. He also writes that the rise of "Evangelical-dispensational 'left-behind' eschatology" has lead to a disregard for creation by many Christians.
Once again I think McLaren's quoting of Chesterton says it best, "The essence of all pantheism, evolutionism, and modern cosmic religion is really in this proposition: that Nature is our mother … The main point of Christianity was this: that Nature is not our mother: Nature is our sister. We can be proud of her beauty, since we have the same father, but she has no authority over us; we have to admire, but not to imitate … To St. Francis, Nature is a sister, and even a younger sister: a little, dancing sister, to be laughed at as well as loved."
posted by Freethinker at 7:07:00 AM
1 Comments:
I can't believe your reaction to the Grand Canyon--you might be an oaf. But then, I'm the person who recycles junk mail and studies insects and wildflowers.
I'm with McLaren on this one. I've always thought believers should be environmentalists--just not the rabid kind.
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